Day Four - How Do Sick People Get Well on this Much Food?

July 30th 2013

When I was a kid, my grandmother used to say "Starve a cold, feed a fever." I don't know whether or not that was good advice, but I can tell you this, I don't know how people, especially children, who are not healthy to begin with because of lack of nutrition, get well when they get sick and are eating on a dollar's worth of food a day. I feel terrible - not because of the amount of food I am eating but because of this virus I have picked up. It laid me flat for two days and even today, working was a struggle. I was healthy and well-nourished when I got sick so I don't think my eating less is causing me to stay sick longer, but it definitely has challenged my energy level - trying to function and get well at the same time takes energy and I would think at least adequate nutrition. I am getting adequate nutrition for a short term fast. I have the luxury of actually choosing brown rice with far more nutrients than the nutrient depleted white stuff that most of the poor in the Philippines eat and I'm eating beans that are high in protein. And this is a short term fast - it will end.What do you do when you can't choose nutritious food, even in limited quantities? What do you do when the "fast" has no end? I know this is short term and so its tolerable and I have plenty of clean water with which to flush my system - my body will do its work - but what if I didn't have plenty of clean water and my body was already worn down from just fighting to survive each day? When there are no reserves from which to draw?