Menu Suggestions

Sonja,

Keep doing what your doing and eat what you can. It is very important that you keep your calorie consumption up, though. My loved one kept drinking Boost or Ensure throughout his treatment and still does 2 years later, as he lost over 50 lbs during treatment. When it was hard to swallow, it was put in his feeding tube. Please also remember to drink, drink, drink and use those "swallowing" muscles. If you don't use them, you could lose them. So, please keep that in mind. 

I'm sure others could give you some ideas on what they ate. I think some mixed themselves up a high calorie milk shake...maybe Phrannie?

The magic mouth wash and a suction machine were incredibly awesome to keep the mucus and soreness down.

Thoughts with you during this process.

`C

It's hard not to think of food as something you eat for enjoyment and taste--but at this point it's really medicine to help your body heal better and faster.  So, take your medicine for now.  Over time, your taste and appetite will come back around--mostly or even 100%.  For me it was applesauce--I hated the taste but knew it had some needed calories and nutrients--so I forced myself to eat it every day, until I could tolerate other foods in its place.  Do whatever you can to meet your caloric and nutritional needs, even if your mind and tastebuds tell you otherwise.  It will make things you can't eat now taste even better when they come back into your diet.

mike

 Thinking you could flavor it with pimento, and use celery salt instead of regular salt.  You can also get dehydrated onion that will get soft once it's soaked in the mayo.  Any type of vegitable soup, since the veggies will cook down and be mushy....you can flavor with beef or chicken, and whip it up in the blender for a full meal.  Actually, as long as you're not using a tube, there isn't anything you can't make, and then whip up in the blender to make it "chewable/swallowable".  Just as long as your protein intake is high, and you get enough down to get the calories you need.  To make things more liquidy you can use canned chicken or beef broth.

The saran wrap works really good as an applicator of aquafor, huh?  My fingers were too rough to touch my lips but saran wrap just glided the stuff on .  Stryofoam cups to drink from, too....they were the only way I could get liquid into my mouth....cans, glass, plastic, everything else was too rough. 

p

PS...just thought....those little bullet blenders aren't very expensive, and you can do one feeding at a time.  I've heard they REALLY whip food up well, also.  

One of the easiest things for me to eat, and still eat it every day, is Cream of Wheat.  Most other cold/cooked cereals are hard to swallow.

A real life saver for me is an immersible hand blender.  Mine is  a Kitchen Aid hand blender, about $60.  It came with both a blending attachment and a chopping attachment and I almost always use the chopper.  When I have trouble eating whatever is served for dinner, into the chopper it goes, which can grind as coarse or fine as I want.

You are eating a good variety of soft foods all of which I ate going through radiation.  I did try and get down Amy's lentil soup and split pea soup, but had to make it thinner and used organic chicken stock and a blender as any texture bothered me.  

Cream of wheat made very thin and with brown sugar tasted kind of good and went down easily.

I also made smoothies with protein, rice or almond milk, frozen strawberries, blueberries and a banana.  

I found a soy protein supplement that did not taste like an oil slick to me and used it 2-3 times a day to keep up calories called Svelte cappachino was the flavor I liked best and chocolate and vanilla are available.  I found it in Walmart and Harris Teeter.

Best to you,

PJ