Diet Textures & Definitions

In health care, you often work with patients that suffer from disorders that prevent them from chewing and swallowing foods as they normally would. In these cases, the patients are given a modified diet consisting of foods that have altered textures. This enables the patient to swallow the food without aspirating, or breathing it into the trachea or wind pipe. The condition known as dysphagia means that a person has a chewing or swallowing disorder, making it difficult for her to eat or drink standard foods and beverages.

Standard or Cut

Standard or cut refers to a normal diet except that the foods have been cut into substantially smaller pieces to prevent choking when swallowing. Examples includes eating diced peaches instead of a whole peach, ground beef chopped into small pieces instead of steak, peas instead of celery, carrots and dense fruits and vegetables.

Coarse

Coarse foods have a grainy, porous, soft or spongy texture and can be easily cut with a fork; no knife required. Coarse foods are often slow-cooked, often in liquid, to give foods this type of texture. Examples of coarse foods include steamed fish, baked potatoes without the skin, soft meatloaf, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, strained or very ripe pears and bananas.

Timbales

Timbales consists of a smooth and soft texture with a uniform consistency that can be cut and eaten with a fork or spoon; no knife required. Examples of a timbales diet is a souffle, pureed tomatoes, mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes without the skin, pudding, sorbet, ice cream, gravies and soft steamed, no bone-in, white fish.

Liquid

A liquid diet consists primarily of liquids or foods with a liquid consistency such as soup broth or tomato soup and products such as protein drinks. This diet cannot be eaten with a fork and should clearly run off a spoon. Examples include broths made from meat, fish and vegetables -- without the actual meat, fish and vegetables -- fruit and vegetable juices.

Thickened

A thickened diet consists of foods that are viscous, similar to a kefir or a liquid yogurt consistency. A thickened diet cannot be eaten with a fork, it requires a spoon. Liquid foods can be thickened with a thickener to prevent a patient with dysphagia from choking. Examples of a thickened diet include: softened ice cream with nothing added, such as fruit or cookie bits; whipped cream and cream-based soups, with no added ingredients, such as meat or vegetables.