Health diet

Typhoid is a common waterborne disease, especially in the developing countries due to lack of safe drinking water supply and poor personal hygiene among people (due to high prevalence of illiteracy). Another important cause of transmission of typhoid is the ability of Salmonella (the causative organism of typhoid is Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi) organism to survive even in freezing temperature for long time. Due to this ability the organisms can survive in ice cream and can be transmitted through ice cream.

In the developed countries typhoid is almost eradicated by provision of safe drinking water and by improvement of environmental sanitation. Poor habits of defecation (e.g. open air defecation in many developing countries) are a major cause of high prevalence of typhoid in developing world.

The main objectives of typhoid diet are as follows:

1. To maintain adequate nutrition during typhoid fever is very important. Loss of appetite may be a problem during typhoid fever and during this time marinating of adequate nutrition may pose a problem.
2. During typhoid fever there may be water and electrolyte disturbance in the body due to loss of body fluids and inadequate intake of oral fluids. Diarrhea is sometimes a symptom of typhoid and need fluid replacement. Maintaining of water and electrolyte is very important during water and electrolyte fever.
3. Along with maintaining of adequate nutrition (mainly calorie) the provision of adequate quantity of protein through diet is also very important. Without adequate protein the recovery from typhoid fever may be slower. Proteins are also essential for healing of wounds.
4. By taking a planned and balanced diet the recovery from typhoid fever is much faster. With proper diet the symptoms of typhoid fever also disappear faster.

By planning a proper diet for a patient of typhoid fever, the recovery from fever and typhoid can be very fast and without much complications of typhoid fever.

For patients who are suffering from tuberculosis it is very important to have good, nutritious and balanced diet for speedy recovery. A balanced diet plan is also essential to prevent some complications of tuberculosis as well as to prevent the side effects of anti tubercular antibiotics, especially Isoniazid (anti tubercular antibiotic). Because tuberculosis can take a heavy toll on the health of the patient diet plan for maintaining the health of tuberculosis patient is of utmost importance.

The following diet plan can help a tuberculosis patient greatly in speedy and uneventful recovery:

Early morning diet: It should consist of milk and biscuits.

Breakfast: Breakfast should be with porridge, bread with butter or jam or whole grain (as per the local food habit).

Mid-morning diet: It should liberal servings of fresh fruits (locally grown fruits are best) and sprouted gram.

Lunch: Lunch should be with whole cereal preparation, liberal amounts of vegetables and seeds and nuts. Lunch also should contain fish and meat as per the linking and local custom.

Evening tea: It should consist of tea/coffee with bread or sandwich or any such local preparation.

Dinner: It should be with whole cereal (rice, maize, wheat etc. as per local tradition); one or two servings of vegetables and fish/meat (preferably white meat).

The following points should be remembered while preparing diet plan for patient of tuberculosis:

1. The diet should be simple, easily digestible, well prepared and to the liking of the patient to encourage for consuming.
2. Meals should be small, but at frequent interval and larger meals can be given if condition of the patient is improved.
3. Force feeding should not be done as it may harm.
4. Fluid intake should be sufficient.
5. Diet should be bland (fiber content of diet should not be high) and diet (easy to digest and absorbed).

Tuberculosis is still a general public health problem in many developing countries such as India. As tuberculosis is common in developing countries, where poverty and malnutrition are also rampant, tuberculosis takes a huge toll on health of the nation as a whole and affects individual health in particular. Tuberculosis patients are generally malnourished and malnutrition is one of the cause of reduced body immune status (malnutrition can not supply adequate proteins and proteins are vital in maintaining immune status of an individual). Due to the possibility of malnutrition in tuberculosis patients it is important to provide proper nutrition to them with adequate protein in the diet.

The following dietary modifications are recommended in tuberculosis:

Energy: The requirement is increased in tuberculosis. This increased energy requirement is to minimize weight loss and for speedy recovery from tuberculosis.

Proteins: Tuberculosis generally has fever of long duration and in fever of long duration there is considerable loss of tissues and to compensate tissue loss the protein intake should be higher in tuberculosis. Serum albumin is also reduced in tuberculosis.

