The nurse teaches the patient about eating a soft diet at home. After teaching, the nurse asks the patient for an example of a suitable food on a soft diet. Which patient choice does the nurse ac-cept as suitable for a soft diet?

Question

a. Hot oatmeal with low-fat milk
b. Tomato stuffed with tuna salad
c. Lean steak with a baked potato
d. Thin spaghetti with tomato sauce

Answer 1

D
Food on a soft diet must be low in fiber, easily digested, easy to chew, and simple to cook; thus thin spaghetti with tomato sauce is suitable. A soft diet is slightly different from a mechanical soft diet because soft-diet foods must be low in fiber and mechanically soft foods can contain fiber that are pureed or ground. The oatmeal is rich in fiber and is considered a high-fiber food. The fresh tomato needs to be chewed as does the tuna salad. The tuna salad has the mayonnaise, which provides quite a bit of fat. The meat must be chewed and is not easily digested. The baked potato usually requires the addition of butter or some fat and is also high in fiber.