Foods For My Friend To Eat To Gain Weight

[Mattjw]

Hello. I have a friend, who recently was diagnosed with celiac disease, who is in need of gaining weight. She weighs about 98 lbs, 5 foot 2 inches, and is unable to currently gain weight. What foods can she add to her diet, which would be inexpesnsive, to help her gain more weight? These foods also need to be nut free, as she is allergic to nuts. Please give me some advice for some food choices I can give to her to help her gain weight.

[kareng]

Can she eat dairy?  That can be a great way to add calories - add butter to veggies.  Use cream in things like twice baked potatoes or oatmeal.

 

Other wise, add oils to foods - olive oil to veggies or even meat or pasta dishes.  Coconut oil to smoothies or other foods.

 

Of course there are junk foods like Fritos, potato chips, cookies, etc

[squirmingitch]

How sweet you are to try to help your friend. You say she was recently diagnosed. It can take time before one begins to gain weight back. The gut has to begin healing. I am the same height as your friend and I was down to 91 lbs. then I went up to 93 & then just seemed to level off there for about 2 years. I ate all the items mentioned above & more as I can eat nuts but still it took me until I was around 3 years gluten free until I saw real weight gain. I am 3.5 years gluten free now & close to 110 lbs. Depending on how much damage her gut had and considering we are all individuals then she may or may not heal/gain faster. Regardless, encourage her to eat & eat the aforementioned foods as much as she can tolerate. 

[GFinDC]

Hi Matt,

 

She should read the newbie 101 thread at the top of the forums.  It has some advice that can help beginners.  The biggest thing is to avoid eating even tiny amounts of gluten.  The celiac reaction is auto-immune and it only takes a very small amount of gluten to kick off the reaction.  The gut can't heal while the immune reaction is ongoing.  So she can't fully absorb nutrients until the reaction stops and she has some time to heal.  The immune reaction may take months to stop completely.

 

A good diet to follow is whole foods cooked at home, and avoiding most processed foods.  Some people can't eat dairy without issues for about 6 months or so.

[gilligan]

I've been trying to gain weight for two years.  Lately, I've been drinking chocolate milk (almond) a couple times per day.  Gaining weight is just as hard as losing in my opinion.  I'm so sick of eating, especially calorie laden foods.  The chocolate milk is quite a few calories, and it's refreshing addition to my diet.