The full liquid diet is a temporary diet that is used in several different settings such as preparation for surgery or medical tests, or resting the lower GI tract.
The full liquid diet helps to keep a person hydrated, is easy to digest and does not leave much residue in the stomach or intestines.
Fruit juices without pulp such as apple, grape and cranberry, nectars, broth and teas with lemon are examples of items allowed in the liquid diet.
The liquid diet should be used for a short time when symptoms are present, in order to give the colon a rest.
Marvin Sackner, MD, a pulmonary specialist at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, published a study in 1978 finding that drinking hot chicken soup aided in clearing nasal passages better than plain hot or cold water. Sackner felt even consuming chicken soup cold aided in clearing a "stuffy" nose. But, a hot, steaming cup of chicken soup was the most efficient remedy.
Dr. Irwin Ziment, M.D., pulmonary specialist and professor at the UCLA School of Medicine feels chicken soup contains ingredients similar to those in modern cold medicines. It has been demonstrated that chicken soup has a very mild anti-inflammatory action and this potentially could contribute to some of the so-called medicinal activities that people have attributed to chicken soup. Adding pepper to chicken soup also can help to clear a stuffy nose, doctors say.