Soft Diet

If you have dental troubles with food mastication, then sooner or later, a doctor might recommend a soft diet for you. Most eaters of this diet have one or too medical conditions that interfere with their digestive systems. When your stomach keeps responding badly to your intake of bulky foods, in the long run, it may register its displeasure by sending you to a hospital bed.

At that instance, further intake of crunchy foods may end up worsening a person’s condition. But what is a soft diet? It is a kind of diet that is fine-textured and made soft as possible, so as to enable easy chewing and swallowing.

It’s also common to see surgery patients being put on this stomach-friendly diet. Examples of conditions that may force you to resort to the diet are: gastroenteritis, oral surgeries, dental surgeries, and throat surgeries. When patients are kept on a softened diet, it speeds up the digestion processes in their systems.

Mechanical soft diet is very much similar to soft diets, except that the former mainly involves the use of kitchen machines such as blenders and grinders, knives and other tools to soften food. This is how the two diets differ: Mechanical soft diets place no restrictions on fats, fibers, seasoning, or spice – it only changes food texture. Unlike mechanical soft diet recipes, soft diets are restricted to lower fibers.

Foods for Soft Diet

Going by its basic definition, this diet involves eating only soft food kinds that contain very little fiber. Processed carbs can be included in the diet, provided they are not hard.

 You must put your focus on taking canned veggies and fruits, but not fresh foods. Protein must be made soft as well.

When you are following a soft diet menu, there is a need for you to drink more water. This will keep your system hydrated; it is well known that, dehydration is a big barrier to quick recovery of patients. Even in the absence of fiber, adequate water will speed up the process of digestion.

The following are some delicious foods you could eat on this eat.

Fruits & Veggies: banana, mango, avocado, fruit juice, pureed fruits, melon, applesauce, creamed peas, cooked vegetables (carrot),

Canned foods: dish, poultry

Protein Sources: scrambled egg, cooked egg, or poached. Pizza, chicken salad, tofu. Fish and poultry must be softened by grinding or chopping. Legumes should be soft. Example is baked beans.

Dairy foods: milk, cottage cheese, milkshakes, ice cream, yogurt, ricotta cheese,

Desserts: puddings, custards, canned fruits, cake moistened with milk or coffee, cream pie,

For carbs, include the following: porridge oat, mashed potatoes, Bread, pasta, cereal, mashed sweet potatoes.

Foods You Should Avoid

Before we move onto the recipes, these soft diet ideas must be borne in your mind. It’s important to watch out for foods that may pose digestion problems to your tummy. Highly fibrous foods must be shunned as much as possible. Stay away from eating: 

Raw veggies: broccoli, carrot, cauliflower. Vegetables must be cooked and softened before being added to the diet.

Carbonated beverage: soda water, beer, soda pop, lemon soda

Unpeeled fruits, berries, and dry fruits are also bad for this diet.

Bony fish, raw meat, tough meet, fatty meat, seeds and nuts are not part of the diet.

How to Prepare Mechanical Soft Diet

Preparation of the diet takes a unique approach. But in general, you must strive to end up with something that feels soft to the tongue and mouth. Fruits with skins must be peeled off before being added to the diet. Anything, hard (bulky) food items must be crushed into smaller pieces. Here are the soft diet recipes.

• To obtain a fine texture, use a knife to chop food (meat) into smaller sizes.
• Start cooking the finer pieces until they get properly softened by the heat.
• Then mash the cooked food using a fork or other appropriate device.
• Fetch mashed food into a blender or any food processor.
• Sieve the blenderized food in order to get rid of the big lumps.
• Use broth (stock) to soften the food. You could also add some milk or cheese.
• Now, add sauce before serving.

Further Tips for the Diet

Some important tips regarding this diet are stated below:

There may be a risk of appetite loss for those who aren’t used to the newness of the diet. In such situations, the dieter can resort to regular intake of nutritious snacks.

The appetite loss condition could be also be approached by preparing variety of dishes. This will remove the boredom relating to eating one meal. Different food varieties would also give more nutrients to the dieter.

Conclusion

A soft mechanical diet could fulfill the nutritional needs of patients and people with poor teeth. Since they exist in pureed forms, chewing, swallowing and digestion become much easier.

The method of preparation may appear complex, but cooks must ensure that the diet is fully balanced. If you are not certain of the food groups and their right quantities to use, it’s always better to consult a doctor an expert dietician for assistance.