Eating liquid
 

So my tonsils are about the size of golf balls thanks to my mono and I've more or less given up on trying to eat solids. I bought myself some of those meal replacement drinks, like Ensure, but I'd like to find some other options. Any ideas for other foods that I might have an easier time swallowing (i.e. have any good liquid food recipes - I have a blender)?

Hmm...eating liquids, you say? I instantly think of soup. To me, if you want to eat liquids, that's the way to go. But, there are some not-so-solid solids you can eat, like mashed potatoes or pudding.

Make yourself a nice ravioli smoothie. Mmmm Mmmm.

Get some soups. Cream of Broccoli, etc. Heartier than chicken broth or whatever and not a lot of solid pieces to deal with.

Other than that, yogurt, pudding, applesauce, etc.

When I was in the hospital I was on a liquid diet that consisted of Gatorade and Chicken broth. It was terrible.

Wow. How did the people at the hospital let you eat that? I'd rather be stuck on an IV than be forced to live off of Gatorade and chicken broth.

Milkshakes. Just be sure that you don't make it so think that you have to suck really hard, since that can pull stitches out or hurt other things after you've had oral surgery.

How about some icecream?

When I had this years ago, I had it quite bad to the point where my throat was starting to close. The only things I could swallow was milk (it stopped the pain), oatmeal, and ice cream. Have you tried any of those?

Its called a clear liquid diet, and they give it to you when you have any kind of intestinal trauma/infection or need to prep for a scoping. At my local hospital, that diet consists of a selection of beef or chicken broth, jell-o, ginger ale, coffee, and tea. You get roughly 600 calories per day from this diet.

One step up from that is the full liquid diet which upgrades the broth to a creamed or blended soup, adds filtered juices, and you get ice cream (plain).

I second that. After having gone through 4 seperate wisdom teeth removals instead of having them all taken out at once, I know that milkshakes come quite useful.

Milkshakes are a good idea... I don't know how to make them well though. I just end up putting ice cream and milk in a blender and mix for a bit - yay, flavored milk.

I went back to the doctor today and I got this amazing perscription for corticosteroids. OMG, I love this doctor! I can actually see a space between my tonsils! That reminds me, my mom makes an awesome cream of something soup - I'll ask her to make some.

I tried some oatmeal this morning - it was edible. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

For a large milkshake I usually put in 2-3 scoops of ice cream (depending on how big the scoops are) in the blender, some chocolate syrup, and then put in just a little bit of milk at first (just enough to make it liquidy). If it's still too thick after blending I'll just add a little more milk.

If you like oatmeal you should also try cream of wheat. Put in some milk and sugar (or brown sugar) for another good, warm treat that's a bit finer grained than oatmeal so it should be easier for you to eat.

Are you getting those tonsils removed soon or what?

No, I just have to wait for the swelling to go down - it will eventually. The steroids that I was perscribed today are awesome - I noticed a reduction in the swelling 2 hours after taking the first dose.

Having all four out at the same time was enough. Ice cream, soups, fruit drinks (no soda), and water was all I could have for two weeks.

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better, Mucknuggle. Exactly how bad was it before you went to the doctor? I was misdiagnosed as having strep throat and a week later, I ended up in the emergency room because it was kinda getting hard to breathe. I hope yours wasn't that bad.

When I had my wisdom teeth out, I couldn't eat for about a week because of the pain. I ended up having mashed potatoes and water for every meal. Oatmeal and plan soups also work.

Heh, I remember only being on non-solid food four about four days when I had my wisdom teeth out. I was a little used to the pain since I had already had a couple of operations like that before. When I was little I had all of my eyeteeth pulled (baby ones) and a few years later the first set of molars (baby and permanent) were removed. In all I had had thirteen teeth pulled before my wisdom teeth, so they weren't so bad in comparison. :p

Worst part is when your teeth are good enough to chew, but hitting them with a metal spoon hurts soooooooooo bad. ;_;

Get some soy milk. You might as well be drinking tofu, it's a good source of protein and tastes better than a liquified steak.

Quoted for truth. There's different flavors as well, but my favorite is Silk's Very Vanilla soymilk. They have chocolate and I think strawberry, too.

Also, have you tried eating yogurt as well?

Well, the 1st time I went to the doctor my tonsils were just a little swollen. The 2nd time I went (after my mono test came back positive) they were about 3 times the previous size, just about touching the thing that hangs down in the middle (the soft palate?) and covered with a fair bit of green/grey nastyness. I'd post pics if I had some....but it was gross. We also did a strep throat test because apparently mono + strep throat simultaneously is pretty common. Anyhow, both strep tests came back negative. I figure I should have been given the steroids on trip #2 because the next day I could barely eat. Basically, by trip #3 my tonsils were squishing that hanging thing in the middle and pushing it up - so I was on the verge of having trouble breathing. The steroids are truly wonderful though, I feel SOOO much better. But when I wake up in the morning and they aren't in full swing, it sucks.

I've attempted to eat some solids today and it was a success! I'm still going to go mostly liquid from now on because I don't want to aggravate the tonsils and make them swell more, but, you know, it was good to be able to eat solid.

So far, things that go down easily are: yogourt, meal replacement milkshakes (e.g. Ensure, but they have HORRIBLE after-taste...), oatmeal (add brown sugar + cinnamon FTW), milkshakes, juice, water, popsicles, and small purple, seedless grapes have gone down pretty ok.

For protein I could always add some of my whey protein powder to some milk . . . but using it when I'm not hitting the gym just seems like such a waste. Speaking of which, I'm not allowed any sports for another 5 weeks. :(

A friend's wife had a pretty serious pancreas infection (three operations later) she was on a liquid diet for five months.

Tomato soup, split pea soup (the ham pieces might hurt though). Safeway has this tomato bisque which is really creamy and liquidy. Good luck!

My mom's having surgery this Tuesday, so she'll be on this clear liquid diet on Monday. She already did all the grocery shopping to prepare for this day: the broths, jell-o, etc. Except coffee/tea: no sugar allowed.

I like to eat liquid and drink solid, but I've been known to do things in abnormal and mind boggling ways.

I take my coffee black and my tea without any sugar.

I've had to be on the clear liquid/full liquid diet four times from my Ulcerative Colitis. I find that Trader Joe's has some very nice broths and cream/pureed soups (fire roasted pepper and tomato soup, yum).

If you're going to be eating oatmeal, I highly suggest the variety of flavors that Quaker provides. I've only tried maple and brown sugar, cinnamon and spice, and apple and cinnamon, all of which are good. Combining these is also a great idea. I'm sure there are more flavors, I just happen to have only had those three. Of course, since you're eating it with brown sugar and cinnamon, maybe you don't need my suggestions...