The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-04-21
diet For the sick

From q most useful book with the above
title due to DR.. III. Ii. Kane, we derive
number of useful hints as to the diet ofthe
sick. Some doctors are fortunate enough
to combine with their pharmaceutical lore q
certain amount of culinary acquaintance 1t
were a great pity that they, many of them
did not know more of the latter. A doctor
may say to his wife, who is all anxiety in re-
gard to the health of her ailing husband,
''give the sick man something light and
nOurishing." Now, what does the ordinary
wife know about such thIngs7 She
could sing for her husbands amuse-
ment, possibly dance for him,
but as to making him nourishing broth, or
q cruel even, as well ask her to balance her
self on a tight rope 1t is not beneath the
dignity of the most learned Esculapius to
unbend at times, and teach the various meth
DDS how food should be prepared for invalids
Relative values of food and their digestibility
q physician should have by heart, and it is
his duty to impart his knowledge when it is
necessary. Now as to methods of preparing
food for invalids. DR.. Kane says: "Fried
food of any kind should never be admitted
to the sick room. The process renders the
food very hard of digestion, as it gives it to
us cased in dark outside of Drowned mate
rial and fat" A leading authority, DIR.
Baird, writes about frying, as follows: This
is method of cooking meat which has no
other recommendation than convenience.
It is a rude method, adapted for coarse ma
lures, and disappears before civilization"
We wish W. thought DR.. Baird was right as
| to its disappearance. Frying like original
sin is, we are afraid, everlasting, and not to
| be stamped out. Ifmeat has to be given to an
| invalid, it must be broiled. Even precaution
Il he tot ho bi.h
| the fire is made. Hot Goals often smoke and
| flavor the meat disagreeably. If possible,
broil with a wood fire. An excellent method
| is to take bit of meat or chicken and wrap
| it in buttered piece of paper, and thus
| place it on the grldiron. Baking meat is not
as good process, though often resorted to.
| The tendency of meat placed in an oven is to
| evaporate all those strengthening juices
| found in the flesh. Boiling meat if attended
| to properly, is not bad method, as the beef
retains large amount of nutriment, the
fatty portions being dissolved by the heat.
| But the trouble about the boiling process is
that unless great intelligence is used, the meat
| is overlooked and the nutritious elements are
found more in the broth than in the meat.
Then, again, as the appetite has to be some
| what stimulated boiled meals are a trihe in
sipid and tasteless. The process of boiling
ing beef, the boiled chicken can be, however,
most advantageously used in the sick room.
Stewing, when the broth is made rich in ex-
trsctive matter, when the selection of the
material has been judicious, is excellent food
| for invalids, providing the fats have been
taken away In "Diet for the Sick, F" the re-
mark in regard to fats should be remembered,
that as the carbons are heat pro-
ducers, when the patient has inclina-
tions to fevers, they are prone to give
| recurrence of them. Fats digest slowly, and
in delicate constitutions may disorder the
stomach. If q portion of the battle over i'll
ness has been won by the proper selection
and dressing of the fool, if It be slovenly or
carelessly served, it often does more harm
than good. Nothing is more distasteful than
to hand an i'll person smeary dish or q
| sloppy cup. The senses are so delicate that
often an overcharge of food is revolving TO
the sight and deadens the appetite. tits
better, then, TO make two trips between the
kitchen and the sick room than to disgust q
| patient with an overabundance There is
| no precaution which should not be taken to
make meal inviting. Have always q clean
napkin; change it every time the food is
partaken of If the patient is too weak to
use spoon or fork himself. be careful not to
cram, and remember that the invalid is not
Strasbourg goose penned up in cage and
that your sole object is to increase the size
of his or her liver. 1t is wise, eminently
wise, to humor the patient. Never talk
much about what you are going to admin
lister in the way of food. Just as the eyes,
; nose and ears are stimulated by disease, so
does the imagination of the patient become
eccentric. Sometimes expectations are raised
too high; at other periods simply to men
. tion food is to pail the appetite. 0ftentimes
! it is better to produce your neatly-covered
: tray without any advice of its coming to the
patient. We all of us must know of patients
in our own experience who would rather
, starve than say that they were hungry. This
is to be forgiven, as it is nothing more than
an idiosyncrssy. Firmness is all we'll enough,
and an intelligent Invalid may be coaxed
into eating, but to bully about food is mis-
take, and often results most unfortunately.
If, with languid movement of the hand,
the poor sufferer should bid you "begone"
with all your nicely-prepared food, take it
kindly, but try it again at some other time.
The great thing is patience. and always
patience.