Thought this might be helpful to those who are struggling to eat normally. Avoid buying things that are spicy or have alot of salt in them, instead buy low (or no) sodium and make as much as possible from scratch.

soft scrambled eggs with cheese
poached eggs
yogurt
pudding
cheesecake
milkshakes (I used to drink choc/peanutbutter milkshakes daily)
baked beans mashed up like mashed potatoes
mashed potatoes
mashed sweet potatoes
candied sweet potatoes
Baked sweet potatoes** my favorite with a little butter, brown sugar, and sour cream to help mellow it even more
chicken and stars soup
wonton soup
french onion soup... anyone can very easily and cheaply make this at home, just beef broth, sautéed onions, piece of toast on top and provolone cheese (or whatever kind you like, mozz, cheddar etc) carefully broiled to melt the top of the cheese
pancakes w/ real maple syrup or smucker's blueberry syrup
french toast, very lightly fried
canned carrots
peas or green beans mashed
glazed carrots
cottage cheese
buttered soft, fresh white bread with jelly
soft serve ice cream
applesauce
tomato soup made with milk, or half and half for more calories
zucchini squash either peeled, sliced and dipped in egg then lightly fried or sautéed in butter
jello, with whipped cream
canned peaches or pears
asparagus (overcooked)
baked potato with butter and sour cream


Some meats are very tender when cooked in a pressure cooker like turkey legs. Most can get away with buying cheaper cuts of meat as the extra fat in it helps to keep the meat tender making it easier to eat, such as 70/30 hamburger instead of 90/10.

To help balance your diet, add a scoop of dry carnation instant breakfast to milkshakes. Its all about the calories. Try to get as many calories possible per sip or swallow. Buying low fat, low calorie, should be on hold for a while

2 things,, the sweet potatoes should be baked, them smothered in a butter brown sugar and just a touch of cinnamon. these potatoes are as soft as anything and you don't need to mash them. and as for the carrots, get the large ones to cook because the baby ones stay too firm. As for peaches, get the elberta freestone ones, they are much more tender.. the cheesecake of Christines is delicious

Thank you so much for the list. Any other input from anyone else would be great too. What about rice, oatmeal, grits? Are these too grainy/dry/sticky etc to go down comfortably (beginning stages of trying to eat again)? AND anything with some calories too it?? Thanks.

cream of wheat and oatmeal and ramen noodles worked for my H. My best guess is because they were bland and nothing tastes right. Occasionally he can eat some other stuff (when we aren't battling thrush) and then spaghettios work well.

I find that skim milk is great whereas whole milk is too much. Cream of wheat and oatmeal are also not bad. Mayonaise is okay but catsup is deadly. Almost all of the vegetables if steamed well. A quesadilla is not too bad, but a sandwich is not. It is really weird what is good and what is not, and what you can actually eat and what you can't. Cheryl hit it right on the head when she said that nothing tastes right.

Cream of tomato soup - soak cheese bread pieces in it. Sounds gross but it is wonderful and gives you that carb hit that you need when you are having trouble finding suitable food.

Donna

oooh tomatoes are very acid,dont they burn the mouth?

Traci,

Re calories, get Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC. It has a whopping 560 nutritionally balanced calories in a small 8 oz can. I drank them during Tx and for over a year post Tx to boost my caloric intake by mixing it with whole milk, half and half. Lew needs a ton of calories daily now to combat this recovery process.

The tomatoe thing is pretty "iffy" at our house - some days Mike can eat tomatoe sauce and sometimes it bothers him. Most food doesn't taste right to him yet so when I cook for me and the kids I have him just taste a little of everything to see if we can hit on what comes closest. He's still using lots of Ensure Plus.

Cheryl,

Have you considered Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC? It has appx 50% more calories in the same size can.

Traci, watch out for the rice. I almost choked to death on it. I have now discovered mashed baked beans are really very good on top of mashed potatoes. Cream of wheat and mashed bananas are good too.

Cream of tomato soup for me is really tasty. I used to do what Donna does with a very lightly grilled cheese. Without my teeth, cant do that anymore. I think the milk in the soup helps to tone down the acid. Im also about 20 months post radiation.

I used to drink a couple chocolate/peanut butter milkshakes daily. Add a scoop of dry carnation instant breakfast and top with whipped cream. My shakes were huge and had about 2500+ calories in them. Believe it or not, I would sometimes drink 3 per day and still didnt gain any weight when I was recovering.

To me its all about texture. Foods that are smooth are easy to eat.

Hi all, Also for those that want the tomato soup.. do as stated above with milk, add a pinch of sugar & dab of butter. The sugar will help cut the acid in the tomato's.

You can add sugar to home made spaghetti sauce as well.

