What to eat after illness?

Tinsel81

Full Member
Hi everyone. I was ill last week with a stomach bug and barely ate from Wednesday until Saturday. I'm now having the opposite problem to the one I usually have: I just can't get my appetite back! Although my stomach is much better, I'm completely turned off by food and when I think about eating any of my usual meals - pasta, potatoes etc - I feel a bit queasy. All I've been able to manage for the past couple of days are bananas and a small plate of beans on toast in the evening (with white bread: thought it was best to avoid a lot of fibre). Does anyone know what foods are good when you're recovering from a gastric illness?
 
I imagine fairly plain pasta and rice would be good, are you worried about sticking to plan or are you just trying to get yourself better?
 
My experience would be bland food, little and often. I've lived in Africa for the past few years, and sadly have had too much gastric upset experience

if you can stomach an omelette, or rice and vegetables (plain) that would help, maybe also some light soup

you need to make sure that you are not getting dehydrated, so plenty of fluids, like tea and squash too - or if you can face it an Oral Rehydration Sachet to get your electrolights balanced again (they are vile though and make me hurl :sick:)

hope you feel better soon
 
Well, a bit of both really. At the moment I just want to find something that doesn't look totally unappetising to me and I can actually manage to eat, but I also don't want to get into the habit of eating foods I can't have long-term or undo all my good work losing weight over the past month. For some reason, pasta really turns me off at the moment, though usually I love it. The idea of eating anything too stodgy makes me feel a bit icky. Rice could be ok though, thanks. I might do a simple savoury rice later and see if I can stomach it.

Partner was going to cook me a romantic Valentine's meal tonight, I guess that's off!
 
Thanks hazysummer. One thing I'll be staying well away from is eggs - the last thing I ate before I got ill was quiche and now the idea of them makes me retch! But some soup doesn't sound too bad, perhaps carrot and coriander.

The other problem I have is not having had my usual calcium intake for days plus drinking sugary Lucozade has given me toothache as well! I am in the wars. So I'm really trying to get some milk down me today to see if that helps (plus book a dentist's appointment, which I should have done yonks ago).
 
I always find soup good after being ill, I think the 'comfort factor' of it helps too!
 
I had the same problem just before xmas and the last thing i ate was slimming world quiche i still retch thinking about it. I also felt the same about bland food it really wasnt apertising i let myself have a few days of plan i found sucking on hard sweets helped. Give yourself a few days off and have a bit of what you fancy (try not to binge though as it will be harder to get back on plan) you will soon feel better and beable to get back on plan i did and i lost 4 lbs that week :D
 
Plain boiled rice,cracker bread, dry toast- always works for me.

I had this problem a few months ago didnt eat properly for nearly 3 weeks - it will come back eventually.

Hopefully not like me who couldnt stop eating then and piled on a stone!
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I tried some pasta for lunch yesterday but couldn't finish it. I did manage to eat some rice for tea though. And I'd lost 4.5lbs at WI so not all bad!

natasha: it was the SW quiche that did it for me too! I can't even think about it now. Eggs don't agree with me at the best of times, I think I'm just going to have to cut them out of my diet completely (which is a shame because I do like them).
 
Thanks for the suggestion kirstabubble, but I don't eat meat I'm afraid (except fish). Mash potatoes don't sound too bad though. I might make some for tea with some Quorn sausages or something.
 
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