Risotto is easy to eat and doesn’t require a lot of chewing. Moreover, it is quick to prepare and doesn’t take much effort.

This recipe is ideal if you suffer from loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, chewing and swallowing difficulties, fatigue and inflammation of the mucous membranes.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Servings: 2

What you need:

• 1 shallot
• 250 g of mushrooms
• 3 tbsp of butter
• 200 g of round grain rice
• Salt & pepper
• ½ tsp of thyme
• 600 ml of meat stock
• 4 tbsp of cream
• 2 tbsp of parsley (chopped)
• 2 tbsp of parmesan

This is how it works:

• Peel the shallot and cut it into fine cubes.
• Clean the mushrooms and chop them finely.
• Heat the butter in a saucepan and sauté the shallot cubes. When they are translucent, add the mushrooms.
• After 3 minutes, add the rice and thyme. Stir until the rice starts to become translucent.
• Add the stock and bring everything to a boil. Reduce the heat and let the rice expand while covered. Stir from time to time.
• When the rice is cooked, add the cream, Parmesan cheese and parsley. Taste again.
• Enjoy your meal!

Tip: For softer rice that is easy to chew, let the rice cook for longer. In this case, add a little liquid.

Author: Christiane  Hübbe| Reviewer: Dr. Christian Keinki

Just looking at it will make your mouth water! Fresh berries provide important vitamins and oat flakes add high-quality carbohydrates.

If you suffer from a lack of appetite or experience nausea and vomiting you should give this recipe a try! This is also a good meal choice after having stomach resection surgery as it is light on the stomach and is easily digestible.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fine rolled oats
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• Honey (add to taste)
• 1 handful raspberries
• 1 handful blueberries

How to make it:

• Bring the milk, oat flakes and water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir constantly. Reduce the heat and let the porridge simmer until it is creamy.
• Add honey and cinnamon to your porridge according to your taste.
• Wash the berries thoroughly.
• Add the porridge into glasses or bowls and top it off with a handful of berries.

Tip: Put a portion into your fridge. It also tastes great cold when you get hungry again!

Author: Christiane  Hübbe| Reviewer: Dr. Christian Keinki

Small bites invite you to eat them more often. These mini sandwiches contain healthy fats from avocado and protein from chicken. Tomatoes and lettuce add freshness!

This snack is a light food and is particularly easy to digest. It can help you deal with nausea and vomiting and allow you to better handle your loss of appetite.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Servings: 1

Ingredients:

• 3 slices of toast
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• ½ avocado
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 cherry tomatoes
• 4 slices of chicken breast (cold cuts)
• some iceberg lettuce
• ¼ cucumber

Instructions:

• Remove the flesh from the avocado and mash it with a fork. Mix it with the cream cheese and a little salt.
• Toast the bread. Meanwhile, wash the tomatoes and lettuce. Peel the cucumber and cut it into thin slices and do the same with the tomatoes.
• Spread the avocado dip on one slice of toast, and put some lettuce and the cucumber slices on top. Add the second slice of toast and spread the dip on it again. Place the sliced chicken breast on top.
• Spread the last slice of toast with dip and place it on the sandwich with the coated side down.
• Press your sandwich together and cut it into 4 easy to eat triangles.

Enjoy your meal!

Tip: Modify the sandwich to your own taste! Pickles, cooked ham, hummus: whatever tastes good is allowed.

Author: Christiane  Hübbe| Reviewer: Dr. Christian Keinki

This no-frills apple pie is quick and easy to whip up – and is delicious!

This recipe can help you with:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Lack of appetite
• Flatulence
• Difficulty chewing and swallowing
• Constipation
• Inflammation of the mucous membrane in the mouth
• Ascites
• Ileostoma

Preparation time: 1 hour

Serves: 4

What you’ll need

• 4 apples (preferably tart)
• 3 eggs
• 125 g of flour
• 125 g of sugar
• 125 g of margarine
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• Icing sugar
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 30 g of sultanas

This is how it works

1. Preheat the oven to 160 °C.
2. Peel and core the apples, then cut them into wedges.
3. In a bowl, beat the margarine, eggs and sugar with an electric whisk until fluffy. Then add the flour, baking powder, sultanas and cinnamon. Mix until you have a homogeneous dough.
4. Grease a springform baking tin (26 cm) with a little butter and spread the dough in it.
5. Arrange the apples on top of the dough.
6. Bake for 45 minutes, let the pie cool on a rack and sift some icing sugar over the top before serving.

Tip: this pie is ideal for home freezing – and defrosting is also a breeze if you pop it into a warm oven or in the microwave on defrost for a few minutes.

