I have a lot of trouble eating when I'm either anxious or in a lot of pain, so I tend to skip meals when I'm unmedicated. These days, the only solid meal I have is just before bed since I can't sleep without ambien and the meds don't work unless I have an empty stomach.

The ideal thing would be to keep a slimfast type meal replacement shake or bar around for swapping in place of meals when I can't stomach the thought of food.... but I can't choke those nasty things down, either.

I'm looking for some sort of capsule or pill type meal replacement supplement. IS there such a thing? I don't feel good when I'm not eating enough protein -- my mood, attention and pain all reflect it.

Thanks for any ideas,
Sandra

Pills won't work well...they also have ingredients that you may not tolerate--inactive fillers.

You could make your own smoothies. Use a quality whey protein, some Kefir or yogurt--I'd do the Kefir as it has more beneficial strains of probiotics in it--- whatever fruit you like, or lactose free milk, add a couple of tablespoons of Flax oil (you won't taste it)... and what ever else you want. You can experiment with many things and find a texture and taste you like. Whey protein is predigested and more available to the body, when malabsorption issues are present.

Sometimes if I skip a meal I just have 8 ounces of Kefir:
http://www.lifeway.net/
Costco sells these now, in 12 pk with a long expiration date.

I use Zone Perfect bars sometimes too. They have a fruit one Blueberry Pomegranate that is quite good. I agree that many protein bars are icky. The Zone chocolate mint one is also passable--my husband likes this flavor.

I don't think there is a "pill" form that is useful...and the ones that advertise are very very pricey.

Making a smoothie isn't the problem, it's putting something I can taste into my mouth. I just don't want to taste anything, especially nothing sweet. When I'm not averse to eating, I don't mind smoothies or luna bars, but that's also not a point where I need to be eating one.

Why can't they just make it taste like water?

Try the drink Ensure you get all your vitamins oyu need

There are some good meal replacements out there, I use one which works well for me, but as mentioned you need to look at the ingredients. In my opinion Whey Protein is superior to other forms of proteins but it needs to be in its pure, undenatured form - if its been heat or acid treated it will be dead and the amino acid profile will not be as strong.

Look for a product which contains a balance of protein, carbs and other essential minerals (often lacking in our diets)

Hi Sandra, I can relate to your eating problem as I'm often much the same. Pain and meds plus lack of sleep all add up and food has no real interest usually.
I'll have a bit of fruit for lunch and a few nuts.

We dream of a food pill-how much easier would that make life?

All the hassle and bother of preparing and eating food.

Glad to see you single out protein, as it's so easy with manufactured 'foods' to be way to high on carbs and too low on protein. There is a balance that should be achieved.

Smoothies are a definite option-you may have to experiment with taste and texture.
One thing that we have regularly is a smoothie made with coconut cream, fresh fruit (berries are the best), water and ice cubes.

You could add protein powder or eggs.

Are you able to eat nuts? A bowl of mixed nuts. preferably raw, is a handy snack. We do almonds, hazels, cashews and brazils.

What about juiced vegetables and fruit? Good for nutritional balance, and you can add things to take away sweetness.

It's probably a good thing that sweetness is not wanted, as it's so easy otherwise to fall into the cake and biscuits trap.

Sorry that I can't offer anything more than this. I can certainly understand where you are coming from though.

Things that you can eat will need to be rotated as you very soon become either bored or averse to a limited menu. So look for several options if you can.
Maintaining nutrition will be a challenge, so what about supplements as well?

you might need to see the dr and discuss this problem ....

Could a loss of taste be the problem?

Two nutrients are implicated in taste/smell loss.
Zinc and Biotin. There are studies on PubMed where high dose biotin restored a patients sense of taste. This was in the 10-20mg a day dose range.

The problem with MEAL replacement is that calories are needed.
These are not easy to get in capsules and tablets. One huge flax oil capsule for example is one gram of fat....9 calories.

Any liquid is going to have a flavor added. You can get vitamins and minerals in tablets and capsules because they only need to be supplemented in small doses daily.

But MEALS require calories which is many GRAMS of volume and this is just not possible with pills. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are consumed in gram quantities to sustain life.
fats=9 calories a gram
carbs and protein 4 calories per gram

To get just 1000 calories which is a very low daily amount as you can see, would be a dunning task with pills.

No, it's not a loss of taste or smell. It's not WANTING to taste or smell it. I could choke down something that was flavorless, like water, but I don't want to drink kefir or ensure or anything with a flavor to it. I found some meal replacement pills but I couldn't find the information about nutritional content OR ingredients, so I will probably pass on that.

If they can make it in a can, I don't see why they can't skip the sugar & water and just make a pill.

Sandra

It's not a pill or capsule, but there is a Syntrax Nectar Medical whey protein powder that is flavourless, but I would talk to my doctor before using it as a meal replacement.