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#121178 09-01-2010 10:53 AM
Joined: Mar 2008
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Still surfing the Net for feeding tube articles, blogs, etc and found this excerpt from a January 2010 blog that says it very well.
[quote]Ensure vs Jevity.
How do they compare in taste?
This is very personal. Ensure comes in a variety of flavors that try to mask the chemicals and pseudo foods in Ensure. They don�t do a very good job, but if you chill your Ensure down to nearly freezing, it�s semi palatable. I can actually drink it w/out triggering my gag reflex.

Jevity, unlike Ensure, is so rich and thick that if you can get past its weird taste, something akin to a carmel fish stick, you still have a heavy thickness to deal with. I tried to develop a taste for Jevity in hopes I could supplement my diet and have my tube removed.
I knew if I were to fly solo on solid food I�d either starve or spend all day at the dinner table because I can only swallow tiny crumbs of food. Neither starvation nor eating all day was a real choice. So I spent about a week cultivating a taste for Jevity. But it didn�t happen. In fact, on five cans a day, I lasted about three days before I began to wretch on the second swallow. Jevity just isn�t tasty.

Which would I recommend? For taste, Ensure. For insurance, Jevity. If your doctor prescribes it, your insurance will pay for most, if not all, of your Jevity. Ensure? Not so sure. The nice thing about Ensure is that since it so closely matches Jevity, if you�re going to travel, you know Ensure is readily available wherever there�s a Walmart. Now you don�t have to lug those heavy cans of Jevity everywhere you go, or worry about running out before you get home.
Bon appetite? Hardly. Bon voyage? You bet. [/quote]

Disclaimer: I have never tasted Jevity as I only got it once I had the feeding tube and was unable (and still can't) manage a single sip nor swallow so I can't vouch for that part. I do remember the Ensure taste from three years ago when I did TX without a PEG and this sounds right.
Charm

Last edited by Charm2017; 09-01-2010 10:55 AM. Reason: disclaimer

65 yr Old Frack
Stage IV BOT T3N2M0 HPV 16+
2007:72GY IMRT(40) 8 ERBITUX No PEG
2008:CANCER BACK Salvage Surgery
25GY-CyberKnife(5) 3 Carboplatin
Apaghia /G button
2012: CANCER BACK -left tonsilar fossa
40GY-CyberKnife(5) 3 Carboplatin

Passed away 4-29-13
Charm2017 #121230 09-02-2010 10:28 AM
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Posts: 2,152
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I am surprised the article didn't make any mention of the difference in taste between regular Ensure and the higher protein, higher calorie Ensure Plus. I can't stand Ensure but still drink and enjoy a can of Ensure Plus everyday for breakfast. To me the taste difference is kinda like the difference between drinking skim milk which I hate and heavy cream which I love, not that I'm saying Ensure Plus tastes anything like heavy cream. Regular Ensure tastes watered down and chalky to me. Ensure Plus has a thicker, denser taste, but stay away from the strawberry. It's awful.

Take care,
Eileen


----------------------
Aug 1997 unknown primary, Stage III
mets to 1 lymph node in neck; rt ND, 36 XRT rad
Aug 2001 tiny tumor on larynx, Stage I total laryngectomy; left ND
June 5, 2010 dx early stage breast cancer
June 9, 2011 SCC 1.5 cm hypo pharynx, 70% P-16 positive, no mets, Stage I
Eileen #121240 09-02-2010 04:02 PM
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Posts: 3,082
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oops. Eileen is so right. I should have said that I lived on Vanilla Ensure Plus the first TX. Also on my trip to New Mexico, I bought Ensure Plus. The calorie difference is the reason now, but the first time around, it was for the taste as Eileen described it.
Charm

Last edited by Charm2017; 09-02-2010 04:03 PM. Reason: typos

65 yr Old Frack
Stage IV BOT T3N2M0 HPV 16+
2007:72GY IMRT(40) 8 ERBITUX No PEG
2008:CANCER BACK Salvage Surgery
25GY-CyberKnife(5) 3 Carboplatin
Apaghia /G button
2012: CANCER BACK -left tonsilar fossa
40GY-CyberKnife(5) 3 Carboplatin

Passed away 4-29-13
Charm2017 #121242 09-02-2010 06:16 PM
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 37
"OCF Canuck"
Contributing Member (25+ posts)
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"OCF Canuck"
Contributing Member (25+ posts)

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 37
I guess I am not normal lol! I love the strawberry flavoured ensure plus,chilled on ice.


Stage 1V scc of toncil 12/1/09
Peg in 01/18/10
35 rads 3 cisplatin
tx ended 03/02/10
rozaroo #121435 09-07-2010 11:19 AM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 2,152
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Reeeeeally? Maybe it changed since I last tasted it 13 years ago. My favorite flavor of almost anything is strawberry and I couldn't handle either the Ensure Plus or the Boost. At that time, I drank the coffee flavor which I can no longer get in Ensure Plus and the Butterpecan which is rather sweet. These days I drink the vanilla for breakfast.

Take care,
Eileen


----------------------
Aug 1997 unknown primary, Stage III
mets to 1 lymph node in neck; rt ND, 36 XRT rad
Aug 2001 tiny tumor on larynx, Stage I total laryngectomy; left ND
June 5, 2010 dx early stage breast cancer
June 9, 2011 SCC 1.5 cm hypo pharynx, 70% P-16 positive, no mets, Stage I
Charm2017 #121681 09-12-2010 02:41 PM
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 4
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Another option is Isosource. It comes in Vanilla flavor and has soluble and insoluble fiber.


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