FOOD

Give it some time
It was a good few months after the end of treatment that Doug found himself "hungry" - until then, he was pretty much putting it down without relish (or catsup).

My suggestion is to make a plan to cover the necessary calories (using milkshakes or Boost Plus or similar) - this is the food you "must" eat every day. Then try to have some little tidbits to try on the side - think about the foods that used to appeal to you. Most folks say that sweets and chocolate don't seem to appeal at first. Don't get discouraged at first.

A lot of folks claim the meat/cheese taste stayed with them the best. Mac & Cheese, Scrambled Eggs and Cheese, mild pulled pork, hamburgs/hot dogs off the grill. . . don't depend on these for your main calories, but they might tempt your appetite.

DrMary said:

Give it some time
It was a good few months after the end of treatment that Doug found himself "hungry" - until then, he was pretty much putting it down without relish (or catsup).

My suggestion is to make a plan to cover the necessary calories (using milkshakes or Boost Plus or similar) - this is the food you "must" eat every day. Then try to have some little tidbits to try on the side - think about the foods that used to appeal to you. Most folks say that sweets and chocolate don't seem to appeal at first. Don't get discouraged at first.

A lot of folks claim the meat/cheese taste stayed with them the best. Mac & Cheese, Scrambled Eggs and Cheese, mild pulled pork, hamburgs/hot dogs off the grill. . . don't depend on these for your main calories, but they might tempt your appetite.

Bread pudding
I wanted so badly to eat but had no desire. I was on a business trip to Kansas City and my boss bought me a piece of bread pudding with that great sauce. I ate four of them at one sitting I'm ashamed to say. All the while he was chowing down on a hugh prime rib.

adventurebob said:

appetite
Marijuana and exercise. Not sure if both of these are legal where you live but both work well. I have read on this board about other appetite stimulating drugs but I don't know what they are. I'm sure someone will chime in with them soon. Happy eating Ruby

Bob

I would start with soft
I would start with soft foods that appeal to you. I don't think I would try and tackle pulled pork and meats off the grill if you were relying on a peg thru treatment, but that's just me. Try and find things that look good and smell good to you. Everyone is so different it's hard to say what you will like and or tolerate. The more you can eat, and get a little exercise the more your appetite will grow. I know one woman who posts here sometimes said that megace worked for her, but you need to research it, because I don't know anything about it, good or bad. Marinol works well, if it's legal where your at.

Don't get discouraged, I know it was a study in patience for me and the trial and error made for a lot of waste. Which was just unavoidable. Hope you can get your peg removes quickly.

sweetblood22 said:

I would start with soft
I would start with soft foods that appeal to you. I don't think I would try and tackle pulled pork and meats off the grill if you were relying on a peg thru treatment, but that's just me. Try and find things that look good and smell good to you. Everyone is so different it's hard to say what you will like and or tolerate. The more you can eat, and get a little exercise the more your appetite will grow. I know one woman who posts here sometimes said that megace worked for her, but you need to research it, because I don't know anything about it, good or bad. Marinol works well, if it's legal where your at.

Don't get discouraged, I know it was a study in patience for me and the trial and error made for a lot of waste. Which was just unavoidable. Hope you can get your peg removes quickly.

food
Hi first of all i hope everyone does not mind me joining these forums as they are very helpful, i am lucky enough not to have cancer but i am on my last week of radiation ! i
underwent a second operation for a parotid tumour in february, due to the scar tissue from the first operation and the surgeon trying to avoid the facial nerve he knows he has not removed all of the tumour, the two operations were ten years apart and the surgeon has said that if he has to operate again i will lose the left hand side facial nerve, hence the need for radiation. I have been given a relatively low dose , have lost alot of my taste and have lost a lot of weight and still losing even though i needed to lose quite a bit anyway, Everything tastes chalky and tasteless even water tastes salty really struggling to eat and drink , have tried the protein drinks and foods radiation team have given me but it does not help , i feel sick alot of the time as well . Any advise would be much appreciated im told taste will eventually come back but i find it hard to believe.

thanks ian

Eating again
It took a while and a swift kick in the proverbial pants by my nurse before I started eating again. In the beginning it was more a matter of will & forcing myself to eat versus actually being hungry. I lived on the 530 calorie microwavable Velveeta Shells and Cheese. It was enough calories with a small amount of actual food. My primary motivation to start eating again was so I could get rid of my PEG. Try egg drop soup too, but make sure it's just broth and egg. Some places put bits of chicken, veggies in it. Egg drop soup helps with mucus too.

Good luck!

KTeacher said:

Magic Mineral Broth by
Magic Mineral Broth by Rebecca Katz. She puts the yum back. You can just put her name or the Magic Mineral Broth in the search. The week that water started to hurt this recipe was sent to me. I could handle walking in the kitchen as it was cooking and it went down like silk. You can get some recipes on her website or purchase her cookbooks. Good luck with your eating, it will come back, some things are just different.

Magic Mineral Broth
When I found out about my husbands cancer, I went and bought "The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen" by Rebecca Kat with Mat Edelson. I made the Magic Mineral Broth and I have 6 quarts of it frozen in my freezer. His chemo 5fu pumped starts this Wednesday. I'm not sure if he will need it during chemo, when radiation starts, or when treatment is completely over. There are a lot of recipes in there. I'm hoping this works. We have made some of the other dishes and they are delicious. I'm just not sure if there will be enough calories for him, but it sure has a lot of nutrients in it.

Donna

Kent Cass said:

Ruby
Was also a PEG patient, and had to start again with the traditional method of Nutrition intake. I started with pancakes with lotsa butter and maple syrup, along with lotsa Ensure each day. Everybody's different, and if your taste buds got zapped with the rads there's no telling what will agree with you. Trial and error time. Pudding and rice was good, too. As for helping you want to eat- just something you gotta do. Simple as that.

It has been mentioned before: your tongue and taste buds are also in recovery, so there is a school of thought that not challenging the taste buds and tongue with foods that may irritate them can be a good thing, as they are still healing from the impact of treatment. I went very slow for the first couple months, but by the 4th month had taken a fancy to anything with onions. Hope you'll have as good a recovery as I've had.

kcass

What IS that, Kent?
I mean, I liked onions before treatment, but since treatment, I LOVE them!

Pam M said:

Glad You're on the Mend
Rubytoos,

I looked at eating food as just another prescription. Part of my doctor-recommended regime. A necessary evil. And the road to PEG removal. For a while, smoothies were about it, even though they burned (the yogurt, I think) - it was just high calories that I could chug down fairly quickly. I, too, enjoyed egg drop soup when most other foods hurt (but only from one of the three restaurants I tried). The appetite did come back (with a vengeance). I tracked my food intake, and some days had to chug meal replacement drinks in the evening to keep up with calories I needed. So, at first, I ate (or drank) on schedule, not according to desire - the desire came later. Hope it's quick for you.

Hi Ruby

It takes sometime before the body adjusts to eating again, but in the mean time you might need a little help. Call your doctor and ask him if he could prescribe something to help you get back on track. Another reason you might not feel hunger is because things don’t taste the same, but that too will adjust as your body gets it new normal.

Wishing you the best
Hondo

Soup
I'd forgotten..chicken noodle soup (with those micro sized round noodles) at Chappy's Deli located right outside of the cancer center. Lived on it during treatments.