Initially you need to take a
liquid diet due to weakened intestines. Liquid diet helps to replenish lost water and electrolytes without taxing the digestive system. Once it is well-tolerated, you can start with semi-solid foods like khichdi.
Liquid diet: fruit juices with added sugar/
glucose water/coconut water/barley water/ lemon water with sugar/buttermilk/ soyamilk etc.
Diet during convalescence must include simple and easily digestible foods. When you are on antibiotics, your body is likely to develop
B vitamins deficiency. So, you must take a B complex capsule daily to prevent any deficiency.
You can include foods like curd and bananas to replenish healthy intestinal bacteria.
If your
fever has subsided you can begin with foods such as Khichdi, rice/dals cooked well, vegetables like potatoes, leafy greens, sago or sabudana, bread/toast, suji or semolina as upma or pudding etc. Boiled eggs, milk/curd and cheese (paneer) will take care of the protein needs.
Avoid spicy, fried and fatty foods, rich gravies, curries and raw vegetables.
You can have vegetable soup (tomato/spinach/beetroot/carrots) or chicken soup as appetiser since
typhoid patients lose appetite. It will also provide the much needed
vitamins and minerals without taxing already weakened digestive system.
You can safely consume freshly squeezed fruit juices (orange/sweet lime/pomegranate) prepared at home in a hygienic manner.
Drink only boiled and cooled water/filtered water and eat freshly cooked home made food that is well-cooked.
Prevention of typhoid:
Since, typhoid results due to consumption of contaminated food and water/drinks with bacteria
Salmonella typhi etc., you must avoid eating outside food and street food as the street vendors prepare it in unhygienic manner. Avoid drinking fruit juices prepared by shopkeepers/ vendors.
Maintain good personal hygiene by washing hands with a soap before preparing or consuming meals. Wash raw foods well under running water.
Avoid eating foods cut and left in the open or at room temperature for long.
Typhoid generally recurs when infection is not cured completely and sometimes people who have had typhoid become carriers of the disease for several years! This means your stools may carry the bacteria for a long period, hence, you must be very careful with food hygiene and personal hygiene too!