Hi All,
I'm new here and have been busy reading lots of old posts to get ideas and was interested to read here and there of others, like me, who've found that bananas are now for me the demon food. Does anyone know why that is, what is it in bananas that makes them react so badly with my poor ole throat?? I tried a bite of one when I was in my 3rd wk of chemoradiation and it was a steep learning curve of what was to come in terms of my changing palate!
I am keen to enhance my nutrition as at present I'm solely able to have peg overnight feed of a 'lighter' version than the one I originally had when in hospital as that made me vomit and have diarrohea, so the calories are less. As I lately seem to be losing the ability to eat much, I am now also having 3x ensure a day too. One thing I feel I am helping myself with is to take a probiotic but perhaps that's just old habits as I used to be a dead keen juicer and health freak with my diet, all salads and soya etc, but would now gladly eat anything if I could.
Can I just say that I've learnt so much in such a short time over the last few days reading posts here. I soooo wish I'd found this site before I started my treatment, it would have helped me cope so much better than I did going through the treatment. Thanks for all the ideas and sound advice

Hey Lynne
I am in London and maybe just a week or two infront of you. Interestingly I have been a veggie for a month or two now. Every thing including H2o is through the Peg for now. But i have so got my appatite back since Chemo stopped. I would love to be back on the ice cream diet, I have started putting sugar in my tea and coffee Ihave one a day and a horlick at night, every calorie counts. I too struggle with the UHT feeds and was sick a few times. I have found I can cope with a very slow feed through the nigt starting the day 800 calories to the good. Ensure nice flavours 3 spread out from morning till afternoon. Then a faster feed on the machine in the evening.
I am tlod not to put Tea or Coffe through PEG but it is what kept me going when the Feed would not stay down. I try to keep the PEG clean and flushed.
I bought 4 excellent cook books today in anticipation of being able to eat soon enough. I too think the probiotic yogurts must be doing some good. I sucked on a slice of tinned peach lovely till the sugar hit the back of my throat, no way, stay away from the bananas.
A light soup watered down blended and sieved feels like a slap up meal. I am away to have my Original Horlicks with full fat milk, Full English will have to wait.

I found bananas were one of the first fruits I was able to eat after rads. I used to only eat banana yogurt and loved banana milk shakes from Sonic. This is another example of why we always say 'everyone is different'.

Kris too, has no problem with bananas. He has a banana smoothie daily. One of the few "things " he can get down.

Bananas were the first fruit I was able to eat post Tx, not counting cans of cold fruit cocktail. I loved them pre Tx and I still eat them almost daily. Great for my post bike ride. One sliced banana, choc syrup and milk, blended just enough.

Thanks for all the replies guys, so far bananas 3 against 2 for...we're all different, so true. Acid to me, manna to you..anyhow the idea of eating some tinned mixed fruit is now lodged in my head...ummm...must try it out when I'm feeling brave enough. Not today, as couldn't even manage water this afternoon for a few hours as my throat was on fire after, get this, I took my usual (since June) numbing med!! No rhyme or reason to this.
Nice to hear of somebody a bit closer CKeith and all the detail of your feeds - very interesting. I haven't tried any hot drinks yet, though I used to be a regular teapot, can't quite believe I've gone 4 months without a single cuppa. Now horlicks takes me back to being a child, perhaps that'd be worth a try. I think I've got a bit stuck in a groove and could do with branching out and experimenting a bit more. I love food usually and it's pure fear holding me back. I know when I just started the chemorad I could eat tinned peaches and ice cream and so had it nearly every day but haven't tried it since coming out of hospital. My throat was in a bad way when I finished treatment as the skin broke down externally and I had a hole in the front of my neck but I've been very lucky as it healed up really quickly and there's no sign of it now. I only do one o/night feed so must try and eat some more as I'm still losing weight, slowly but surely, down from nearly 12 stone to 9 and a half now (5'6"). I can't manage to swallow the nutricia drinks as my throat reacted so badly, so they too go down the peg. Apart from the throat reaction I'm not sure I could have continued to swallow them as they taste just like heavy metal don't they???
I've been veggie most of my adult life with a few forays into pescatarianism (is that a word or a sentance in itself??) but find I'm sooo hungry when I smell any food cooking and that includes meat!!
I have to go to Aberdeen next week for a repaet Pet/CT scan so will be gald when that's out of the way and results are in. Do most on here have to undergo this as a means of ascertaining if they are clear of cancer?
Lynne

All,
To me bananas are evil. They leave my thoat scratchy.

Hi, Lynne
It took my husband a while for bananas to work. The earliest fruit that worked for him were canned, sliced peaches blend in protein shakes. If you mix up your own protein shakes you can likely make them taste less awful(at this point) than the goo in the bottles. When he was just out of therapy, a shake would consist of milk, a packet of breakfast drink mix (in our case, Carnation Breakfast Essentials - vanilla), a few slices of canned peaches, and some Benefiber. As the swallowing got easier, he added whey powder, cooked oatmeal and fresh apples to the mix - along with spices - and still drinks that for breakfast today. I would encourage you to experiment a bit - we had some epic failures, but some successes, too.
Maria

I found chocolate milk and also yoo-hoo to be very soothing to my sore mouth and throat while I was going thru rads and recovering. Chocolate milk was especially helpful to me when I was trying to eat food that seemed overly spicy. It cooled the burn.

Another option is to puree some other fruit that you like - strawberries, peaches, etc with ensure or boost and some milk and ice and frozen yogurt. The rest of the stuff masks the taste of the boost, but you still get the nutrients from it. I use bananas in the smoothie, but don't like them on their own.