Sick of shakes?

Skiffin16 said:

Ensure Plus
Actually, I believe they have 350 calories...

But, I didn't have a lot of taste anyways, though I had enough to prefer the Strawberry.

By the time I needed to go to mainly liquid, it really didn't matter to me, I was doing it for calorie intake and survival.

But most anything that puts more calories in to you with less effort is a good thing.

Best,
John

liquid diet for enjoyment
That there is an oxymoron, yes? I never ccompletely lost my sense of taste, and it is beginning to come back from its nadir of a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, I cannot yet eat solid food. Still got mouth issues, so for the time being, I'm stuck on a liquid diet.

I am certainly not eating for enjoyement at the moment. I've a little corner of the kitchen set aside with my stuff, and four times a day I mix and power down my calories for the day. I need about 2800 calories of liquid diet to maintain my weight. I pushed up to 3500 awhile back because of weight loss, and found I actually could gain weight at this level.

So I start with ensure plus. To that I add, not necessarily every time: eggs, bananas, strawberries, honey, caramel, ice cream, yogurt, peanut butter, cheesecake filling( you ought to see how many calories are in that stuff!), peaches. I blend for a bit, and just drink it down as fast as I can. Most of it doesn't taste like much, but I can power down 700 calories in about 60 seconds. The first few weeks post rads, it hurt bad enough to even drink the calories that I had my meals over the kitchen sink, so that I could rinse my mouth out with salt/soda solution right afterwards. All of this makes light of what otherwise is a royal nuisance, eating when it isn't fun to eat.

About once a week I try solid food. Not much luck yet. I can get it down, but I'm so slow it would take all day to get the calories in. And some of it tastes absolutely horrible right now.

Anyway, as has been said by you and others, anything that gets the calories down without a big hassle is great. And frankly, some of this stuff smells great, even if I can't taste it too well.

Pat

RogerRN43 said:

Carotid stenosis
Yes, more calories in Ensure Plus than regular Ensure.
Even more, some liquid supplements like Resource 2.0 pack 480cal per 8oz box.

If the calories are from bad fat, do you guys ever worry about plugging up your arteries?
Radiation narrows our carotids, the risk of stroke increases yearly.
Adding arteriosclerotic plaque from bad fat probably increases that risk.

Sometimes I can't help and indulge for the calories.

You know, I just threw caution to the wind
I've already had an MI, yet it occurs to me I have to first live long enough to have another one. I have even taken a hiatus from my lipitor and fenofibrate, as i'm one of those with relatively normal total cholesterol, who simply makes no HDL's at all. I'm taking the risk figuring this is a temporary situation. If it isn't temporary, then I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Not one of my treatment doctors seems concerned about this. Can you say "tunnel vision?"

Pat

Skiffin16 said:

Like Pat
When I was in treatment, I was more concerned with surviving the short term treatment. That was more important to me than worrying about how healthy I was eating for a few weeks.

Clogging arteries (to me) is more a long term process.

JG

Same here
My husband is diabetic, so at first we were hesitant to go overboard on sugary things. The nurses said, don't worry so much about the glucose numbers, just get the calories in. I made him shakes with Enusre plus, tofu (for protein and silkyness) and ice cream to bump up the calories and flavor. Those were approx 700 calories or so. There is also a product from Nestle called Carnation 560....it's lactose free and has 560 calories in an 8oz can. Comes only in vanilla and smells/tastes like cake batter. My hubby hated it because it was just so rich and thick, but now with his taste buds gone he said he'd be willing to try it watered down with an apple ensure enlive (those have 200 calories). He also eats cocoa wheats made with whole milk, I make a double batch and it's around 800 calories by the time he adds sugar and more milk. Something about the warmth of the cereal is comforting to him.
Cheesecake filling? I'll have to look for that!

longtermsurvivor said:

liquid diet for enjoyment
That there is an oxymoron, yes? I never ccompletely lost my sense of taste, and it is beginning to come back from its nadir of a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, I cannot yet eat solid food. Still got mouth issues, so for the time being, I'm stuck on a liquid diet.