This recipe can be good for

• Nausea and vomiting: Eat whatever you can stomach! If the baking aroma is too much for you, try opening a window or asking someone to bake it for you.
• Lack of appetite: the heavenly aroma of a freshly baked pie can get your mouth watering – so why not give in to temptation and treat yourself? You can freeze whatever you can’t finish in one go and tuck in again whenever you like.
• Bloating: if bloating bothers you, simply leave out the sultanas so the pie won’t contain anything that could promote wind. Without the sultanas, this pie is the one for you.
• Difficulty chewing and swallowing: this apple pie is soft and fluffy since the apples are peeled and cooked. To make the pie easier to chew and swallow, try cutting the apples into smaller pieces before baking and adding a dollop of whipped cream to make things slip down more easily.
• Constipation: you can help to get things moving by baking the pie with wholemeal flour and unpeeled apples. Also, to further aid your digestion, you can try adding one more apple to the pie to increase the amount of dietary fibre it contains.
• Inflammation of the mucous membrane in the mouth: this pie delivers little mouthfuls of pleasure without irritating the inside of your mouth. If you are in severe discomfort, try using less acidic apples and cutting them into smaller pieces before baking.
• Ascites: even if you can only eat a small slice of this delicious pie, it will still deliver lots of energy. It’s also ideal for home freezing – perfect if you’d like to save some for a later date. If bloating is bothering you, try reducing the amount of margarine and sugar.
• Ileostoma: you can indulge in this pie without regret – and freeze some to enjoy at a later date.

Caution with:

• Stomach resection: simple carbohydrates can promote dumping syndrome. For this reason, you might want to make the pie with less sugar.
• Bloating and heartburn: if you are in severe discomfort, try adding less fat and sugar. And it’s a good idea to eat a little and often rather than a lot in one go.
• Taste disorders: if you find that very sweet foods taste unpleasant to you, try adjusting the amount of sugar to suit your palate.

Author: Christiane  Hübbe| Reviewer: Dipl. oec. troph. Karin Kastrati

Sources:

• Specialist Society for Nutritional Therapy and Prevention (FETeV), cancer diseases – nutritional therapy, specialist article, July 3rd, 2022, retrieved on September 6th, 2022 from
• https://fet-ev.eu/cancer-diseases-nutrition-therapy/#taste-changes
• Cancer Association Baden-Württemberg e.V.; NUTRITION IN CANCER Brochure 01/2021 accessed 06/09/2022 from
• https://www.krebsverband-bw.de/mehr-wissen-besser-leben/broschueren
• German Cancer Aid and German Cancer Society: Blue guide on nutrition for cancer, information brochure, 01.2021, retrieved on 06.09.2022 from https://www.krebshilfe.de/infomaterial/Blaue_Ratgeber/Ernaehrung-bei-Krebs_BlaueRatgeber_DeutscheKrebshilfe.pdf
• German Cancer Society e. V., taste disturbance as a side effect of cancer therapy, information article, 04/18/2017, retrieved on 09/06/2022 from
• https://www.krebsgesellschaft.de/onko-internetportal/basis-information-krebs/nebeneffekten-der-therapie/beschwerden-bei-krebstherapien-und-gegenmassnahmen/ges.html
• Specialist society for nutritional therapy and prevention, nutrition in constipation (constipation), 07.06.2022, retrieved on 06.09.2022 from
• https://fet-ev.eu/obstipation-nutritional therapy/
• Nutritional practice oncology, treatment algorithms, intervention checklists, advice recommendations, Schattauer Verlag, 2016
• Breast cancer center, swallowing difficulties after chemotherapy, information article 2021, retrieved on 06.09.2022 from https://www.brustkrebszentrale.de/leben/ernaehrung/schluckbeschwerden-nach-einer-chemotherapie/#:~:text=Schluckbeschwerden%20und%20andere% 20problems%20of%20the%20processing%20of%20the%20cancer%20therapy.
• Institute for Nutritional Medicine, nutritional recommendations for stoma systems, specialist article, April 2016 retrieved on 09/06/2022 from https://www.mri.tum.de/sites/default/files/seiten/stoma-anlage_april-2016.pdf
• German Cancer Society e. V., taste disturbance as a side effect of cancer therapy, information article, 04/18/2017, retrieved on 09/06/2022 from
• https://www.krebsgesellschaft.de/onko-internetportal/basis-information-krebs/nebeneffekten-der-therapie/beschwerden-bei-krebstherapien-und-gegenmassnahmen/ges.html
• Specialist society for nutritional therapy and prevention, nutrition in constipation (constipation), 07.06.2022, retrieved on 06.09.2022 from
• https://fet-ev.eu/obstipation-nutritional therapy/

This salad is easy to digest and can even be modified to your liking. You can replace the feta cheese with chicken, egg or tuna, for example.

This recipe can help if you suffer from a loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and also heartburn.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Servings: 2

What you will need:

• 150 g of couscous
• 1 tsp of tomato paste
• 150 ml of vegetable stock
• ¼ cucumber
• ½ red onion
• ½ red pepper
• ½ yellow pepper
• ¼ iceberg lettuce
• 2 tbsp of Italian herbs (frozen or dried)
• Salt & pepper
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 125 g of feta cheese

Instructions:

• Put the couscous in a bowl and pour the hot vegetable broth over it. Let the couscous sit for 10 minutes.
• Wash and remove the seeds from the peppers and the cucumber. Peel the onion and chop everything finely.
• Crumble the feta cheese and add it to the vegetables.
• Wash the lettuce and chop it. Add it to the vegetable mix.
• Mix the olive oil with the Italian herbs and tomato paste. Season with salt and a pinch of pepper.
• Loosen the couscous with a fork and mix all the ingredients together. Give it a taste and add more seasoning if needed.

Tip: Pomegranate seeds or coriander are a great addition!

Author: Christiane  Hübbe| Reviewer: Dr. Christian Keinki