Cold food, small plates, and the floor underneath

What the room has found

Cold food where hot food will not go — the smell being the trigger more often than the food. Small amounts, often, rather than a meal. Salt. Plain crackers. Fizzy water, which several people swear by and nobody can explain. Getting out of the kitchen while somebody else cooks. Plating your own portion and eating it an hour later once the smell has left the room, which sounds mad and works.

Ginger did nothing for four of the fourteen and they were mildly indignant about it. That is worth saying because the internet is confident about ginger and a lot of people conclude they have failed at it.

The part that mattered more

Two members were down to very little and had been for a fortnight or more. One had had a nurse express concern; the other had told nobody. We went slowly here. The line this circle holds is that eating enough is the goal and under-eating is a problem to solve, never an achievement, and I said it twice because in a room where appetite has gone it needs saying twice.

What helped, from Nell: an external target for protein and fluid, dull and non-negotiable, because her own signals had stopped telling her anything useful. Taking the decision out of the kitchen removed most of the standing about in front of a fridge.

Where we left it

With two members agreeing to raise intake with their own clinicians this week — one with a dietitian she already has, one with a practice nurse. And with the anti-sickness conversation flagged as a prescriber conversation rather than a room one. Several people did not know it was a conversation you were allowed to have.