It is possible to make great variety in the diet even if it be light and easily digested and common sense must govern in the kind as well as the quantity of food allowed the convalescent.
Scraped beef or scraped chicken may be seasoned, lightly pan broiled, and made into a sandwich. The first solid meat may be creamed sweetbread, a bit of broiled tenderloin steak, or breast of chicken.
It is better to give small amounts both because of the lessened work of digestion and because large amounts of food often destroy rather than aid the appetite.
If the appetite is capricious, or lacking, it needs to be stimulated by food appetizingly prepared and daintily served. A sloppy tray with half-cold tea or coffee will often cause complete loss of appetite.
The face and hands of an invalid should always be bathed before a meal; the fresh feeling induced is often an aid to the appetite. The mouth should be carefully cleansed after eating in order that no fermenting food particles may be carried into the stomach to cause disturbance there. Swabbing the mouth with cotton dipped in an alkaline wash or rinsing the mouth with listerine and water or peroxide of hydrogen and water will add greatly to the comfort of the sick, especially when the tongue is coated and the mouth bitter.
Great care should be taken not to allow bread crumbs to fall into or under the bedclothes, as a small bread crumb is often a source of great discomfort. The skin is especially sensitive and a small bread crumb may so disturb the mind as to cause a patient, otherwise doing well, to become restless and disturbed.
The invalid frequently forgets to ask for water and the attendant should see that a sufficient amount of water is taken. A glass of water should be placed where it is within easy reach and it should not be allowed to become warm. Cool water is one of the prime requisites in the invalid’s dietary.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] For treatment of pimples, see Let’s Be Healthy, by Susanna Cocroft.