RIBOFLAVIN - SOURCES

Fleshy foods like liver, egg, skimmed milk powder and other milk products are rich sources of riboflavin. Milk, meat, fish, whole cereals, legumes, dhal, oil - seeds, nuts and leafy vegetables are good sources of riboflain. Milled cereals and flours, roots and tubers and other vegetables are fair sources of riboflavin.

THIAMINE - SOURCES

Rice polishings, dried yeast and wheat germ are rich sources of B1. Whole cereals like wheat, oats, legumes, oil seeds and nuts are good sources. Milled cereals, vegetables, fruits, milk, meat and fish are fair sources. On milling, thiamine is lost from cereals. 

VITAMIN - A SOURCES

Vitamin A is in the form of retinol and carotenoids. The best sources of retinol are codshark and halibut liver, oils and liver of animals like sheep, goat and cow. Butter, ghee, egg, especially egg yolk and all milk powders are good sources of vitamin A. 

Carotenoids are present in green leafy vegetables, yellow vegetables like carrot, pumpkin and yellow fruits like papaya and mangoes. 

BASIC FOOD GROUPS

A balanced diet is one that contains different types of foods in such quantities and proportions that the need for calories, minerals, vitamins and other nutrients is adequately met. These foods are divided into various groups as follows:-

Group I:-

It includes cereals, millets, roots and tubers. All these primarily supply energy or calories e.g., rice, wheat, jowar, maize, bajra, ragi and tapioca, potato, sweet-potato, colocasia, yam. These are important sources of thiamine, niacin and iron.

Group II:-

The food stuffs in this group are primarily sources of protein, e.g., dhal, grains, peas, beans, groundnuts, cashewnuts, almonds, coconut, milk, curd, buttermilk, paneer, eggs, fish, mutton, chicken, pork and other flesh foods. Milk and milk products are important sources of calcium and riboflavin. Meat, fish and eggs rank first for their protein, iron and niacin content.

Group III:-

These food stuffs supply energy or calories e.g., vegetable oils, vanaspati ghee, butter, cream, sugar, jaggery. This group constitutes about 1/6th of the energy value of the diet. Cooking oils include mustard oil, coconut oil, til oil, groundnut oil, palm oil and sunflower oil that supply essential fatty acids.

Group IV:-

These are main suppliers of minerals and vitamins. This includes protective vegetables and fruits.

Class A:-

Green leafy vegetables, palak, methi, drumstick, coriander, fenugreek greens supply vitamin B2, folic acid, calcium, iron, fibre and carotenoids.

Class B:-

Yellow or orange fruits and vegetables - papaya, mango, carrots, yellow pumpkin provide carotenoids.

Class C:-

Fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C - amla, guava, lemon, orange.

                   These are the only important sources of ascorbic acid, contribute half of the vitamin A requirement, supply 1/5th of the iron required.

Group V:-

Other vegetables and fruits are included in this group. These provide variety in taste and texture and furnish roughage in the diet, e.g., fruits, stems, leaves and flowers of plants, lady's finger, brinjal, bitter gourd and other gourds, cabbage, cauliflower, drumstick supply carotenoids, folic acid, calcium and fiber in the diet. Various fruits included in this group are bananas, melons, grapes, apples, sapotas, berries, pears, plantain, lichis, pomogrante.

Remedies Measures to Improve the Appetite

Both, loss of appetite and increase in appetite, indicate an unhealthy state.

• Loss of appetite can be due to emotional tension, not getting enough nutrients due to disliking certain food, stomach cancer or hepatitis.

• Increase in appetite, can be due to habit developed, hyperthyroid, tumour in the pancreas or due to the presence of tapeworm.

Remedies measures to improve the appetite:-

• Season the food with herbs that are appetizers or make a soup and drink before main meals.
• Add in the diet figs, garlic, juniper berries, lemon, nutmeg and strawberries. They help to improve the appetite.

REMEDIES MEASURES FOR BAD BREATH

• Increase in the diet foods that improve the digestion and prevent putrefaction.

• Eat foods that help to fight plaque such as celery, carrot, peanuts.

• Chew a few parsley leaves, a teaspoon of caraway seeds or a teaspoon of dill seeds after each meal to clear bad breath due to indigestion.

• Chew a few red dates or fresh parsley leaves to clear bad breath due to eating garlic.

• Gargle with a glass of water mixed with a drop of thyme oil or clove oil after meals.

• Gargle with the infusion of aniseed, sage leaves, cinnamon, juniper berries, or rosemary after meals.

Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative colitis is a disease of unknown cause characterized by inflammation and ulceration of the large intestine (colon), resulting in the frequent passage of stools with blood and mucus. Acute attacks are more often during mental conflicts and emotional stress. Allergy to certain foods may be a factor in precipitating the disease. Milk, for instance, is on of the foods not well tolerated by patients.

