Foods and home making

Why does food for invalids need special care ? If you have ever been ill, you may know that foods do not taste the way they do when you are well. Very often sick persons do not care for the foods they like when well. Sometimes they do not want any food at all. Food is a very important factor in treating a sick person. Sometimes rest and very nourishing, easily di- gested foods are all that are needed to bring about recovery. There are several things to think about in preparing food for a sick person. 1. Select the kind of food that a patient needs to nourish him. 2. Prepare it so that it will taste as good as it is possible to make it. 3. Serve it so that it looks attractive. How should food be selected for a sick person? In very severe illness, a doctor may be as particular to prescribe food as 482 Health and Child Care he is to prescribe medicine. Under such conditions, the doctor’s orders should be followed carefully. When the illness is not so serious, a member of the family sometimes selects food for a patient. If a sick person does not want any food, it is often a mistake to ask him what to cook for him. Think of the kind of food he should eat ; also think of the food he especially likes. If he likes the food he should eat, the selection is easy. If he thinks he dislikes the food he should eat, try to prepare it in such a way that he will like it. Sometimes a food may be mixed or flavored with other food to give it a different taste. What is a liquid diet ? The dissolving of food is one step in digesting food. Food which is liquid before it is eaten is con- sidered easy to digest. Sometimes a physician will merely direct that the sick person be given a liquid diet. It is well under such circumstances to know the nature of a liquid diet. The foods of a liquid diet are usually given every few hours. A day’s liquid diet usually furnishes only a few hundred calories. A liquid diet includes : 1. Milk. If a patient dislikes plain milk, buttermilk or malted milk may be given. Cocoa made with much milk is sometimes pre- pared for patients who do not like plain milk. 2. Uncooked egg. Often a raw egg is mixed with milk, fruit juice, or cocoa so as to make the egg taste better or to disguise its taste. These foods may also increase the food value. An eggnog may be made by mixing x beaten egg, f cup milk, 2 teaspoons sugar, a speck of salt, and a few drops of vanilla or grains of nutmeg. 3. Cream soups. These are valuable in many cases because they always contain milk and usually strained vegetable. 4. Cereal gruels. These foods are about as thick as cream soups. Cereal gruels are cooked in the same way as breakfast cereals except that less cereal is used in making them. Use oatmeal, corn meal, barley, rice, Graham or whole-wheat flour, or crushed Graham or oatmeal crackers — for preparing gruels. Use 1 tablespoon of cereal with 1 cup of liquid. Cook the mixture thoroughly. Strain it before serving. In case a breakfast cereal has been cooked for Caring for the Sick in the Home 483 the rest of the family, a gruel may be made by adding water to the cooked cereal, and then straining.