Eating well also means eating regularly. The healthy food triangle still holds true.
Back to basics is the best approach for health promotion and advice focused around nutrition. Promoting good eating habits will improve peoples general health, immune function, and oral health.
Poor nutrition and heavy drug use
Poor nutrition and eating habits are real complications of heavy drug or alcohol use. These are exacerbated as a result of injecting drugs. The cost of drugs is a competing factor to the purchase of food and other necessities. The type of drug used can markedly influence the intake of food and water, for example the anorectic effects of amphetamines. Social and living environments also influence choice, access and availability of healthy alternatives and types of food.
Health professionals will advantage from providing comprehensive nutrition advice to people who inject drugs, which is focused on nutrition in high risk injecting environments. Such as the topics of:
budgeting for those on a low wage
how to eat healthy when living rough, and
nutrition for the disadvantaged and the poorly.
Nutrition factsheet
An easy to read, visually descriptive nutrition factsheet can be downloaded for printing: Nutrition Factsheet. The Quadrant Approach. C2017
Reference:
The New Zealand Nutrition Foundation.(2011). Healthy eating for all ages. NZNF: Auckland
Ministry of Health. (2011). Healthy Eating – Healthy Action Oranga Kai – Oranga Pumau. Ministry of Health: Wellington.