Getting a cold / flu, worse than usual?

[meat]

I've had a cold for 3 days and the weak & blargh feeling that comes with it was heavily amplified for me, the worst was yesterday. I've been eating fruit which has really helped take away the "depleted" feeling. Strawberries, and an orange.

Is getting sick worse on atkins for you guys too? What do you do about it?

[2big4mysize]

Re: Getting a cold / flu, worse than usual?

actually for me since sugars stimulate inflamation being low carb has helped me feel better.

The vitamin C in the fruits can also be gotten in cabbage, many greens, broccoli and other induction veggies.

[meat]

Re: Getting a cold / flu, worse than usual?

as far as i know there's no evidence that vitamin-c plays a role in colds / flu, so it was less about the vitamin-c and more about that for some reason i specifically felt like i needed to eat fruit, for whatever reason. after 3 weeks of meat broccoli and baby brussel sprouts strawberries tasted pretty damn good.

[not2late]

Re: Getting a cold / flu, worse than usual?

I'm not sure how to answer this because your stats say you are in Induction, but you posted this in the OWL Forum. So I will answer this the best way possible....

Don't start straying from your Atkins phase and start adding whatever foods because they "make you feel better". 2Big is correct some of the Induction vegetables have equal or more amounts of Vitamin C than oranges or strawberries. For example, red bell peppers have more vitamin C than an orange. Vitamin D is said to help your immune system too.

I haven't experienced worse cold/flu symptoms since I've been on ATkins. In fact, I seem to resist getting ill.

Anyhow, get plenty of rest, drink fluids and I hope you feel better soon. BTW, if you are thinking about doing the "BRAT" diet (eating bananas, rice, apples/applesauce/apple juice, tea/toast) for your cold---forget about it. the BRAT diet is only for diarrhea because the foods are thought to "constipate". I only write this because alot of folks think the diarrhea diet is indicated for any type of illness.

[meat]

Re: Getting a cold / flu, worse than usual?

i supplement with a lot of vitamin d. i would never do the dumb brat diet. i just felt like i needed fruit and i ate some and felt way less terrible and overwhelmed. hopefully this miserable experience will be over by tomorrow.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Getting a cold / flu, worse than usual?

as far as i know there's no evidence that vitamin-c plays a role in colds / flu, so it was less about the vitamin-c and more about that for some reason i specifically felt like i needed to eat fruit, for whatever reason. after 3 weeks of meat broccoli and baby brussel sprouts strawberries tasted pretty damn good.

Ah the old my Dr Brain based on past food experiences and how I felt before during and after consuming prescribed _______ to make me feel better.
that is one of the things we as atkinseers have to over come and reteach our brain how to associate our lower carb food choices with making us better so it stops prescribing high carb foods. lots of those stored associations used the placebo effect such as when you were a kid and you skinned your knee and were crying your mother gave you a cookie or candy to distract you while she cleaned it up so our brains associated that food with pain relief.

[meat]

Re: Getting a cold / flu, worse than usual?

i'm hyper-aware of the placebo effect, i've thought about making youtube videos to explain how it works to people before with all the various examples of placebos in recent surgery and stuff. it was like the difference between getting 3 hours of sleep and getting 9, in the way that i felt before and after.