Show I II I o 0 QA m U OO f Overweight and Heart Failure PHYSICIAN treating a A case of high blood pres pres- pres pressure sure and beginning or early heart failure is naturally anxious ious not to have too much work put on the blood vessels and the heart muscle And Andone one of the discouraging things he has to face in many patients is overweight Overweight in itself is not believed to be the cause of high blood pressure and be be- be beginning ginning heart failure but it adds to the burden of the al- al already already ready overburdened blood vessels and heart muscle Naturally it Is desirable to rid the body of this excess fat and to todo do so as quickly as possible so as to lighten the burden However the first thought in every meat ment now is to try f to maintain or in in- in increase crease the strength of the patient and as this Is best done by the proper diet dict re- re reducing b reb A weight must be done slowly from Dr Barton arton the standpoint of safety The withdrawal of body building foods and trying to give the patient a lull feeling by tile the use of cab cab- cabbage bage cauliflower lettuce celery may leave him weak and faint And the use of foods such as onions tur tur- tur turnips nips cabbage and beans may cause gas formation and digestive dis dis- dis disturbances that embarrass heart ac- ac action action tion Dr Thomas Lewis physician in charge of the department of clinical research University college Lon Lon Lon- London don tells us In his book Diseases of the heart HearL Overweight in heart ailments should be treated by withdrawing first fast of all any ex- ex excess ex cess of starch foods potatoes bread sugar or pastry fats but ter cream fat meats nuts egg yolks from rom the ordinary diet and later by a general reduction in the amount of food to about half the amount required by a normal healthy adult Rigid dieting is not often oIlen well withstood by the patient as it causes undue weakness Sud den reductions in weight should not be attempted Regular exercise tends lends to reduce weight so does massage Turkish baths are not ad heart Must Ee Be Spared You can readily understand that I if the food intake Is to be reduced to one hall or perhaps a little more than one hall half of the amount pre pre- previously previously eaten the reduction should not be too sudden or great at first and the food that Is eaten caten must be bethe bethe the most carefully selected In fact there are what are known as cardiac heart diets just ns as there are stomach or intestinal ulcer peptic diets Their pur pur- pur purpose pose Is to give the body the necessary essary food or nourishment with with- without without out putting too much work upon the heart The diet Is what physicians give their patients when they have come safely through an Illness and andare are arc on their way to recovery Eggs milk dry toast strained fruit seeds may irritate jelly In these cases of high blood pres pres- pres pressure sure rore and early heart failure it is believed that generally speaking stimulants tea coffee and tobacco should be used in but small amounts Beer in excessive quan- quan quantities quantities or fluIds of any land kind should not be drunk A sample diet outlined by Katherine Kather- Kather KatherIne Ine Mitchell l Thoma in her book Food in Health and Disease as used at the Michael Reese hospital ChIcago for hIgh blood pressure in overweight individuals Is as follows Breakfast ast Orange juice bran flakes four ounces or hall half glass of milk sugar boiled egg one slice toast coffee Noon Lamb chop fat fat removed small baked potato peas lettuce salad use mineral oil dressing baked apple Supper Poached egg on toast stewed tomato fruit salad use mIn mIn- cral oil dressing one glass of milk Sleepiness and Infection It is indeed fortunate that when infection infection- attacks the body one of the first symptoms is a feeling of weariness and tiredness The pa- pa patient patient tient is usually ready and willing willingto to rest Thus it is found that an in- in indivIdual In with Infection in the teeth feels about as tired when he wakes as when he went to bed Sleep or complete rest often otten be- be becomes becomes comes necessary during infection because the fighting forces of the body are using up their energy in infighting infighting fighting the infection and there is little strength left for the work of the day Thus any tendency to sleepiness in an individual who Is usually alert should make the Individual or the examining physician suspicIous of infection Newspaper Union |