Patient/caregiver was educated on precautions to be taken while pureeing foods as follows:
- Always select the right foods to be pureed. Foods that are naturally soft and tender in consistency are the right choice foods to be pureed. Make sure there are no chunks during eating, to avoid any risk for choking.
- Use a good blender to puree the food. Individual requirements for thickness of pureed food can vary, such as, nectar thick, honey thick, and spoon thick consistency. Add needed fluid during the pureeing process, to adjust the thickness of food to your choice and recommendation.
- Prepare all the foods before pureeing, by peeling the skin off, removing any hard and inedible portions. Exercise caution with removing all the seeds, tougher skin, and other inedible parts, before pureeing the food. This can include tougher skin of foods, such as, squash, pumpkin, jackfruit, and walnuts, & seeds from foods, such as, avocado, peach, mango, and plum.
- Cutting the food into small pieces and cooking the food fork tender before pureeing it can help with preventing any lumps in the food, further soften the food, eliminate the effort for chewing, and promote the ease for swallowing.
- Beverages, such as, milk, fruit juices, tea, coffee, and sodas may be consumed without any alteration. Sometimes these fluids can be too thin for drinking for some individuals and may be thickened to appropriate consistency, as needed. Flour or corn starch or ready-made thickeners could be used to thicken the beverages to appropriate consistency before consumption.
