By Setareh Kiumarsi
When you have a fever, it usually means that one of your body’s organs is dealing with toxins or an infection. The body’s natural response to this is to activate the immune system, trigger inflammation in the affected organ, and increase the fire element to burn off and eliminate the toxins and infection.
Let me simplify this a bit and give you an example.
Fever
Imagine you’ve caught a cold, and your lungs and sinuses are full of phlegm, infection, and sticky buildup. Now picture your lungs and sinuses as a pot filled with thick, sticky mucus. Your body turns on the heat under this pot to burn off the excess—when the flame comes on, your body temperature rises and you develop a fever.
In other words, the fire element in your body takes on an important role: burning and eliminating infection. At the same time, one of the main functions of this fire is also to digest food. But during a fever, your body goes into battle mode. Its priority becomes clearing out infection and detoxifying. That’s why you naturally lose your appetite when you’re running a fever.
That’s why in Ayurveda it’s recommended to fast as much as possible during a fever and to avoid eating heavy foods—especially hard-to-digest animal proteins, dairy, sugar, greasy dishes, and heavy meals. Why?
Because these foods are moist, phlegmatic, and sticky in nature. Eating them during a fever is like pouring stickier mucus into that same pot, delaying your body’s cleansing process.
Home Remedies for Fever
What foods should you absolutely avoid during a fever?
- Sugary foods (all kinds of sweets, cakes, packaged biscuits, desserts, soda, ice cream, etc.)
- Foods made with white flour (like baguette, pasta, macaroni, lasagna, pizza, cakes, pastries)
- Dairy (especially cheese, yogurt, cream, and clotted cream)
- Hard-to-digest animal proteins (beef, veal, pork, seafood)
- Hydrogenated fats, vegetable oils, fried foods
- Iced drinks
- Very sweet fruits such as bananas, figs, dates, melons, cantaloupe
- Sour fruits like plums, peaches, nectarines, etc.
So what should you eat?
Focus on gentle self-care and maintaining hydration.
Make a light vegetable soup:
Sauté some onions in a little olive oil, then add a pinch of saffron, turmeric, and coriander seeds. Drop in a small piece of chicken breast along with carrots, parsley, cilantro, and celery—the amount of carrots and parsley should be twice that of cilantro and celery. Add a bit of quinoa. Season again with a little saffron, turmeric, and coriander seeds. The soup should be about 70–80% vegetables, with a small amount of quinoa and chicken. Add some lemon juice for flavor.
Start your morning with a large glass of warm water + a few drops of lemon juice + one teaspoon of honey.
For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, eat only one bowl of the above soup.
Herbal Tea
Starting two hours after each meal, drink the following fever-reducing tea every hour:
Mix the following herbs in whole-seed or dried-leaf form, using the proportions given. To make tea, steep one teaspoon of the mix in a cup of boiling water. Once steeped, add a few drops of lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and one teaspoon of honey.
Dried basil (2 parts) + fennel (1 part) + coriander seeds (1 part)
Snack
For a snack, have cooked apple or pear. Or gently heat apple juice until it foams, add a little fennel, and after it cools, drink 2–3 times throughout the day.
Stick to this diet until your fever subsides. Get plenty of rest and absolutely avoid sun exposure, exercise, or strenuous activity.
Anything else?
When your fever is high, dissolve one teaspoon of salt in a glass of room temperature water. Soak three towels in the saltwater—place one on your forehead, one on your belly/navel, and the third under your feet. This is also very effective for reducing fever in infants and children.
Be full of health
Please be sure to credit the author, Setareh Kiumarsi, when sharing or republishing this article, which was written with love and the hope of well-being for all.
