Any tips for eating

[LesleyGreengran]

Hi. I'm having trouble getting any food down. I find the smell and sight of food repulsive. I manage to eat some small portions but then give up. Does anyone have any ideas for how to make myself want to eat? The only thing I can eat easily is ice cream. The district nurse said frozen pineapple juice cubes might help but I've not tried them yet.

[Tesla_7US]

I made baked potatoes in the microwave, mashed them and slathered them with organic butter and sour cream. Also, brown rice with butter was good too. Got me through chemo.

[Hidden]

Well eat small amounts more often, add yogurts and maybe creamy rice pudding, mashed potatoes with plenty butter or cream is also good, Toast, crackers, flat seven up or sprite. If you are really in trouble do ask your gp for the protein shakes. Also ring the Ovacome helpline, the nurse there may have good suggestions for you too

[angeladale]

Sight and smell of food can be so distressing ... I just could not eat at the beginning (2011 ) .I discovered Aryan , a salty yoghurt drink , and once I did , I downed it in pints . It's salty , and I now know that taxol depleted my salts .

Some of us go the other way and want sugar . I did swing to doughnuts with quite some relish !

Anything is better than nothing, so you must indulge yourself in whatever you do fancy .

The foods you loved as a child often do the trick , even if our well- trained, adult minds shout , " NOOOH " .....

The Ice cream diet is fine for now ....why not ?

Custard ? Rice Pudding ? Soya desserts . Mashed banana .....Victoria cream sponge cake ....

You will get your appetite back , but not for some time .

Of course , there are the cartons with nutritional stuff in them which hospitals can provide .

When my dad couldn't eat , he relished Build Up / and their soups ....

Very best wishes to you ,

Angela x

[bsooner]

Jello, pudding, Popsicles,applesauce, buttered toast and ice cream were a few of my go to foods when I didn't feel like eating.

[Paulmck]

Have you tried Fortisip protein drinks? They taste like week yogurt drinks but are packed with calories.

[Mommoo65]

I remember how strange it was to not have any appetite and to discover even favorite foods just made me nauseous. I lived on dairy everything. Yogurt, milk shakes, cottage cheese. I lost so much weight so quickly I had to add 2 high calorie protein shakes a day. My cat loved them. My appetite would return the third week of each cycle for a few days only. But a month or so after chemo ended, things started getting back to normal. Too much so. Now I am dieting! 😁

[LesleyGreengran in reply to Mommoo65]

Thanks. My partner says the cat's too fat to have any bulking shakes but I may be on them soon! Yes it's no longer liking the things I used to love which is so hard, and for others as well who are cooking for me and trying to get me to eat x

[Janet235]

Hi Lesley....are you on chemo at the moment? I am about to go into the second lot of chemo in a weeks time after 6 months from last lot . I am finding my appetite poor still and though I try to make myself eat as much as I did before, I am consistently losing weight.

I wonder if you have come across Franks diabetic ice cream, you can buy it in most big supermarkets. I buy it for my husband but it tastes as good as any vanilla but contains no sugar. Myself I am not fussed about ice cream. I do have small snacks in between meals, a Nairn's reduced sugar chocolate biccie with coffee, and nuts and a a big fat medjool date with afternoon tea....

Next visit I may ask for those fortsip drinks which are pretty dire but high in calories....

All the best x Janet 🌈

[LesleyGreengran in reply to Janet235]

Thanks for that if I keep losing weight I will see if I can get something. No chemo's finished I've been refered to palliative care.

[LesleyGreengran]

I do find that if I sit in front of a good TV programme I can manage a bit more.

[Bluehen]

I had a terrible time finding something I could eat. Strange, I found I could eat pizza or spahagetti but couldn't handle food that wasn't overly spicy. Strange isn't it. I felt I was not eating healthy and still don't have much success with veggies. I can eat fruit. I made smoothes with fruit and veggies in them. Nothing taste the same. I found I ate a little better if I went out to eat and didn't have to smell it cooking.

[lesleysage]

During those months of chemo and inability to eat enough to 'hold our own' against weight loss, my GP prescribed 'Pro-Cal' (a tasteless liquid with 150 calories in only 2 tablespoons) and a white powder, 'Maxijule' which I could sprinkle on any food I could eat...rice pud, mashed potato etc etc. and this added good food value to really small quantities of actual food I had to eat. This was during my second chemo and really helped reduce the weight loss - to half a stone instead of the 2 stone during the first chemo.

Otherwise, much as everyone else has shared - small quantities as often as you can. I found consulting a dietician (not nutritionist) really worth the £60+ it cost me as she helped me work out how to add quality to the tiny quantities of the food liked and could eat.

Someone has suggested the Ovacome nurse/helpline so do try her.

L x

[Hidden]

I think little bites here and there through the day ... a grape or two or a few bites of fruit .. is better than trying to force a meal down.

My favourite during this current course of chemo is miso soup - I buy the "instant" miso paste and add hot water. Sometimes I can face a few noodles in the soup. Also rice cooked in coconut milk and sugar.