Soda noodles are made of buckwheat, and are WAY healthier than ramen. They should slide down easily with a butter or olive oil sauce, or a stir fry. It is possible that soy sauce and umami-based flavors will taste ok. You might want to try a Chinese buffet. Egg foo yung should be slide down. Go for dishes with soft noodles - rice is stickier.

Best wishes and don't give up!

[quote=Maria]Soda noodles are made of buckwheat, and are WAY healthier than ramen. They should slide down easily with a butter or olive oil sauce, or a stir fry. It is possible that soy sauce and umami-based flavors will taste ok. You might want to try a Chinese buffet. Egg foo yung should be slide down. Go for dishes with soft noodles - rice is stickier.

Best wishes and don't give up! [/quote]

Are you sure you don't mean soba noodles Maria?

LOL - yes, soba!

I was on a tear for decades to learn how to make as many Japanese things as possible...from scratch. Udon noodles with buckwheat flour was about as quick as a tamale day on December. You even have to boil them 6 times. I seem to do better with the thicker noodles. Now..off to eat some yakisoba. Hungry from talking about it.

I am now embarking on another journey and learning how to eat and swallow again after 6 years of an "Old" new normal (Now another "Very" new normal). Christine has some good options here and I love Maria's Egg Foo Yung comment and been doing that about once a week right now. Been balancing with instant mashed potatoes and Thank God I've always loved eggs. There's several cookbooks out there for folks like us. Going to have to try the different noodles mentioned above as Ramen packs a lot of sodium if you don't use like a vegetable broth. Good discussion! Best wishes to all.

"There's several cookbooks out there for folks like us."

Could someone elaborate on this? I'm 3 months today post-TX and down almost 100 pounds. I don't have much more I can spare, lol. Although being skinny is fun I do need to address my diet and start increasing my caloric intake. You all know the song and dance though: it burns, it's too thick, I can't chew, it tastes like a taxicab floorboard, yada yada yada...

Drink a few ensures to help get enough calories in and to balance your diet. How about tapioca pudding with lots of whipped cream? Puddings are fattening.

It took me several years after rads before I was able to eat enough to gain any weight. I used to make chocolate peanut butter milkshakes with full fat everything. Those giant milkshakes were around 2000 calories each and some days I would drink 3 of them along with eating and I never gained an ounce. Prior to rads, if I even looked at food I gained weight. Your metabolism has dramatically changed and you really need a good 3000 calories daily to try to rebuild your body. Adding high protein will help you to heel.

The easy to eat foods list mentioned above has alot of great food ideas.

Let me know if you want the chocolate peanut butter milkshake recipe.

I was down to 130 for a while after dropping from 245 in a matter of weeks, three years ago. I went up to 170, which took over a year to gain, but then dropped to 140 from another treatment in 2011, but built up to 180, and then lost 10 pounds to 170 from another treatment, which ended in 11/12 I built myself up to 190 right now!

Try adding vegatble oil, vegetable oil, etc. to any drinks, foods, which add extra calories, taste, and fat increases appetite too. To eat foods more easily, you can spray them with an pump oil mister. I have brand called "Misto" that is a spray pump, which you can spray on food.

Good luck.

Someone mentioned burritos ...
One of the things my husband missed most was Mexican - and most of the salsa in the jars are too spicy from the hot peppers.

You can make excellent home made versions without the hot pepper.

Mango or peach salsa:
1 fully ripe mango, chopped
1/4 of a sweet Vidalia onion, chopped and then microwaved for 1-2 minutes (makes it softer and milder
1 Roast red bell pepper, peeled and chopped (or buy it in a jar)
1 handful FRESH cilantro, chopped
1/2 to 2 limes, juiced (be careful - start with a little lime and see how much you can tolerate)
Mango or peach juice, if you need more liquid

This can be stick-blended if you have trouble with the lumps. It can go on anything from rare salmon (goes down easy) to yoghurt tto beans and rice to soft tacos kielbasa (yes - goes down easy) with sour cream. If your mouth is still very sore, go easy on the lime, and add some olive oil which will tempter the acid in the fruit.

A tomato-based taco sauce can be made as follows:
1 6 oz can plain tomato paste
Ground cumin (start with 1 tsp)
Ground coriander (start with 1/2 tsp)
Oregano (start with 1 tsp)
Garlic powder (start with 1/4 tsp)
1 1/2 cans water

Add additional water and herbs to taste. Plain tomato paste is the least acid of the tomato products I have tried. You can add olive oil to this, too, to tempter it.

Hope some of this helps.

Maria

Kelly,
If you search Amazon you will find some cookbooks. Search easy to eat or easy to swallow and some should come up. My wife bought a couple when I was struggling to "Lose the tube" after treatment and couldn't get enough nourishment without the tube. One in particular that I still have is called "Easy to swallow, easy to chew." You can find some that work and then vary the recipes with things you know or learn you can handle. You can probably search different ways and find plenty of options and then review samples or check at a bookstore and be sure you're getting good choices before buying. Christine's correct with her list and of course we are all different. After treatment I couldn't handle milk, it burnt, but others were posting how soothing it was. You have to experiment. I hope this helps and Best of luck!