A system depleted by disease, exhausted by long-continued illness, is an exceedingly delicate instrument to handle. It requires the greatest wisdom and good judgment on the part of physician and nurse to restore a patient to health without a lingering convalescence. There is no doubt that the period of convalescence may be much shortened by the wise administration of food, and that the subsequent health of the patient may be either made or marred by the action of the nurse in this respect.
PART I
EXPLANATORY LESSONS
[PART I
EXPLANATORY LESSONS]
PREPARATION OF FOOD
Digestibility. There are comparatively few kinds of food that can be eaten uncooked. Various fruits, milk, oysters, eggs, and some other things may be eaten raw, but the great mass of food materials must be prepared by some method of cooking. All the common vegetables, such as potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, and the different grains, such as rice, wheat, corn, oats, etc., neither taste good nor are easily digestible until their starch, cellulose, and other constituents have been changed from their compact indigestible form by the action of heat. Some one has spoken of cooking as a sort of artificial digestion, by which nature is relieved of a certain amount of work which it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for her to perform.