Liquid Diet (Including High Calorie Tips)

Handout File:

Liquid Diet (Including High Calorie Tips)

 

Your doctor and/or Registered Dietitian may recommend that you follow a liquid diet if you have trouble chewing or swallowing, if your stomach does not empty normally, if you have recently had a surgery, or for some other reason. Getting the nutrition you need every day can be a challenge on a liquid diet. The purpose of this handout is to help you continue to get the calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals that you need for healing and/or overall health while you are not eating solid foods.

The good news is that any food may be eaten as long as it is liquefied, thinned, or blended with a blender (“blenderized”) and strained. The consistency should be thin enough to be sucked through a straw (even if you don’t use a straw). 

 

Blenderized Food

 

You can add enough liquid to any food to achieve a pourable consistency. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

  • Use commercial soups as a base and add canned or frozen vegetables, meats, and cooked grains such as rice; blenderize.
  • For fewer calories, use water, broth, vegetable juice, and skim milk for blending.
  • For more calories, use whole milk, cream, gravies, fruit juices, and even commercial nutritional supplements such as Ensure, Boost, or equivalent. See next section for more tips.
  • If you do not have a blender, strained baby foods will work and can be thinned down as needed with milk, soy or rice milk, water, broth, etc. 
  • Foods should be free of chunks. Use a strainer if necessary.
  • Always clean the blender well using warm water and soap, including all parts. Any food left in the blender for more than 1-2 hours could cause food-borne illness.

 

 

How to make this food…

…into a tasty liquid

Meats, fish, poultry

Blend with broths, water, milk, vegetable or V-8® juice, tomato sauce, gravies.

Vegetables

Blend with water, tomato juice, broths, cream. Try using strained baby vegetables.

Starches such as potatoes, pasta, rice

Blend with soups, broth, milk, water, gravies.

Add strained baby meats for extra protein if needed. 

Fruits

Blend with their own juices, other fruit juices, water, strained baby fruits

Cereals

Make hot cereals with extra liquid, or blend cold cereals with milk.

Instead of water, make with caloric beverages such as whole milk, kefir, soy or rice milk, juice, or liquid nutritional supplements (such as Ensure®, Boost®, or an equivalent). 

Add sugars, honey, molasses, syrups, or butter for extra calories.

Consider using hot cereals such as cream of wheat or rice, oatmeal, or grits as your starch at lunch and dinner.

Mixed dishes like casseroles, chili, lasagna, mac and cheese, spaghetti

Add adequate liquid of your choice, blend well, and strain. 

 

Getting Enough Calories and Protein

A liquid diet is tough, and sometimes it can be hard to meet your needs, especially if you have been on the diet for a while. Here are some tips to help:

  • High calorie drinks are better than water because they provide calories and fluid; use peach, pear, or papaya nectars, fruit juice, Hawaiian Punch®, Hi C®, lemonade, and/or Kool-Aid®.
  • Fortify milk with extra protein by adding dry milk powder. Add 1 cup of powder to 1 quart of milk.
  • Use whole milk, evaporated milk, or condensed milk (if tolerated) instead of skim or 2% for drinking and preparing “cream type” soups, custards, puddings, and milkshakes.
  • Add instant breakfast, protein powder, nut butter, dry milk powder, other flavored powders, or syrups like chocolate or caramel to whole milk, juices, smoothies, or shakes.
  • Try adding nut butter, ice cream, sherbet, or sorbet to ready-made supplements such as Nutra-shakes®, Ensure®, or Boost®. Add oils, melted butter, or mayonnaise to savory liquids.
  • Eggnog, available around the holidays, is a great source of calories!

 

 

Examples of Ready-Made Supplements

 

Milk-Based Products

Lactose-Free Products

Instant Breakfast®

www.carnationbreakfastessentials.com

Ensure®/Ensure® Plus         

www.ensure.com

Nutra-Shake®

www.nutra-balance-products.com

Boost®/Boost® Plus

www.boost.com         

Scandishake/ScandiCal®

Boost® or Ensure® Puddings

Egg Nog

Generic brand supplements

(Equate, CVS, Kroger, etc)

Kefir (fermented milk drink, very low in lactose)

Ensure® Clear (juice-like)

abbottnutrition.com/ensure-clear-therapeutic-nutrition

Boost® Breeze (juice-like)

www.nestlehealthscience.us/brands/boost/boost-breeze

 

 

High Protein and Calorie Shakes

 

The blender is your friend! Get creative with high calorie shakes and smoothies. Here

are a few recipes to get your started. Calorie and protein amounts are listed per

serving.

 

 

Milk-Based Shakes

You can substitute any of the following in place of milk: liquid nutritional supplements, soy milk, silken tofu, Lactaid® milk, or non-dairy creamers.

 

HIGH PROTEIN MILK

1 quart low fat milk

1 cup nonfat dried milk powder

 

Blenderize ingredients until powdered milk dissolves. Refrigerate.

 

KEY LIME DELIGHT SHAKE

2 cups vanilla yogurt

6 oz key lime yogurt

2 ripe bananas

1/3 cup milk (or substitute)   

    

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  Makes 2 servings.

