Gaining weight with extra cheese
Gaining weight with extra meat
Gaining weight with peanut butter
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Adding fat to your food can increase calories a lot. It can be hard to digest sometimes, though. Use these tips when you feel well. If you begin to have diarrhea or nausea stop adding so much fat. Here are some suggestions:
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When you are trying to gain weight you must think about eating a lot of calories. The more calories you eat, the more weight you can gain. You should realize that your goal of eating more calories and gaining weight is exactly the opposite of what many people in our country are trying to do.
Many Americans are overweight. For this reason, the articles about nutrition that you may see in magazines, newspapers and television are often full of ideas about how to reduce calories and lose weight. These articles often have titles like "good nutrition" or "how to eat right." In this country, "good nutrition" has come to mean the same thing as "low in calories."
This can be very confusing for you. Up until now, many of your ideas about good nutrition may have had to do with limiting calories. Without realizing it, your family and friends may also have been giving you advice about eating foods and beverages which are low in calories.
When people become infected with HIV they often decide to make the most of their health. They may begin to pay more attention to nutrition. But if they follow what friends and family and the media say is good nutrition, they may lose weight. And that's not what they need.
The following section has several statements which are generally considered to be good nutrition advice for people in this country. They are bad ideas for you, though, because they can cause you to lose weight or make it hard for you to gain. A statement is made below each which tells you what you should do instead of following this advice.
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NUMBER 1: Drink a lot of plain water.
Water may not be the best choice for you now. It has no calories. It would be better if you drank things that can help you gain weight. Good choices are milk, egg nog, cocoa, juice, and punch.
NUMBER 2: Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables won't help you gain weight. They are very low in calories. When you are trying to gain weight, limit yourself to 4 servings per day of fruits and vegetables. Eat more protein foods like meats, eggs, cheese and peanut butter. And eat more starchy foods like bread, cereal and macaroni instead.
NUMBER 3: Hot soups are especially good for you.
In fact, soup may be a problem for you. Soups are mostly water, and water has no calories. In most cases, solid foods have more calories than liquid foods. If you like soup, consider making it from milk instead of water. Also, try adding extra meat, noodles, cheese or chopped eggs to it to increase the calories.
NUMBER 4: Snack on raw vegetables, salad and fruit.
You could find better snacks that fruits and vegetables right now. They are too low in calories. You could get more calories at snack time if you ate sandwiches, pizza, cereal, ice cream or the other foods. NUMBER 5: Have sugar-free drinks instead of regular drinks.
Go for the sugar! It has the calories you need right now. You should have regular soft drinks, not "diet" soft drinks. Add extra sugar to them if you wish. And you might add a scoop or two of ice cream to your glass to give you even more calories.
NUMBER 6: Sugar is bad for you. Don't eat it.
Sugar is your friend! Sugar not only has calories itself, but it makes food taste good. You may be able to eat a bit more if you sweeten your food with sugar, jelly, syrup or honey. Put extra sugar in your cereal. Don't be afraid to eat candy bars, cakes and cookies in addition to your healthy food. NUMBER 7: Fried food is bad for you. Don't eat it.
You need calories and fat has more calories in it than any other food. When you fry foods you just about double the number of calories in them. Unless you are unable to digest a lot of fat, eat fried foods instead of baked, roasted or boiled.
NUMBER 8: Eggs are bad for you. Don't eat them.
On the contrary, eggs are a very good food for you right now. They have a lot of protein and you need that to keep up your fight with HIV. Forget about cholesterol. If you want to have a half dozen eggs every day for breakfast, lunch and supper, that would be fine. NUMBER 9: Don't eat between meals.
Eat whenever you can. You may never get in all the calories that you need in 3 meals per day. You need snacks two, three or more times every day.
NUMBER 10: Don't put butter on your food.
Butter and margarine can help you gain weight. They are very high in calories. So are mayonnaise, sour cream and salad dressing.
NUMBER 11: Drink skim milk and low fat milk instead of regular milk.
Drink the type of milk which has the most calories. Skim milk and low fat milk have too few calories. Drink regular milk, also called "whole milk," instead. And add chocolate or strawberry powder to it if you wish, to vary the flavor.
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