Giving information about what is good for cold, Internal Medicine Specialist Dr. Sebahattin Karahan talked about how people can protect themselves from the effects of cold weather. Specialist Dr. Karahan said, “In order to warm up in the winter, instead of consuming excessive fruit, eat hot pepper, sprinkle black pepper on your food, add cloves to your tea or water. Sugar also gives energy, but instead of simple sugars, sweet potatoes, carrots, zucchini and cabbage should be consumed from complex sugar foods.
What’s Good For A Cold?
With the cold weather in winter, our body needs more energy to maintain its heat. ‘I’m hungry’ signals from the brain increase our desire to eat. The decrease in sun rays leads to a decrease in the level of vitamin D and serotonin (the happiness hormone) and depression. Depression increases carbohydrate cravings and appetite. As the person increases his/her consumption of carbohydrate foods, he/she starts to feel happier temporarily. So, how do sugary, floury and fatty foods harm our body, what should we do against diseases and extreme cold?
What are the Causes of Lowering Body Temperature?
For a healthy life, our body temperature should be 36.5-37 degrees. The heat balance center of our body is the hypothalamus region of our brain. The suddenly cold and suddenly warming air can disrupt the heat balance of our body. The sudden cooling of the air may cause our temperature to drop without allowing the balance system to increase our body temperature. This can weaken our immune system and cause infectious diseases. With the effect of cold in winter, patients most frequently apply to our internal medicine outpatient clinic with complaints such as fever, malaise, runny nose, widespread body aches, cough, and sputum. Influenza infections, acute bronchitis, bronchopneumonia (bronchial and lung inflammation) are the most common diseases we encounter in this season.
Foods That Raise Body Temperature May Affect Sugar
As everyone knows, sugary foods raise our body temperature because sugar is a good source of energy. However, excessive consumption of sugary foods can cause sudden increases in blood sugar, hunger quickly, and excessive weight by increasing the desire to eat constantly. For this reason, we can both increase our body temperature without gaining weight and strengthen our immune system by consuming complex sugary foods (zucchini, sweet potato, carrot, cabbage), cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, hot pepper, green tea instead of simple sugars.
Eating Too Much Fruit Is Harmful
In addition to meeting our body’s water, vitamin and mineral needs, fruits also have serious benefits for the digestive system with their antioxidant properties, preventing cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and rich fiber content. Eating 2 portions of fruit in women and 3 portions of fruit in men would be an ideal consumption. However, excessive consumption of fruits is also harmful because the excess sugar (largely fructose) we get from fruits causes fatty liver, insulin resistance and weight gain. In addition, according to some studies, it has been emphasized that the vitamin and mineral ratios in the fruits consumed today have gradually decreased compared to 50-60 years ago, and the sugar ratios have not changed. Therefore, it is beneficial to consume fruits in moderation.
Methods to Stop Chills
It is important to dress appropriately for the seasons. Closed and dark colored clothes should be worn in winter and light colored thin clothes in summer. Keeping our feet and head warm can protect us against diseases by increasing our body temperature in cold weather, but this measure alone is not enough. Other parts of our body must also be protected in cold weather. For heat balance, it is necessary to eat healthy and varied foods, to adjust the temperature and ventilation of the indoor environments we live in, and to engage in activities such as sports.