Thanks...

Our five days on a modified diet is over and I would like to thank everyone for reading and sharing our blogs, watching our videos and donating. We have raised over £1000 for DementiaUK, which is more than double our original target, and the figure is still rising.  We hope our blogs have been enlightening, and that everyone who has come into contact with our campaign has learned something new about dysphagia or been inspired to find out more. We will be continuing with our campaign to raise awareness, and next week are running a workshop for health students within the university, about swallowing difficulties and their management.
If you haven't donated, and would like to, then here is the link:
 https://www.justgiving.com/j-white1/

Day 5 and a summary...

Breakfast:

Natural yoghurt with pureed pear and honey

This is a very healthy breakfast, packed with flavour.  Although it didnt fill me up as well as the readybrek, I really enjoyed it, and was able to got one of my 5-a-day in, with the pureed pear. 

I used fresh pears but you could use tinned. To puree the pears, you have to peal them, chop them up, and mix with a small amount of apple/pear juice. Then add thickener if necessary.     This does take some time, so I would recommend making the puree the night before. You can make a batch and use it for a few days, as long as you keep it in the fridge. 

Lunch:

Left over pureed curry

Just be aware of the consistency when you reheat this, and add water or thickener as needed.  Although I at this without the rice, it was still filling.

*NOTE: I would not recommend eating left over rice as not only does it go very solid and stodgy when left, but if its not kept properly, rice can give you very nasty food poisoning. 

Dinner:

Vegetarian "bangers and mash"  (thick puree)

I used Linda McCartneys sausages for this. I cooked them in the oven as normal, and then pureed them with some gravy.  Although they tasted good pureed, they had a grainy texture which took some getting used to, but I got used to that, they were enjoyable.  I piped them onto the plate  (so they looked more like sausages) and served with pureed mashed potato (with plenty of cheese in) and pureed broccoli and carrots. 

NOTE: you can have gravy with this meal as long as it is of the same consistency / slightly thicker than your recommended drinks.

Pudding/Snack:

Marble cake

You can still have cake on your pureed diet.... 

You put a thin (1cm wide) slice of cake into a tupperware box, and pour over it a solution of 150/200mls of fruit juice mixed with approximately 1 scoop of thickener.  You then need to leave this in the fridge for a few hours.  When you take it out, the cake should have soaked up the solution, and become soft enough consistency that if on a thick puree diet, you can eat it.  

NOTE: I found that I had to mix the softened cake up a bit with my spoon before eating it.

I used cranberry juice for the solution, and it went very well with my homemade chocolate marble cake, but my friends used orange juice, which also worked well. This is an enjoyable and fairly filling snack. 

I personally really enjoyed the process of baking, as it is something I do quite regularly. We made the cake so that our friends could have a slice at yesterdays dinner party, and we were able to have some the next day - so it is something you could share with family and friends which is really lovely. 

Although it seems a very minor thing, I took great pleasure in being able to taste the cake mixture before it was cooked, as throughout the week I have found it very difficult being unable to taste my cooking before it is pureed.

NOTE: uncooked cake mixture contains raw eggs, which could make you unwell. 

Alcoholic drinks:

I have tried a few different alcoholic drinks thickened this week, and I would definitely suggest going for a fruity flavored drink such as a spirit mixed with juice, or a cocktail. My usual drink of choice is wine, but I found that in this you could really taste the thickener, and it wasn't very pleasant.   Be aware that when thickening any carbonated drink, that if you are using a starch based thickener, it will react and bubble up, and may take longer to thicken.
* NOTE:remember to ask for your drinks without ice




What have I found most difficult this week?
The most difficult thing this week has been not being able to drink plain, unthickened water.


Did it affect my daily life? 
In terms of my daily life, the main impact was the amount of time I spent preparing meals. As a student with a busy schedule, who often needs to grab a quick meal in-between classes and extra curricular activities, I found this difficult, and had to be ultra-organised.

I thought that being on a modified diet might impact upon my social life, but it didnt. I was still able to go out with my friends, and earlier in the week, I went to the pub quiz. I took along a small tub of thickener and thickened my drink back at the table, along with my two friends who were also on a modified diet. Although people did ask what we were putting in our drinks, no-one was rude, they were just interested. Being asked, gave me opportunities to explain about dysphagia, and raise even more awareness.

Also, in the blog post from day 4, you can see that we had a dinner party, in which we cooked for both modified and regular diets. 

Weight and Nutrition:
I have been asked a number of times whether I have lost weight on this diet.  I haven't.  This is probably because, although I haven't been snacking like I usually would, most of my meals were fairly high in calories, as when I was blending food, I was often adding milk and cheese. And possibly also because I have actually been eating fairly large portions, because when blended, food looks much less.

However, some people do lose weight on these diets, and it is important to keep track. To combat weight loss you can fortify every meal (with cream and cheese) and drink higher calorie drinks such as hot chocolate, milk shake and smoothies on top of normal meals. You can also prepare appropriate consistency snacks, such as custard or angel delight.