Diane

I recently discovered something (well I was given a some by a friedn who was concerned about my continued weight loss) called Spiru-tien Whey - made by Nature's Plus it comes in a can premade or individual envelopes or large can of powder (that's the one I have been using)- it's a little pricy in the health food stores where it is generally sold but I was able to find it much more reasonably proced on the internet

It comes in a bunch of flavors but I have only had the vanilla so far which I found very tasty ( which suprised me since I don't like the taste of anything very much anymore)

It has 100 % of the vitamins you need - more than the instant breakfast but doesn't supply a lot of calories - ( I think it is actually marketed to people trying to lose weight) so instead of the recommended lowfat milk I have been using whole milk and occassionally (If I have it in the evening) I have been adding a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream to it to add to the calorie and fat count.

I have not gained any weight since I ahev started using it but I have not lost naymore either which is a good thing! I also feel a lot more energetic.

I also suggest cream soups like cream of potato, cream of tomatoe, lobster bisque. I also find broiled scallops and barbequed baby back ribs (super mild barbeque sauce need ed though!) very easy to eat

Traci, I just got diagnosed and had the surgery 2 wks ago. I am finding baby food tastes pretty good. Just ate rice cereal with some baby food pears mixed in. It even tasted good cold. I have also been using the Gerber baby food spoons that have the silicone 'bowl.' There aren't any rough edges dragging across the tongue. It is still VERY PAINFUL for me to swallow. My ear hurts the worst. They say it is referred pain. I hope this suggestion helps you.

I tried another experiment yesterday. Cook some tomatoes with green beans , add some onion, garlic, pasley, basil, just a touch of oregano and a shot of sauce that you like. Cook angel hair pasta very well done and pasty for us with no teeth. Mix it and mash it with a fork. It really tasted good and add some romano and parmesan cheese to cover it and go for it. I handed some to the neighbors and they liked it. LOL so did I. Let the beans and tomatoes cook for at least 3 hrs . then mix it.

Pot Roast
1 beef chuck roast (the one that has some marbling, about 3 pounds)
1 pack Lipton onion soup mix
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
2/3 can of water
1 small onion, sliced
Splash of olive oil
favorite seasoning

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil in medium heat.
Season the pot roast with salt/pepper or your favorite seasoning.
Sear the pot roast on all sides.
Add onion.
Mix soup, water and lipton package together and pour over roast. (this will be thick, but the roast will put off a lot of juice to make it thinner)
Cover and simmer for 3 hours. I turn the roast over a couple of times during the 3 hours.

At the 3 hour mark, the roast will be falling apart. The bigger the roast, the longer the cooking time.
I always cook my roasts this way and it's great every time, but the key is the cooking time. You'll know when it's falling apart when you move it.....it's done.
This recipe makes a lot of gravy, but if you want more you could add another can of soup and increase the water up to a full can.

I took some roast and added the gravy into the blender. The puree came out nice and smooth. If you don't like mushrooms, I think you will still be ok with this recipe. With it pureed, you just can't taste them.

Patty,

That sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing.

Sophie

I just made this yesterday and it was really good.

Black eyed pea soup:
The last time we had a spiral ham, I saved the bone with some meat still on it and put it in the freezer.
I soaked a pack of dried black eyed peas overnight (filled a stock pot with water and put the beans in). Rinsed them in a colander and added them to my crock pot. I nestled that ham bone in the middle and poured chicken stock (Swanson's) to cover everything.

I cooked it on low overnight and stirred it the next morning. I kept it on low until lunch time then pulled the bone out. The beans were soft and flavorful. The ham was tender, but it might still need a touch of the blender. You could always leave the ham out. I didn't add any other seasoning.

Just wanting to pass this on. I had a very hard time thinking of soft foods, so when I come across something I liked, I don't want to forget it.

Hello Friend's, Because I am new to the site, I have not read all that there is posted already. I am just going to throw some ideas out there as "Food For Thought" Here are some of the food items I am able to eat (without choking to death) Water-from a Brita pitcher (change filter @ least every 3 months) I keep my water @ room temp. Breakfast, Instant oatmeal (reg flav.) I add a little sugar @ cin. RaisinBran, I add milk & let it soak for 20min (I add a little coffee too!) I really missed not being able to eat toast, so I came up w/this "gravy"- Melt 3T Butter in small sauce pan, add 2 T of flour, keep stirring, next add milk, cream or water, keep stirring until you get the thin/thickness you like. Add some mustard for color. Make toast, eggs over easy & pour "gravy" over it all. The rest of what I eat is mostly,Soups, Salads & Pasta. A Ballpark Hot dog, boiled and eaten with loose mashed potatoes and (frozen) chopped spinch is good. I don't use my microwave to much. If it wasn't for the high prices, I would eat all organic! I want to keep the pounds off, so this menu works for me. Not being able to eat cookies, cake, bread, pizza etc...is a help!!! The only thing I really miss...Potatoe Chips ! Even w/dip, its just too hard to get down. During the 3rd week of radiation, I never thought I would be able to talk or eat ever again, now I am able to do both...as long as I have water, I'm good to go ! All My best Wishes to you all. Please, don't give up, ever ! Dianne

The first "Solid" food I was able to handle was Mrs. Calendar's Chicken pot pies. Lots of gravy in them and once they cool slide down easily. I must have eaten a hundred of those things. They really kept me from dropping even more weight.

