Types Of Therapeutic Diets
ANSWERS
A therapeutic diet is a meal plan that restricts the consumption of specific foods or nutrients. It is used to treat a medical condition and is usually prescribed by a doctor and planned by a dietician. A therapeutic diet is usually a variation of a standard diet. It is altered or tailored to meet the nutritional requirements of a specific individual.
Therapeutic diets are modified for:
- Nutrients
- Texture
- Food intolerances or allergies
Therapeutic diets are commonly prescribed for the following reasons:
- To maintain nutritional status
- To restore the nutritional status
- To correct nutritional status
- To decrease calories for weight control
- To provide extra calories for weight gain
- To balance amounts of carbohydrates, fat, and protein for diabetes control
- To provide a greater amount of a nutrient such as protein
- To decrease the amount of a nutrient such as sodium
Typical therapeutic diets include:
1. Nutritional changes
- No concentrated sweets diet
- Diabetic diets
- No added salt diets
- Low sodium diet
- Low fat or low cholesterol diet
- High-fiber diet
- Renal diet
2. Texture modification
- Mechanical soft diet
- Puree diet
- Texture modification
3. Food allergy or intolerance modification
4. Tube feedings
- Liquid tube feedings in place of meals
- Liquid tube feedings in addition to meals
5. Additional feedings – In addition to meals, extra nutrition can be ordered as follows:
- Supplements – usually ordered as liquid nutritional shakes once, twice, or three times per day; given with or between meals
- Nourishments – ordered as a snack food or beverage item to be given between meals in the mid-morning or mid-afternoon
- HS snack – ordered as a snack food or beverage items to be given at the hour of sleep
Types Of Therapeutic Diets
Please review article. Submit a 1 page summary on the different diets. Choose 3 and write a dialogue on how you would explain to a patient what diet they are on, why, what restrictions there are, etc.