Individual Choice of Food And Nutrition

Ways to resolve any difficulties or dilemmas about the choice of food and drink:

• Expressed wishes and preferences – in this case you should understand the wishes of the service user and understand what they would prefer to eat.
• General nutrition principles – as a care you should explain the benefits of healthy nutritious food so that they can make an informed decision. You could use the healthy eating plate to help explain healthy eating.
• Specific dietary requirements – it is important to explain certain dietary requirements to the service users if they have an allergy to certain food or maybe a health problem that is controlled by food intake like diabetes.
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  This is also the case if they are vegan or vegetarian and choose not to eat certain food like meat.

• Religious – understanding and respecting religious views and dietary requirement is crucial. Certain religions have specific ways of preparing food. For example in the Muslim faith, only halal meat is consumed and this means that the meat has to be slaughtered and prepared to the guidelines of the Islamic law.
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Read more: The Nutritional Requirements Essay

Additional guidance about an individual’s choice

You would need to ask the service user, service users family or friends if there are foods that should be avoided due to allergies, dislikes, diet restrictions, religious reasons, etc, so that an appropriate diet can be prepared, or you may notice that the person is consistently refusing to eat a certain food, then you might ask why he or she is not eating it.

If you get a reply that is related to the cooking and preparation of the food or dislikes or preferences, then you can make changes as required. If the person is having difficulties swallowing, chewing or other physical problems with eating, it needs to be brought to immediate attention so the person can be assessed to avoid other problems like weight loss or choking.

Factors that help promote an individual’s comfort

You can ask the service user if they wish for protecting clothing and Give them choices about what they eat. Take into account preferences. Serve warm foods warm and cold foods cold. Same as in a restaurant, where beautiful presentation of food is used to invoke feelings of desire for the food, serve it in a colorful, attractive presentation. Don't allow drips, smears, foods running into other foods in a messy way. If their diet allows, offer accompanying condiments to them such as salt or pepper, whatever is appropriate to the dish. If it is a person with swallowing precautions who is under doctor's orders to have their food ground or their drinks thickened, realize that ground food is rarely appetizing and try to serve it with a garnish or flower if possible. if supervising or assisting then smile and greet them with warmth, have genuine care for their needs. Never force feed. The key is to be considerate and care about others, and always ask never assume.

Finish eating and drinking before clearing away

If you give the patient time to eat as much as they choose to, then you're a better judge of how good their appetite is and what nutrients they're getting from their food consumption. If you take the tray away before they've finished the meal, that would interfere with accurate charting. It is important to be sure the individual has finished eating and drinking as they could be a slow eater or simply having a breather, by clearing away before the individual has finished you may be leaving them still hungry or thirsty, it could also distress and upset them, always be completely sure that the individual has finished, should they be unable to communicate with you just give them a little longer so as you are sure.

Monitoring food and drink an individual consumes

Nutrition is vital for an individual, Some people could have problems chewing and swallowing, and they could miss out on vital nutrients. It is recommend that nutritional status be routinely monitored, including current intake of fluids, and use of dentures and any dental problems which may affect their capacity to eat or drink, to ensure the person is getting enough daily nutrition to enable their bodies to function properly on a daily basis.