Hi everyone. This is only my 2nd time to post anything in this Forum, so pls bear with me. It is very encouraging to see your suggested food lists and how you can actually eat these foods. If any of you has a very similar case as I have, I would be grateful if you could share some tips on how to actually 'eat' foods. I made a similar post under "What is the best way to learn to eat?" but have not received any response so far, so maybe here I will solicit one: I had my tongue surgery this March 2nd, where about 90% of my tongue was removed (only a small part of the right side originally remains), replaced with a flap from my front left thigh and permanently anchored to the floor of my mouth. It's now a little over 3 months since completing my chemo (3 sessions, cisplatin) and radiation (30 sessions, @ about 15 min per session) therapies and it was just recently that I am able to drink water/liquids with no problem. But I am still using a PEG for my blenderized food and my challenge now is being able to eat solid or even soft food. Since my tongue flap is anchored to the floor of my mouth, I could only chew food between my teeth but obviously could not manage to control the movement of food in my mouth. I miss eating, as I'm sure all of you also did prior to your being able to eat again. Thank you in advance for your responses.

Jojo

I can understand your frustration at trying to move food around in your mouth to swallow it. It can be very upsetting. I have had about 70% of my whole tongue removed and the tongue flap attached and permanently stuck down to become the floor of my mouth.

There are not alot of active posters on the board at the moment who have actually had the same procedure. I have had nearly all of my lower teeth removed due to another surgery so being unable to chew makes it difficult.

I have lots of vegetable and other soups and mushy things. Also mashed vegetables, potato with gravy and things like peaches and cream, pancakes are okay with syrup and icecream, chocolate mouse and custard.

If you start with milkshakes or soups and then slowly but surely you will hopefully move on to the mashed vegetables and so on.

As I said, I know it is soo frustrating, and I miss eating a normal meal more than I can ever express. From my experience, it takes time to go from one step to the next. Just a little step at a time.

Karen

Thank you, Karen, for your reply and I'm glad to be writing to someone with very similar experience as I have (I actually empathize with you in that you have obviously gone through more than I have).

I will take up your advise and will send you a PM if I have specific questions.

Will keep in touch.

Jojo

Hi JoJO
I just bought a book call "One Bite At A Time" by Rebecca Katz. Her father had throat cancer and she has but together this great book. I was able to get it at borders. I bougtht her first and second edition books. Well written and helps you during differnt times of treatment.
Hope it helps
Kathy

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for your reply. I will certainly check out that book in stores here.

Jojo

Jojo. If it sounds as if maybe the food can be blended and made very soft, try it. Just don't try a lot of it just incase it doesn't work for your mouth. I have no teeth and not much tongue left , scar tissue like we all have and Rad burns. Nothing any firmer than thick pudding will work at all. Just keep experimenting with foods . It seems the easiest food for me besides cream of wheat , poached eggs, some juices, spaghetti that has been well over cooked so a fork can pulverize it with a lot of plain sauce and pancakes not burned but just done are the easiest. Soups after being put in the blender and made thin also work as do some other foods. Good Luck Jojo.

Thanks, Jim.

My intermediate goal is to be able to remove my PEG without of course sacrificing any nutritional value using this.

My breakfast is composed of muesli with additional walnuts and almonds, plus fruits (a small fuji apple, kiwi, a few grapes, banana), with a hard-boiled egg or two, blenderized in 1 cup of non-sweetened organic soy milk + 1/3 cup of yogurt juice drink + some water to make the consistency thinner. A few days ago, I tried taking in orally this concoction but the sandy/gritty consistency, no matter how blenderized it is, and the after-taste it leaves on the walls of my mouth and gums, make it a challenge. So I had to switch back to using the PEG.

For lunch in the office, I take Ensure which I obviously have no problem drinking.

Dinner is even more of a challenge than the breakfast concoction I mentioned above: vegetables (blanched broccoli, grean beans, carrots, squash, onion, garlic) with extra virgin olive oil, plus flakes of either boiled fish or chicken breast, blenderized with 2 to 3 cups of plain water.

I will have to experiment more, as you suggest, to find a better blenderized breakfast or dinner (or even lunch), consistency- and taste-wise, with adequate nutrition.

Thanks again. I'll give you folks feedback.