360 calories, 12 gm protein

 

 

 

BASIC MILKSHAKE

¾ cup milk (or substitute)

1 cup ice cream

 

Put all ingredients into a blender, cover, 

and blend until smooth. 

360 calories, 10 gm protein.

 

Flavoring ideas:

  • 1 to 2 Tbsp chocolate, strawberry, or caramel syrup
  • ½ mashed banana  
  • ¼ to ½ cup fresh or frozen strawberries
  • 1 to 2 Tbsp peanut butter
  • 2-4 crumbled chocolate sandwich cookies

 

THE SUPER SHAKE

1, 8 oz can Ensure® Plus/Boost® Plus or equivalent

1 cup whole milk

½ cup ice cream

 

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  Makes 2 servings.

370 calories, 14g protein

 

COCOA SUPREME

1 envelope chocolate Instant Breakfast®

8 oz milk

1 tsp chocolate syrup

 

Heat milk and add Instant Breakfast and syrup. Stir well to blend. Top with marshmallows.

 

STRAWBERRY-BANANA FRAPPE

(not sweet)

 

1 cup milk (or substitute)        

2 bananas                   

1 carton (8 oz.) strawberry yogurt 

1 Tbsp lemon juice

 

Combine all ingredients in blender.  Makes 2 servings. 275 calories, 9 gm protein

SHERBET SHAKE

¾ cup milk (or substitute)        

1 cup sherbet, any flavor

 

Put ingredients into blender, cover, and blend until smooth.

360 calories, 8 gm protein

 

COFFEE BUZZ

2 tsp of instant coffee, mixed in 1 TBSP water

1 cup milk (or substitute)

1 pack of chocolate or vanilla Instant Breakfast

 

Blend all ingredients together

 

 

 

 

 

 

HIGH PROTEIN/HIGH ENERGY SHAKE

½ cup milk (or substitute)        

1 package Instant Breakfast®

¼ cup egg substitute       

½ cup ice cream

 

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

470 calories, 22 gm protein 

 

 

NANA-PEANUT SHAKE

½ cup milk (or substitute)        

1 banana

2½ Tbsp peanut butter

1 cup vanilla ice cream

 

Place milk in blender container.  Add banana, peanut butter, and ice cream.  Cover; blend on high for one minute or until thick and smooth.  Makes 2 servings. 330 calories, 10 gm protein

 

 

MALTED MILKSHAKE

½ cup milk (or substitute)                    

1 Tbsp malted milk powder

½ cup half and half                 

1 package instant breakfast

2 cups ice cream                    

2 Tbsp Ovaltine®

 

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  Makes 2 servings.

 

 

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE SHAKE

(not sweet)

6 to 7 strawberries           ½ cup cold milk

½ cup cottage cheese      Honey to taste

 

Combine all ingredients in blender until smooth.  270 calories, 18 gm protein

 

Hint: Use frozen strawberries for a thicker shake.

 

Yogurt and Nondairy Shakes

Try using Greek yogurt for extra protein, or full-fat yogurt for extra calories.

 

CREAMSICLE BREAKFAST SHAKE

¾ cup vanilla or plain yogurt

¾ cup orange juice

1 pack vanilla Instant Breakfast®

 

Add all ingredients to the blender, cover, and blend until smooth.

 

 

FROZEN FRUIT SLUSH

6 oz can frozen fruit juice

4 Tbsp sugar

3 cups crushed ice

 

Combine all ingredients in blender and mix until slushy.

 

BREAKFAST SHAKE

6 oz. can frozen concentrated orange juice                    

¼ cup cold water

1 cup ice cubes

1 carton (8 oz.) plain yogurt

 

Combine all ingredients except ice cubes in blender and blend until frothy.  With mixture still running, drop in ice cubes one at a time. 

Makes 2 servings.

240 calories, 8 gm protein

 

HIGH PROTEIN FRUIT DRINK

8 oz Boost® Breeze/Ensure® Clear or equivalent

½ cup sherbet

6 oz ginger-ale

 

Add  Boost® Breeze/Ensure® Clear and sherbet to the blender, cover, and blend until smooth. Gently stir in ginger-ale.

 

JUICE SHAKE

¾ cup pineapple juice (or other juices)

¼ cup egg substitute (optional)

1-½ cups vanilla ice cream

 

Add all ingredients to the blender, cover, and blend until smooth.

630 calories, 13 gm protein

 

GREEN SMOOTHIE

1 banana

½ cup frozen mango chunks

½ ripe avocado

1 cup baby spinach

1¼ soy or almond milk

½ tsp vanilla

 

Add all ingredients to the blender, cover, and blend until smooth.

Makes 1 serving.

485 calories, 11 g protein

 

 

 

 

Soups

Add whole milk, evaporated milk, or heavy cream for extra calories

 

SUPER SOUP

 

10oz can of any cream soup    4 oz heavy cream

6 oz whole milk                        4 Tbsp non-fat dry milk powder

 

Strain soup before serving.

Makes 2 servings.  Provides 280 calories and 9 gm protein per serving.

version information:

last update:  
October 2023