Asthmatic care - Food- Tobacco- Constipation-Chemical odors- Exertion causes and remedies for asthma

Food

 Eat moderately, slowly, never after 7 :00 P.M. If possible, the major meal should come at midday rather than in the evening. A 30-minute rest' period after dinner and supper is advisable. Overtaxing the digestion with excessive food encourages asthma.

Tobacco

 The patient with bronchial asthma should never smoke. Drink. Cocktails before dinner may provide relaxation and enjoyment. But drinking after dinner, late in the evening, may interfere with digestion, lead to abdominal distention, wakefulness, and asthma.

Constipation 

It is important for the asthmatic to avoid this, by drinking no less than six glasses of water daily and eating a fair share of fruits and vegetables.

Chemical odors

 Asthmatic attacks may be triggered or aggravated by such fumes as those from fresh varnishes and paints, moth balls, and dry-cleaning fluids.

Exertion

 Excessive -fatigue, mental or physical, from work or play, should be avoided. Patients who are subject to frequent bronchial infections should ask their doctor about taking antibiotics on a prophylactic basis during the months when they tend to get such infections. If there is obvious sinus infection, it should be treated. When asthma is severe enough to make the doctor worry about possible development of emphysema, the patient should learn exercises which have helped many asthmatics improve exchange of air. The exercises given below take patience. It may be necessary for the patient to receive instruction in them from a specialist in asthma. 

Medicines for allergies

As for medicines, those helpful for pollen allergy may be used. Food Allergy some people notice that ingestion of a certain food causes hives nasal congestion and sneezing, or asthma. Others trace to a particular food such symptoms as abdominal discomfort, nausea, cramps, belching, and diarrhea. Some people experience migraine headaches after eating particular foods such as chocolate.

 When there is a clear association between particular foods and symptoms, diagnosis presents no problems. But when the symptoms are those of indigestion, it may be more difficult to be certain that a true food allergy is involved. In such cases, the doctor relies not only on the patient's account but does skin tests with allergens pre- pared from egg, milk, and many other foods.

Also, he has the patient keep a diary of food intake and symptoms. Then, in some cases, the doctor puts the patient on a basic non allergenic diet and adds suspected offending foods one at a time to establish which produces symptoms. Food allergy is rarely a serious disease. When milk is the offender in a child or adolescent, care must be taken to include in the diet other foods which can provide the minerals and protein of this important dietary constituent. The best way to treat food allergy is to avoid the troublesome foodstuff. 

This may sound simple but there are dozens of foods that contain eggs and milk, for example; and the purchaser may not realize this or he may have to eat in restaurants where food preparation is not under his control.

Thus people who are allergic to common foods should learn the long list of dishes that may contain such foods. Complete lists are provided in all about Allergy by M. C. Harris, M.D., and N. Shure, M.D. (Prentice- Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Publisher, 1969). This 1000-posts contains much of value to persons whose allergies are not readily controlled or whose doctors want them to read extensively about their ailment. 

Can a person allergic to food be desensitized? The method is not easy. It consists of taking very small amounts of the offending food by mouth until resistance to it is finally built up. Medicine-Induced Allergy Any medicine may have more than just a primary effect. For example, an antihistamine may provide some relief for hay fever; that is its primary action. But it may have a secondary effect, drowsiness. In addition, it may have unexpected bizarre actions, producing varied symptoms, sometimes including hives, skin rashes, hay fever, or asthma.

The most feared reaction from administration of a medicine is the allergic condition known as anaphylaxis or anaphylactic shock, in which the patient develops itching, hives, runny nose, and asthmatic breathing, sometimes followed by pallor, cold sweats, low blood pressure, stupor, or coma, and in some cases, death may occur. In some cases of anaphylaxis, there may be only hives with or without swelling of the throat and larynx; this reaction is called angioedema. Another allergic reaction to medicines and serums is the delayed or serum sickness type. It occurs five to ten days after the sensitizing sub- stance is used and involves itching, hives, and joint pains. In addition to hives, medicines may sometimes pro- duce other skin reactions including eczema. 