Jojo

Jojo. I must admit I am jealous and admire you. Nuts too??? Wow,. I used to love nuts and always had a can of them at my computer desk. My biggest treat seems to be beef stew after I removee the chunks of beef , then i blend it. Yep Jojo I added you to my heros list.

Jojo, a great smoothie from someone on this website -- I don't remember who, but I thank them! -- has been a staple for me when I couldn't eat much. And it tastes delicious! Here are the ingredients:

1 Ensure or Boost
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. vanilla yogurt
one frozen banana (broken into pieces and frozen in plastic bag)
1/4 c. milk
1 scoop protein powder (vanilla is best)

Blend really well -- that way the oatmeal won't be gritty. It makes two LARGE glasses-full, so a complete meal's-worth, at least.

Enjoy.

Thank you, Chris. That smoothie does appear delicious just reading the ingredients! I'll try that.

I failed to mention in my earlier post that preparing the muesli with nuts in soy milk + yogurt juice overnight in the fridge helps to soften these ingredients, before adding the fruits in the morning and then finally blending them all. This also helps save time before going to work. Microwave, if one wishes, to desired temp the overnight mixture before blending.

Cheers.

Jojo

Thanks, Jim. I haven't tried any beef or pork yet as I don't have the 'guts' yet to take these stuff, and I crave a lot when I smell these being cooked by the family. Your suggestions encourage me, however, to start trying these foods, one step at a time...

Jojo

Jojo, I went to the grocery here and got the butcher to cut me off a nice piece of fat, the good tasting fat from pork chops, LOL I brought it home and fried it because that usually melts in you mouth. THat was so good to have pork taste in my mouth, LOL The taste only lasted for one or 2 bites, but sure was worth going for. I wish I could get him to do that for me with the tail of a porterhouse or T-Bone.

By the way, I can't chew but have to mash or just suck the juice out of foods. Right now I can't even do that with this pain.

I received this via email from Everyday Health; 10 Cancer Fighting Foods; 1.Garlic 1 bulb per day. 2. Berries; Blueberries, blackberries & strawberries; handful per day. 3. Tomatoes (make marinara sauce pour over whole wheat pasta) 4. Vegetables; broccoli, cabbage & cauliflower. 5.Tea; Green(best) & black. 1 or more cups per day. 6.Whole Grains; Oatmeal, barley, brown rice & whole wheat bread & pastas. 7. Tummmeric (orange colored spice). 8. Spinach,lettuce, cooked;collard greens, mustard greens & kale. 9. Red grapes, grape juice & red wine. 10. Beans;pinto & red kidney beans.

My relative is suffering from oral cancer, stage 1 or 2. He cannot eat anything solid, are their any suggestions for diet through mouth which he can swalllow straightaway, withour having to chew it.

RAGHAV,

Lots of people here will be able to give you some helpful ideas on ways you can help. Do you have access to nutrition supplement drinks?

I do know that several people also have worked with blending or pureeing foods so that they can be taken as a drink, rather than chewing.

Wish I could be of more help. Others will be checking in later, who are perhaps not here because of the holiday. Perhaps they can be of more assistance.

I get info here by reading old posts, sometimes. Perhaps you could click on the "Hop to: Menus, food ideas" "Go" button near the bottom right of your screen and look at what some others have discussed.

It's good of you to want to help. I wish you well.

- Pam

RAGHAV,

I'm into my 3rd month now without a PEG and have been taking only blenderized / pureed food since I still can't take solid food yet. I can chew solid food but because of total glossectomy my tongue flap is permanently attached to the the floor of my mouth and therefore could not control the food in my mouth. Hence it's a lot easier for me to just swallow pureed food (for now, until I find the right technique).

If there are no dietary restrictions, your friend can practically have anything that can be pureed, for whatever is acceptable to your friend's taste. Your friend can try experimenting different mixtures. You will find this generic suggestion in this forum, as I have when I myself was asking similar questions.

Here is what I have for my meals:
Breakfast/Lunch - bowl of muesli with walnuts and almonds soaked overnight in unsweetened organic soy milk (flavor varies depending on my mood), added with various fresh fruits the following morning, with two hard-boiled eggs and some carrot juice. I also add a few scoops of Ensure. All these blended to a smoothie, adding some water (or more carrot juice) as needed to get the consistency I want.
Lunch/Dinner - blanched vegetables (usually: broccoli, green beans, carrots, other green vegetables), sauteed in a few teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil with minced onion and garlic, finally adding flakes of boiled fish fillet or chicken breast. All these are pureed in either chicken or beef broth, with a small banana, adding broth as needed to get my desired consistency. Occassionally, I would also add a few scoops of Ensure.

I have to say that between these two sets of pureed meals, I prefer the taste of the the first set by 3x...at least.

