My name is Paul Desaulniers and I am the founder of Smooth Bites.  I am a 31 year old with Muscular Dystrophy and as a result, have difficulty swallowing, also known as dysphagia.  My story begins years ago when I required all of my meat to be very tender, using the leanest cuts available.  This worked for a while, but then I found myself coughing the odd time with the feeling of something stuck in my throat.  Eventually, the symptoms progressed and I had a hard time swallowing liquids.  In March of 2014 I unfortunately ended up being hospitalized with aspiration pneumonia.  After a 6-week stay, I was put on a puréed diet with thickened liquids to ensure that I could safely swallow.  The change seemed daunting, especially since I found there to be minimal consumer-friendly resources readily available.  At first there were some challenges, but as time went on my family and I continued to learn the ins and outs.  I was determined that despite my food being a different consistency, I would continue to enjoy the flavourful food that I had come to love, if not more!  I developed Smooth Bites to be the resource that I would want if I was starting this journey again.  Read about Smooth Bites’ Mission here.