fbpx
Connect with us
Apply Now

Health + Fitness

How To Enjoy Mealtimes With Dysphagia: 6 Useful Tips

Dysphagia is tricky to pen down because it’s not a medical condition in itself. Rather, it’s the name given to any condition, regardless of the scope, which causes swallowing issues. Having dysphagia can make mealtimes feel like a chore, and it can lead to choking in the worst cases. Fortunately, with the help of thickening solutions, keeping calm, and eating the correct food, enjoyment can be yours once more. 

Keep Everything Calm

Losing the ability to swallow will most likely be scary and leave you feeling overwhelmed. Depending on the severity, it may have a detrimental impact on your life, especially when it comes to eating in front of other people. To avoid unnecessary choking and negative thoughts, it’s essential to eat in a calm environment. For example, if you must eat out, consider avoiding peak hours. For further information on this, check out this insightful article

Consider Thickening Solutions

Depending on the severity of your dysphagia, you may find it difficult to drink water and other liquids. Luckily, there’s a simple solution that will thicken up your liquids, which will help to avoid choking. When you’re searching for a thickening agent, you’ll need to find a reputable brand, such as SimplyThick, LLC. Once you’ve sourced a decent thickener, all you need to do is add the recommended amount, stir, and enjoy. 

Choose Correct Foods

If you have an underlying condition that causes dysphagia, you won’t have the luxury of choosing which foods you eat, but this doesn’t mean you won’t find enjoyment during mealtimes. To make life easier and avoid unnecessary choking hazards, you’ll need to put some time into learning what foods make up a dysphagia-friendly diet. Typically, you’ll be indulging in smooth puddings, mashed vegetables, and various soufflés. 

Use the Correct Eating Positions

Swallowing issues are only part of the problem with dysphagia; it can also bring on acid reflux. Luckily, there are ways to reduce the chances of experiencing reflux by eating in the correct position. Essentially, this means keeping an upright posture and tilting your head slightly and chin forward. 

Engage In Jaw-Related Exercises

Dysphagia happens when the jaw muscles become weak. This is good news because the muscles can be worked to improve strength. To help with this, there are a series of exercises for you to engage in. Typically, try and complete these just before mealtimes, but whenever you have a spare minute will suffice. The exercises are designed to be simple – you can find further information and directions here

Slow Down

If you’re used to eating fast, you’ll need to slow everything down to avoid further troubles. Naturally, this will be impractical if you’re eating with other people, and you may feel pressured to speed up. Therefore, you will need to plan your time effectively and start eating with plenty of time to finish. 

Dysphagia won’t be a pleasant experience. However, by taking on the advice outlined above, you’ll find mealtimes far less challenging.

Continue Reading


Copyright © 2022 Disrupt ™ Magazine is a Minority Owned Privately Held Company - Disrupt ™ was founder by Puerto Rican serial entrepreneur and philanthropist Tony Delgado who is on a mission to transform Latin America using the power of education and entrepreneurship.

Disrupt ™ Magazine
151 Calle San Francisco
Suite 200
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00901

Opinions expressed by Disrupt Contributors are their own. Disrupt Magazine invites voices from many diverse walks of life to share their perspectives on our contributor platform. We are big believers in freedom of speech and while we do enforce our community guidelines, we do not actively censor stories on our platform because we want to give our contributors the freedom to express their opinions. Articles are not commissioned by our editorial team, and opinions expressed by our community contributors do not reflect the opinions of Disrupt or its employees.
We are committed to fighting the spread of misinformation online so if you feel an article on our platform goes against our community guidelines or contains false information, we do encourage you to report it. We need your help to fight the spread of misinformation. For more information please visit our Contributor Guidelines available here.


Disrupt ™ is the voice of latino entrepreneurs around the world. We are part of a movement to increase diversity in the technology industry and we are focused on using entrepreneurship to grow new economies in underserved communities both here in Puerto Rico and throughout Latin America. We enable millennials to become what they want to become in life by learning new skills and leveraging the power of the digital economy. We are living proof that all you need to succeed in this new economy is a landing page and a dream. Disrupt tells the stories of the world top entrepreneurs, developers, creators, and digital marketers and help empower them to teach others the skills they used to grow their careers, chase their passions and create financial freedom for themselves, their families, and their lives, all while living out their true purpose. We recognize the fact that most young people are opting to skip college in exchange for entrepreneurship and real-life experience. Disrupt Magazine was designed to give the world a taste of that.