Adequate nutrition is important to stay healthy and fit. However, some medical conditions can affect a person's ability to consume food. In this case, a therapeutic diet may be needed to ensure the patient receives sufficient nutrition. Therapeutic diets are simply modifications of regular diets and involve things like blending or chopping regular food. The honey thick diet is a therapeutic diet that has the consistency of honey. It is a liquid diet composed of foods that cannot be easily poured and have to be eaten with a spoon.
Types
Honey thick liquids tend to drizzle out of a cup like honey and stick to a spoon. There are two main types of honey thick fluids. They can be pre-prepared foods that have a naturally honey thick consistency like yogurt, thick custards, gravy and thick sauces. Honey thick fluids can also be made by using thickening agents. Fluids like fruit juice, milk and soups can be thickened in this manner.
Reason For Honey Thick Diets
Honey thick diets are prescribed by health care providers such as speech therapists, dietitians or physicians when a patient has difficulty swallowing, also known as dysphagia. Medical conditions like a stroke or cancer can cause this problem. Honey thick liquids are easier to manipulate in the mouth because they move slowly, and give the patient with impaired swallowing the ability to swallow safely.
Benefits
Patients who suffer from dysphagia are at risk for swallowing foods into their lungs. This can lead to coughing or choking. They are also at risk for lung infections and malnourishment. Eating foods with the consistency of honey prevents or reduces the risk of these conditions occurring.
Considerations
A dysphagia patient should adhere to certain safety considerations when she eats a honey thick diet. The patient should eat sitting up at a 90-degree angle if possible. The food should be given in small bites and placed in the stronger side of the mouth. Discourage talking while a patient with dysphagia is eating. All of these actions are done to prevent coughing and choking.
Warning
A patient on a honey thick diet should avoid eating thin liquids or foods that melt into thin liquids, such as ice cream, sherbet, jell-o and popsicles. They are not easy to manipulate in the mouth and may go into the lungs, leading to coughing and choking episodes.
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