Adjusting the diet to deal with cystic fibrosis. Learn how to change your diet to fit your specific health and nutrition needs in this video on grocery shopping.
Use nutritional supplements
Drink whole milk and eat whole cheeses
Use vitamin and mineral supplements
Avoid milk if lactose intolerant
Mary Hondros graduated from University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics. She currently works as a nutritionist for New Hanover County Schools in North Carolina. Her main focus is to teach children to improve nutritional habits.
MARY HONDROS: Okay, I'm going to talk a little bit about cystic fibrosis. This is a very serious condition where the mucus in the body becomes very thick and sticky and it kind of ends up clogging different organs, especially the lungs. So kids with cystic fibrosis typically have a hard time breathing and they have a lot of issues with their lungs and other body organs, because they get so clogged. They can have a lot of problems with nutrition and growth, and things like that because the body doesn't digest food the way that it should. So there's no real specific diet plan for somebody with cystic fibrosis, but they're kind of--it's kind of individualized as far as how much you can digest and how much you can absorb. There's a lot of lactose intolerance with cystic fibrosis patients where sometimes, they have to avoid things like milk and yogurt completely. So, 4 tips if you're taking care of somebody with cystic fibrosis. Just remember to give them all the supplements that the doctor asks you to. These can be nutritional supplements like Boost and Insure. It helps them get the vitamins that they need in their body. And secondly, if you're trying to increase their calorie needs, make sure that you give them something like whole milk and whole cheeses and full fat meats and things like that because they need the extra calories. This is one of the only conditions where it's actually recommended that they eat the whole version of foods, because they do need those calories. And thirdly, remember to give all vitamin and mineral supplements that are prescribed because there may be a problem with them absorbing a lot of vitamins. And then lastly, just remember to check your food labels and avoid milk products if there's any lactose intolerance in the patient, because sometimes they're completely unable to digest things like milk and yogurt and cheese. And those are 4 tips on managing somebody with cystic fibrosis.
Member Comments