Smoothie recipes or soup

[A2theD]

Hello, my mom condition has worsened to the point where solid food is no longer a option. She can barely open her mouth now and can only do small chewing motions. I've noticed her weight starting to go down a bit and we want to keep it up. If anyone has good recipes to help meet my moms nutritional needs it will greatly help. Just trying to keep it fresh since food was something we could enjoy together.

[Martina_MP]

You can blend almost anything including favorite foods into a puree and adjust thickness, by adding liquid—water, broth, milk, almond milk. Get a good personal-size blender (decent wattage) and use real food that she is used to.

[LuisRodicioRodicio]

Hi A2theD!

Prevent solids or regular liquids from reaching the lungs to avoid eventual “aspiration pneumonia,” (Besides falls, this is another very important risk.)

• Add thickeners (eg, Resource from Nestle, Thick-it, Simply Thick-Easy Mix, CVs,etc.) to drinks (soups, water, Aquarius (*) orange or lemon or similar without gas, etc.) till obtain a sufficient glutinous liquid. To drink, it is advisable to use a special cup (Ornamin 815) with the chin as near as possible to the chest. Some mango and peach juices have an adequate consistency.

(*) Isotonic drinks are interesting to help maintain blood electrolytes at the correct level.

• The food must be moderately doughy and in small pieces, around ½”-3/4” if solid.

• The speech therapist has insisted that she should not take meals that "deceive" the mechanism of swallowing that is damaged. The foods that “deceive” are those that have liquids and solids in the same bite (eg, some beans with soup or a soup with pasta).

• Check the patient is sitting fully upright to eat and try not to have distractions around while he is eating.

• Making a puree with a hand blender is always a solution, but it is preferable to crush with a fork until a homogeneous paste without liquid and so as not forget the function of chewing. What is not used is lost!.

David750 point out: “I found with my wife (PSP) the food had to be more and more ultra smooth. Gauging this was difficult- not too runny not too thick. Liquidising food I found I had to be liquidised when hot to get the smoothness required. Any "grittiness" in the food caused choking”

In advanced stages of the disease, feeding the patient is a big problem. The patient is so bent forward and cannot tip his head back or move it, so feeding is now very difficult

Hug and luck.

Luis

[Eggrollcreative]

I discovered adding sour cream or cream cheese to mashed up food seems to help it go down a little better. Thickens thin liquid and binds small bits of solids that didn’t purée. Adds flavor. I added sour cream to mashed up pozole (pulled out the meat so it was just mashed chickpeas and liquid), also canned sweet potatoes, and even Mac and cheese chopped up fine with cream cheese to bind it. Also my sister has to be mostly fed now as she will take too big of a bite and choke. She does pretty good with vanilla yogurt and chocolate pudding! I try to get her to drink an ensure, it takes her all day to get it down, one sip at a time. She is losing weight. I’m thinking she is getting close to the end as she put on the POLT form no PEG.