General Considerations of Diet of the Sick. Concentrated Foods. Fats and Oils. Rectal Feeding.

General Considerations Of Diet Of The Sick

In health, appetite is usually a guide as to the time when food is needed, but it often deceives those who enjoy food into eating too frequently, and those who think it necessary to satisfy it fully, into eating too much. Nor can appetite always be regarded as an indication of the character of food to be eaten. Appetite contributes to our enjoyment, but it is as unsafe and uncertain as a guide to conduct as imagination would be. Many persons, however, make it their guide. This error should especially be avoided by the sick. They often require food when they do not desire it, need kinds that they relish little, and are satisfied before they have taken enough. However, it is best to gratify the taste of the sick so far as it is wise and practicable. If they are quickly satiated, food may have to be given with frequency, not because they crave it, but because it is needed.

To maintain health, it has been found best to eat at regular times. Although those who are sick may have to eat more frequently than those who are well, they also should be fed at regular times. Appetite - that is, the appreciation of food - is preserved and whetted by daintiness in serving. Only about so much food as the sick person ought to eat should be brought to him, for if a large quantity is placed before him, the sight of it is often distasteful. Therefore, it is frequently best to serve a meal in courses, bringing to the patient one article of food at a time. It should be served on dishes as pretty and attractive as possible, and with extreme neatness. So soon as a dish is emptied it should be taken away. These matters of detail, which pertain to the training of nurses, are of the utmost importance when there is little or no desire for food, when appetite is capricious, or when it is desirable to force more food upon the sick than is craved.

Only food that is fresh and in perfect condition should be given to those who are ill. As a rule, it should not be twice cooked. Unpleasant odors, repulsive sights, disagreeable tastes, often disgust those who are not well and create a repugnance to all food.

Eating should be made as easy as possible for those who are weak. They should not be allowed to grow weary by sitting in an uncomfortable position or by sitting too long.

Patients, when they are feeble, should not be awakened for food except under conditions of special urgency. Food, preferably in liquid form, should always be readily accessible at night, so that the nurse may give it in case a patient wakens.

Those who are too weak to help themselves must be fed. While they are upon a liquid diet their food may be given to them most comfortably through a glass tube, by means of which it can be sucked from a cup or bowl. A short drink of water can often be better given by raising the patient's head gently upon his pillow and placing a small cup to his lips.

Those who are unconscious, but able to swallow, may be fedf from a spoon or by a medicine dropper. If a patient cannot swallow, rectal feeding or the stomach-tube must be resorted to.