My weight has been constant between 63 and 65 kg, which is ideal for my BMI (body mass index). Except for slightly low iron level in my blood (which I augment by taking iron supplements), all my CBC results post-surgery have so far shown normal readings. And I haven't suffered from colds since then. So from these indicators, I guess I can safely assume that my pureed meals work for me.

Hoping that you and your friend find the right non-solid food meals.

Jojo

I fix dressing for turkey, chicken or to go with beef flavors. Then I make gravy and saturate it with this. It goes down pretty easy and gives you a break from the normals we seem to all eat. As for nuts and anything esle solid. That would tear my mouth apart or what is left of it. Nut flavored Cheerios is as close asI dare go. I made fatty ribs for the NY and let it cook all day in a crock pot. The fat was delicious and even managed a couple pieces of the well done pork.

This was cooked in kraut for the flavor I love.

MM, Jim - we do Pork and kraut for New Year's.

You have good taste Pam. That fat was delicious for sure. I will never have dentures according to my Oncologist unless I go and get them just for show and not tell him.

wow, that sounds delish jim!

I sure thought it was the best thing that has been in my mouth the last 2 1/2 yrs. Go for the gold. Teresa....

Here is one I tried about 1:30 this morning while waiting for my computer to end the system restore. I was thinking of food, so I mixed up about1/2 of a soup bowl with pancke batter, then put about 2 tablespoons of Skippy Creamy peanut butter into the microwave to melt it. Mixed them together and fried the best pancake I have had. Put lots of butter and spread a small amount of syrup on the top. This one is worth trying for sure.

mmmmm....im hungry!

EZJim

Wow - sounds great, especially to someone who has not been able to eat even one bite of food since February. Enjoy those pancakes brother.
charm

If it can mashed between what's left of a tongue and the roof of the mouth,, it's a banquet. LOL I really feel bad for you charm. Man you have had your share of troubles.

EZJim

Not half as many troubles as you have endured brother. If the cancer had not come back, my story would have been more like Lance Armstrong positive, but since it did come back, I am trying to be more Christopher Reeves like in optimism. Reading about your indomitable spirit helps me keep it all in perspective. Finally, I feel blessed and lucky in having a world class caregiver. You and Christine are doing the hero & heroine act on your own for the most part - so please don't feel bad for me. In the end, I have it quite good.
Charm

Enjoyed a meal from McDonald's today for the 1st time since 2/08 ! The new BigMac Wrap with small order of french fries. I put it all on a plate (@home) then poured my "cream sauce" over the entire thing, then added a little Thousand Island dressing. (cream sauce:Melt butter in small sauce pan add flour, mustard and milk or water). Feel a little guilty for eating any McDonald's, but it was a treat for just a change !

Man am I jealous Dianne. I wish I could even gum a burger or fries. LOL I wonder how that would work in my blender. I bet that was like a gormet meal to you tho.Keep up the good work. CHARM, I agree you must have a world class caregiver and she is a hero too just like you. You are an inspiration.

Yesterday I made bean and split pea soup with bacon . I wish the bites after the 1st one or 2 tasted as good. I kewpt it soupy and overcooked it so the beans were like mush. Buttered bread heavy and put the sooup over it to soak. Very easy to make and I guess good for you too.

This morning, I added not only peanut butter to pancake mix but some peach preserves as well. It was very good but a different type of preserves might have been better. Somethinmg with a more pronounced flavor like raspberry or a stroger fruit flavor.

Today I blended a can of peaches to a liquid and added it to the pancake batter, I added quite a lot and it had a great taste. I used plenty of creamry butter to it after it was done, It had great flavor, much better than preserves did.

Bringing this back up to the top for newer patients.

Great stuff on here. I have it better than many of you, in that I've had no surgery and I still have all of my tongue. I'm ~2.5 months from 7 weeks of radiation (33 sessions) with three rounds of chemo (Cisplatin). Did not require a feeding tube or port. Lost ~20 lbs during treatment.

My salivary function is very low (dry mouth). My taste has returned to a degree.

My tongue is heavily coated and I'm debating with myself if this might be an infection, or just a more-heavily coated tongue due to dry mouth.

Anything acidic triggers sore "water blisters" in my mouth and at the top of my throat, these may be "secondary salivary glands" that are plugged by damaged mucosa? Acidic things that I can't eat include tomatoes, salad dressing, red grapes, wine. Sometimes it just seems that eating too much of anything "solid" triggers these as well. It's difficult to predict what will set off my blisters and/or sore throat.

I've had good luck with bluberry pancackes and french toast (with lots of butter and real maple syrup), cheese and wilted spinach omlets with ketchup (ketchup is sweet enough to not sting?), rare filet mignon (it's very tender), rich salmon (mind the bones!), cucumber/cooked beets/blueberry salad (watch the dressing), melon (water, cantelope), steamed asperagus (again, lots of butter), baked sweet potatoes (with lots of butter), cottage cheese (good with honey, but there was a time when I coldn't eat this for some reason.....dry mouth? became a disgusting paste in my mouth), sweet yogurt.

