What to eat when everything tases terrible, awful?

Sjacobs146

I know that this too shall pass, and my normal taste buds will return, but right now just about everything tastes so bad I don't want to eat or drink. Does anyone have any suggestions on what might be the least objectionable things to eat? Right now I'm trying to stick with "white" foods, but there's not much nutrition there.

So far, Vanilla Shakes (from McDonald's or DQ) seem ok. Hard boiled eggs and plain bread.

badger

hi Sjacobs146, been there and it's no fun.  Here's a link to a thread in Help Me Get Through Treatment forum: what to eat when food is revolting https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/6/topic/824897?page=1#idx_22

I will also bump a thread for you in the Chemo forum: More Tips (and a Shopping List) for Getting Through Chemo.

It's a long thread with lots of bumps (bump means to send to the top of Active Topics) but the original post is invaluable.  Best wishes and gentle ((hugs)).

Deblc

I think everybody finds something that they eventually can tolerate, and everybody is different. I found a squirt of lemon or lime juice in water made it more palatable. I hate cranberry juice normally, but found that was the only juice I could tolerate while on chemo (something about the acidity I think, in both cases). Ginger ale. My daily diet was egg salad or tuna sandwich and juice. Sometimes plain pasta with a little butter and shredded cheese. Tried to juice all my vegetables but was not very good at sticking to that. I lived on Ensure when I had no appetite whatsoever. And eat whatever you feel like at the time, even if it's ice cream every single day! My MO told me that this was not the time to have any dietary restrictions, to just get the calories in. Boy, am I glad those days are over...hang in there, this too shall pass.

Kicks

For me - nothing tasted bad - it just did not taste at all. I also had no appetite at all - I just never thought about eating or got hungery. Hubby called me several times a day to remind me to eat something. I just never got hungery but had no problem eating when reminded to even though it,had no taste/flavor at all.

shoppygirl

I had the same problem. The only thing that tasted good was French baguette and grape Popsicles.

Hopefully this will get better soon

ruthbru

mashed potatoes

Sjacobs146

badger, thanks so much for the info and the bump. I have been on the "More tips" thread, but I forgot that she mentioned some things about food.

kcat2013

For me salty things like chips tasted the best. And for drinking I found that something that was a little thicker was more palatable to me than water/juice/etc. I drank alot of those Odwalla fruit smoothie things that come in little bottles. I didn't eat a large variety of foods, but stuck to what I knew I could tolerate.

Kendra

MidLifeCrisis

I find it amazing how everyone is affected so differently by the same drugs. I see posts where people are saying salty chips tasted best ... I couldn't even taste salt! I used to love cranberry juice and was repulsed by it. For me, it seemed the more bland the food item is usually (ie. plain oatmeal, toast) the better it was. I suppose because I didn't have high expectations for its taste so it tasted *good*. I couldn't eat any fruit (except in smoothies). I've only had one treatment and my taste has come back almost 100% now at around the 14-day mark. I imagine it will go again and maybe take longer to come back, but I have been thankful. It was starting to get annoying when I was hungry but wouldn't eat anything because I just knew it would be awful! I ended up losing a lot of weight that first week.

I had heard that Ensure is a good option. I haven't tried it, but will stock up before the next treatment. Also, peanut butter worked fairly wellfor me. Good luck - it seems like trial and error because like all the other SE's it varies person to person.

jenjenl

Mashed potatoes, chix noodle soup, apples (i ate a lot of apples), cheese. That's what I lived on. A week after infusions I would love nachos. So weird.

TJG2

What I could tolerate changed each treatment. Cheese was the one thing that I could stand throughout. Dark chocolate Ensure was a staple. Even if most things taste awful, keeping up strength is important and Ensure helped with that. Gaterade also helped keep me hydrated and gave me a boost of energy.

If you get to a point that one of your drugs causes mouth irritation, your oncologist can prescribe a rinse that will allow you to eat. It cost me $9 but it was worth it, I used it two days out of the entire 6 rounds of chemo.

