Many cancer patients find it easier to sip drinks all day than to eat solid foods. Also, if he's having problems with his mouth or throat, such as dry mouth or mouth sores, liquids are much easier to get down.
Luckily, a primarily liquid diet is a perfectly healthy approach to eating. Try serving hot -- or lukewarm -- chocolate, cider, milk, milkshakes, Gatorade, and juice. These are great ways to help him consume calories -- often nutritious ones -- without feeling sick. Serve broth-type soups in a mug for sipping. Mix fruit and yogurt or fruit and ice cream into smoothies and boost the protein content with a spoonful of protein powder.
Diet or nutritional supplement drinks such as Ensure, Boost, or Carnation Instant Breakfast also provide calories, protein, and nutrients. And because many of them come in cans and don't need to be refrigerated, you can take them along when you're at doctor's appointments or running errands with your family member and offer them between meals. And if his doctor says it's okay, try serving a small glass of beer or wine with meals; it can help stimulate appetite.
Another effective way to control nausea is to eat many small meals throughout the day rather than a few big ones. However, when he doesn't feel like eating, it's easy for him to forget to eat for hours on end. Talk to him about setting up a system of meal reminders: does he want you to call him throughout the day to check up? Or perhaps you could set up a schedule of mealtimes, such as every two hours during the day.
Professional caregivers recommend setting a timer for 60 minutes and encouraging the person you're caring for to eat at least a few bites every time it goes off. But this can also be an annoyance, so it's something you'll want to try on an experimental basis. If it doesn't work for him, forget about it.
The journal keeping advice.
I know someone who had cancer and he couldn't keep anything down either. He told me what worked for him was Instant Breakfast packets (e.g., Carnation Instant Breakfast) and they tasted good to him. They also provide nutrients if this is the only thing you are taking in. I needed an alternative for my mother, who has AD and has lost 12 lbs. in the last 6 mos. Her dr. wants her to gain some weight and recommended Ensure, but she doesn't like the taste of the canned drink. You might try the instant breakfast or the Ensure. The most important thing is to get the person some nutrition. Hope this helps.
The only thing my father loves to eat /drink is seedless red grapes from local fruit stand or chocalate malts from Beefaroo. We have several dr. appts. so we let him pick his favorite place to eat and let him decide what he will eat. Its always the malts. I think he enjoys being around people that do not appear sick like the people at the dr. office.
Does anyone have any idea for foods to feed your parent when they say they just can't eat anything? I have a friend right now going through chemo for breast cancer and she just can't keep anything down. I even tried smoothies and she couldn't drink them. Please, any suggestions?