Things like other cuts of beef, or beef that's not rare, and poultry tend to take on a "fibrous wad" character in my dry mouth and are very difficult to swallow, and drag on the way down with painful result. Also, anything that could be described as "massive and sticky" is a no-go: mashed white potatoes (you'd think they'd go down great), grilled cheese sandwich (even if chased with milk), ground beef.

Hope some of these are useful to some of you.

-Seth

Seth, your coated tongue coould be thrush. Please ask your doc to check this. It takes prescription meds to clear this up.

You are doing very well with your eating and recovery.

Best of luck with continued improvements.

Thanks ChristineB. Several weeks ago I had my Rad OC look at my tongue and he didn't think it was thrush. It's only on my tongue, and there is no associated tenderness. Also, it's been like this for quite a while and has not progressed or expanded. However, I would love to have it cultured just in case it's something like that. I will see what I can arrange.

Thanks again,

-Seth

Though not a gourmet food, spaghetti O's with meatballs was my first real food for a few weeks other than mashed potatoes and gravy. The tomatoe sauce is pretty watered down and didn't burn my mouth at all.

I am now trying to find something sweet I can eat, cake ,candy even cheese cake burns my mouth and ice cream/milk shakes taste terrible and I am not a big fruit eater

Are these food ideas okay during treatment too or just post treatment?

This list is easy foods for those of us who struggle to eat. They are softer and usually not spicy so will be better tolerated in sore mouths. Its not specific to only after treatment. It would be good to eat for anyone with a sore mouth or any of the other issues faced by oral cancer patients.

We cook lamb stew because lamb is slippery.
But the dietician told us the best way for Martin to put on weight again easily was though dairy products. And it has worked! Martin is now a healthy slim. He changed to full fat milk, and eats creamy bio yogurts, creme caramel, panna cotta puddings, soft cheese like philadelphia, and dairy ice cream.

I am always amazed at the number of different dips at the supermarket.
If you can taste it may make a nice savoury change and if a little thick thin out with milk or cream.
I used some of these when I could first swallow slight solid food.
As I said variety is endless but you many need to go mild.
Here are some of the dips I liked ... salmon, caviar, hommus, avocado, beetroot, babaganoosh, spinach, char-grilled Eggplant etc etc

That's a good idea Gabe, never thought if it. Do you eat the dips by itself or with something?

Minh

At the time I could only eat them by themselves.
Now with corn chips or crackers but most dips are high in calories which is good for those that need to put on weight.
I can now eat mostly anything...just a bit slower than most!

Thanx Gabe,

my mouth is watering thinking about it!! I'm definitely checking them out next time i do groceries shopping!!

Minh

The dips are great Gabe! have been trying all the different ones, my fave is smoked salmon

That is a great list. It takes that long after treatment to taste again?
You have been very kind and helpful

Thank you

As far as tomatoes, I found after about 3 weeks into radiation, that I could enjoy raw tomatoes but got vill at cooked, like tomatoe sauce. Also enjoyed pasta with an olive oil based sauce.
Try angil hair pasta with broccoli and shrimp in Olive oil, garlic and white wine. I was able to enjoy that throughout the seven weeks of treatment.
Keep a journal of what (and when) you can eat and what to avoid as it will be of tremendous help to athers down the road.

Hang in there,
Chris

My new favorite food is tiramisu!!!! I have always liked it and recently tried it to see if I could eat it. Well it was the best thing I ever tasted Its also high in calories with lots of protein too!

Hi Chris: You were able to eat throughout radiation. I am impressed. Did you get mouth sores at all? -Michelle

I am so glad you mentioned tiramisu. It is one of my husband's favorites, and I did not think of it. I am going shopping!
Thanks,

Creme brulee is great, too!

Oh yeah, I forgot about creme brulee. I love that stuff!!!

Hey everyone.my newfound favorite food is sour cream!I wasn't a big fan of it before all this happened,but it's honestly made me enjoy my food alot more since I tried it recently.you can mix it with almost anything,and it's been delicious..you just get enough taste out of it.it's good with pastas,lasagna,etc.but I add it to almost everything I eat now.it makes swallowing easier too.just an idea..so if you're capable of eating it,it's definitely worth a shot.my fridge is now full of them

Hi Dave,
Have a look at my post on Page 7 of this topic on the 6th Nov 2010. If you love the sour cream ya gotta love the dips and there are so many flavours there is no need to mix...Give it a go mate

Will do Gabe.cheers!I have tried a few different dips recently with cabana &/or soft,suitable buiscuts.very nice

going to bump this one up hoping it helps someone. the foods listed are great and we tried most of them. with limited to no taste buds, flavor wasnt really an issue.

his bigger thing is mental, my dad antcipates texture, chewing, how the food will "grow" in his mouth, leaving our best cullinary attempts untouched. carnation vhc only, and only vanilla works. we force him to drink one of those a day mixed with unflavored wey and vanilla icecream, and believe me, he still looks like a chipmunk storing nuts. he does make it work though as it is this or a peg, and he would not hear of a peg.

