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Worried about choking on your food? Or aspiration pneumonia? Here are some tips to help you avoid serious catastrophes:
- Follow the Mediterranean diet.
- When you eat a meal, sit at a normal-sized table and in a normal-sized chair. (In other words, don’t lounge in your bed while eating.)
- Don’t watch TV, look at your computer screen, or read a book or magazine. Just focus on eating. Take small bites and swallow mindfully.
- Eat your biggest meal of the day at breakfast. After that, eat progressively smaller meals for the rest of the day. Finish your last meal at least two hours before you go to bed.
- After every meal, stay in an upright position, like sitting in a chair or on a couch, for 30 minutes. It’s OK to now read or watch TV. Just don’t lie back on the couch or in your bed.
- When sleeping, if possible, keep your head at a higher level than the rest of your body. The first time I did this, I raised the head of the bed by putting two thick books under the legs of the headboard: The Complete Works of Kurt Vonnegut, and The Complete Works of Graham Greene.
- Be careful drinking hot beverages with your meal. They may make it easy for your stomach to regurgitate all your food, sending your meal back up your esophagus and down your trachea.
- Accept the fact that this is how you’ll eat for years to come.