Carbohydrates: The carbohydrate content of diet of tuberculosis patient should be enough to meet increased energy demands, which generally comes from carbohydrates.

Fats: The fat content should be moderate in tuberculosis, because too much fat can frequently cause stomach upset and diarrhea.

Vitamins: The diet of tuberculosis patient should have adequate amount of vitamins. Because some anti tubercular antibiotics use vitamins for their metabolism, especially vitamin B6, so vitamin content should be adequate in diet, especially vitamin B6.

Minerals: The mineral content of tuberculosis diet should be high, especially calcium content. Liberal amount of calcium is required for proper and faster healing and recovery of tuberculosis. For enough calcium, milk and milk products should be taken in liberal quantities. There may also be anemia in tuberculosis patients due to malnutrition and iron should be supplied adequately in diet or supplemented artificially.

Peptic ulcer is a chronic disease if not cared for properly and affect patients’ health adversely in the long run. The health state of the patient of peptic ulcer may deteriorate if diet planning is not suitable for the patients’ health and well being. The following important points should be remembered in regards to diet during peptic ulcer:

1. Eat smaller meals more frequently, instead of eating large meals.

2. Eat bland foods which are easy to digest.

3. Eat slowly and chew the food properly.

4. You should avoid citrus fruits (examples of citrus fruits are orange, lemon etc.) and fruit juice.

5. Smoking is strictly prohibited in peptic ulcer patients for the betterment of patients’ health. Smoking delays ulcer healing and also smoking is one of the causative factors of peptic ulcer.

6. Avoid stress, as it can precipitate ulcer. Maintaining of stress free mind is very important for patients’ health, in peptic ulcer. Stress (mental as well as physical stress) can cause ulcer as is evident by the increase of incidence of ulcer in examination going persons and postoperative patients.

7. You also should avoid tea, coffee, cola etc. as they can irritate the stomach.

Foods to be taken & avoided in peptic ulcer:

The food to be taken by a patient of peptic ulcer should not increase gastric acid secretion. High protein diet can increase gastric acid secretion and should not be taken in peptic ulcer. Diet in peptic ulcer should be bland and easily digestible so that gastric acid requirement is less for digestion of food.

The food to be avoided in peptic ulcer for optimum patients’ health of the peptic ulcer patients are citrus fruits (and fruit juices), coffee, tea, cola etc. Smoking should be avoided strictly, because smoking delay ulcer healing and also it can induce ulcer, especially in presence of aggravating factors. Alcohol also should be avoided strictly as it is one of the causative factors of peptic ulcer. Alcohol also can cause malnutrition and affect patients’ health adversely and delay ulcer healing indirectly by less supply of the nutrients required for ulcer healing.

There are certain points a person suffering from high blood pressure should remember regarding dietary management of high blood pressure for maintaining good patients’ health of the hypertensive patient. Most important he/she should know that the cause of hypertension is generally not clearly known and he/she should avoid factors which may add or aggravate hypertension and increase blood pressure. He/she should understand what hypertension is and learn how to control it through diet and adequate physical exercise.

The following points should be kept in mind:

1. Diet of hypertensive person is more or less normal and with proper understanding of hypertension patients’ health can be maintained at desired health state.
2. Salt (sodium chloride) is one of the most important causative factors in high blood pressure and should avoid as much as is practicable. Restriction of common salt is one of the most useful non drug management of hypertension.
3. Alcohol in moderation (approximately 30-50 ml per day) is beneficial in high blood pressure and heart diseases.
4. Regular aerobic exercise to reduce weight is essential part of treatment of high blood pressure. It is possible o reduce blood pressure to some extent only by reducing body weight to normal or slightly below ideal body weight.
5. Healthy lifestyle with regular physical exercise, intake of high fiber diet with fresh fruits and vegetables and restriction of fast foods or refined food is essential. Lifestyle modification should be permanent and not for few moths or few years. You should make healthy lifestyle a habit (habit is second nature).

N.B.: There is a saying about habit. If you remove “h”, ‘a bit’ remains. If you remove “a”, ‘bit’ of it still remains. If you remove “b”, still ‘it’ remains. So make healthy lifestyle a habit, and it will remain life long.