Favorite Foods and Small Appetites

May 21, 2012

Favorite Foods and Small Appetites

We found that maintaining sufficient nourishment and hydration was the most important battlefront of the whole cancer war. Most of our hospital trips were because Shana became dehydrated, so we kept our constant attention on her intake. We kept a variety of liquids on hand, juices mostly, so that we would be ready with any liquid we could get her to drink. There was always a glass of fresh water beside her bed as well as another glass of the favorite juice of the hour.

Finding satisfying food is a challenge. You never know what your child will want or be willing to eat, or when he or she will suddenly decide they are hungry. You just hope you have the magic meal, the desired food stuffs, on hand for that instant when they are needed. We kept the usual fresh fruits and salad-making ingredients on hand, but we also kept products like Ensure and Boost in the pantry and tried daily to persuade her to drink at least a little. Over time we developed a food strategy of keeping small portions of a variety of foods in the freezer, ready to be thawed or heated in the microwave at a moment’s notice. These were all sorts of foods from a variety of sources, and almost nothing was too small to save.

I say ‘small’ because we adapted to using small plates and small portions of food for meals. A normal dinner plate with normal food portions was too overwhelming and there was a greater feeling of success (yay!) when a small plate was cleaned. Small portions and small bites on small plates was the answer. Foods were cut and chopped into bite sizes; even salad ingredients were chopped very fine and presented in a small desert bowl.

Presentation is important too. We found it more cheering to present foods on small plates or bowls, which dressed up the food and made it as attractive and enticing as possible.

Nutritional content is important, of course, but many times we favored ‘quantity’ over ‘quality’ and were delighted to see her chow down on a few chicken bites or french fries and an 800 calorie Chick-Fil-A milkshake!

Please feel free to add and share the tips and hints you’ve learned in your caregiver role. We look forward to hearing from you!

– Sally

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