Poor Appetite and Early Fullness

Poor appetite and feeling full after just a couple of bites of food (early fullness) can be a problem for some people in cancer treatment. Talk to your doctor or nurse about ways to better manage a poor appetite. Also focus on eating enough to keep your weight up during treatment. This will help you feel better and heal faster.

Nutrition Tips To Manage Poor Appetite and Early Fullness

• Eat five or six small meals and snacks each day instead of three large meals. This will take some work if you are used to eating just a couple of times each day. ANY food can be a snack. Don't worry about how much you eat, just focus on eating often.
• Keep snacks handy. Hunger only may last a few minutes. Try easy foods such as granola bars; fruit; nuts; yogurt; pudding; pretzels or crackers; single serving sizes of canned fruit, tuna, or chicken; trail mix; power bars; oatmeal; hard boiled eggs; and Popsicles.
• Try High Calorie, High Protein Recipes to boost the nutrition you are getting every time you eat.
• Focus on high calorie foods such as nuts and peanut butter. A small handful of nuts contains about 200 calories! This is a lot of nutrition for a small amount of food. Plus, the fat in nuts is healthy fat.
• Eat your favorite foods any time of day. For example, if you like breakfast foods, eat them for dinner or for a snack. Pancakes at three o’clock in the afternoon are fine if that’s what you want!
• Treat food like medication. Set some times to eat, such as every one-half to one hour. Then be sure to have at least 1 or 2 bites of food at each “medication” time. Quantity and type of food are less important. Eating often is more important.
• Eat every one-half to one hour. Do not wait until you are hungry. Even a couple of bites of food at a time can be helpful.
• Drink liquids between meals, rather than with meals. For example, separate liquids from solids by at least a few minutes. Drink just enough of a beverage to swallow your food comfortably, but avoid “loading” up on fluids like water and coffee with your meals, which can make you feel fuller.

Do Not...

• Force yourself to eat if you feel nauseous.
• Allow issues about food and eating to become the only focus of your interactions with family and friends.
• Put off eating. Have small amounts of foods OFTEN!

Call Your Medical Care Team If...

• You have a lot of nausea.
• You can't eat for a day or more.
• You lose 5 pounds or more of weight since losing your appetite.
• You have pain while eating.
• You can't urinate for an entire day.
• You don't have a bowel movement for 2 days or more.
• You urinate infrequently and when you do urinate, it is a small amount of dark yellow urine.
• You have vomiting for more than 24 hours.
• You have a fever.