Nourishing foods to build strength after illness

[MaryPlain59]

Can anyone suggest the best food and snacks to build someone up after a long illness please?

It depends what they like to eat!
If they've lost a lot of weight, then they need calorie dense foods. That is foods with a high fat and protein content. Plus veg for minerals and fibre.
Small portions and snacks are better for small appetites.
Full fat milk, Greek yogurt, eggs, cream, cheese.
Nut butters, avocado.
Tasty things if they need tempting. Sausages, ham, pies, baked beans, curries, stir fry chicken and seafood.
Thick soups and milkshakes if they are struggling.

Thank you for replying and the ideas. I am the mother of a teen who has been ill for several months but is now recovering, he is eating his normal dinners of chicken and rice/pasta etc but is still weak and will need to build his stamina up again so I had just wondered what other food items I could add to my shopping list to help build him up in conjunction with him slowly starting to exercise again to hopefully get back to his normal life again quite soon.

Protein helps with healing so I'd go for eggs for breakfast, nuts for snacks and some protein with every meal.

Nutritious smoothies, soups are good.

Lots of favourite foods to tempt and nice presentation might help.

Oily fish like salmon and mackerel, spinach (rich in iron) to help his blood, liver if he will eat it. Good quality meat such as fillet steak, beef top side.
But most of all, what his favourite things are, to encourage him to get back to normal.

Thank you both so much for the advice, I really appreciate it.

Chunky veg soups, get as many nutrients in as possible. Add things like barley and lentils for extra nutrients and fibre. So much of our health rests on the diversity of our gut microbes, so anything to feed them is great - onions, garlic, leek, live yogurt and unpasteurised cheese, whole grains, fruit and veg, beans and lentils.

Slippery elm bark powder is good (if you’re into traditional remedies) can be made into porridge or a milk drink or added to smoothies

I’d add probiotics into that too for good gut bacteria.

As well as nutritious food I think a bit of junk has its place, something tempting that gets the appetite going can work wonders.

If he likes fruit then red/blue fruits are especially beneficial, so raspberries, blueberries etc, oranges for vitamin C.
(Chips are rich in vitamin C too!)

Catspyjamazzzz I’m not convinced by tablet probiotics, better to eat foods that naturally have high microbe levels or are are prebiotic, like those I mentioned above. Same goes for yogurts with added live cultures, there’s little evidence those culture reach the gut or are able to populate, they’re mostly marketing fads. Better to eat natural live yogurt etc.