SAVE YOURSELF FROM CHOKING!!

Choking Hazards: Be On The Alert

Common choking hazards to avoid include:

• Water. Believe it or not, the fluid is so thin that the elderly choke on it. Nursing homes use thickening agents to make water more viscous.
• Hot dogs. If you must serve them, remove the peel (it’s a choking hazard) and julienne into slim pieces.
• Steak or other big pieces of meat
• Chicken with bones
• Popcorn and pizza, especially when it’s cold. “It gets stuck in the airway and is hard to cough or Heimlich out,” Krasnoff notes. Never serve popcorn and pizza together.
• Hard candy
• Bread, especially white bread. When the elderly drink water, the bread expands. “It becomes like a big sponge, blocking the airway,” says Krasnoff.
• Cake and milk, for the reasons above.
• Crackers, rice cakes or other dry foods
• White bread and peanut butter. “It’s like glue. Add lots of jelly if you serve peanut butter,” Krasnoff advises.
• Large chunks of fruit, such as pineapple and apples.

Better Choices: Foods With Low Choking Risks

Here are some food choices that are easier to swallow:

• Fish, if it’s filleted
• Ground meat
• Soups
• Chocolate (if it gets stuck, it melts)
• Applesauce, pudding and Jello
• Lightly toasted bread with butter or jelly

Dos and Don’ts of Eating

These tips will also help reduce incidences of choking:

• Don’t drink fluids while you’re eating. People do this to make the food go down and it can lead to choking.
• Don’t talk while you eat. The epiglottis—the hinge like flap at the base of your tongue that keeps food from entering your windpipe—doesn’t know whether to open or close because it doesn’t know whether food or air is coming.
• Don’t eat lying down.
• Don’t drink alcohol while eating.
• Do learn to eat more slowly.
• Do put less on your plate so you can’t eat too much too fast. Have a second helping afterward instead.
• Do julienne the food.
• Do peel apples before serving or, better yet, serve applesauce

If someone does choke, if you have training in CPR you can help them. The American Heart Association and the American Red Cross both offer this service.

I have the "put too much food on my plate" disorder. I will change this behavior immediatly.