Minced Diet with Bread Information for patients and families

What is the minced diet?

On the minced diet, you can eat foods that are moist and cut into very small pieces. Foods can also be mashed or ground. These foods are easy to swallow and you do not need to chew much. You can also eat soft, moist bread.

Who needs a minced diet?

People who have trouble chewing or swallowing foods may need a minced diet to eat safely. You may also eat a minced diet if you have problems with your teeth, wear dentures, or have a sore and dry mouth.

What can I eat?

A food is safe to eat if you can mash it with a fork easily and it sticks together. You can moisten food with gravy, butter and sauces to make it easier to swallow. Below is a list of foods that you can and cannot eat.

Foods allowed Foods not allowed

● Fruit and vegetable juices ● Fruits and vegetables with hard ● Cooked fruits or vegetables that skins or seeds are minced or pureed ● Fruits and vegetables that you ● Canned fruits or vegetables that cannot mince well. For example, are minced or pureed apples, celery, string beans, fried Vegetables and Fruit potatoes, potato skins ● Chopped, ripe fruit with no skins such as bananas or peaches ● Raw vegetables, tossed salads, coleslaw ● Citrus fruit, blueberries, cherries, grapes, pineapple, dried fruit

● All milk, chocolate milk, milk ● Yogurt with seeds, nuts or whole shakes fruits ● Oral nutritional supplements such ● Hard cheese Milk and Milk Products as Ensure Plus ● Most yogurt ● Cottage cheese, cream cheese, chopped or grated soft cheese

● Soft breads, bread pudding ● Bagels, crusty buns, waffles ● Pancakes, muffins ● Breads, cakes, and cereals with ● Dry cereals that are soaked with nuts, seeds or whole fruits liquid so that they become soft. ● Granola or cereals that do not get For example, Rice Krispies and soft in liquid Corn Flakes. ● Pretzels, potato chips ● Small pastas cooked very soft Grain Products such as macaroni or pasta cut into small pieces ● Rice that is moist with sauce ● Mashed potatoes, soft scalloped potatoes ● Cooked cereals such as oatmeal and Cream of Wheat

● Cream or broth-based soups ● Soup with big chunks of meat (soft noodles or small minced or ● Soup with crunchy or stringy grated pieces of food in the soup vegetables are okay) Soup ● Clear broth, blended soups

Foods allowed Foods not allowed

● Chopped, minced, or ground meat ● Meat or poultry that is very dry or and poultry with gravy or sauce tough ● Soft fish with no bones, with sauce ● Sausages, wieners, bacon ● Canned meat or fish such as tuna ● Fried fish or fish with bones ● Meat or fish pâté ● Fried eggs ● Tuna, salmon, or egg salad with ● Crunchy peanut butter Meat and Other Proteins mayonnaise, without raw ● Nuts and seeds vegetables

● Soft or scrambled eggs ● Beans or legumes that are soft and chopped very small ● Smooth peanut butter

● Butter, mayonnaise, salad ● Olives dressings, sour cream ● Smooth spreads such as hummus Fats and Oils and baba ghanoush ● Sauces and gravy that are smooth or have been strained so that there are no lumps

● Soft desserts or baked goods that ● Hard or crunchy cookies do not have nuts, seeds or whole ● Chocolate, desserts or baked fruits goods with nuts, seeds, coconut ● Jam, honey, marmalade, sugar, or whole fruits syrup ● Fried desserts Desserts and Sweets ● Ice cream with no hard or crunchy ● Granola bars pieces like nuts or hard chocolate ● Chewy candy like licorice, taffy, ● Jell-O, sorbets, popsicles and caramel ● Pudding, custard, rice pudding, ● Hard candies mousse

● Ketchup and mustard ● Popcorn ● Salt, pepper and herbs ● Coconut Other ● Casseroles made from a mix of minced foods in smooth sauce or gravy such as Shepherd’s Pie

St. Michael’s cares about your health. For reliable health information, visit our Patient and Family Learning Centre, Room 6-004, 6th floor, Cardinal Carter Wing, or find us online at www.stmichaelshospital.com/learn

This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical care. Ask your healthcare provider about this information if you have questions.

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