Bill

Thanks for chiming in. At 230 calories a can, ten cans of Ensure High Protein a day works out to 2,300 calories a day.
I was surprised to see that regular Ensure has 250 calories a can, but your whipped cream (one cup is 154 calories) probably makes up those 200 less calories

Unless you are really athletically active , like DavidCPA's bike riding, 3000 calories seems high. I'm also glad to hear that you have been able to thrive with a G tube for 5 years.
Sounds like you can still swallow though as otherwise I really want to know your trick in "tasting flavors" through a G tube.
Charm

David

I'm amazed that you can get by on only 3,000 calories with biking 100 miles a week. When I was doing marathons and triathons, my calorie intake was substantially higher than that. I agree that anyone as active as you could not get bye on a mere 2000 calories.

Actually, even I get more than that. My six cans of Jevity at 355 calories equal 2130 and my two big glasses of white wine down the G tube add about another 310 and lets not forget the 8 calories of two cups of coffee (my breakfast blend is half coffee and half Jevity) so I'm close to 2,500. Since I don't train for races anymore, that seems to be about right.

Charm

Charm,

I'm efficient!!

Actually I'm down to about 60 to 70 miles a week. I just can't seem to find enough time anymore!!! ugh. If I was wealthy and didn't have to work I would ride every am but that lottery seems to evade me.

David you can't win the lottery twice..... You already won it once by still being around to talk about it.

True words Brian!!!

I'm wondering if at this point in my husband's recovery (about 5 months out) it's more important that he get the calories than how he gets the calories. He can get about 2500-3000 but only if about half of it is through the drinks(carnation,ensure).
I figure as long as he gets the calories---fine. But one of the nurses seems to think that he should be moving quicker towards more "regular food" and less"dependence" on the cans.
Thoughts?

HE needs to work on swallowing, IF the sores in his mouth will allow it. He needs to keep those muscles that control it all working and the nerves that feed those muscle functioning. Start soft and easy, my favorite was canned chilled peach slices... I ate gallons of them over months, But soft scramble eggs got introduced and soups.... you have to start somewhere. Supplement with blender drinks and the liquid diet.

Yes he needs to exercise those swallowing muscles and yes he needs all the calories he can get. Eating is not enjoyable at this stage so in addition to whatever I was trying to eat I always drank a can of VHC mixed half and half with whole milk (over 700 cals) with each meal or 3 times a day, everyday. I did this for well into my 2nd year of recovery. I ate everything with sauces or gravy forever. TV dinners, the real fatty ones, were useful for dinners. For lunch I liked sunny side up eggs and pancakes with plenty of syrup. Even though I avoided sweets pretty much my entire adult life I wound up having a strong sweet taste post Tx so I migrated towards the sweets to get some enjoyment back in my meals.

Thankfully, he is doing well with the swallowing. I think as I've mentioned before it's the portions that makes the calorie intake difficult. He just seems to fill up so much quicker when he's eating regular food than he ever did in the past. And in general, food just doesn't interest him in the same way it did before.
I'm going to suggest the milk/can combo.
Did people find that their appetite slowly just starts coming back? I'm guessing the dry mouth doesn't help too much either in terms of enjoying a meal.