Food Glorious Food

Hi, a lovely neighbour made me a clear asian chicken soup for my first chemo. There was absolutely nothing else that I felt like early on, and this soup was so good. I liked it so much, she gave me the recipe. Unfortunately I couldn't stand the smell of some of the ingredients, so consequently never had it again, having tried once to cook it. Another thing i liked was the flat lemon or lime flavoured mineral water. It took me 4 cycles of chemo to find this, but it made drinking water a whole lot nicer. Hope you find something that takes your fancy soon. Love Chris xx

Lemon cordial,lemonade ice blocks,vegie soup and crackers- that was about it for me when chemo was in full swing.Couldn't drink water,tea,coffee etc. Using a straw helped. Good luck.

                              Tonya xx

Hi im with Tonya lemonade ice blocks icecream.And i craved lollies and chocolate.sometimes id just steam up some veges and put a dollop of sour cream on them.
I likened chemo to pregnancy and ate whatever i craved.I couldnt sit at the table with my family to eat.the smell made me gag.
Dont worry to much your tastebuds and eating goes. back to normal after it all.
I tried to eat healthy lots of fruit etc.I ended up with ulcers im my mouth down to my gut.so was told not to eat acidic fruit and tomatoes etc.couldnt win! eat what you feel like and what you can stomach.
goodluck x

Have you tried nuts? I keep a selection in a small container and nibble on those.. even though I'm not really hungry....I  start at one and find that I've eaten a small handfull in no tme. All nuts are good, but a friend of mine who is a natropath suggested Brazil nuts...

The other thing I sip on (particularly on cold days) is good old fashion 'cup of soup'... the clear one's are easy to digest and have the added benefit of being a fluid..

most importantly don't stress... sip on water... and eat what you feel like... it all helps

Trina

Try a protein shake or those electrolyte icy poles you get in the chemist - so good on a sore throat. Also tin fruit is fine - easy to go down, cold on the throat and at least some nutrition. Herbal teas are another good way of keeping up your fluids. Good luck.

try rissoles, mash and gravy. I also coped well with somethings like custards and UHT chocholate, coffee or sustagen milks. A clear type soup. I also preferred bubbly water instead of still water. It kinda felt like it cleansed my mouth. I COMPLETELY get what you mean by not knowing what you want! My onc explained to me that custards and the like are also fluid, so if they work for you, get into them. Good luck finding something that works for you.   I'm 2 months post chemo and my hair is growing back and I am back to cooking and loving food again. Hang in there

Tania x

I tried almost all the options everyone has mentioned and my oncologist agreed that a regime that we follow when morning sickness type nausea kicks in is the one that most people seem to follow. For me, just finding moist, light foods, ginger beer and Jatz crackers did the job most of the time. One of the nurses suggested a boiled egg to nibble on and a glass of lite milk every morning was a good start and a little bit of what I felt like for the rest of the day was good enough and provided enough nutrition. 

 Good luck with the Port-a-cath. Mine is my best friend!  

Hello Ladies  As always I so appreciate all your suggestions.  Went shopping the other night and I bought things I would never normally dream of buying.  Some frozen pastry thingy with some sort of meat in it, beer battered chips!  Can you believe it.  I never buy this junk.  Saying that I have had this 'feast' two nights in a row and managed to finish most of it.  So much for our healthy eating.  My husband didn't join me in that meal though:)

I did manage some chocolate last night and usually I don't have a sweet tooth.  Savoury is the way to go for me.  Cheese tastes a bit off and bread is horrible.  Had some of my own pea and ham soup at work on Friday and it tasted really good.  It wasn't too thick and this is definitely the weather for home made soup.  So I'll make a batch in my slow cooker today.

Eat brazil nuts quite a lot and they still taste as they should.  Have also noticed the smell of some things make me grue.  Have to go round the house with an air freshner.  I will try the custard and also have some ginger tea which isn't too bad.  Saying that I would rather have a nice glass of red:)

Crackers are a good suggestion too.  My dad is also battling bowel cancer and his doc said eat as many calories as you possibly can.  Are we getting mixed messages here! 

PS  Didn't get the port inserted Friday.  They had sent me an SMS for an appointment with no other details so I assumed that was what it was for.  Turns out it was a follow-up with my surgeon.  An absolutely wonderful bloke who couldn't be more caring.  So lucky when I have read of the bad ones that some of the ladies posting on here have been unfortunate enough to deal with.

Thanks again to you all and remember.................

Don't let the bastards grind you down!!!

This was the best advice I received and I am going to pass it onto you.  Be kind to yourself, throw the idea of healthy eating out the window until after you get through chemo (chemo is doing much worse things to your body then a block of chocolate will ever do), it is just one more thing to beat yourself us about.  Eat what you want, when you want even if it is chocolate for breakfast.

