Being Alive Newsletter; July 1992
Satindar Dua, RD

There are some days when you just feel tired and have no desire to eat. This can be caused by infection, pain, worry, or the side effects of certain medications. When you are unable to eat, your natural immunity becomes weaker. Yet this defense system of your body is more important to you now. Therefore, it is especially important to eat well on days when you feel poorly. People who eat well are better able to cope with the side effects of treatment.

The following suggestions should be helpful.

- Eat small meals more often. Stock up on your favorite snacks and foods. These will be useful to eat between meals.

- Eat some food every hour or two whether you feel hungry or not.

- When you have energy, plan meals a week ahead of time and cook larger quantities; freeze the extra for use when you feel too tired to cook.

- Accept the help of a friend to organize your kitchen shelves. Keep the most used items within easy reach, at eye level. Heavy items should be stored on lower shelves to avoid dropping them while being pulled out. Use a step stool to reach items on the upper shelves.

- Ask your friends or family to cook or bring you food.

- Make and use a grocery list so you will not forget anything while shopping. This will also be useful for your friends who may be helping you with grocery shopping.

- Cooking takes time, but there are appliances available that can help put meals together in minutes.

- Microwave oven: Use to reduce cooking time and minimize the pots and pans needed to reheat foods. A good, small sized oven can be bought for under $100.

- Blender or food processor: There are days when eating solid foods appears time consuming or tedious, or you may have difficulty swallowing solids due to ulcers in the mouth or throat. Drinking feels easier. You can blenderize solid foods to a liquid. A high calorie, high protein shake may replace a meal. A food blender may cost anywhere from $16 to $50. Hand-held blenders are easy to use and clean-up.

- An electric can opener: This can be an energy saver when you are using canned foods and don't want to wrestle with a manual can opener.

- Limit fried foods or fatty foods which may make you feel too full and keep you from eating more frequently.

- Limit low caloric drinks such as water or diet sodas. They can make you feel full and prevent you from getting enough calories from the meal.

- Keep ready-to-eat and processed foods on hand. Buy chopped, frozen vegetables, sliced cheese, sliced breads, cut-to-size meats. They take less time to prepare and can be used as meals in combination with other foods or as quick snacks between meals.

- Nutritional supplements such as Enrich, Ensure, Sustacal-liquid or puddings, Lipisole will be very helpful in providing essential nutrients when you are unable to eat or to add as snacks. When you have milk intolerance, you can use nutritional supplements to make rich shakes.

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