Unit 4: Nutrition, Fluid Needs, and Nutritional Support

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering basic nutrition, special diets, fluid balance, intake and output, and enteral feeding procedures.

Nutrition

The processes involved in the ingestion, digestion, absorption, and use of foods and fluids by the body.

Protein

The most important nutrient, needed for tissue growth and repair.

Carbohydrates

Nutrients that provide energy and fiber for bowel elimination.

Fats

Nutrients that provide energy and help the body absorb and use certain vitamins.

MyPlate

A visual guide that divides a plate into healthy serving portions consisting of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy.

Sodium-Controlled Diet

A modified diet (also called a No Added Salt or NAS diet) ordered to decrease sodium in the body and prevent water retention by omitting high-sodium foods, eliminating table salt, and limiting salt in cooking.

Clear Liquid Diet

A diet consisting only of liquids that are see-through and clear at room temperature, including water, tea, coffee, clear juice, popsicles, gelatin, and broth.

Full Liquid Diet

A diet that includes all clear liquids plus strained foods and dairy-based liquids such as custard, pudding, cream soups, ice cream, and strained fruit.

Bland Diet

A therapeutic diet consisting of foods that are nonirritating, low in roughage, served at moderate temperatures, and low in spices.

Dysphagia

Difficulty swallowing, requiring modified food textures or thickened fluids to prevent choking and aspiration.

Thickened Liquids

Fluids modified using thickening agents to specific consistencies—such as nectar-thick (medium thick), honey-thick (extra thick), and pudding-thick (yogurt-like)—to promote safe swallowing for persons with dysphagia.

Clock Face Dining Technique

A plate arrangement method used for visually impaired individuals where food locations are described using the positions of hours on a clock face.

Foodborne Illness

An illness or food poisoning caused by pathogens in contaminated food and fluids.

Danger Zone

The temperature range between $40^\circ\text{F}$ and $140^\circ\text{F}$ in which foodborne pathogens multiply rapidly.

Fluid Balance

A state of equilibrium in which the amount of fluid taken in (intake) equals the amount of fluid lost (output).

Edema

The swelling of body tissues with water that occurs when fluid intake exceeds fluid output.

Dehydration

An excessive loss of water from body tissues that results when fluid output exceeds fluid intake.

Nothing by Mouth (NPO)

A medical order specifying that the person cannot eat or drink anything by mouth.

Graduate

A calibrated measuring container used to accurately measure fluid intake and output in milliliters ($\text{mL}$).

Enteral Nutrition

The process of delivering nutrients directly into the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract via a feeding tube.

Gavage

The process of administering a tube feeding to replace or supplement nutritional intake.

Naso-gastric (NG) Tube

A feeding tube that is inserted through the nose directly into the stomach.

Naso-enteral Tube

A feeding tube inserted through the nose into the small bowel.

Gastrostomy Tube

A feeding tube inserted through a surgically created opening made directly into the stomach (also referred to as a stomach tube).

Jejunostomy Tube

A feeding tube inserted into a surgically created opening in the jejunum of the small intestine.

Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) Tube

A feeding tube inserted directly into the stomach by a doctor using an endoscope, intended for long-term enteral nutrition.

Continuous Feeding

Enteral tube nutrition administered over a $24$-hour duration using an electronic feeding pump.

Aspiration

The inhalation of food, fluid, vomitus, or objects into the lungs, presenting a major complication of enteral nutrition and dysphagia.