Calling a doctor

CALL ONE

Mary Doctor, I’m a busy mother with two kids and I have a job as well. And I was wondering if there is any advice you can give me about appetite and food. My trouble is that I haven’t got any appetite. I just don’t enjoy my food.

Doctor Let’s see. First, I think you should do the following, if you can. Take a warm bath every day, get some exercise in the fresh air, and so on … and, secondly, I wonder if you get enough variety in your diet. You should give the body fresh food and vegetables, meat, fish and so on - in other words, high protein foods. You should eat as much raw food as you can, too - salads and fruit. And do you drink enough water? A lot of people don’t, and the body needs about eight glasses of water every day.

CALL TWO

Pete Doctor, I’m going to the Mediterranean for a camping holiday next week, and every time I go I get bitten really badly by mosquitoes. Is there anything I can do to avoid mosquito bites, because they really spoil the holiday?

Doctor Oh yes, there is. It’s a fact that mosquitoes attack people who eat foods that are heavy in sugar or salt. So you should avoid sugary and salty foods as far as possible. Other things are, let me see, yes, you should avoid after-shave lotions and colognes and perfumes, because insects are attracted to them. And if mosquitoes do bite you, don’t scratch the bites. Just wash them with soap and water.

CALL THREE

Anne Doctor, I’m a student in my final year at school and I’ve got some very important exams at the end of this term. But I find it very difficult sometimes to concentrate on studying. I don’t sleep very well and I always seem to be hungry. I simply can’t seem to concentrate. I don’t know why.

Doctor I can tell you what I think you should do. First, your diet. Cut out all sugars and starches - no cakes, white bread, potatoes and so on. When you get up in the morning, eat some raw fruit for breakfast, and make sure your meals are high in proteins - fruit or eggs or meat but nothing with starch. One special food you could try is figs, fresh figs. The ancient Romans and Greeks and Egyptians all used to say that students and philosophers should eat lots of fresh figs.

CALL FOUR

Alan You see, doctor, the problem is that I have too much work to do, haven’t got time for anything else. And I don’t seem to have any energy because I sleep badly – sometimes I don’t sleep at all. That means that I often get up in the morning feeling worse, feeling more tired, that is, than when I went to bed.

Doctor Well, you sound as if your problem is general stress, so let’s see. First, you don’t get enough exercise, apparently. You must breathe enough fresh air. If you don’t, you body can’t work properly. Make sure that you get some exercise every day. The exercise needn’t be violent … a good walk is enough. Do you take warm baths? If you don’t, try taking a warm bath just before you go to bed. Then you should sleep better. And a third general point is that it sounds as if you don’t enjoy life very much. Try to mix work and pleasure, because you will work better if you do.

CAL FIVE

Mark Doctor, I’ve been told that I have high blood pressure. What should I do to get it back to normal?

Doctor Well, eat less and exercise more, and you should take enough time off work to forget it. Have a holiday now and again. You should avoid sugary things, eggs, and meat too. With high blood pressure, it’s really the question of cleaning the blood, you see. So you should make fresh fruit a big factor in your diet. If you want quick results, you had better try living for three days, or a weekend on raw fresh fruit and drinking only fresh fruit or vegetable juices.

CALL SIX

Meg Doctor, I’ve been suffering from an allergy for years and I’ve been to lots of doctors and nobody knows what the trouble really is. Can you tell me what I should do?

Doctor For allergy there are several things I should mention. First, you must avoid sudden changes of temperature, so if you work in an office with central heating or air conditioning, be careful when you go outside. Secondly, you should avoid cold water, so you should bath and wash in hot or warm water. Thirdly, you’d better avoid any cool food or drink that shocks the system. And number four, you should avoid condiments like pepper, salt, vinegar - anything spicy, in fact.

(from Synthesis by W.Fowler, J.Pidcock. Unit 7.1)

UNIT 1

Lesson B

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16