Stomach-friendly foods

ladyreva78

What kind of foods do you eat when you know you have to eat but your stomach disagrees with you? Preferably simple to prepare.

I am hungry but I have no appetite (if that even makes sense) and I'm getting honestly tiered of my usual standbys and I'm not feeling particularly creative:
- chicken broth (instant so quick to make) with a type of cracker found here (a kind of double baked, white bread that's very easy on the stomach)
- plain white rice with plain white yogurt (unsweetened)

I'm recovering from a migraine attack (Friday) with a blocked muscle added in for the fun of it (since Tuesday). Between the pain, the medications (pain meds, muscle relaxants, anti-acid and anti-nausea meds to keep the first two down) and my monthly cycle (it wouldn't have been fun other wise ) , my stomach is a mess (actually make that my entire digestion...).

The foods I've listed above are the usual standbys I know work, but from experience it'll take me another 2-3 days to be able to eat normally again and I'd love to have some other options. I've been alternating them for the past 3 days (that's breakfast, lunch and dinner) and would be happy to have 1 or 2 more options to add to the mix.

Losewtforlife4him

Toast, banana, saltines, rice

kristikitter

Ready salted crisps always do it for me. Just log 'em

trigden1991

Soup

TheLittleFangs

Firstly - what an awful time you're having... I hope you feel better soon. I have a type of IBD plus a host of other stuff I won't waffle on about but when I'm really struggling I have rice crackers, banana and sometimes peanut butter with that. I have in easy rice with mushrooms in. Apple sauce on rice crackers or toast. Gluten free croissants in to up the calories. Sometimes I can stomach houmous again on crackers or gluten free toast. there's a brand in the UK called ilumi that do a Singapore noodles pot (morrisons stock it) which is quick and warming. baked potatoes (again over here you can buy ready done frozen ones by mccain which are 5 minutes in the microwave and done) which I just have with plain spread.

Feel better soon - hug

tiny_clanger

In my worst moments, flat Lucozade. Then, when I can at least take some food, whatever I want at the time. often it's cornflakes with soya milk. I will spend a couple of days just living on cornflakes, then move back to other food as I feel ready. Peanut butter with rice crackers, a banana cut into very small pieces, humous, that sort of thing.

ladyreva78

tiny_clanger wrote: »

In my worst moments, flat Lucozade. Then, when I can at least take some food, whatever I want at the time. often it's cornflakes with soya milk. I will spend a couple of days just living on cornflakes, then move back to other food as I feel ready. Peanut butter with rice crackers, a banana cut into very small pieces, humous, that sort of thing.

That's a bit my problem. I don't want food but I know I need to eat. Meaning if I go by appetite, I'll be drinking fennel seed tea for another 2 days.

Thanks for all the ideas. There's some in there I'll definitely be trying as my stomach didn't turn reading them.

So dinner tonight will be:
- veggie soup
- crackers
- apple sauce

tiny_clanger

ladyreva78 wrote: »

That's a bit my problem. I don't want food but I know I need to eat. Meaning if I go by appetite, I'll be drinking fennel seed tea for another 2 days.

That's exactly how I feel at the Lucozade stage. At least I know it's giving me enough glucose to get by for a few days. Eventually a desire for some sort of food will come....

ladyreva78

Thankfully yes. My appetite usually returns after my stomach starts working properly again, meaning I can't go overboard with the foods I try or I'll make myself sick again.
The longest I've ever had that was 2 weeks after surgery. The anesthetics are an appetite killer for me. I ended up having to set an alarm and force myself to eat at set times.

My Lucozade stage tends to be crackers soaked in fennel seed tea. Makes for a visually disgusting mess but that's something I'll stomach.

chunky_pinup

I feel you. I've had some inflammation in my intestines (thanks, Lupus) for the past two weeks and have dropped 8 pounds...and not 8 pounds that I wanted to lose in this way because I know it's not good. I've been trying to stick to the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast), but even those foods are causing me severe pain and distress. I talked to my trainer on the phone, since I haven't been able to come to our sessions, and she told me to aim for at least 1000 calories MINIMUM even if it feels like it's not staying in long. She said anything I can tolerate, even if it's a sugary soda like 7-up...that my body just needs some sort of calorie base to give it the energy to heal. Even when I'm not hungry, I've been trying to have caloric liquids like apple juice or putting honey in my tea, etc.

Good luck, and I hope you start to feel better soon

ladyreva78

Mmmm honey... Now there's something I hadn't thought about. I tend not to drink my calories anymore.

Considering how much tea I drink, I can definitely manage to add a bit of energy through that.

Thanks!

Athijade

White rice with a bit of butter.

ladyreva78

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I've added a few of onto my list of 'keep on stock in case of...'

I'm finally back to eating (mostly) normally.

I especially wanted to thank for the idea of adding Honey to my tea. It helped get me up to a calorie level where I was starting to feel human again and had no problems with digesting it.

This community is the best!

comptonelizabeth

Hope you feel better soon. I have ibd (ulcerative colitis)and there are days when I can't or don't want to eat. Honey on white toast is my go to food! Also rice,yoghurt,bananas,Apple sauce,crackers,rich tea biscuits as well as the chicken broth you've mentioned. You can add orzo (very small pasta)to the broth. Xxx

ladyreva78

comptonelizabeth wrote: »

Hope you feel better soon. I have ibd (ulcerative colitis)and there are days when I can't or don't want to eat. Honey on white toast is my go to food! Also rice,yoghurt,bananas,Apple sauce,crackers,rich tea biscuits as well as the chicken broth you've mentioned. You can add orzo (very small pasta)to the broth. Xxx

I am feeling better and even took a day less than the average. Thank you.

I've just discovered honey as a brilliant go to food. I never would have thought my stomach could deal with it as well as it did (and it melts really nicely into tea, which is an added bonus for me).

tiny_clanger

Have you tried Manuka honey? I had all sorts of digestive problems as a result of contracting dysentery when I was travelling. I was seeing a tropical diseases nurse for something else, mentioned the digestive problems I was having (IBS-D, severe pain, loss of appetite, etc) and she suggested trying a spoonful of manuka honey each morning. Just on it's own, though you can dissolve it in tea or water if you like.

It changed my life - after 6 weeks the pain had eased off, after 6 months the D was almost fully cleared up. While my digestion still isn't, and probably never will, work perfectly, it is so much better than it was.

ladyreva78

Hihi I have a 20 year supply of honey (rough estimate at my usual consumption) that my grandfather gave me before he passed away (he made the honey himself as his hobby and that stuff stays good forever and a day if made with the right sugar ratios). It has something of a sentimental value (reason why I also never give any of it away no matter how little of it I use). I know exactly from which fields and bushes the bees harvested. I can still picture him in the kitchen processing the honeycombs.

I'd like to think he approves of me using it when I'm not feeling so good (it's my go to soar throat medicine).

All of that to say... nope haven't tried Manuka honey and I'm sorry to say that probably never will. Although, thank you for the suggestion