Diet during Chemo

[petunia0580]

Okay, I am buying my mother cranberry juice and Activa and I will try to get her to take Milk Thistle but what else?  Give me some good things that I can encourage her to eat....

[butterflytc]

I was not able to take even the smells of food during chemo..so I mostly had Carnation instant breakfast drinks (which I still drink today) I also made my own shakes by adding crushed ice, very vanilla soy milk, wheat germ, whey protein, flax seed, 1 tbls. of instant coffee, and bit of ice cream.
tasted lovely, like a starbucks frappachino (sp?)
I was able to eat anything cold like fruits and veggies, only in small doses every hour. and plenty of ice chips or water. comfort food for some reason was jello (no idea why as I norm. dont eat it).
Everyone is differant, as I am sure you can see from the many responses already. Good luck and hope something helps you out

[Kimchi]

While on chemo, I take lots of vitamins and reishi mushroom every day...think this helped my appetite as I did not have a problem with wanting to eat, it was more with not finding food tasty. I found drinking very cold or hot beverage seem to go down better, I drink fresh cold lemonade with honey, didn't buy ready-made cause of sugar or artifiical sweetner, the tartness makes the liquid go down better and kinda stimulate the tastes buds a little.I drink lots of hot tea (Jiao Gu Lun)  Also the first few days after chemo, I eat soup, noodles, stew lots of hot food  as it seems to have a little more taste.Also made fruit salad with fresh squeezed orange juice and yogurt, sprinkle some flaxseed powder, sesame seeds or granola.  ...
Hope this helps

[petunia0580]

bump

[Jan214]

All I could really eat during the carbo/taxol was frozen fruit and celery.  Those don't have much taste or smell.  Now with the Gemzar I eat most things except meat. YUCKY  I found even during the first chemo that strong italian spices smelled really good and I had some italian dipping oil with bread a couple of times.  Sometimes I think it is like being pregnant.  Whatever sounds good...eat it.
If she can eat oatmeal and high fiber toast in the morning with an apple or some fruit that would help her day and tummy a lot.  That has worked for some people but of course not all.  I know this all sounds iffy cause it is. If your mom feels like eating, if your mom thinks she can tolerate something.  IF IF IF Oh, the peach activia taste more like real fruit than the strawberry or blueberry and I am picky about my peaches.  I hope your mom gets to feeling better.
Jan

[vegas2cr]

The main problem for those of us on chemo is nothing tastes right.. Everything tasted and still does to some degree like metal.. comfort foods were all I could take... pasta breads etc... Your Mom may like other things... let her choose.. but do get the cranberry juice and activa to her... the acitiva tasted so bad to me that my husband put it in ice cream.. LOL... why I am laughing is that I am a type 1 diabetic and so the only things I could or would eat werent' very good for me... but my oncologist said it was a trade off... more insulin injections or hospital.... no choice there...