Soft foods for post oral-surgery?

[flourless]

I have a wisdom tooth making trouble right now. It's thrown off my bite and made the teeth along one side excruciating to bite on. I've been subsisting on protein shakes and processed meats but my calories are really low because even with the drugs it just hurts to eat, the narcotics and antibiotics make me nauseated and not hungry plus all I was managing to eat was protein, which suppressed my appetite further. When I realized I was hanging out around 600 calories per day, I tried adding soft noodles/pudding/etc to my diet to increase my calories. They don't aggravate the pain - but they make me feel terrible.

As of this morning, I'm back to protein shakes and processed meats, adding more heavy cream to the shakes to boost calories instead of starch. I have an aversion to sweet foods right now though, so I'm not managing to finish my shakes.

On Tuesday I'll have oral surgery to remove the rest of my wisdom teeth. It's considered a complicated extraction, and the oral surgeon recommends pudding and ice cream for the first 3 days, then a slow move up to applesauce and soft noodles. What the heck am I going to eat? Pudding and ice cream are going to make me feel even worse than I do now, and I can't stand the thought of that much sweet stuff.

I know I can make "cheesecake" out of whipped cream, cream cheese and splenda with some flavoring. That will do fine for the sweet no-chew food. I'm really looking for some ideas for high protein, fairly low carb, non-sweet no-chew, very smooth foods. Even moderate-chew foods would be appreciated. I can eat them over the next few days and as step-up foods.

I'm perfectly happy to go hedonist and I'm not going to count the carbs during recovery, but I need to get some protein in and avoid excess sugar and starch. Man, I can't wait until I can eat a pork chop and some braised cabbage. Or hot wings and celery. Or... argh!

[Ammy]

My first thought was the Thin So Fast shakes (see Thin So Fast thread or the book by the Drs Eades)...

but what if you use Dreamfields pasta and something "no-need-to-chew" like tuna?? The dreamfields has carbs, but not many digestable, and you could mash it all up and take small bites??
Also, there are LC potatoes for sale at www.netrition.com (http://www.netrition.com). They're pretty good, but don't overdo them...they can send you to the bathroom pretty quickly :eek:!! I was thinking you could mix them with shredded chicken (like canned tuna) then just take VERY small bites so there isn't anything to chew..???

Good luck!!

OH, have you tried the Isotone puddings? VERY high protein, VERY lc...also sold at netrition.

[Mitra]

Scrambled eggs? You can make meat paste by putting meat (or fish: tuna, smoked mackerel...), spices, butter in the blender together. Soup. I'm trying to remember what I came up with when I had my root canal re-done last year - but actually it wasn't too bad, so I ended up not needing all the stuff I'd thought up :). I think I had baccala (mashed salt cod).

[flourless]

I've requested DH make quiche (no veggies, just egg, cheese, cream) since that should be fairly soft - butI think it will be too hard, since at the moment I can't eat cream cheese without pain.

Maybe some very finely chopped egg salad or similar that can just be swallowed directly. Mmm, and DH has offered to make broccoli cheese soup for lunch. I'm dying for veggies, and I should be able to slurp it from a mug. I'm seeing lots of pureed soup in my future.

I'm looking at about another week of not chewing at all, then they tell me I can try some very soft foods that require chewing. There's a moderate risk that I'll need a root canal for the two rear molars near the problematic wisdom tooth. The gum is open all the way down to the root and the nerves from both molars are inflamed from the wisdom tooth putting pressure on them. We're hoping that if I keep chewing to a minimum (to keep the inflammation down) and stay on the antibiotics the nerves will survive without abscessing.

[Gaelen]

Pureed soup is a definite good way to go. Puree in some extra firm tofu to add body, calories and protein without having to chew it.

Make a 'pudding' from kefir or plain/greek style yogurt and protein powder. If sweet things are turning you off, don't sweeten it. ;)

Scrambled eggs and POACHED eggs go down real easy and require no chewing (I had two root canals within months of starting on plan in 2003, so I speak from experience...)

There's an Italian sauce that mashes canned tuna into pureed tomatoes...that can give a little flavor boost to plain eggs as well as bumping up the protein, and no chewing required.

Oh...and SALMON LOAF. Made from eggs and canned salmon, trust me no 'chewing' required.

Hope this helps.

[flourless]

Oh, poached eggs are a good idea. I haven't had them since I was pregnant, and I'm not quite sure why. The cream of broccoli soup went down really well - and I'm feeling much more optimistic about the whole thing after 3 bowls of savory soup.

DH and I are planning to lay in some supplies this weekend, and I think that some soup and more savory custards will be the way to go. Then I can just heat (if needed) and eat during those first few post-surgical days.

Thanks!