HELP! I need soft high-cal foods for post-surgery husband!

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  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    More than anything else, calories are going to help his recovery. Especially given that this is very short-term, anything he'll eat is good for him.

    Milkshakes would be great. If he's really having trouble getting calories in, you could add some half-and-half or heavy cream, peanut butter or PB2. You could also do fruit smoothies with protein powder if he can tolerate that.

    Full-fat greek yogurt tastes more mild than the lower-fat varieties, and if you can add honey/agave/jam, it might taste good to him.

    Could he have pureed soups? Something like a butternut squash soup (usually completely smooth) or a potato soup (either cook the potatoes until they're mush or puree it). Cream-based soups have more calories than clear broths and will be more palatable if they're pureed.

    Could he have cooked porridge, like a cream of wheat or oatmeal? You could maybe add protein powder to those to give them more protein. Or a very soft polenta with a poached egg? You could add some cheese to the polenta to up the calorie count.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    JenHuedy wrote: »
    kylecpatterson wrote: »
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    kylecpatterson wrote: »
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    Unfortunately that is explicitly not OK yet.
    kylecpatterson wrote: »
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    I'm not planning to feed him exclusively milkshakes.

    I'd agree with the avocado smoothie idea, but I'm not sure he'd be convinced to drink it. He doesn't really like avacado. But guacamole might work.

    Slow cook him meat and veggies in a crock pot. Put in blender. Feed with spoon.

    Unfortunately meat chunks of any sort is still an explicit no-no and against doctor recommendation. He may be ready for that in 7-14 more days. I honestly can't wait until chili or stew is back on the menu. Very soft veggies apparently OK.

    I'm curious as to why a doctor would advise against eating any protein whatsoever, and I would be concerned of said doctors credentials with regard to nutrition in general. Care to elaborate on the surgery?

    He had a Nissen wrap due to chronic acid reflux. Over-simplifying it quite a bit, he had his esophagus wrapped around in such a way so that the acid can't get up the way it did before. It causes a person to have to go on a liquid diet to soft diet for a few weeks until the body heals.

    The doctor did not say no protein, just not chunks of meat. Pureed is fine, such as in baby food. In fact he can eat pretty much anything pureed. Saying that, it's amazing how unappetizing most food is when pureed.

    And please be understanding that saying, "just eat this unappetizing food" is not something I want to put myself or him through. He's miserable and in pain. I am currently making two meals three times a day and about half the meals I make for him don't work out. This has been part of the issue of him not getting enough calories.

    So I'm looking for ideas that are adult food, bonus points if it's foods my son and I will like too.

    All I've suggested you to feed him is whole, unprocessed food. You calling it unappetizing is alarming. Blending slow cooked meat and veggies would be a puree like baby food but it would be 1000x more nutritious and would AID his recovery. If he doesn't like avocado add almond or peanut butter as they are another source of monounsaturated fat. Feeding him chocolate banana shakes I don't see a doctor recommending.

    She didn't say whole, unprocessed food was unappetizing. She said pureed food was unappetizing, and I totally agree.

    You could try homemade cream soups like broccoli cheese or potato. Make as usual for the rest of the family and puree your husband's serving so no veggie chunks remain. You can even add extra cheese or use heavy cream for his portions to up calories.

    Yeah, we've done this with some success. But even soups get a bit old after a while.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    Fuzzipeg wrote: »
    I just looked at Webmd, it said a soft diet, not that everything needs to be pureed. I remember one fine chef in our local hospital who liquidised all the food, for one specific person, the meat and veggies individually so this person could enjoy blending their own combinations.

    It also said swallowing air with foods could be an issue because it is not as easily eliminated as it was previously. Its an issue which should pass.

    He doesn't need everything pureed at this point, but "soft" is a surprisingly difficult middle ground to manage. And soft food is still more difficult than pureed and is a factor.

    The air thing is less of a problem, and we know about that.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    Just wanted to remind everyone thanks for the input! This has been a tricky thing to manage for me and it's so nice to have other people think of solutions too. It gets a bit isolating to be a caregiver...

    Also, I'm on the "Losing Weight" end of the weight issue spectrum, (and trying to help my 9 year old lose weight too) so now I'm trying to figure out how to manage both nutritional needs under the same roof!!!
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,983 Member
    edited March 2017
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    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    The_Enginerd wrote: »
    kylecpatterson wrote: »
    Don't make him milkshakes. Are you serious? Try blending avocado with some protein powder and some spinach and coconut water. Add ice as needed.

    He is having trouble getting in enough calories and milkshakes are highly caloric, soft, and highly palatable. It sounds like that's exactly what he could use to supplement his diet.

    I entirely agree with you...this would be perfect. If I could get him to try it. Which unfortunately I highly doubt. :(

    You can't get him to try a milkshake?! Or do you mean the avocado smoothie concoction?

