What to eat when everything tastes like cardboard?

christine2080 said:

Wonderful ideas!

Anothersurvivor, thanks so much! Your posts have been invaluable to me! I wish we had a thank button on posts! We tried pickles this afternoon, but they had no taste for him. You have given me lots of ideas to work from!

Keep in mind that for the first months/years this is a problem that is going to evolve A LOT.   I hated some of my first whole foods, got depressed, stumbled thru attempts, eventually arrived at workable.  Now, more or less good, I have gone back and tried some of those first whole foods and realize they REALLY DON'T TASTE VERY GOOD. 

A really good barometer on taste is the mini Snickers bar that comes in halloween candy.  It is a very highly engineered food, and we all pretty much know what it 'should' taste like.  I used it to evaluate recovery.  I know that I pretty much got all my taste back because it tastes 'true' to my memory of it.  Interesting all those processed sugars are now hideous to me.  I can detect corn syrup at almost any level, and it all tastes bad.  I haven't decided yet if my taste is now better or worse, but it is certainly different.  Natural flavors in raw fruit and things like olives are great.  Unfortunately wine and beer didn't make the cut, but I probably needed to drink less alcohol anyway.

I should also add that my husband can't taste anything anymore (25 radiations done, 10 to go) so he just goes with what he can swallow.  Before eating or drinking anything, he takes a swig of magic mouthwash.  I honestly don't think he'd eat anything without numbing his mouth and throat first with that mouthwash stuff.  It seems to work REALLY well. 

My husband didn't want me to add the benecalorie stuff into the food either until he got a lecture from his oncologist because he'd lost 15 pounds. The week he had thrush was very rough and I think he lost most of the weight that week. 

I'm going to look into the One Bite at a Time book. I would like to make more foods instead of using the prepared stuff.

I think it is just so hard to be interested in food when it all tastes bland. No fun at all.

Custard is a good choice. Contains eggs and is very smooth. Also, the cookbook, “Goes Down Easy:Recipes to help you cope with the challenge of eating during cancer treatment” by Elise Mecklinger and the dieticians at Princess Margaret, may offer you some options. It’s available through Indigo.

My husband is now 2.5 week’s post treatment and is finally able to swallow some solid food. Tonight he managed some mashed potatoes and gravy although he said it didn’t have much flavor but he ate it. He has managed some chocolate ice cream and did eat a few noodles in cream sauce Yesterday. Diced peaches and pears have also proven to have some flavor. We have tried puddings, jello and smoothies. I made banana “ice cream”, freezing sliced bananas and then blending with a food processor. He said he could taste that! 

We were thankful that Drs suggested he have a feeding tube put in prior to the start of treatment, as he lost almost 50lbs during the pre-treatment and onset of treatment...all since early July. He began using it early August and was only using that for nutrition cartons. we managed 1250 -1500 calories a day. Thank GOD! He is now maintaining weight and we have just begun trying solid food again Since his throat has been soooo badly burned.

Any suggestions you all have is very much appreciated!

thanks! Lisa I

There are twice the calories in protein and fat than carbs. Just try to get as many calories in as possible.

ByeByeCancer said:

Hey, I'm mostsly going to

Hey, I'm mostsly going to follow your post to get additional ideas for my husband.  It is hard to even want to eat when nothing tastes good.  But, I'll add a list of what he is eating over last couple days:

Brown Sugar Oatmeal with a benacalorie mixed in.  

Smoothies with a benecalorie blended in (protein powder, cashew milk, yogurt, blueberries, banana, and a benecalorie in the vitamix)

Chicken noodle soup.  I was trying to get healthier, organic versions...but then noticed a packet of ramen has almost 400 calories!  Might switch to that if we need the extra calories.

Velveeta shells and cheese 

Diced peaches 

Vanilla pudding

Orgain pre-made protein drinks.  Vanilla only (says he doesn't like the smell of the chocolate).

Hopefully others can add some fresh ideas too.  

 

 

Dear ByeBye C,  I am posting this here as it could help your husband. Right now, you need to get food into him. real food to keep his weight up or steady.  Try this.  I know it will help.  

If you have little or NO SALIVA, dry mouth, or just a very hard time swallowing, loss of soft pallet, this is for you.  Buy frozen bags of OKRA. ($1.00 a bag at regular groc stores).  I put 4 bags into a deep covered pan and cover the okra with water.  Simmer it for 8-10 minutes to speed up the process.  Then I turn off the heat and let it ‘steep’ for 3-5 hours. The ‘product’ is the liquid not the okra.  I save the drained liquid and repeat the process (without the heat). I even repeat a 3^rd time.  Take a bite of food and a sip of this liquid and down it goes.  Warm the liquid for some foods according to taste.  Like making sun tea.  The ‘tea’ is the liquid.  The tealeaves, which get tossed, is the okra. I end up with a very thick heavy liquid. The thickness of this ‘tea’ protects the raw, sensitive skin in the patient’s mouth.  With no saliva, teeth edges can feel like steak knife blades.  This thick liquid keeps food trapped in a heavy solution and away from a sore mouth and tongue. If you don’t have such a hard time swallowing, then you can thin the ‘tea’ to suit. Great because it last longer and you have escaped a bad quality of life derailment. FYI: It is a challenge to pour.  Gravity can steal it and dump it on the counter.  I pour/transfer it over a bigger bowl using a small cup to help control this part.  I use a funnel to fill bottles. You can put the liquid into a small Gatorade bottle and take it to a restaurant. You can tint it orange or red.  It ‘looks’ like Gatorade to everyone.   There is not much of a flavor to this ‘tea’ and it takes on the flavor of some foods which makes it nicer. I make up a batch of this every other day.  Okra ‘tea’ makes swallowing EVERYTHING easy. No, it not fun but it works. I can eat steak, some breads, angel food cake, etc. It beats Ensure Plus 24/7.  It is easier to eat what the patient used to LOVE than trying to get the patient to eat something they never liked. Also learnt to enjoy the smell of things.  Maybe we always enjoyed the smell of our favorite foods as much as the actual taste.  The smell and texture. I think all 3 were/are linked to the foods we love. Texture is often shot along with taste.  Maybe all that is left is smell. Smell is better than nothing. FYI pick food that stays together when you chew.  Think bubble gum. You chew, and it stays in the same – one piece.  Find foods that do this.  Chicken and tuna break all up. Rice goes everywhere. Angel food cake stays but regular cake crumbles up. Ham stays together, hamburger does not and is sharp and hurts a raw tongue. Some brands of potato chips crumble up but some stay in a paste. Sweet potatoes stay together but Idaho potatoes (mashed, fires) are like a sponge and stick in the throat.  Steamed new potatoes are good and have a nice flavor that hopefully the patient can ‘taste’.