What Does Soft Diet Consist Of?
A soft food diet is one that includes foods that are easy to chew and swallow and does not include foods with a hard texture. With careful planning, it's still possible to eat a delicious, balanced diet of a variety of soft foods.
Mechanical soft food dieting is another name for dieting, and refers to the use of equipment, such as a blender or food processor, to make food into a fine puree.
In this article, we take a look at the foods to include and to avoid when following a soft food diet.
What is a Soft Diet and Why is it Prescribed?
The soft food diet consists of easy to digest soft foods and is prescribed for people who cannot tolerate normal textured or highly seasoned foods. Health care providers typically prescribe this diet to people with certain medical conditions or who are recovering from surgery.
The soft food diet is used in many places, including hospitals, long-term care facilities, and at home. They are usually followed for a short time from a few days to a few weeks, although some circumstances may require the diet to be followed for a longer time. (health line)
Soft diets are often used to treat swallowing disorders, collectively known as dysphagia. Dysphagia is common in older adults and those who have neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.
In 2002 the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics published the National Dysphagia Diet (NDD), which covers several levels of the dysphagia diet.
NDD Level 1 — Dysphagia-Puréed: uniform texture, pudding-like, requires little chewing
NDD Level 2 — Dysphagia-Mechanically Altered: cohesive, moist, semisolid food, requires some chewing
NDD Level 3 — Dysphagia-Advanced: soft food requiring more chewing ability
Regular: all food allowed
Although the goal of a texture-modified diet is to reduce the risk of aspiration and pneumonia in people with dysphagia, current research suggests that modifying food texture may result in a poorer quality of life and nutritional deficiencies, highlighting the need for further research.
In addition to dysphagia, a soft diet is prescribed for people who have recently had mouth or jaw surgery that affected their ability to chew.
For example, people who have had their wisdom teeth removed, major jaw surgery, or dental implant surgery may need to follow a soft diet to speed healing.
The soft diet is also used as a transitional diet between a full liquid diet or a pure diet and a regular diet in people who have undergone stomach surgery or are recovering from gastrointestinal ailments to allow the digestive system to heal more effectively.
Soft diets may be prescribed for people who are too weak to eat a regular diet, such as those undergoing chemotherapy, as well as people who have lost feeling in their face or mouth or cannot control their lips or tongue due to a stroke.
Although diets of soft foods used in both clinical and home settings may vary, most of those used in the short term are low in fiber and tasteless for ease of digestibility and comfort for the person consuming them.
A Guide to Soft Diet Meal Llan
This diet advice provides general information to help you increase your calories
intake when following a soft diet.
The advice given may not be appropriate for some medical conditions, for example diabetes, allergies.
You may need a gentler diet if you have a sore mouth or have trouble swallowing.
Soft Diet Helpful Hints
1. Eating small and frequent meals and snacks during the day may be easier to manage than three large meals, especially if your appetite is poor.
2. Try to eat 3 times a day with small portions 2-3 times or nutritious drinks in between.
3. Keep the food moist, add the sauce or gravy to the food and the pudding or cream for the pudding.
4. Try ready meals to make cooking and preparing meals easier, e.g. Macaroni, Cheese or Lasagna.
5. Drink more drinks after meals than before. This ensures you don't fill yourself up too much.
6. Drink a glass of fresh fruit juice, pumpkin blackcurrant or other vitamin C fortified pumpkin such as Ribena or Robinsons every day.
7. Oral care – keeping your mouth clean and fresh.
Make your food more nutritious by:
Use full-cream milk (blue, gold top or jersey) for drinks, food and cooking or, even better, substitute for fortified milk. Fortified milk is rich and creamy and provides extra calories and protein. To make fortified milk: beat 2-4 tablespoons of dry milk powder into 1 liter of full cream milk.
Adding extra butter, margarine or vegetable oil to the vegetables and potatoes.
Take care when applying butter, margarine, jam, marmalade and other toppings.
Adds extra cream and/or sugar to beverages, breakfast cereals, sauces, and puddings.
Avoid 'low fat', 'diet' or 'sugar-reducing' foods – try to eat higher calorie alternatives.
When Should You Follow Soft Diet?
There are many situations where people are advised to follow a soft diet diet:
- Cancer treatment
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy can cause the digestive tract to become painful and inflamed, a condition known as mucositis. If someone has mucositis, they may benefit from a soft food diet.
After surgery
Doctors may recommend that people who have had surgery on the mouth, head, neck, or stomach follow a soft food diet for a period of time following surgery.
Examples of surgeries that may require a person to eat soft foods afterward include gastrectomy, where the surgeon removes all or part of the stomach, and bariatric surgery, which is surgery to a person's weight loss.
Swallowing difficulties
A soft food diet may be appropriate for people who have difficulty chewing or swallowing. This condition is known as dysphagia.
For people with significant dysphagia, who are unable to eat solid foods safely, a doctor or nutritionist may prescribe a texture-modified diet. In this diet, the user changes the texture of the food in order to reduce the need for chewing. They can achieve this by grinding and grinding the food.
A texture-modified diet is similar to a soft-food diet, and a doctor or dietitian may recommend it to people who may be at risk for food getting stuck in the throat or throat.
Doctors will assess the person with dysphagia and will make appropriate dietary recommendations depending on individual needs.
The range of foods and textures offered depends on the severity of dysphagia. Individuals should discuss options with a doctor or other professional, such as a speech and language therapist who specializes in helping people with swallowing difficulties.
Dental problems
A soft diet may be appropriate after dental implants or tooth extractions, such as wisdom tooth extraction.
Following the procedure, it is important to follow the dietary recommendations of the dentist in order to avoid infections and other dental problems.
Dentures are a removable replacement for a missing tooth. They can become loose or ill-fitting over time, which makes them difficult to chew and bite properly. Hard or sharp foods can cause dentures to fall out, causing the teeth to become unstable in the mouth.
A soft food diet may be more suitable for adults with dentures because it prevents food from snagging and causing decay.
Summary
Both the soft food diet and the mechanical diet can include foods from all food groups. However, a diet such as this requires careful planning and consideration to ensure that it is balanced with individual needs. It is best for people to seek the advice of a doctor or a nutritionist when starting a soft food diet.
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