Ron always eats spoonfuls of Helluva Good onion chip dip! He also eats lots of small curd cottage cheese. The other day he got down for the first time Sourkraut and a little bit of Hillshire Farm smoked Keilbasa he cut up real small. He also always eats those little Michelena frozen meals in those little boxes or smart ones cuz he likes certain ones. He eats canned asparagus but has to watch out for the harder pcs and spinich he can get down too. He's sucked down fat from my brisket I made on the grill too! Also Bob Evans sausage biscuit and gravy and Stouffer's chip beef on toast he can suck down. So he's doing pretty good I'd say. Still skinny though but looking a "healthier" skinny.

I puree Chunky soup and he eats that with mashed potatoes(with butter and milk). I also make gravy (or use canned) mix it with chopped up meat(beef or chicken usually) poured over potatoes.He eats lots of ice cream, Carnation, Boost. He recently discovered cake soaked in milk or cake mashed up in ice cream. I will make him anything he is willing to try because he has always been a picky eater.

This has been very helpful, I have not had any treatments yet but being able to plan ahead is very much appreciated!

I can add another if I didn't already but now I get from Walmart their Ham Salad it is chopped up pretty small and he just adds more Miracle Whip to it, ya he's not a Mayo person. lol

I survived on scrambled eggs cooked with goat cheese so they were more runny. For a while I tolerated apple sauce, mashed potatoes with no salt or pepper.

The truth it, what I could eat changed almost daily and so we just kept a bunch of stuff on hand.

Best wishes.

My friend came over last night and made me a shake containing one avocado, one can sweetened condensed milk, half a cup of vanilla ice-cream and a little regular milk. it had a really mild flavor, was easy to drink and had lost of calories and protein. Those amounts made an entire pitcher so I've been drinking it all day. Made a nice change from the canned supplements.

I found yet another thing that Ron is getting down quite well and is exclaiming how good it is every time he eats it AND he has eaten the whole large crockpot that I made, I took to lunch 1 time this week the rest he has eaten and I froze a container for later in the winter.
Stuffed Pepper Soup! He puts it over 2 pcs of BUTTERED white bread with crust removed and he sucks that right down! Wahoo!
he told me "make sure you eat it with bread" when I took some for lunch.

I am 4.5 years out now. Learning which foods I can no longer eat was easy....like POPCORN, for example. Learning the new mechanics of how to eat the foods I can has taken some time, but now I'm almost a "pro" at it. I'm into trying things again that I could not eat a year ago and thinking up simple new recipes that are quick and nourishing since I am on the go a lot. I just wanted to share a delicious little recipe for a hot breakfast that I concocted this week. If you like oatmeal, bananas and raisins then you should LOVE this! Bananas are not a problem but I cannot eat raisins by themselves for risk of getting them hung up in my throat. However, I was determined to find a way to eat them and still enjoy them! I open one packet of instant brown sugar and maple oatmeal into a bowl then add water just to the top of the oatmeal. That much water is usually sufficient so the oatmeal won't be too thick, but you can add a little more after it is cooked if you like the oatmeal thinner. (You can use plain oatmeal or any other flavor you like) Microwave on high for 40 secs. Slice up a whole banana and add to the cooked oatmeal then sprinkle with a handful of yogurt raisins or plain raisins, whichever you prefer. DELICIOUS, and very filling! Good for you too! Enjoy! Happy New Year to everyone!

That is delicious! I like the Instant Peach Oatmeal, cut up dried prunes and add handful of cranraisins. Add just a little more water or milk than recommended on package. I like it with bananas, too. Serve with a little 1/2 and 1/2 after it's cooked.

BTW - Did you know that the Gourmet Jelly Beans (Jelly Bellies?) make a popcorn flavored jelly bean? For anyone having to be off the popcorn but still craving the taste.

If Im very careful, I can break up pieces of popcorn and manage to get a few pieces down. I used to LOVE jelly beans, how I wish I could eat those among other things.

Went out to a restaurant in a nearby town called Mon Ami yesterday afternoon. Had a wonderful bowl of lobster bisque with a puff pastry crust, and creme brulee for dessert. I almost didn't even miss having a glass of wine. Always order creme brulee if it is available or flan when I am at a Mexican restaurant.

