Food seem dryer than they used to...

So on Friday night we had some salmon and that didn't go well. It was grilled and we had some more left so we tried baking it this time and that went really bad ending in no dinner for me. Now today it seems that unless I am eating yogurt or apple sauce that any food I have it seeming really dry. These are foods I have ate in the past. Should I call the surgeon, nutritionist or what?

I have found for me, things change from day to day.  Something that is fine one day, may not be fine the next.  And with cooking, it can vary greatly.   So I would not call the surgeon or anyone.  I would just continue to try to make it reasonably and take my time eating.

Not sure when you had surgery.  For the first three months, I could only eat meat in chili or soups.  I could eat tuna with a lot of mayo to make it moist.  I had to add butter, gravy or some sauce to anything else.  At about four months I could eat a small beef filet, which is extremely tender.  I still cannot eat any meat that is cooked dry or reheated in a microwave.

I had salmon last night for dinner.  I had a hard time with it.  It was very dry and I chewed and chewed.  Had to stop eating it as I felt it was getting stuck.

I have had very similar issues. If a protein is at all dry, I have trouble with it. Beef has to be rare, and fish is better poached or steamed. Making some tartar sauce with Greek yogurt helps with the fish, I've found. Chicken and turkey are problematic still, and I've given them up for about a month and will try again later with them. Ground chicken and turkey is ok, as well as ground beef and pork. Slow cooked meats, like pork shoulder done in a crock pot, are fine. So, I don't think it's something to call about, although you can certainly check in with your nutritionist and see if she/he has any tips for you. I'd just suggest making sure that whatever you're eating has some sort of moisture added to it, and keep trying your proteins prepared in different ways.

I never thought to use greek yogurt to make tarter.  Thank you for the tip!!!

You might need to try to have some sort of broth or sauce available to keep things moist for you.  I've found, personally, that if I take tiny bites and totally chew, chew, chew, then pretty much everything will work.  However - i do stay away from very dry things - when you can only have a tiny bit, I'm making choices to ensure I will enjoy my protein.  You can also try having some sort of sharp or spicy side with it.  I've found that a tiny nibble of a contrasting flavor can get your saliva flowing to handle a drier main course.

Try having it steamed next time.... That can really help keep the fish moist and tender.

Good luck!

There really isn't anything the surgeon or nutritionist can do about how dry the foods you are eating are.  You just need to find ways to make sure what you eat is moist.  

Most importantly, don't overcook things!  Proteins, especially, get dryer the longer they are cooked.  If you don't sear something to seal in the juices while it is cooking, you might want to consider poaching or slow cooking in liquid of some kind instead of grilling or baking. 

As someone else already suggested, using broth can be useful to keep things moist, as can using a marinade before cooking proteins.

You may also find that making sure you are well hydrated before eating helps.  If your mouth is dry before you start to eat, nothing is going to go down well.

Lora

The meats that went down best for me early on were deli meats, mostly ham and chicken. They are very moist, and if you get them thinly sliced, they are easy to chew and swallow.

Salmon is still very hit and miss for me - I'm ok if it's thin sliced smoked salmon, sushi or sashimi, but cooked can very easily be    Give some of the raw or smoked salmon a try and see how it works for you!