If you’ve had a stroke, your diet may change. A change in your diet after stroke can be difficult to come to terms with. You may feel overwhelmed, sad or even angry. But with support, things can improve.
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How your diet can change after a stroke
This can happen for many reasons. It might be due to certain effects of your stroke, like swallowing problems or changes to your senses of taste and smell. Your thoughts and feelings about food may also change after having a stroke.
Below are some of the new challenges you may be experiencing and how they may impact your diet.
Get individual advice
Not everyone who has a stroke will experience the effects listed. Everyone’s experience of stroke is different. Talk to your doctor or dietitian for individual advice if you’re having any ongoing problems affecting your diet since having a stroke.
Problems swallowing
Some people have difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) after they’ve had a stroke. You may only have problems swallowing certain foods or liquids. But for others, it may be very difficult to swallow most foods or liquids, or not possible at all. This can be upsetting and hard to deal with, but there is support available that may help.
If you have problems swallowing after a stroke, your hospital team should refer you to a speech and language therapist. They are specialists who support people with swallowing and communication difficulties. Your GP can also refer you to a speech and language therapist if you need support. A dietitian can also give you support and information on how to increase the calories (energy) and protein in your diet, if you’re finding it difficult to eat your usual diet while having problems swallowing.
We have more detailed information on swallowing problems, including getting support for changes to eating and drinking and tube feeding.
Loss of appetite
If you’ve had a stroke, you may notice your appetite has changed and you may feel less hungry. This may be caused by the stroke or by other factors, such as feeling depressed, tired, anxious or in pain. Having a reduced appetite, and not eating enough food, may mean that you lose weight.
For most people, your appetite will return to normal in time. But if your appetite remains poor, talk to your doctor or a dietitian. It is important to give your body the food and nutrients it needs to feel well and energised, help with your recovery and avoid you becoming malnourished
Avoiding weight loss
If you have a smaller appetite after a stroke or have difficulties like fatigue or swallowing problems, you may eat less, which can cause weight loss.
It’s important for your general health and recovery that you try to stay a healthy weight. If you’re not getting enough nutrients and energy from your diet, you risk becoming malnourished. This is a serious condition which means you may lose weight, feel tired or weak, or get sick more often and take longer to recover from illnesses.
If you’re having problems eating, you’re losing weight unintentionally or have concerns about changes in your appetite or diet, contact your GP. They may be able to refer you to a dietitian. They will be able to assess you and give you support with nutrition and information about how to avoid weight loss. For example, eating foods which are smaller in portion size and easy to eat, but high in calories.
If you cannot get all the nutrients you need from your diet alone, other options, such as prescribing nutritional supplements, may be recommended.
Change in taste and smell
Some people experience changes to their senses of taste and smell after a stroke.
Taste and smell play an important role in your diet and enjoyment of food. Any changes can have a big impact on your life. You may stop eating some foods you normally enjoy if you have problems with taste or smell.
These changes may only be temporary and could improve as you recover. But for some people, changes to taste and smell may last longer. Medications and tooth or gum infections can also affect your sense of taste or smell.
Talk to your doctor if your taste and smell is different since having a stroke. They may be able to refer you to a dietitian. Our Taste and smell changes after a stroke webpage has more information.
Other effects of stroke
You may experience some new challenges from other effects of a stroke, such as fatigue and problems with memory and thinking. These things may affect how you shop and cook as well as your diet, eating habits and hydration.
You may have to do things differently to how you did them before. This can take a while to get used to and can be difficult to deal with, especially if you’ve always been independent.
Remember, ask for help if you need it. Talk to your family and friends about the support you need. Your stroke team or GP surgery may be able to refer you to local support services or therapists. Our Stroke Support Helpline can also help you find sources of support.
Your feelings towards food
How you feel and think about food may change after you’ve had a stroke.
For many of us, food plays an important role in our lives. This might include going to restaurants, sharing food with others or cooking. For some people, food can form part of their identity and culture. If your diet or the foods you eat have changed since having a stroke, it can be upsetting and difficult to accept.
If you have swallowing problems, you may have to change how you eat. You may need softer or pureed food to make it safer to swallow. This could affect your enjoyment of food and may be an overwhelming experience.
Many people experience low mood and anxiety after a stroke, including around food and eating. Contact your GP surgery to find out what support is available to you. You may also find it helpful to talk to others who understand what you’re going through. You can chat to others who have had a stroke and share experiences on our Online Community.
Ways to manage your food habits
After a stroke, day-to-day tasks may not be as easy as they were before. You may find it harder to plan your meals or get to the supermarket.
- Write a shopping list before you go to the shops, or ask a friend, family member or carer to help you, if you can. This will help you stay focused when you’re shopping.
- Plan your meals in advance.
- Cook meals in larger batches and freeze them. This can save time and money. It also means that you’ll have healthy meals available, even on days when you do not feel like cooking or have less energy.
- Consider doing your grocery shopping online. This may be a good option if you find it difficult to get to a supermarket, get around the store with a trolley or basket, or if busy shops feel overwhelming. With online shopping, you can choose items in your own time and pay to have them delivered to your home at a time that suits you. Family, friends or carers may also be able to help by shopping online for you.
Cooking for yourself and your family
Some effects of your stroke, such as fatigue or weakness in your arm and hand, may impact the way you cook and prepare food. You may have to change the way you cook and prepare food. These changes may be difficult to adjust to, especially if you normally enjoy cooking.
Kitchen equipment is available for people with disabilities to help with some tasks, such as pouring a kettle, opening a tin or cutting up food. An occupational therapist (OT) can advise you on equipment, kitchen adaptations and strategies to support you with cooking, shopping and feeding yourself. Your GP can refer you to an OT. You can find more information on equipment for independent living and mobility.
If you’re finding it difficult to cook, you could try ordering some pre-prepared meals to your home. You can buy them online and they often arrive frozen, ready to be cooked in a microwave or oven.
Watch our online cooking videos for cooking and healthy recipe ideas and tips for preparing food with one hand.
Food and medication
Some types of medication can be affected by the foods you eat. If you’ve had a stroke or TIA, you will usually be offered cholesterol-lowering medication called statins, unless there are other medical reasons which means they are not suitable for you. If you take statins, ask your pharmacist or doctor if you need to avoid any certain foods or drinks, for example, grapefruit juice or alcohol. If you have any problems or questions about your medication, speak to your doctor or pharmacist.
If you take the anticoagulant warfarin, speak to your doctor before changing your diet. See our information on blood-thinning medications