With over 2 years post tx, multiple dialations without improvement I've grown strangely fond of what I call the "picnic side dish" diet: baked beans, macaroni salad, and cole slaw. The slaw can be a bit catchy so I mix all three together in the bowl.

Saurkraut is another that Ron is able to get down with some mashed potatoes and mixes that all up with some juice from say pork roast or kelibasa! And the prime rib I made New Years day I took the fat and some really soft meat and cut that up for him very fine and he was able to get that down too and enjoy it!

A trick that I do with harsh, raw veggies is to microwave them for a minute or two. When I do potato salad, I microwave the celery and onion before adding them to the other ingrediants.

One nice thing about OC, lets you think outside the box; mix foods you'd never otherwise.
Carrot salad w/raisons + canned pears
Yogurt/apple/bannana/cinnamon/bran muffin + cream of wheat
whole grain bread & milk or Mtn Dew or coffee.
Chinese wife makes boneless whitefish Chinese fashion (boiled in WOK), when osterized, is great break from chicken/beef tastes.
Wheat noodles mixed with anything makes the "anything" slippery, ditto with ensure.
I've found I can eat anything I like, as long as I can find a compatible liquid to liquidify it with.
Coffee is good liquid to add to fruit/vegies/bran muffins.
Be sure to add your fiber powers, nothing worse than constipion on puree diet
Since eating is no longer fun, you have to inject something 'odd' into it to make it interesting.

I have found a liquid high protein drink that I began using about a week ago. I think it might be helpful to other OCF members who also struggle to get enough protein in their diets. Its 25 grams of protein in 2.9 oz. I buy mine at Rite Aid but it is easily available thru the OCF Amazon link too. I dont care for the taste but it does come in many different flavors, I put it in my J/G tube.

Baked Beans is Ron's favorite meal as of the past 3 weeks. I make a smaller roaster of them and he eats them ALLLL week long, he is exclaiming how his umm "bodily functions" are working quite well daily. that's a good thing I told him! Also he's actually been getting down Fresh Strawberries with sugar on them. Whatever it takes and whatever he wants go for it! Also I made Tuna patties yesterday recipe from the back of one of those packets of Tuna Herb and Garlic seasoning and he ate half of one with some Miracle Whip to help it down. Wow look at him go!! Finally his mouth is feeling so much better he isn't in pain from it like he has been. Fingers crossed it is finally healing up. So happy to see him eat again! And that's without teeth and his flap sewn down! But he still refuses to drink any liquids to help swallow. Good for him! Keep them muscles going.

everyone has a different reaction to their treatment. i also thought tomato sauces would be bad, but i had no problem, which was great because i could carbo up on pasta. try anything to get the calories and just find what works

Thanks for all the good info. Great suggestions.
Ken

What do you do when everything makes your tongue burn?

Ask your Dr for Magic Mouthwash, it has lidocaine in it and will help with the burning. Pain meds should be your friend at the moment

I haven't had to have radiation or chemo but my tongue has felt as if it was burning from pretty much right after my surgery. My surgeon prescribed viscous lidocaine - it doesn't taste great but it helps a lot. I take some gauze and pretty much kind of soak it with the lidocaine and shove that in my mouth - just sort of leave it in there - right at the spot where my stitches are on my tongue - it takes a little bit to work but when it does, it is a HUGE relief. That stuff has saved me because the burning I was feeling was pretty intense and Lortab wasn't helping that at all.

For what to eat - I have a "Magic Bullet" which is basically a little blender system that blends 1-cup at a time. I became quite proficient at pulverizing chicken noodle soup to the right consistency so that I could take it through a straw. I also added a teaspoon of metamucil for fiber since all the meds can make you constipated. I tell you, it works like a charm and I was able to get all my protein that way. The Home Health people came by to check on me after surgery because they were going to teach me to feed myself through the feeding tube at home but I didn't need it when they saw how I was able to manage soups and such through a straw.

Gross as it may sound, I stocked up on some basic baby foods - I would use the green beans and sweet potato baby food and mix it with some chicken noodle soup and pulverize it in my bullet until I got it to the right consistency and that way I got my protein from the chicken, carbs from the noodles and veggies. The home health lady was a bit surprised but she said i was doing great. I was determined not to have the feeding tube when I left the hospital so that was my goal.

I use Biotene mouthwash and it doesn't irritate me at all - I also use their toothpaste because it doesn't burn like regular toothpastes do.

I have to be careful with some fruit juices because the acidity makes them burn my mouth - some tomato sauces, too...

Plain mashed potatoes were great when I wanted something a little more substantial but I still couldn't do anything solid... I also had cream of wheat but that can be challenging because you really, really have to rinse well afterward.

My husband loves Scandi-Shakes made with ice cream. I buy them on the internet. They're a little pricey but well worth it. 600 calories without the icecream and just made with milk. And they don't taste like medicine.