Thursday, May 26, 2011

Why Nutrition Matters

Why Nutrition Matters

Good nutrition is critical for people living with HIV and AIDS. Basically, nutrition should be viewed as an essential co-therapy that can help maximize your medical management of HIV. Eating well can help:


            • Prevent or delay the loss of muscle tissue or "wasting"
            • Strengthen the immune system
            • Reduce viral mutations
            • Decrease the incidence and severity of opportunistic infections and hospitalizations
            • Lessen the debilitating symptoms of HIV/AIDS

If you're HIV infected, it's important to avoid any unplanned weight loss, which can further weaken the immune system's ability to fight off infection. Eating enough food--and the right foods--to maintain your proper weight, and keeping your body strong can make a real difference in staying healthy. Generally speaking, people with HIV/AIDS should try to eat a diet that is 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbohydrates. And eat 3-5 vegetable servings and 2-4 fruit servings every day.

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