Good luck everyone!

ruthbru

I used Biotene toothpaste and mouthwash, which you can buy off the counter. My dentist recommended them, and they really helped.

tangandchris

I did cereal a lot...oatmeal and cheerios mostly. Also mac n cheese here and there and noodle soup. Drinking water from a straw helped me because water tasted awful!! I tried the protein drinks but I couldn't handle the taste.

SelenaWolf

"White" food: bread, pasta, cottage cheese, yoghurt, rice, cheese, potatoes, eggs. Not the best diet, but it's important to eat something.

Holeinone

I agree with Ruth, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes.....I craved Wendy's chocolate frostys. Also Pandas chow mien.

Lost 20lbs, still having food issues, my last chemo was almost a year ago. Does not seem possible. MO quit nagging me to gain weight. I do eat healthier now.

Fayette37

The only thing I will say about food is that I tried to be careful about creating a food aversion (and didn't totally succeed). Something that sounded ok near the time of my infusion (like pancakes) has now become so revolting to me I can barely think about it. When I realized that was happening, I stuck to boring/bland foods that I almost never eat: white bread, canned fruit and soups, protein drinks. Nothing tasted all that good anyway, so why play Russian roulette with my future appetite?

tangandchris

I have also created certain food aversions....I still can't even listen to a Subway commercial.

The night after my first chemo I decided to eat a bowl of my favorite ice cream, within a few hours I was seriously ill. No more mint oreo ice cream for me!!

Kicks

Just thought of something I ate quite a bit of - frozen jello.   Love it and have for years.    Make it as the box says but then put in freezer.  It's best just before it freezes solid as it becomes almost a 'rock'.  A few minutes sitting out and it's no longer a 'rock'.  Maybe it was the texture during chemo that was good as flavor wasn't there but I did eat a fair bit of it.

barremom64

CARBS! After avoiding most "white" foods for over a year, anything white! Mashed potatoes, bread with lots of butter, french toast, bagels, pasta and PIZZA! For dessert...any chocolate, ice cream, cake etc. NOTHING that was healthy! I couldnt tolerate many fruits or veggies...but Hey,I was the picture of "healthy" pre-diagnose... kale, wild caught fish, green juice, exercise 6 days a week and gotcancer anyway.

Not sure what the answer is as I feel betrayed by my body.

208sandy

Couldn't eat chocolate or drink coffee - took me a year to get back to my two favourites. Ate lots of white foods as well, white bread and toast, pasta (no sauce just butter), grits, chicken salad with yogurt dressing and grapes, easy Mac (disgusting stuff but I craved it constantly), could only drink plain water, anything with flavouring made me nauseated. Couldn't face salad for almost a year or any vegetable for that matter - strange, because all my life I ate a healthy, balanced diet and do to this day but just put me on chemo and it's all "out the window".

randomchance

things you don't ha e to chew. Ensure, smoothies, mashed potatoes. Cool whip.

Sunshine36

I found that water ice worked wonders for me. Never tasted metallic (like everything else did, including ice cream!) And it also helped soothe my mouth when my mouth sores were at their peak! I recommend cotton candy flavor

rozem

coffee was horrible - I didn't drink it the entire time

white foods here as well - pasta/bread/oatmeal.  Nothing spicy or acidic or I felt like my mouth was on fire.  Lots of ice cream and Ensure.  What I could tolerate changed every cycle.  I remember I couldn't even open the fridge the smells would make me sick (and we have a spotless fridge!)  the sense are so off so I would say bland/filling foods.  I agree with the other posters, now is not the time for watching your diet - if it appeals to you, eat it.  I passed out once from low blood sugar because I just wasn't eating enough.  I would have a bit of ensure as soon as I got up to prevent the fainting

just make sure with all the white stuff you are handling constipation...I managed to make myself so constipated I ended up in the ER