why do i want carbs when I have a cold?

brenn24179

I gained 4 lbs last week when I had a cold, really 6 lbs up from my lowest. I wanted chips, french fries, salty foods. Do you give in and eat these things when sick? Do you make yourself eat healthy? I gave myself some slack last week but probably too much slack. Feel better now and dont want them. I want my weight down.

ploomka

I’m more likely to have a cheat meal when I’m sick. Usually I listen to my body. I don’t restrict calories as much when I’m sick. If I’m hungry, I eat. But I still try to steer clear of carbs except maybe one cheat meal per weak if I really want it. I drink a lot of bouillon and tea too.

herblovinmom

@brenn24179 it sounds like you may have also been craving sodium. Carbs is easy energy for your body to use, especially while sick. I drink broth, water, and herbal tea and eat light easy to digest foods. I have this info graphic to share about cravings.

fknlardarse

Yeah I think it’s the immediate energy you get from carbs. I had a vomiting bug and all I could face eating for literally days afterwards was beige food: fries, white bread, crisps. I tried going keto but it made me feel sick again. I think I needed food that was really easy to digest?

tcunbeliever

You probably didn't gain 4 lbs of actual fat in a week...it's likely a lot of water both from being sick and from eating more carbs than usual. (illness causes inflammation and water retention, your body stores 4g of water for every 1g of glycogen, so carb consumption causes a lot of water retention too)

It's still just water.

Usually when I'm sick I eat whatever I think I can eat and keep down that will give me some kind of nutritional value. A lot of times that's eggs, or ramen either with cheese or with eggs or both...and lots of broth in it...kind of like a cheesy noodly egg drop soup...that's probably my go-to sick meal...if I'm eating at all...if I'm not eating then I go for plenty of water/electrolyte drinks and salt/potassium.

I generally struggle to tolerate meats or veggies when I feel ill, and to be fair, those are things that require a lot of effort for digestion too. When your body is sick and needs energy for healing, I don't think it's shocking that it wants carbs, and it's probably not a bad idea to give it what it wants until you get better.

Don't sweat the water...or go workout, and do sweat out the water???