HOW TO AVOID COLDS.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 2, 8 April 1893, Page 4

HOW TO AVOID COLDS.

The following directions of an eminent physician for avoiding colds are •worth remembering 1 ; —To he able to stand cold well, one must eat such Muds of food as will give plenty of heat, and must also accustom the system as much as possible to cold. Heat-forming foods are rice, sago, tapioca, potatoes, the grains of wheat, oats, barley and especially maize. I do not recommend fat, because it is difficult of digestion, but in moderation it is useful. Oatmeal ponidge eaten with buttox- and sugar forms a good cold-rcsisting breakfast. Then rice, with peas, barley, and a little oil or fat, make a good dinner, whilst for tea, some brown bread, with butter and preserve, will do well. To accustom the body to cold, one must not wrap up too much, but make the body adapt itself as much as possible to t'lxe cold. The human system possesses in the bi-ain a centre for the g-overnment of the heat of the body, by which it is always kept at one uniform height. If we heat our bodies by hot di-inks, hot rooms, heaps of clothes, we give , this centre little to do. But if wo expose the

body'to cold, or take our food nearly cold, and do not clothe too heavily, we keep this in good condition, and it will keep the body warm and ready for sudden exposure, if we give it the necessary food. The body can be made accustomed to cold by means of air baths. When cold do not rush to the tire, but take a sharp run, stamp the feet, or throw the arms across the chest, making the fingers hit the back as cabmen do. Avoid hot fluids, as tea or soups, which give a fleeting feeling of warmth. The}' are very good if you want to restore a numb person. But if you are much out in the open air, take your food all nearly cold ; the system will supply the required heat, and you will find that you can stand the cold much better than if you took hot drinks.