OK, I've done Atkins successfully in the past. I was all set to begin induction, just before Christmas, then I came down with a real bad cold. As a result, I was eating hearty soups with carrots and rice.

My questions is this.

How do you deal with a cold, while being on a low-carb diet?

Chicken broth and lots of low carb soups (homemade, of course).

but what difference does having a cold make? I take it you eat differently when you are ill vs. well? I work in an ER and have had two viruses since beginning... I just keep drinking tons of water, maybe add a little hot herbal tea, and take handfuls of vit. C.

The major mucus producing foods that you should avoid while experiencing an upper respiratory infection are dairy... so maybe back off the cheese... but otherwise I can't see what difference a cold would make.

Guess I'm just dense today!

Karla

The main difference between being sick is the energy to prepare for low carb, I think. It is a lot easier not to prepare foods from scratch and just open a can of soup. Not to mention these foods are comforting. My best advice is to always have foods that are palatable at any time (broth, favorite veggies, already cooked chicken) on hand when you're sick. Cracking an egg into broth makes an easy egg drop soup and ups the protein as well. Anyway, I wish all those sickness sufferers luck. It is hard for me as well. And if you do fall off, don't kick yourself, just jump right back on!

I think a lot of us have been raised on the idea that you should eat things like soup and foods with a lot of starch when you are sick, but generally this won't make you get better any quicker unless you have some type of virus that is making you vomit. In that case, don't worry too much about low carb and just eat whatever your stomach can tolerate until you feel better and then get right back on track.
Because I have two kids and a husband who are prone to stomach bugs, I always keep a supply of clear broths and sugar-free sprite or ginger ale and sugar-free jello on hand. Sugar-free popsicles are also a good bet when stomach bugs hit...they're frozen so they force you to eat them slowly instead of gulping them when you finally feel better and are hungry. You can also try making some low carb soups and keeping them in the freezer for those times when you come down with a bug and don't feel like cooking anything; just defrost, heat and eat.
Soups can make you feel better when you have a cold mostly because you are leaning over a bowl of steaming liquid and this can feel good to congested aching sinuses. A steam facial would probably feel just as good and might do wonders for you clogged pores as well as your clogged schnoz.

I got a horrible case of the Evil Death Chest Plague in early November, and based solely on my own experience, I'd recommend relaxing a little bit if you're really ill. Even after I recovered from the actual illness, I was much more weak and tired than I should have been and took longer to get back to true health. I'm sure it was from the week of unintentional starvation (I couldn't swallow solid stuff, was sleeping 20+ hours a day, and was too dosed up to care).

Next time I'm that sick, I'm going to allow myself yogurt, berry/cream/whey protein smoothies, homemade hot cocoa, and sugar-free ice cream -- all items I normally avoid. I'll eat as much protein and veggies as I can (literally) choke down, and of course avoid sugary and floury stuff. So I'll be eating highER carb, but still trying to pay attention to the source of my carbs .

I think the most important thing is to get *enough* food to fuel your recovery. I didn't do that,and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Your body really does need more energy to heal itself of serious damage, and under those circumstances, increasing your carb intake a little bit makes sense to me personally.