Hippocrates — "To eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness."
To eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Hippocrates
"The greatest mistake in the treatment of diseases is that there are physicians for the body and physicians for the soul, although the two cannot be separated."
"The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well."
"For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restrict them to the knife or fire."
"If you cut open a man and find his liver black as pitch, he will die within seven days."
"A physician without a knowledge of astrology has no right to call himself a physician."
Details
From his medical teachings regarding diet during illness.
Date: c. 460–370 BCE (approximate)
ShockingVerification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: gemini
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
Eating while ill is counterproductive — it sustains the disease rather than aiding recovery. The body naturally suppresses appetite during illness as a defense mechanism, diverting energy toward immune function instead of digestion. Forcing food when sick burdens the system and may slow healing. This aligns with modern research showing that fasting during acute infection can reduce bacterial growth and redirect metabolic resources toward fighting pathogens.
Relevance to Hippocrates
Hippocrates practiced medicine on Cos around 460–370 BCE, emphasizing diet and lifestyle over supernatural causes of disease. His Hippocratic Corpus repeatedly stresses diaita — regulated diet — as central to health and recovery. This quote reflects his core conviction that the body possesses innate healing power and the physician's role is to support those natural processes, not override them with forced nourishment that diverts the body's resources.
The era
In ancient Greece, medicine was transitioning from temple-based ritual healing to rational, observation-driven practice. Most people believed illness was divine punishment requiring sacrifice or prayer. Hippocrates and his school argued disease had natural causes — diet, environment, lifestyle. Recommending fasting during illness was radical, directly countering the Greek cultural instinct to offer abundant food to the sick as an act of hospitality, care, and restoration.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].