DIET.--The importance of diet and its relation to the needs of the system
in disease can hardly be overrated. One should not only know what kind of
food to give, but how much and how often it should be given to get the
best result. Food should be given in small quantities in acute diseases
and at regular intervals. It will digest better. The food should never be
left in the sick room after a patient has finished with it. This applies
to all kinds of food, but especially to milk, for it absorbs impurities
from the air more readily than any other kind of food. How often do we see
milk standing in a sick room and uncovered; how often is it placed in an
ice box uncovered. I have often wondered how such people could eat some
foods I have seen prepared for them in such a careless way and with no
attempt to make it appear tempting to their poor appetite. Foods should be
given just as regularly as medicines, when so ordered, especially in long
wasting diseases like typhoid fever.
The kind of food.--Under each disease directions for the kind of food,
time, and quantity have been given. In diseases like typhoid fever,
special care must be given. It is better in that disease to give too
little than too much food and the proper kind of food must be given. I
shall never forget the death of a minister in my childhood days. I was
about four years old. This minister was loved by everyone and when he died
of typhoid fever, everyone was grieved and shocked and they could not
understand why God should take such a useful man away. It made a great
impression upon me. I found out more about the "why" afterwards. This
minister was in the convalescent stage and very hungry. He wanted a
genuine boiled dinner. That is bad enough for a well man. The doctor
forbade it, but the family gave him the dinner and the result, of course,
was fatal. It could not be otherwise. We often blame God for our own sins.
Many people are killed by kind friends. I have seen it more than once.
Peanuts, popcorn, and candy have caused many convulsions in children and
some deaths.
It is generally allowable to give a little liquid food every two hours in
acute diseases. It should be given at regular intervals in the conscious
or unconscious patients, especially in long continued diseases.
[644 MOTHERS' REMEDIES ]