Good nutrition when energy is very low

shak8 said:
A dark chocolate emergency bar at my bedside...hmm, in the first five minutes, I'd declare an extreme emergency.
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alex3619 said:
You can now buy lots of dark chocolate bars that are very low in sugar. Sounds like a win to me.
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I find if it's decent quality dark chocolate I am happier with a much smaller amount of it.

When I look at the portion sizes that work best it seems to work out at about 120 calories or so a portion.

Sometimes, especially if I haven't had any protein, I have been tempted to have a bit more and given in. Then I don't feel at all well. So I find it best to break off a portion and put the rest away. If I still really want some in 10 minutes I can have another bit.
 
When it comes to spices and condiments I found it interesting that some do help with digestion.

I love cheese and used to eat it a lot. Unfortunately, I seem to struggle digesting fats and, even before ME, would get tiny hard white lumps on my face when I ate too much cheese too often.

Since ME and digestion difficulties started have a little mustard or a tiny amount of pickles (that I used to loathe) along with a small amount of cheese makes all the difference. Even so it's a rare treat.
 
I find that quinoa flakes and teff flakes (both available online) are really useful for a fairly instant meal as they don't need cooking. If you have a kettle of hot water handy they can be stirred into a bowl with just hot water or a bit of cold milk added. So... like an instant porridge and both are gluten free if you are GF as I am.

To that can be added many things for improving taste...banana, chocolate (this will melt with the heat and make a nice choccy porridge), yogurt, depending on energy to sort out or not. On the few occasions I travel I have taken them with me for the times when I need some food but don't want to go out anywhere. I have lots of food intolerances but I find this quite OK for my stomach.
 
I’ve recently started being able to eat oats again (was suddenly intolerant one day, a few years ago, now I tried again and I’m suddenly not). I’m beyond happy! I adore oats. Nothing more comforting to me than a hot bowl of ready brek with maple syrup. :) :) filling, easy to eat, don’t make me feel sick and apparently easy to make - think it’s instant oats. I’ve been having it every day now for the past few days. I had it with banana and maple syrup and that was also nice. I will try caramel with it next.
 
Agapanthus said:
I find that quinoa flakes and teff flakes (both available online) are really useful for a fairly instant meal as they don't need cooking. If you have a kettle of hot water handy they can be stirred into a bowl with just hot water or a bit of cold milk added. So... like an instant porridge and both are gluten free if you are GF as I am.

To that can be added many things for improving taste...banana, chocolate (this will melt with the heat and make a nice choccy porridge), yogurt, depending on energy to sort out or not. On the few occasions I travel I have taken them with me for the times when I need some food but don't want to go out anywhere. I have lots of food intolerances but I find this quite OK for my stomach.
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You can make " overnight quinoa " using the flakes as you would oats.
Dosnt need cooking and can add whatever flavourings you like.

Simplest recipe I could find
https://thenaturalnutritionist.com.au/overnight-quinoa/

If you can tolerate chia seeds you could add them for a further nutritional punch.

Ideas in this link for quinoa flakes- some don't need cooking

https://www.simplyquinoa.com/10-amazing-ways-to-use-quinoa-flakes/
 
lunarainbows said:
I’ve recently started being able to eat oats again (was suddenly intolerant one day, a few years ago, now I tried again and I’m suddenly not). I’m beyond happy! I adore oats. Nothing more comforting to me than a hot bowl of ready brek with maple syrup. :) :) filling, easy to eat, don’t make me feel sick and apparently easy to make - think it’s instant oats. I’ve been having it every day now for the past few days. I had it with banana and maple syrup and that was also nice. I will try caramel with it next.
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YAAAAY! I am happy for you! I hope you enjoy it!

I miss oats! I'm no longer able to tolerate them. I can now sneak some occasionally but it's never a good idea!
 
lunarainbows said:
Interested in huel too - the oats based one, once I can start having more fat again - but need to check it doesn’t have flaxseed.
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lunarainbows said:
I adore oats. Nothing more comforting to me than a hot bowl of ready brek with maple syrup.
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Me too!
I started on huel, the original oaty flavoured powder one is just wonderul. i will look for flax on the ingedients, i think they do give a full ingredient list on the website though.

I only on day 5 so am exploring the flavours. 2 x huel plus 1 parsley box meal. It's so easy & lovely not to have to think about what to have or whether i getting the right nutrition etc. The only trouble is i like the ready made ones less than the powder, which does have to be shaken vigorously to mix (or put in a blender) so will be getting my carer to refill the ready-made bottles (500ml) with the powder mix so i can just get from the fridge
 
Blenders are too heavy and difficult to wash/dry/hold onto for anything other than very occasional/freak use, although I do agree they tend to mix things a lot better than a bit of metal/plastic in a shaker.

