Care for patients: How do you feed them?

Nutritional status of the body is one of the key factors to consider when one is sick. Normally doctors will help with information regarding the nutritional status and general health of the patient but the care giver to the patient should always work hard to provide every essential requirement in the right time.Due to illness and poor feeding pattern, patients tend to suffer malnutrition and this retards rate of recovery. During sickness, the body tends to lose some essential mineral body requirements such as vitamins, potassium, and ion among others.Any medical condition that brings about imbalance in the body of the patient will further weaken his or her health status. Patients will always need food nutrients to support their body requirements and need to feed on a well regulated meal.Perhaps this is the reason why in modern hospital settings, hospital administrators decide to feed patients and include meal billings in their treatment cost/charges.Malnutrition is always a problem to patients who cannot feed well. When you are sick, you need to really feed on a nutritious meal to support the body’s requirements. So many problems disrupt the feeding patterns of the patient and the care giver should always be aware of such problems so as to support the patient adequately.Nausea and vomiting, pain are some of the problems that make people not feed properly. However, outside the hospital you will always need to feed yourself especially when you have the above mentioned problems. Sometimes you can have vomiting or even diarrhea. Nausea and diarrhea are problems that make the body lose so much water in a short period of time.These problems usually lead to acute dehydration and people should always be careful to patients having such problems in domestic set-ups.One of the plant nutrients considered when you have nausea and vomiting is ginger. Ginger is always pounded in a powder form and mixed in a cup of tea or cooked with a drink to have its full solubility. Some ginger soda drinks are sometimes helpful but tea with ginger is the best option to consider.People with persistent nausea problems are advised to take regular tea with ginger. It is a known natural anti-nauseant. In addition it tends to culminate problems of abdominal pain as it is known to eliminate gastro-intestinal distress and gas.A dish with soup of a well balanced diet is usually very helpful and is usually very helpful for sick patients. It should be warm with relatively smaller solid food materials. It is always easy for patients to take as the warming sensation it always make the patient feel relaxed especially in the gastro-intestinal tract system.It should be prepared in such a way that it contains all the necessary body nutrients. Onions or garlic nutrients should always be part of the soup due to their anti-microbial effect among other functions in the body. Proteins, vitamins, and measurable carbohydrates should always be part of a soup dish. This is because with all these body nutrients, a patient can not suffer from malnutrition.People with throat pain are sometimes advised to take two or three daily spoons of natural honey due to its antimicrobial effect and tend to fight off micro-organisms that affect your throat. It is advisable to add honey in a cup of warm tea as a drink.Banana is also another good food advised to take for a sick person. It is a food nutrient easy to digest and makes it easy for people to eat when they have nausea.Bananas contain a good amount a mount a mineral nutrient you always need when you are sick. Potassium has so many tangible benefits especially for proper hear function.They are recommended to patients with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The potassium in bananas replaces the lost potassium in vomits and diarrhea. Potassium is one of the important minerals that is quickly lost in vomits and diarrhea.Many people tend to give juice to patients but I think sometimes its unhealthy drink for patients due to its high sugar content and chemical ingredientsWhen you are healthy, it is actually better to eat the actual fruit rather than drink the juice. However, a well prepared juice from a fresh fruit is recommendable for patients. Fresh fruits contain fiber that is hard to digest when you are sick as seen in some patients with gastric and intestinal problems. Juice is a great way to get vitamins and fruit sugar in an easily digestible format. Vegetable juices are also a great choice for patients. Dr Joseph Kamugisha is a resident oncologist in Jerusalem, Israel