I am certainly not eating for enjoyement at the moment. I've a little corner of the kitchen set aside with my stuff, and four times a day I mix and power down my calories for the day. I need about 2800 calories of liquid diet to maintain my weight. I pushed up to 3500 awhile back because of weight loss, and found I actually could gain weight at this level.

So I start with ensure plus. To that I add, not necessarily every time: eggs, bananas, strawberries, honey, caramel, ice cream, yogurt, peanut butter, cheesecake filling( you ought to see how many calories are in that stuff!), peaches. I blend for a bit, and just drink it down as fast as I can. Most of it doesn't taste like much, but I can power down 700 calories in about 60 seconds. The first few weeks post rads, it hurt bad enough to even drink the calories that I had my meals over the kitchen sink, so that I could rinse my mouth out with salt/soda solution right afterwards. All of this makes light of what otherwise is a royal nuisance, eating when it isn't fun to eat.

About once a week I try solid food. Not much luck yet. I can get it down, but I'm so slow it would take all day to get the calories in. And some of it tastes absolutely horrible right now.

Anyway, as has been said by you and others, anything that gets the calories down without a big hassle is great. And frankly, some of this stuff smells great, even if I can't taste it too well.

Pat

getting calories down
pat, i was wondering when was your last chemo? i too drink 3 to 4 ensure plus a day. i make one tbl spoon oakmeal with cup almond milk and two egg whites and slice of apple and cinnamon for breakfast everyday. (boring)takes me an hour to eat it. i also have a protein smoothie with cup blueberry,banana,scoop of protein powder, baby spinach, yogurt, oj. i am not sure how much additional calories i am getting. have not been able to eat much solid foods. i have started trying stir fry vege's. only can eat very little and again it takes a long time. i am not sure what is the problem is it the throat or the dry mouth or both. just have a hard time swallowing. i guess only time will tell when things will get better. just maintaining my weight with getting the calories as easy as possible. just like you do not have all day to get our calories we need. good luck to all of us with this new life style.

aprilshower55 said:

getting calories down
pat, i was wondering when was your last chemo? i too drink 3 to 4 ensure plus a day. i make one tbl spoon oakmeal with cup almond milk and two egg whites and slice of apple and cinnamon for breakfast everyday. (boring)takes me an hour to eat it. i also have a protein smoothie with cup blueberry,banana,scoop of protein powder, baby spinach, yogurt, oj. i am not sure how much additional calories i am getting. have not been able to eat much solid foods. i have started trying stir fry vege's. only can eat very little and again it takes a long time. i am not sure what is the problem is it the throat or the dry mouth or both. just have a hard time swallowing. i guess only time will tell when things will get better. just maintaining my weight with getting the calories as easy as possible. just like you do not have all day to get our calories we need. good luck to all of us with this new life style.

Sorry I just saw your post
It has now been seven weeks since the last radiation, but about 4 months since my last chemo. A few days have gone by since I posted above, and things are changing pretty quickly for me. I am finally able to get a little solid food down, though not much, as I still have mouth ulcers that sometimes are pretty darned sore. OTOH, my taste buds are rapidly changing. I have eaten some eggs and some sausage in the last three days, and they start out tasting absolutely normal. Then aftger a few bites the taste fades away. that's radiation effect.

It surprises me to have normal taste, even though fleetingly. When I had my first radiation in 1998, two months after radiation I could only taste vanilla, and just very faintly. The rest of my taste came back very slowly, over a few years. So this experience is entirely different than my first time around.

Right now I'm very happy with this result. I can't speed up the mouth healing. It will take a few more weeks, or even longer. And it hurts enough to chew that I'm not going to push it. I really don't have any trouble swallowing, except for being dry.

April, I've been completely through this before. Be very very patient with yourself. It can take years, literally, to see how much recovery you are going to get. My previous experience is that, after 4 or 5 years, all of this was normal, for me.


pat