Disclaimer:
This account is my experience and does not mean everyone will have the same experience as this. It was only for a total of 3 days and thankfully I do not have Dysphagia! All foods and drinks were modified to the correct IDDSI level 4 guidelines as of 23/02/19.
What did we do??
Gráinne Kent RD and I challenged ourselves to eat & drink texture modified foods and drinks for 3 days, thickening all of our foods and drinks to IDDSI level 4.
Why did we do it?
We wanted to put ourselves into the shoes of people who face a dysphagia diet on a daily basis and see the struggles and the reality of a texture modified diet.
Day 1
Even the basic task of putting salt and pepper on your food had to be reconsidered. I wanted to reach for the cracked black pepper however I couldn’t have this on a level 4 diet.
The hardest part of the challenge was the sensation of the thickener in my mouth, especially in my drinks. I found that I was put off drinking liquids as I didn’t like the fact that I had to use a spoon for drinks instead of sipping them. This limited me form drinking a lot of liquids.
I did manage to make a very tasty watermelon slushie drink which I found OK to drink.
Gráinne was worried about her beloved cup of tea and yes it thickened up nicely to IDDSI level 4 and there was no difference in taste but an obvious one in appearance.
We did test all the drinks using the IDDSI flow test and by doing this we were confident that our drinks met the requirements for the IDDSI level that we were consuming.
From having commercial blenders at work, to now using just a domestic blender had it’s own challenges. The commercial blenders, will puree a lot faster and will scrape the bowl down as it blends, whereas the domestic blender needed to be stopped midway and scraped down.
Either way we still had to pass the food puree through a sieve when blended so the strength of the blender was irrelevant on a domestic scale.
After the 1st day, I could see certain struggles that a person would face daily.
I now had a headache, dry lips, dry mouth (which makes things harder to swallow), and a foggy brain. The added embarrassment of having to spoon my drinks was also limiting me drinking anything in front of people. I only managed to drink 600mls in an entire day.
Even though I only consumed 600mls of fluid, I felt full from the drinks prior to eating a meal so it limited me form eating too much.
Day 2
The 2nd day of the challenge was more difficult as I woke up with a headache from not drinking enough the previous day and automatically went to take a pain killer, but I had to stop and think. Because I could not swallow a tablet, I had to take children’s Paracetamol in liquid/syrup form.
My lunch consisted of a hot salmon dinner with Risotto, but I could only manage half of it. I heated it in the microwave because I wanted to show Gráinne that it is possible to heat pureed foods in the microwave without them collapsing, but only if a lower temperature is used and for a little longer.
I had sausage and beans for tea and found that because of the salty nature of the sausage I was thirsty which meant I had to drink thickened fluids (which I was reluctant to do)
I managed a whole 400mls of fluids today.
Day 3
The final day and I couldn’t have been happier to have it over, if the truth be told.
I had pureed porridge with cinnamon stewed apple which was very tasty, and washed it down with Thickened Cranberry Juice……. (a mere sip I Had)
Thickened drinks were quite filling for me and I ended up having them after my meal because they were filling me up prior to food. Having them after my meal meant I was reluctant to have them also because I was full from the meal. I felt that there was no winning with staying hydrated….
I had spaghetti Bolognese for dinner and it was very satisfying as it smelled, looked and tasted as it should…. The only difference was the texture.
Did I eat it all? No because I was full from thickened 7 up that I had had just before my meal..
I managed a mere 250mls of fluid for the whole day
Conclusion
I found the fluids quite hard to take, from a social aspect as well as the sensation in the mouth. I didn’t like hot drinks thickened and found really cold drinks helpful.
Smoothies and slushies might be a way to go and you could incorporate more fruits and veg into these.
Cooking for dysphagia doesn’t need commercial blenders but does need correct methods and practices to be used along with correct SOP’s from IS 340:2007 for cooking, cooling and reheating!
Check out Gráinne’s experience of this challenge on her Instagram page