Weight Gain - How to determine you have weight deficiency

If you are markedly underweight or are losing weight, medical advice is important. A chronic underweight condition or a sudden loss of weight is an indication of poor health. It may signal the presence of onset of disease-for example, diabetes, over activity of the thyroid gland or, especially in children, intestinal worms. Chronic infections and other problems also may lead to weight loss. Finding the cause is the job of a physician. Your responsibility is to watch your weight-and your children's-and seek medical advice when there is a definite abnormality of weight.

DETERMINING IF YOU ARE UNDERWEIGHT

Usually, the advice of a physician is necessary in deciding whether you are really underweight. Quite possibly, if you are 10 to 15 pounds under the figures given in the chart on page 61, if your bones stick out all over your body, if the muscles don't cover the back, thighs, and buttocks with resilient protection, or if your face is thin and drawn, you are underweight. However, you may be the long lean type whose weight normally runs below the given figures. Your physician, by considering results of his physical examination, including observations of the size and bony framework of your body, can decide fairly accurately whether you are underweight.

If your extreme thinness is due to ill health, it is, of course, the physician's responsibility to determine what the problem is and to correct it. You will respond well when a chronic infection is the cause and is eliminated, or when thyroid gland functioning is at the root of the problem and is corrected. If the problem lies with failure to eat enough of the right food, your doctor can help you plan a diet that will add needed weight. Depending upon your individual problem and needs, your physician may suggest some or all of the following aids: TIME. It takes time to eat properly and to enjoy food. Pleasant company may help you to prolong your mealtime so you can eat more with- out feeling stuffed. If it is necessary for you to eat alone, you may find it helpful to listen to the radio, particularly to music, or even to read to keep from being bored. It can also be helpful to relax before meals. It is difficult to eat well when you are tired.

 CONSTITUTE High-CALORIE   LOW-CALORIE FOODS

It can be helpful Weight Control / 79 10 substitute high-calorie vegetables such as peas, potatoes, and Lima lw.ms for bulky low-calorie ones. Within the bounds of moderation, you ("" eat somewhat more of desserts, cream soups, bread, nuts and olives, 01111 and salad dressings. You can get into the habit of adding an extra pill of margarine to your vegetables and to many soups.

EAT MORE. You can do it. Another piece of bread, a second helping, soon becomes matters of habit.

SNACKS

 You can learn to enjoy them, finding ones that do not spoil your appetite.

SWEETS

 Although they have a role in the diet, sweets present a problem. Candy, jellies, pastry, cake, and ice cream are concentrated sources of energy. But they may satiate the appetite for more valuable foods. They may also, particularly in children and young adults, increase the decay of teeth. If they do not interfere with your appetite and do help you to gain weight, be sure to have frequent dental checkups. 

Food Intake Suggestions For Weight Control, Weight Loss

Weight Control, Weight loss Suggestions

Don’t taste while cooking and don't lick the bowl when finished cooking. It has been said jokingly, but not without a grain of truth, that half the overweight.

 House wives in this country have tasted or licked themselves. Add a great deal in calories. Are they worth it? If you happened to be a "snacker," you can study the snack chart. Consider that a cup of tea or coffee, without cream, with, spoonful of sugar, contains only 16 calories; it may satisfy yourself or at least take the edge off it, and provide the quick energy you.

On the other hand, a chocolate sundae will run between 300 and 500 calories, and half a brick of plain ice cream is 200 (and even low-calorie ice cream is 100). Nibbling between meals does help some people to diet by decreasing their appetite at mealtime.

 If you try this, keep careful count of calories  you will know whether or not it is really helping you. Nibbling also may be suggested by a physician for some heart patients, since the body can manage five or six very small meals daily more easily than the customary three, one or two of which may be fairly heavy.

The idea that you are helping your children when you sample their dinners or finish their portions is one that ought to be dropped. It helps neither them nor you-and can become a fattening habit. 

CALORIE COUNT - Weight Control - What Food to take? How ?Much Food to take?

Weight Control  

 CALORIE COUNT 

How do you determine the proper calorie level per day for you? Your physician can help, taking into account your present weight, desired weight, state of health, and normal activities. He may suggest perhaps as few as 1,200 calories per day if you are an adult woman, 1,500 to 1,800 if you are an adult man. These levels are about half those of non-dieters. 