Severe weakness in ulcerative colitis is the result of insufficient food consumption, loss of blood and electrolytes in the stools. 

Diet:-

A soft, low - fibre, high - protein diet is recommended. In a vegetarian it is a difficult task, particularly when milk is also excluded.

Fat used in normal cooking is tolerated. Fried foods are not easily digested and therefore should be avoided.

All forms of irritant and stale foods should be strictly avoided. Raw salads, dried fruits and nuts, condiments and spices, papad, chutney and pickels are strictly prohibited.

Cereals should be taken in the refined form. Only dhuli dhal should be consumed.

Urinary Stones

The kidneys excrete the end products of metabolism like uric acid, phosphate and oxalate along with minerals like sodium, calcium and magnesium. If these minerals crystallize and precipitate, a stone is formed. The commonest renal stones are oxalates, urates or phosphates, combined with calcium.

Diet:-

• The fundamental principle in the treatment of urinary stones is to supply adequate fluids like water, coconut and barley water, fruit juices, thin soups and weak tea in order to ensure the passage of over two litres of urine per day.
• Diluted urine avoids concentration of minerals and also tends to make the urine neutral, thus preventing the strong acid or alkaline reaction that predisposes the precipitation of crystals.

Foods rich in calcium:-

All kinds of beans, cauliflower, potatoes, egg yolk, figs, milk and milk products (except butter and ghee).

Foods rich in oxalate:-

Tomato, spinach, chickoo, custard apple, strawberries, cashew nuts, chocolates, coca, tea

Foods rich in uric acid:-

Liver, kidney, salmon, sardine

Anaemia

Anaemia is a condition characterized by too little haemoglobin  or too few red blood cells in the blood. It is considered a symptom of an underlying disease or condition rather than a disease itself.

A person leading a sedentary life may have a moderate degree of anaemia and yet be free of symptoms, though these develop if unaccustomed exercise is done. As anaemia often develops very slowly, the patient may gradually, unconsciously reduce physical activity to a lower level.

Common symptoms are: skin pallor, fatigue, weakness, fainting spells, breathlessness on exertion, palpitations or increased awareness of your heartbeat, sore mouth or tongue, headache, lack of appetite, loss of hair and tingling in hands and feet.

Pancreas Disorder

The pancreas is a very important digestive organ. It works both as an endocrine gland (like the thyroid, adrenal, pituitary glands), secreting hormones directly into the blood stream and also as an exocrine gland like the liver, secreting digestive enzymes through a duct in the small intestine to assist the digestive process.

As an endocrine gland it secretes insulin which regulates the blood sugar. When too much insulin is produced, it causes low blood sugar or hypoglycemia. When too little insulin is produced, diabetes results.

Water - The Energy of Life

The most important life - giving substance in the body, and one that the body desperately depend on, is water. In the soft tissues - muscles, liver, kidney, the intestines - 75 percent of the volume of the cells is water. The brain cell is said to be 85 percent water. The first impact of dehydration is felt by the brain cells; they are very sensitive to water loss from the body and their function would be affected by even minute changes in their water contents. Since all nerve transmissions depend in a major way on the hydroelectric energy of water, insufficient water intake can also cause a chronic fatigue state of the body.

Imagine that a dry mouth is the only indication of thirst; chronic pain also is often an indication of regional thirst, particularly in rheumatoid arthritic joints of the hands, knees.

The daily routine of the body depends on a turnover of about 40,000 glasses of water. The body recycles this volume of water in 24 hours, but at the end it needs a minimum top up of about six glasses in 24 hours. Tea, coffee, cold drink and alcohol are not to be considered as water; these are drying agents, and they force water out of the body. 

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

The urinary tract consists of kidney, ureters (connecting kidney to bladder), bladder and urethra (linking the bladder to the outside). UTI is more common in women than men. The factors promoting  infection are poor genital hygiene, pregnancy, stones, obstruction and instrumentation of the urinary tract, diabetes mellitus, promiscuity and stasis of urine (e.g. as by neglecting the urge to pass urine).

Total Energy Requirement

The energy requirement of an individual is the level of energy intake from food that will balance energy expenditure. Estimates of energy requirements could be based on measurements of either energy intake or energy expenditure. In practice, measurements of energy intake are usually less reliable than measurement of energy expenditure. This when the individual has a body size and composition and level of physical activity, consistent with long term good health  and that will allow for maintenance of economically necessary and socially desirable activity. In children, pregnant and lactating women the energy requirement includes the energy needs associated with the deposition of tissues or the secretion of milk at rates consistent with good health.

Electrolyte Balance

Electrolytes namely sodium, potassium are present in intracellular and extracellular fluids. The concentration of electrolytes is affected by water balance, sodium chloride intake and intake of other minerals present in the diet. The body has several mechanisms by which it can keep the electrolyte balance in the intracellular and extracellular fluids at a constant level. Gastrointestinal tract constantly regulates electrolyte levels.