potatoes, macaroni cheese, cauliflower cheese, risotto, rice or pasta served with a sauce. Cooked tender meat with bone and gristle removed. Examples: lasagne, spaghetti Bolognese, tender meat stews, curries, shepherd's pie, stovies, skinless sausages, pate.
Try canned fruit and cooked vegetables. Fruits or vegetables with tough skins or seeds such as pears, nectarines, apples, cherries, apricots, tomatoes, peas, corn, blackberries, raspberries. Try soft peeled, canned or strained fruit and cooked mashed vegetables.
Difficulty chewing often results from changes to the mouth, jaw, or tongue. Cancer, especially oral and oropharyngeal cancers, may cause this. Difficulty chewing can occur during or after cancer treatment.
Choose soft/moist foods that are easier to chew and swallow. Soften foods by finely chopping, mincing or blending e.g. minced meats, flaked fish, mashed fruit and vegetables. Soften food by dipping in warm drinks or soup. Sip fluids with your meals to keep your mouth moist and help wash food down.
Sitting the person upright in a chair can help direct food away from the airway. Coach your loved one to put a bite of food in his or her mouth, then lower chin to chest before they swallow. This may seem awkward, but it helps block the airway so food goes down the esophagus to the stomach.
Mash cooked white or sweet potatoes and thin with milk. Soups with noodles, rice, or vegetables may be liquefied in a blender. Use gravy, strained sauces or soup to thin enriched white rice and pasta made from refined, enriched flour. Avoid whole grain or bran cereals and starches with nuts or seeds.
Chewing difficulties are more prevalent among older people, largely as a result of sub-optimal dental care or ill-fitting dentures, as well as a result of neurodegenerative conditions.
Pureed canned or home made soups with meat, vegetables, barley, canned legumes, cooked split peas or pasta. Pureed casseroles or stews. Very moist scrambled egg or moist, steamed fish. Serve with well mashed or pureed vegetables.
What is misophonia? People with misophonia are affected emotionally by common sounds — usually those made by others, and usually ones that other people don't pay attention to. The examples above (breathing, yawning, or chewing) create a fight-or-flight response that triggers anger and a desire to escape.
The failure to properly chew food can also lead to bloating and weight gain. “Nature will castigate those who don't masticate.” Therefore proper nutrition isn't just about meeting macros and eating quality foods.
Many diet books advise people to chew slowly so they will feel full after eating less food than if they ate quickly. As we explain in the current issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter, eating slowly doesn't always work, but when it does, the reason has as much to do with the brain as with the gut.
