Small Meals and Snacks

If you are being treated for cancer, it can be hard to meet your nutritional  needs. Smaller meals and snacks throughout the day are often easier to get in. Try to eat foods that don’t make your side effects from treatment worse. For example, choose soft, bland foods like scrambled eggs and yogurt if you have mouth sores.

Tips for Eating Small Meals and Snacks

• Eat what you like.
  • Breakfast for dinner is a great small meal.
  • Eat when you feel most hungry even if it does not line up with normal meal times.
    • If you are most hungry in the morning, make that your biggest meal and have smaller meals/snacks for the rest of the day.
    • If you are most hungry in the evening or at night, start the day with smaller meals and eat bigger meals later.
    • Keep snacks with you when you travel, in your car or bag.
    • Practice food safety– don’t eat undercooked meats.
    • Ask a registered dietitian for meal and snack ideas, including smoothie and shake recipes.

How many calories do I need?

Each person needs a different amount of calories each day. Use this formula to figure out how many calories you need each day:

• Divide your weight in pounds (lbs.) by 2.2.
• Multiply (times) this number by 30.
  • Example: 150lbs divided by 2.2 = 68.18
  • 68.18 x 30 = 2,054 daily calories needed.

Take this total calorie number and divide it by the number of meals/snacks you want to eat. Use this as a guide for the number of calories to have at each meal/snack.

For example, 2,054 calories divided by 6 meals/snacks = 340 calories per meal/snack.

What should I eat?

Calories

• Choose calorie-dense foods. These are foods that give you the most calories per serving. Some examples of calorie-dense foods are red meats, pork, chicken, potatoes, brown rice, whole grain foods, nuts, nut butters, and avocadoes.
• Increase your calories by adding gravy and sauces to meals. Add cheese to mashed veggies and tofu. Cream-based foods are often higher in calories.

Fluids

• You can also use high-calorie fluids as smaller meals/snacks, like full-fat chocolate milk, Carnation Essentials® (formerly Carnation instant breakfast), Boost Plus®, Ensure Plus®, milkshakes, smoothies, fruit nectar, juice, commercial eggnog, hot cocoa with cream, and whole/fortified milk.

Protein

• You should have protein as part of every meal and snack.
• Get more protein by adding smooth nut butters to smoothies, hot cereal with fruit, and on bread.
• Try vanilla protein drinks instead of milk in your cereal, pudding, coffee, milkshakes, and smoothies.

Other Small Meal and Snack Ideas

• Tuna, egg, chicken, tofu salad or hummus.
• Have a cup of cream-based soup.
• Eggs (scrambled, hard-boiled) or an omelet with vegetables and cheese.
• Make a mashed potato bowl topped with soft vegetables and ground meats or beans with gravy and cheese.
• Refried beans and black beans (mashed).
• Mix ground chicken or turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes or noodles.
• Baby food (in jars) is a low cost, ready to eat, portable snack.
• Mix mashed bananas and smooth nut butters.
• Avocado sliced with hummus or make guacamole.
• Eat whole milk pudding, yogurt, ice cream, and sherbet.
• Add fruit to hot or cold cereal.
• Soft cheese, like ricotta or cottage cheese, with pureed fruit or honey.
• Creamed, soft vegetables are great on top of mashed potatoes or with eggs.
• If you are eating oatmeal, cream of wheat, porridge or grits:
  • Add in smooth nut butter, whey, or pea protein.
  • Soak overnight in milk.
  • Top with soft fruits or roasted veggies to add more flavor.

If you are getting treatment for cancer and losing weight without trying, there are many ways to add calories to your diet. Tell your provider right away if you are losing weight. They will talk with you about how to add calories and can have you talk with a registered dietician (RD).