How can stroke affect your eating and nutrition choices?December 17, 2024
A stroke can affect the way you eat in different ways, depending on how it impacts your brain. Getting proper nutrition is vital for stroke recovery, but many stroke patients struggle with eating. This may be due to appetite loss, problems moving their arms and hands, trouble remembering when to eat, and difficulty with chewing and swallowing.
When you have difficulties with chewing and/or swallowing, it can affect the amount and type of food you can eat. You may also be affected in other ways, making it difficult to go out to buy your own food, prepare meals, or feed yourself. For some people, a stroke may not have affected their ability to eat, in which case the focus will be on healthy eating to help prevent it from happening again. However, when planning diets for stroke patients, it is essential to pay extra attention to tailoring the diet plan to a patient’s pre-existing medical conditions. If you have been affected, a team of health professionals (rehabilitation physician, neurologist, geriatrician, speech therapist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, psychologist) will work together with you to assist in your recovery process. Weight control and a change in eating habits after a stroke are extremely important, as they promote faster recovery and improved functional fitness. Healthy eating to prevent future strokes Eating certain foods while recovering from a stroke will help keep your heart and blood vessels functioning at their best and help you avoid a second stroke. Preventing a future stroke is the focus after a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA). Keeping to a healthy weight and eating a heart-healthy diet, such as a Mediterranean-style and DASH (Dietary Approach To Stop Hypertension) diet, can help to reduce your risk, as will any medication you have been recommended to take. Eating a healthy diet can help to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as helping to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Finally, the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, or MIND Diet, has also been clinically proven to improve stroke recovery. It is a simple hybrid of the two diets that encourages the consumption of 10 food types (such as green vegetables, berries, and beans) and discourages 5 food varieties (such as margarine, cheese, and pastries). The MIND Diet also helps manage certain stroke risk factors such as atherosclerosis and obesity and has been shown to decrease the risk of cognitive issues (memory loss or language and concentration problems) that people can experience after having a stroke. Eat a rainbow of colorful foods at each meal. This means eating a diet that includes at least:
You should limit:
It is important to switch the bad saturated fats in your diet for healthier unsaturated fats and to reduce your salt intake by avoiding:
How to get more fiber in your diet (to avoid constipation)
Lean protein While recovering from a stroke, it is important to get enough nutrients, especially protein, to make sure that you build and maintain your muscle tissue. This is especially important when you are doing physical therapy exercises during stroke rehabilitation. Every person is different, so it is best to get personalized diet recommendations from a qualified experienced dietitian. This is because research shows that, depending on your nutritional status and weight, you may need a different number of calories, protein and nutrients. For example, if you are underweight, you will need more calories and protein. Adequate energy and calories for weight gain/loss/muscle/depending on activity and mobility/stage of recovery. Make sure you have adequate fluid intake to avoid dehydration. |
EXPLORE FURTHER
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Effective dietary strategies to aid recovery and improve nutrition in stroke patientsHow can herbs and spices replace salt in your diet?
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Rising stroke risk in young adults: Prevention and treatmentLearn about the increasing risk of stroke in young adults
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