THEN, when chemo is over get back into your healthy eating, but for now just concentrate on getting through it.  I lived on red softdrink, salt and vinegar chips and avacado on toast with lemon??  Go figure, but I am happy to report back 5 years that when chemo finished I got healthy and am still eating well.

Good luck.

Just eat what you want..... best advice ever.....

Whatever takes your fancy, just eat it. I couldn't eat much when I was having FEC chemo. My tastebuds, stomach just wasn't cutting it.

What I found was eating sugar free lollies, fruit tingles (one of the lovely girls here on the website put me onto that one) as it also helps with your indigestion... as fruit tingles are made from bi-card soda. The old fashion - chicken noodle soup.... lived on that one for a while.

Bread still is something I can't eat often. Just is to dry and yucky for me at times..

Drinking is really helpful when you are on chemo, as it flushes the "poison" out of your body. So you really need to drink heaps. I was told to, by the nurses. So I drink either sparkling mineral water or plain water with cordial or lemon juice.

Take care Julie XX

Don't worry too much about the balanced diet thing.

During chemo it is more about keeping up calories.

Eat anything your body wants - be it pizza, chicken noodle soup, toasted sandwiches, KFC, or anything.

I have not been able to STAND even the smellof eggs since I began chemo, and also lost my appetite and interest in food, and tend to eat what evern ym body can cope with the thought of eating.(I have just finised my 6th and final TCH - YAY!!! 1 week a 1 day ago)

It has tended to be chicken noodle soap with toasted cheese sandwich, KFC potato and gravy and popcorn chicken, McDonalds cheeseburgers, pasta with either mild tomato or egg free carbonara sauce, chicken with chips or potato of some kind, mini calypo icy poles (I prefer the raspberry/ pineapple variety), battered fish fillets, a dish called ki-si-min (cabbage, carrot, mince, chicken noodle soup, curry powder etc - a good way to get my vegies), Chinese take away, Chinese short soup, party beef pies (the little kids ones), water, milk, lemonade, jelly beans, and jelly lollies like snakes, plain croissants, scones with jam and cream (I went through fazes) etc. Like I said anything my body would eat, also couldn't/ can't eat much at a time.

I also take a daily multivitamin, as well as vitamin D, Zinc and potassium suppliments and was/do take a vitamin and mineral tonic as well (the potassium the Dr's put me on after about cycle 3-4 when the chemo began leeching all the potassium out of my system for some reason).

If you are worried about your nutritional intake then ask at the hospital about getting some Ensure it is a liquid nutritional replacement (like a milkshake sort of thing) that has everything in it, it is used a lot on hospitals and they can help you get it. -It was no good for me as I DETEST milkshakes so couldn't stomach it, but most people love it.

Hope this helps

Thanks again ladies for more tips.  Yes I think the healthy eating plan is out the window at the moment.  I always used Logical for a spread, now eating butter bought for my husband who refuses to eat anything else.  Must say it tastes pretty good on toast.  Made some lentil soup on the weekend which tasted vile so that is now in the freezer for later.  Have discovered frozen yoghurt sticks which taste nice,  I am going for next round of chemo a week on Friday so will ask about Ensure supplement.  No doubt the pastry thingy was similar in cravings to the fast food from Macca's or KFC.  My sisters tell me the same thing.  To hell with the healthy things.  Eat what you want.  Have enough pressure without adding to it.  That's for sure.  Thanks again and do hope you are all managing to stay afloat if not exactly kicking up your heels. 

Luv

JeanW

I absolutely agree with the previous comments :)  I also ate a lot of junk whilst on chemo - I couldn't get enough sugar and salt!  My lovely Oncologist just said to me 'if you feel like a big cream pie, then please eat a big cream pie' - if it means you are eating that is the main thing.  You need to give your body some energy along this journey.

I decided I just needed to survive chemo so just ate whatever made me feel good - even though most of it was junk!

I also couldn't stomach water as my mouth and throat became a little numb at times so I tried sparkling mineral water and it worked a treat!  I think I needed something fizzy so I could feel it going it down.

Be kind to yourself and listen to your body :)

You are doing a great job - you will beat this!!

xx

The thing that disappoints me the most is I'm not enjoying my cappuccinos !!! Today is day 4 after 2nd round chemo and I have to say my appetite is wavering. I seem to have overcome the indigestion (thanks for all the hints girls) and so far no migraines. Yayy. I hate not enjoying all the things I usually do - must have a go at KFC, sounds like that might be popular. And I did enjoy my favourtie Noodle Box last cycle. Maybe it gets worse ?

Oh well. . . .

Eat whatever you want, that's what we need. Spoiling !!

magicmum