Difficulty swallowing

This page has tips for people who have difficulty swallowing. If you need to eat a soft diet, it may be difficult to get enough variety in your diet. You need to have enough calories to stay healthy and keep your weight up. A food processor or liquidiser will be a great help. Hand blenders are particularly quick and easy to use.

These tips can help you make the most of a soft diet

Eat slowly
Chew food thoroughly
Have plenty to drink during and after meals to soften your food and prevent blockages
Eat 'little and often' - having small frequent meals with snacks in between is often easier to cope with and will increase your nutritional intake each day
Use a blender to process solid foods - you can eat most of your favourite foods this way, with a few changes here and there
Mince meat or finely chop meat and vegetables in a food processor before or after cooking
Blend meat or vegetable casseroles or curries to make tasty soups
Avoid foods that need a lot of chewing and are hard to swallow - such as nuts, raw vegetables, dry biscuits, tough meat
Include plenty of high calorie drinks
Use more sauces, gravies, cream, butter, milk or custard to soften foods - moist food is easier to swallow than dry. Try fish with a parsley sauce or sponge cake with custard or cream
Eat more stews and casseroles - long, slow cooking softens meat and vegetables
Let very hot meals or drinks cool before you eat or drink them - warm foods may be more soothing
Cold foods can be soothing too - for example, ice cream, yoghurt, mousse or jelly
Try soft foods such as milkshakes (banana, chocolate, strawberry) add ice cream for extra calories
Eat cereals such as porridge and other soft cereals
Try pureeing vegetables and mashed potatoes
If you are trying to put on weight, use milk or cream instead of water when mashing or blending foods
See our suggestions for soft diet meals