DIET
FOODS AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK ROOM.
DIET.—The importance of diet and its relation to the needs of the system in disease can hardly be overrated. One should not only know what kind of food to give, but how much and how often it should be given to get the best result. Food should be given in small quantities in acute diseases and at regular intervals. It will digest better. The food should never be left in the sick room after a patient has finished with it. This applies to all kinds of food, but especially to milk, for it absorbs impurities from the air more readily than any other kind of food. How often do we see milk standing in a sick room and uncovered; how often is it placed in an ice box uncovered. I have often wondered how such people could eat some foods I have seen prepared for them in such a careless way and with no attempt to make it appear tempting to their poor appetite. Foods should be given just as regularly as medicines, when so ordered, especially in long wasting diseases like typhoid fever.
The kind of food.—Under each disease directions for the kind of food, time, and quantity have been given. In diseases like typhoid fever, special care must be given. It is better in that disease to give too little than too much food and the proper kind of food must be given. I shall never forget the death of a minister in my childhood days. I was about four years old. This minister was loved by everyone and when he died of typhoid fever, everyone was grieved and shocked and they could not understand why God should take such a useful man away. It made a great impression upon me. I found out more about the "why" afterwards. This minister was in the convalescent stage and very hungry. He wanted a genuine boiled dinner. That is bad enough for a well man. The doctor forbade it, but the family gave him the dinner and the result, of course, was fatal. It could not be otherwise. We often blame God for our own sins. Many people are killed by kind friends. I have seen it more than once. Peanuts, popcorn, and candy have caused many convulsions in children and some deaths.
It is generally allowable to give a little liquid food every two hours in acute diseases. It should be given at regular intervals in the conscious or unconscious patients, especially in long continued diseases.
[644 MOTHERS' REMEDIES ]
LIQUID DIET.
1. Cream soups; tomato, pea, corn, celery, rice, spinach, asparagus, potato.
2. Gruels; oatmeal, cornmeal, cream of wheat, flour gluten (for diabetes).
How to Albuminize Fruit Juices.—Into a cup of lemonade, orangeade, grape juice, etc., put white of an egg slightly beaten, mix thoroughly, strain and serve.
The following may or may not be albuminized.
3. Fruit juices; lemonade, orangeade, unfermented grape juice, currant, berry juice.
4. Milk; peptonized milk, albuminized, buttermilk, malted milk, and milk porridge.
5. Stimulating drinks; tea, coffee, cocoa.
6. Broths; beef broth, mutton broth, chicken broth, bouillon, consomme, oyster broth, clam broth, oyster soup, clam soup, beef tea, and beef juice.
7. Eggs; raw eggs and egg-nog.
8. Cooling and nourishing drinks; oatmeal water, rice water, barley water and toast water. Ices and ice cream may be included in the liquid diet list.
SOFT DIET.—This diet includes everything in the liquid diet list, and the following additional foods:
1. Bread: soft bread; dry toast; milk, water or cream toast, brown bread (after the first day on soft diet).
2. Eggs: poached, soft-boiled and shirred.
3. Cereals: all cooked for some hours; cornmeal, oatmeal rice, sago, wheaten grits and cream of wheat.
4. Desserts: junket, custards, milk puddings, rice, thoroughly cooked, tapioca, jellies, baked and stewed apples, prunes whipped and stewed, ices and ice cream.
[NURSING DEPARTMENT 645]
CONVALESCENT DIET.—This includes everything in the liquid and soft diet lists and the following in addition:—
1. Breads: wheat, rye, Boston brown and graham bread and biscuits.
2. Meats: broiled steak, mutton, fish, game and fowl, or stewed fowl. Also calf's head, calf 's brains, shell fish and oysters.
3. Eggs, as in soft diet.
4. Drinks as in soft diet.
5. Vegetables: tomatoes, green peas, string beans, potatoes (Irish and sweet), lettuce, cresses, asparagus, onions, celery, spinach and mushrooms.
6. Desserts: custards, creams, jellies, ripe fruits and stewed fruits. No pastry or rich puddings.