High calorie drinks

• High calorie and protein drinks can be useful in the short term if your appetite is poor.

• You can make your own energy filled drinks, they can contain milk or be diary free.

• Ready made drinks are also available to buy or to get on prescription.

• You have these between meals and carry on with your normal diet as well.

You can boost your diet by having high calorie and protein drinks.

• High calorie and protein drinks can be useful in the short term if your appetite is poor.

• You can make your own energy filled drinks, they can contain milk or be diary free.

• Ready made drinks are also available to buy or to get on prescription.

• You have these between meals and carry on with your normal diet as well.

Making your own

You can make your own energy filled drinks. Blend milk, fresh fruit, yoghurt, honey or sugar and ice cream into a smoothie or milkshake. You can use dairy free alternatives such as silken tofu or smooth nut butters. It will improve the protein content of homemade drinks.

If you find the drinks too sweet, adding some natural yoghurt or cream cheese will help.

Smoothies

Use fresh apple, strawberries, banana or other soft fruit. Blend it with fortified milk, fruit juice or yoghurt in a liquidiser or with a blender.

Smoothies made with fruit juice will have much less protein. So they are less nutritious than those based on milk or yoghurt. Supermarkets sell mixed fruit and frozen smoothie mixes. These work well if you are making your own.

Add some oats or a handful of pumpkin or sesame seeds for a few extra calories. The best thing about making your smoothies is that they usually taste great. You can also control the flavour.

Milkshakes

Make a nutritious milkshake by mixing fortified milk with puréed fruit or fruit yoghurt. Top with a scoop of ice cream for extra energy.

To make a chocolate and banana milkshake, use chocolate flavoured milk. Then whizz in a blender with a banana. This is delicious and nutritious and easier to manage if you can't face a meal.

Hot drinks

If you prefer hot drinks, try adding a couple of spoons of skimmed milk powder to hot milk. Then mix it with coffee, hot chocolate or a malted drink.

Protein and energy supplements

These products are powders or liquids. They contain either energy, or protein with a small amount of energy. You can add them to many different foods and drinks. 

These supplements are not nutritionally balanced. So they are not suitable as a meal replacement. But they are helpful to boost either energy or protein levels. 

When taking these products, you should still eat and drink normally if possible. These products can be expensive, so your doctor should prescribe them if you need them.

Protein supplements

You should only take these if your doctor prescribes them for you. Examples include:

• Protifar

• ProSource and Prosource plant

• ProCal shot or ProCal powder

Energy supplements

Examples of these supplements include:

• Polycal

• Maxijul

• Calogen

• Liquigen