Yours is the first review of huel that I've read where someone liked the taste, at all.
 
Wonko said:
Blenders are too heavy and difficult to wash/dry/hold onto for anything other than very occasional/freak use, although I do agree they tend to mix things a lot better than a bit of metal/plastic in a shaker.

Yours is the first review of huel that I've read where someone liked the taste, at all.
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Really? I'm surprised, the oaty one ('original' flavour) tastes really nice, if you like oats :)

I also tried the banana powder, plus & vanilla/berry ready-mades.

I must confess i think the banana powder isnt very nice, but ok mixed half n half with the original, & the berry ready-made tastes a bit artificial, so wont be ordering those again, but i also got the savoury one 'thai green curry' - their version of a healthy pot noodle only with rice & quinoa & veg, which was surprisingly nice & i normally detest those pot noodle/rice type things.

But yes the oat one i've had about 6 'doses' of now & i look forward to having some later.

I imagine most people go for the choc & fruit flavours, which i not really into unless it actually IS chocolate or fruit, eg i would always choose vanilla milkshake/ice cream, so i cant vouch for the other 'sweet' flavours. I got 2 other savoury flavours to try too so i will report back on those.
 
Just to feed back @lunarainbows yes all the huel stuff has flaxseed in it i'm afraid.

And the tomato & herb hot & savoury flavour is not nice - to my palette anyway.

still got the korma one to try, but the thai one was good so i'm hopeful :)

It's marvellous not having to think about what to eat and be able to monitor calorie intake easily too i put on a stone in the last yr so this is helping me lose a bit. 2 x huel is 800 plus a parsely box meal 230... muuch easier than counting everything you eat when you're cognitively bad it's almost impossible.
 
@JemPD thanks for letting me know. I still haven’t found a ready made drink that I am able to tolerate AND not feel sick at the taste of. Some end up having a lot of nuts or seed in instead which I can’t tolerate either. I find the ensure drinks to be be good at keeping weight on but very difficult to drink consistently (and more recently, found them too rich as not able to able to digest fats).

Atm I’m drinking flavoured milk when I need something liquid. Or whey Protein + strawberry in milk.

I’m interested in https://www.nourishbyjaneclarke.com/
they are just milk, cream and fruit and vitamins. they’re also more expensive so maybe not good for more constant use! I will still buy some later and let people know how I get on.
 
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Florence said:
I'm fortunate in that I am usually well enough to cook a simple meal. But when I'm not I find the following useful (they're all things you can prepare/keep in stock for use in an emergency):

Frozen individual packs of slices of the bread I find most digestible. I take them out of the freezer the night before use.
Tinned sardines
Tinned fruit
Cheese (keeps quite a long time in fridge)
Small tins of beans that don't need cooking (there are various types you can get).
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This sort of thing is more what I do normally - so I can use my energy for living.

That, and most importantly: if I cook something I make enough to have leftovers. My fridge and freezer always have a stock of leftovers so I can heat and eat (or sometimes just eat) something I know I can tolerate. The simpler the better.
 
lunarainbows said:
I wonder if people with mild / moderate ME could also benefit from nutritional drinks like Ensure prescribed on the NHS (by a dietician?), not just those with severe or very severe ME? They have lactose free ones as well, as well as ones without as much sugar. I’ve always had to buy my own, and they can get expensive - I’ve never had them prescribed for me - but they could be helpful perhaps even for milder ME patients when in a crash.
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I've actually used these in the past - mainly before bed, or when I would need something but don't have the energy to put something small together (as mentioned during a crash period)...where I can rest in bed and drink one or two.

It is difficult when one is single, as one is preparing their own stuff...but an added problem that I had was portions. Many things are for families and so I went and switched things around. Like I get single serve of apple sauce or rice pudding. I buy family sized bags of pierogies, and that way I can portion out how many I want. Aldi's has good chicken sausages, which I can also portion out. I get 'salad bowls' that have the lettuce with a bit of dressing and the 'toppings' which are also already pre-portioned for one. I get cheese to snack on and the single serve yogurt cups. Ham steaks are excellently portioned as I generally eat a whole steak. All of this takes little to no prep and cook time which makes it super easy for me. This has been the only way I could manage to find some sort of workable 'formula' for myself.
 
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