Hello and thanks for posting

I am sorry to hear about your brother's situation and can appreciate you wanting to help build him up and make some ready to heat meals for him.

Unfortunately there isn't a one size fits all approach when it comes to diet and bowel cancer as every patient and the treatment they had will be different. Some patients will have gone through taste changes with treatment or sometimes experience bowel changes including constipation or diarrhoea which already may restrict what type of foods they can eat and tolerate. I suggest talking with your brother and finding out if he has been told by his medical team to eat a particular diet or avoid certain foods himself and also find out if he does crave any foods at the moment.

We have some information here on our website that you might find useful to read including healthy eating, side effects and how this can affect appetite and diet and also links to other resources. Bowel Cancer UK here also have a downloadable leaflet titled eating well for patients and MarieKeating foundation also have similar advice and information at this link.

Sometimes it is about giving some meals a go and see how well they get on. As you say small portions of food at regular intervals is best and these can be supplemented with nutrition drinks as well to try and increase the amount of calories he is consuming. If necessary a referral can be made by his team to a dietician for further advice and suggestions to ensure he is getting the nutrition he needs at this time.

I hope this is of some help to you and hope your brother is feeling much stronger soon. Please get back if you have further questions and also you are welcome to call our helpline on 0808 800 4040, Monday-Friday to talk things through with one of our nurses.

Best wishes

Naomi