Making food taste better

Options
GrooGruxQueen
GrooGruxQueen Member Posts: 33
edited July 2018 in Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After

I had chemo for the first time on the 4th. I know that chemo can effect the way things taste but lately nothing seems to taste good, even foods I love. I am still eating but have a hard time finishing my plate, almost half of it gets thrown away, because it just tastes disgusting. Does anyone know of a way to try and make things taste better?

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • moth
    moth Member Posts: 4,800
    edited June 2018

    You can try playing with spices & temperatures of foods. You might find you prefer something like cold pasta salads, or maybe only hot soups, but honestly, mostly it all tastes blah & I just force myself to eat because I know it is good for me. Treat it like medicine. It doesn't have to taste good, it just has to go down. You don't have your chemo in your sig line but for me AC was worse than Taxol. My taste buds are still not right but they're a bit better on Taxol than AC.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited June 2018

    Does your food taste bad in a specific way, like a metallic taste?

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Melrosemelrose
    Melrosemelrose Member Posts: 3,018
    edited June 2018

    Check out "The Cancer Fighting Kitchen " book by Rebecca Katz ( Rebecca Katz has website and is also on Facebook) and the cookbook called "Eating Well Through Cancer" by Holly Clegg and Gerald Miletello, MD. I found both of these books helpful while was I in chemoland. They provided tips to help with the chemo food challenges . I also viewed food as fuel and energy to the help heal the body rather than as comfort.

    Wishing you the best.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Sjacobs146
    Sjacobs146 Member Posts: 770
    edited June 2018

    I don't think there is any way to make foods taste better, it's just a matter of finding foods that you can tolerate. For me, salty foods were better. I ate a lot of chicken soup, sometime Kraft mac n cheese was tolerable.I was advised to stay away from foods I actually liked because eating them on chemo could ruin them for me forever.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • GrooGruxQueen
    GrooGruxQueen Member Posts: 33
    edited June 2018

    In general it tastes blah like you said moth, there's just no flavor to it. I have been thinking of it as medicine too, I know I've got to eat it because I have to not because I want to.

    I'll check out the books Melrosemelrose, thanks!

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • badger
    badger Member Posts: 34,614
    edited June 2018

    hi GrooGruxQueen, I did TC chemo. My tastebuds changed from hour to hour so instead of traditional meals I snacked throughout the day. Many small meals were easier on my tummy and my budget. Some people crave hot spicy food but bland was better for me. Try the BRAT diet - bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. I drank a lot of weak tea with milk & honey (could do honey & lemon) and always kept saltines on-hand. One of my friends was pregnant while I was doing chemo and we found many similarities including heightened sensitivity to smells and weird taste aversions. Like the thought of food as medicine. Best wishes and gentle ((hugs)).

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • out_and_about
    out_and_about Member Posts: 47
    edited June 2018

    I have had one dose of TC so far. I think dairy products and fatty foods were better tasting, although I also had no appetite during the worst of it, so hard to say. Most of my taste has come back now, 10 days out. It seems to change day by day. Right now I feel like I have a constant "salty" taste in my mouth. Water has also tasted bad, and I have experimented with flavored waters without much luck. Water seems best when ice cold.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • GrooGruxQueen
    GrooGruxQueen Member Posts: 33
    edited June 2018

    I have noticed that sweet things taste good. I've been staying away from foods with a lot of sugar, I never really ate any in general I drink a lot, probably about half a gallon a day. It was usually flavored soda water but that just doesn't taste good any more. I had some Chrystal Light and it tasted great so I've been drinking that now. Yogurt tastes great too so I had some of that along with the sandwich, which didn't taste good, I ate for dinner. I had some fruit cups here and they taste good too. I'll probably eat more of those plus regular fruit too.

    Next time I go to the store I'll look for some more healthy sweet food. Hopefully my taste buds won't change and I'll have to start finding foods that taste good all over again.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Summer9125
    Summer9125 Member Posts: 4
    edited June 2018

    Hi there,

    I know the feeling- I had a terrible time with food tastes, smells, and nausea in general. The thing that really worked for me, which I wish I had discovered sooner, was sweet potatoes. They almost completely obliterated my nausea, and after eating a few bites of sweet potato, I was able to eat anything else I wanted.

    I don't know if the food taste thing is a side effect of nausea or if the chemo also has a direct effect on the taste buds - it may be both.

    Hang in there, it'll pass...

    Best,

    Summer


    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • moth
    moth Member Posts: 4,800
    edited June 2018

    Chemo has a direct effect on the taste buds because it damages the epithelium - these are the always being replaced cells that line your digestive tract, which begins in your mouth. So the epithelium in your mouth & on your tongue is damaged. We have taste buds on our tongue, palate, pharynx and even into the larynx - but all are affected by the loss of the epithelium and damage to the taste receptors.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigPeaches
    BigPeaches Member Posts: 266
    edited June 2018

    I used to love spicey foods, not anymore. I can't have salt, pepper, bbq sauce, anything at all! It's not that stuff tastes bad, it's all so spicey and burns my mouth. uugg.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • GrooGruxQueen
    GrooGruxQueen Member Posts: 33
    edited July 2018

    I notice that if I eat whenever I'm hungry food tastes pretty good. I might not be eating at the normal times you eat like 8am for breakfast, 12pm for lunch and 6pm for dinner. As long as I eat when I'm hungry, it might be at times like 3 in the afternoon or 10 at night, food tastes good. If I wait and don't eat it right when I want it then it tastes like crap.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Frog-on-the-lilypad
    Frog-on-the-lilypad Member Posts: 190
    edited July 2018

    For the first 2 cycles of AC, I craved olives and icecream. I bought boatloads, now they are just sitting in the fridge. Food tasted like cardboard or foam.

    What I enjoyed most and still do is food with lots of texture in it I like the crunch. Salads, fruit salads, toasted museli, crackers with any dip.

    My taste buds are doing better on Taxol, but still a long way off.

    Edit : Alternate between Biotene dry mouthwash and a baking soda mouthwash.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories