I am so sorry to hear that your dad can't get treatment, it's so unfair this horrible disease. Thank you for your suggestions, he seems to be preferring cold foods as his throat is very dry and sore so the rice pudding and trifle could be a good idea. I made him a chicken casserole today and he managed to eat a small bowl. I think I might try macaroni cheese too as that can be fattening. 

Hi CC08,

For various reasons, I've been unable to eat much for over two years. I managed to stop losing and maintain weight by drinking Ensure Compact drinks, up to 3 per day.

I get them on prescription. I think there's 4 flavours but I can only drink the banana ones.

3 per day is almost 1000 calories and contains many of the other nutrients that the body needs, vitamins and such. The 'Compact' version is only 125 mls, about half a cupful, so is not too hard to keep down.

And having said all that, for the last week or two I've only been taking one, and noticed today that I've lost about 6 pounds, so I shall have to restart my 3 per day until I can eat more. Thanks for reminding me. Anyway, worth talking with the doc to see if you can get them prescribed.

Hope this helps.

Taff

My mum was the same for a while whilst going through chemo, I tried alot and nothing worked. I made her a smoothie 2 banana’s, two big handfuls of Berry’s (strawberries, blueberrys etc any will do) with soya milk and she loved it. Was the first thing she could taste for a while, hope you are all okay 

For New Years dinner my Dad managed a couple of spoonfuls of creamed mashed potatoes with corned beef mixed through. Then a wee tiny bit of ice cream and his favourite at min trifle. I only every use a small side plate for his ‘meals’ or a very small bowl that way he isn’t put off with the amount of food on a plate, I can always add more if he fancies its. I’ve got some pasta for him too, I try to offer a couple of options and real it off as though he’s in a restaurant getting offered the specials of the day. Good luck to you x

Hi CCo8,

I agree with Taff. The Ensure drinks are easy to swallow. You can keep them in the fridge, so they are nice and cool. There are also puddings that his GP can prescribe. It would be handy to have some of these in the house, so that you have something to offer him on bad days when he cannot digest his food. Have a word with the doctor or nurse about his diarrhoea. He can be prescribed medication to counter this.

Have you tried pureeing normal food for him? This would be more flavoursome. Eggs can also be useful.

Kind regards,

Jolamine