Table of contents:
- Eating and drinking ice don't make you sick
- The benefits of eating ice when you have a fever
- 1. Prevent dehydration
- 2. Increase calorie intake
- 3. Helps relieve pain due to inflammation
- Ice cannot cure disease
When you have a fever, you may not feel like eating or drinking anything. Naturally, the tongue may taste bitter and the body feel weak. Yet when you have a fever, your body needs adequate nutrition and fluids to fight disease. Well, one way you can try is to eat ice when you have a fever.
This method may sound unusual or in fact contradicts the words of old parents, who said that eating or drinking ice actually makes you runny nose. But apparently, this is not always true, you know! Check out the full explanation below.
Eating and drinking ice don't make you sick
Since childhood, you may have been told by your parents that eating or drinking ice like ice cream, popsicles, fruit sorbets, yogurt, or cold drinks can make you sick. This is incorrect because basically what can cause a fever is a disease caused by a bacterial or viral infection, not the temperature of the food or drink that is consumed.
Fever itself is a sign that the immune system is fighting inflammation or infection in the body. The cause of infection itself can vary. For example, a bacterial infection that causes sore throat or an influenza virus infection that causes flu or colds.
Therefore, if you have a fever, actually consuming cold food or drink will not cause or aggravate the infection in the body.
The benefits of eating ice when you have a fever
Eating enough ice when you have a fever is actually beneficial for you or your little one, you know. Consider the following three benefits of eating ice during a fever.
1. Prevent dehydration
When you have a high fever, you may sweat more and urinate more. This can make you lose fluids quickly. In fact, maybe your mouth feels bad if you have to drink lots of water.
So, sucking on popsicles or eating sorbet when you have a fever will help you restore fluids in your body with a good taste in your mouth. It's best if you make your own popsicle or sorbet at home so it's healthier and doesn't contain too much sugar.
You can make popsicles or sorbets by freezing the real fruit juice in freezer. In order to taste sweeter but not too much sugar, you can add honey when making the juice.
2. Increase calorie intake
Your body needs enough calories so that your body's cells are able to defend themselves from disease attacks. In addition, calories are also needed to fight infection. One source of calories that almost everyone likes is ice cream.
Well, ice cream can increase calorie intake, especially for people who don't have an appetite when they are sick. Being served a delicious snack will certainly make you more excited to eat, right?
However, try to choose ice cream that is low in sugar and low in fat. You can also make your own favorite ice cream at home if you want to be safer.
3. Helps relieve pain due to inflammation
When you have inflammation, cool foods and drinks can help relieve pain or discomfort due to inflammation. For example, when you have laryngitis.
Therefore, you can eat ice cream, popsicles, sorbet, yogurt, or pudding to make your throat feel cooler.
Ice cannot cure disease
Even though eating ice when you have a fever can help you feel more comfortable, that doesn't mean you can rely on ice alone to treat illness. It is not recommended that you eat too much ice when you are sick. This is because your body also needs other nutrients such as protein, vitamins and minerals to fight infection. Meanwhile, ice cream, popsicles, or mixed ice alone cannot meet the needs of these various nutrients when you have a fever.
It should be understood that eating ice cannot cure disease. An effective way to treat disease is to attack the viruses or bacteria that cause the infection. This can be done by taking medications prescribed by a doctor, getting enough rest, and eating nutritious foods.
x