Within these limits, you can diet reasonably happily on a wide variety of foods and obtain all essential nutrients. Or your physician may suggest a reduction of intake level by as little as 300 or 400 calories. It is usually not considered wise to depend upon a reduction of less than 300 or 400, since one or two miscalculations or indulgences may mean no weight loss at all.

Remember that the objective is permanent weight loss, not a flashy quick cut down, promptly followed by a return of the excess pounds. So what if it takes several months or even a year to reach your ideal weight -as long as you will be using a tolerable diet, one you can sustain, retraining you’re eating habits so you can enjoy the new habits and the desired weight level for the rest of your life. 

Always remember that only one-half pound of weight loss per week means 26 pounds for the year, and 1 pound a week means over 50 pounds lost. In setting up your diet, your physician most likely will move in the direction of a little of everything, to assure balance and variety.

He will make certain you get something from each of the four basic food groups (see page 49). He will be thinking in terms not merely of reducing but of general health, of reducing without risk of malnutrition or risk of fomenting heart disease. 

As an example, sample menus for 1,200 calories a day diet might go like this: 

Breakfast: 1/2 small grapefruit; 1 poached egg; 1 slice of toast; 1 small pat of butter or margarine; coffee or tea. 

Lunch: A 3-ounce cooked serving of lean meat, poultry, or fish; 1 serving of vegetable; 1 serving of fruit; 1 slice of bread; 1 small pat of butter or margarine; 1 glass of skim milk. 

Dinner: A large broiled beef patty; 1/2 cup of asparagus; 1/2 to 1 cup of tossed green salad with vinegar dressing; 1 slice of bread; 1 small pat of butter or margarine; 1/2 cup of pineapple; 1 glass of skim milk. Snacks, if desired, may consist of bouillon or consommé, tomato juice, raw vegetables, coffee or tea, or food saved from meals. 

You may find it convenient to use a mini-pocketbook calorie counter available in pharmacies and food stores. 

For your general guidance, the table lists the calorie content of many commonly used foods   

WHAT IS A BALANCED DIET?

Understanding Balanced Diet

Nearly 50 nutrients; including amino-acids (the constituents of proteins), carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals are now known to be essential for health. A balanced diet is one that can supply all the essentials. It is almost certain that as time passes still other essential elements in foods will be isolated. This is added reason why a balanced and varied diet makes sense; if it is balanced and varied, it can supply all known requirements and others still unknown. 

The currently known essential nutrients have their specific functions. Briefly, because muscles, heart, liver, kidney, and other organs are composed chiefly of proteins, proteins are needed for development and growth of these organs during childhood and adolescence. After growth is over, body tissues, which are continually being worn out, must be   replaced by new materials, So ample dietary protein is essential at all times. 

Meat, fish, milk, and eggs are among the main sources of protein. Bones are composed chiefly of mineral substances such as calcium and phosphorus which are required both for original bone formation and for maintenance. Milk-fresh, canned, dried, skim, or whole-is a major source. Calcium also is supplied by American and Swiss cheese, molasses, turnip tops, dandelion greens.

And cereals, meat, and fish contain phosphorus. 

The fuel of life-what the body burns for energy-is sugar. Carbohydrates, which include both sugars and starches, provide the fuel most readily, for in the body starches are quickly converted to sugar. Fats and proteins also supply the fuel for metabolism-not as quickly, but they can be stored by the body as reserves, for use as needed. Vitamins help to convert foodstuffs into body tissues-skin, bones, muscles, nerves. Although required only in minute amounts, their role is obviously vital, and it is suspected that trace elements and perhaps still other materials yet to be isolated may perform similar functions.

A well-balanced diet-for young and old, active or sedentary, tall or short-can be supplied daily from four basic food groups: Milk and milk products- 2 servings for adults; 3 to 4 for children; 4 or more for teen-agers. One serving equals an 8-oz. glass of whole or skimmed milk; 1 oz. (1 slice) of hard cheese; or 1/2 cup of cottage cheese.