Foods are either cold or hot. Hot foodswheat, meat, fish, eggs, coffee, spices and mangoesare considered strength-giving and to be eaten in winters, while cold foods like rice, curd, buttermilk are summer foods. This notion also connects with disease. So, diarrhoea is treated with cold foods while hot foods are recommended for respiratory ailments. Says nutritionist K.T. Ach-aya: "The hot-cold theory does not fit in with modern nutritional knowledge."