    I was responding to the previous poster who seemed shocked you would feed him a milkshake, when that sounds like exactly what he could use right now. At this point, he is having trouble getting in enough calories.

    Also second stuff such as the Greek yogurt, cream based soups, pudding, applesauce, refried beans, etc.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    Yes to milkshake, did not think avocado would go over well.

    I made hubby a lovely peanut butter banana shake with premium ice cream, high protein milk and he really loved it... it was freaking delicious but I had to go with a much lower fat version.
  • rdevol
    rdevol Posts: 278 Member
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    I had my jaw wired shut for six weeks years ago, so I can sympathize about pureed foods - they do get old rather fast. I remember eating some type of baked potato soup that was pretty good. Towards the end I ate a lot of ground up Skyline chili. I'm not sure where you're from or if you've heard of it. It's kind of a Cincinnati/Midwest USA kind of thing. It at least had a little flavor, even if the texture wasn't the greatest. Also, it's probably already been covered, but fruit smoothies with greek yogurt would be good. You can ground up a small handful of baby spinach leaves in a smoothie without being able to taste it/detect it's in there. Also, maybe applesauce, pudding, jello? Good luck!
  • Heather4448
    Heather4448 Posts: 908 Member
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    Ensure and ice cream milkshakes are very high cal. Greek yogurt has a lot of protein. You can add eggs into hot mashed potatoes in a blender. Same with grits. Spam... eww, but it can be whipped into a soft,salty mass. Best wishes to your Hubby!
  • pamfgil
    pamfgil Posts: 449 Member
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    Baked beans are soft, plus get some fibre, tinned means it's easy
  • CynthiasChoice
    CynthiasChoice Posts: 1,047 Member
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    Refried beans or hummus might be good. I don't know if anyone else enjoys hummus by itself, but I do!
    You could add olive oil to soups, gravy to mashed potatoes, butter to whipped sweet potatoes, cream cheese or any cheese to eggs.
    For the sake of his regularity though, fruit smoothies are the best. Add some cream for extra calories.
    Could he have graham crackers dipped in milk?
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    Refried beans and hummus might be next week, but worth a try then. Graham crackers are right out until hard foods.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
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    If he needs a protein boost, try silken tofu. It's very soft and you can usually find in on the shelf in the grocery store, most likely in the Asian section. You can throw it into a smoothie, or you can make a chocolate mousse by blending it with melted chocolate. There are lots of recipes for this, but you can use Alton Brown's pie filling and just serve it without the crust: http://www.food.com/recipe/moo-less-chocolate-pie-by-alton-brown-186659#activity-feed. If he hasn't eaten tofu before, that's probably the most palatable way to try it.
  • PaganUK
    PaganUK Posts: 238 Member
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    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    kylecpatterson wrote: »
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    Unfortunately that is explicitly not OK yet.
    kylecpatterson wrote: »
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    I'm not planning to feed him exclusively milkshakes.

    I'd agree with the avocado smoothie idea, but I'm not sure he'd be convinced to drink it. He doesn't really like avacado. But guacamole might work.

    Slow cook him meat and veggies in a crock pot. Put in blender. Feed with spoon.

    Unfortunately meat chunks of any sort is still an explicit no-no and against doctor recommendation. He may be ready for that in 7-14 more days. I honestly can't wait until chili or stew is back on the menu. Very soft veggies apparently OK.

    I'm curious as to why a doctor would advise against eating any protein whatsoever, and I would be concerned of said doctors credentials with regard to nutrition in general. Care to elaborate on the surgery?

    He had a Nissen wrap due to chronic acid reflux. Over-simplifying it quite a bit, he had his esophagus wrapped around in such a way so that the acid can't get up the way it did before. It causes a person to have to go on a liquid diet to soft diet for a few weeks until the body heals.

    The doctor did not say no protein, just not chunks of meat. Pureed is fine, such as in baby food. In fact he can eat pretty much anything pureed. Saying that, it's amazing how unappetizing most food is when pureed.

    And please be understanding that saying, "just eat this unappetizing food" is not something I want to put myself or him through. He's miserable and in pain. I am currently making two meals three times a day and about half the meals I make for him don't work out. This has been part of the issue of him not getting enough calories.

    So I'm looking for ideas that are adult food, bonus points if it's foods my son and I will like too.

    I'm 2 days post Nissen fundloplication. I've blended chicken and veg. strained chicken/oxtail soup so it's lump free. sorbet, milkshake, meal replacement drinks for nutrition. also brought liquid vitamins. corned Beef hash goes down well.
    I'm in pain, tired, difficult to swallow clear fluids at time but I can still belch!!!
    good luck. it's a long slow process. xx

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