From what I've gathered from reading posts here so far, eating and chewing is not a trigger for everyone. But for those of you who do suffer from TN while chewing, how do you handle the whole food part? What do you eat? It takes me ages these days to get through a meal and I have to keep eating really soft foods. Wheat cereal in milk has been my big meal these days.
Anything soft that I can barely open my mouth to eat...........and I do it SLOWLY. Then to drink, I put a straw way back in my mouth and suck on it that way, so you don't really have to move your mouth much.
for me, opening wide and closing hard or all the way are triggers, so small bites and i push the food way back and dont bite all teh way down. seems like using the cheek muscle starts it off, i have not had it long though. hope you find a method that works ;-]
I do lots of rolled oats, smoothies and soup.
If things are going well I mash up some well steamed veggies and try not to chew too much. If I feel lazy I open a can of baked beans and mush them up. I’m a vegetarian and rarely eat dairy products so I’m not sure how other people include meat in a liquid/soft diet.
I put veggies in my smoothies and if ou start slowly you do get used to the taste eventually. My smoothies usually contain a some type of berry, half a banana, romaine lettuce, spinach, protein powder, chia and flax seeds. I change the fruit around depending on the season and what I have in the house.
I make my own soups and try to make them as nutritious as possible, often adding in some cooked lentils or other legumes. I puree all the soups and sometimes add in some Thai curry paste.
I also stew up fruit to keep in the fridge or freezer in case I feel like a snack. Sometimes I grate an apple or pear.
Hugs
Trish
A coffee grinder comes in handy. I eat a lot of nuts that way as a topping on my afternoon meal which is essentially ground chia, ground flaxseed, cooked blueberries (all other fruit with the exception of bananas sometimes are too acidic) blueberry powder, crystallized beet powder, Greek yogurt, and topping of ground seeds and nuts. I eat it like a pudding. Often smoothies get in and around my sore spots. This gelatinous (ground chia is a good binder and keeps you feeling full for ages) meal I make goes down smoothly and actually tastes like desert…a bonus for me.
I avoid wheat.
I do eat some chicken some nights but in very tiny bites and slide it down…
Spicy food is off my menu too
And yes, even cabbage gets disguised in a smoothies.
Sometimes I’ve put a whole dinner in a blender but it reminds me too much of cat food and depresses me so I keep on working on alternatives.
I think you can even put bits of toast in a coffee grinder!
I know it is really hard, but experiment with your favourite foods. You’ll find something.
I eat barely toasted raisin toast very slowly and in tiny bit and peach yogurt every morning. I’m lucky enough that most of the time my pain starts 5-10 minutes after chewing so if I can get it in fairly quickly I can deal with the pain afterwards. I do try to eat a lot of soups and salad. I stopped eating steaks (my absolute favorite thing) awhile back. It just hurt too much. I was already a super picky eater so I find it really hard to adjust my eating habits. My diet is usually not the healthiest even though I try really hard.
Dietary changes has been one of the hardest adjustments for me too. It really, really hurts:( I have let go of foods I love sometimes stubbornly, and sometimes trying to fool myself, like thinking, oh, maybe today it won’t be so bad…lessons learned the hard way…
And it’s hard to eat out. I get so embarrassed picking away at stuff on my plate the odd time I go out to a small dinner party. Even people I know well cant remember, nor should they, every detail of my curtailed die. I don’t like to draw too much attention or have to go into lengthy explanations. If I’m braving a few hours out, the last thing I want to talk about is THIS.
Also - absolutely no alcohol.
Still, it’s not the end of the world. I am not starving. I’m just sometimes cranky about my soft, tasteless diet…
So I say softly to you Emil2y, go gently on yourself. Even a bowl of microwaved frozen peas is a nice change from cereal and milk. Also check out the wheat connection to inflammation and chronic pain. Every little bit of pain management helps.
Realllly scrambled eggs for protein - chocolate almond milk has protein - very important you keep getting that nutrient.... some people revert to baby food - people really get creative on here --- there should probably be a page/link started on here for the 200+ things I've seen people create here....
That’s a good idea KcDancerKc. I was thinking the same thing.
Quinoa is also a great grain, high protein full of other nutrients, and is softer than brown rice which can be too chewy unless you soak it all day first.
Also a good way to get your salad if cold is an issue: let it wilt in hot broth or miso. Have it like soup!
Breakfast was porridge with lots of milk (very liquid). Today I have mashed potatoes (really mashed) and chopped up chicken franks for lunch! I also have a couple of soft buns in my bag as a snack - gotta dip them in coffee though. Haven't figured out dinner yet :/
Ohhhhh fried rice from the Chinese place down the road is AWESOME. it doesn’t hurt for some reason. The lemon chicken I want to have with it does though 
Oh yeah, lemons are definitely off my list.
I didn't think anything sour was a good idea anyway. Sort of makes my teeth grind! I managed to finish my lunch!! The first few bites were super painful, then it got better.. Took me 45 mins, but I had lunch!