Is what my Mom says about Ensure true?

Oh my goodness, I'm brand new at recovery, and my Mom doesn't want me drinking Ensure because she says it's nothing but fast sugars and that any weight I gain from it will probably be purely fat. Now I'm so scared!

I thought Ensure was a good way to add calories to help me gain weight, but my Mom is freaking me out.

I know lots of you are drinking Ensure and it's not wrecking your health or turning you into blubber balls or anything, so please give me some facts because I need an argument for my Mom.

No, that is not correct.  Its concerning that your mom would say such a thing to someone recovering.

No specific food will make you gain more fat vs anything else.

Sugar does not morph into fat when you eat it, so your mom has her science lesson a bit off.  You may find if ensure has lots of sugar you get a sugar rush and crash, but as someone who is recovering, that is the only bad thing that will happen to you when you consume it.  There are lots of calories which will help you gain weight.  Period.

You're only argument should be that you are recovering and that your mother should be more concerned that you are trying to be healthy than whether or not you are gaining 'pure fat'.  What a terrible thing to tell you.

It is not true that you will only gain fat from drinking Ensure, however there are a lot of sugars in it which is not the best thing for you. A little sugar is not bad after you work out, and may actually help you properly build muscle, but too much sugar is never a good thing... the protein shakes I take don't have any sugar, but they have lots of enzymes in them so that I actually can digest and make use of everything in them. Hopefully that helps!

You need to sit down with your mum and your medical team to work out a recovery plan.  Because it sounds like mum needs support and much better information if she's going to be working with you rather than making you nervous!   All foods are good when you're trying to rapidly increase your calories and you should be less concerned with the balance of your diet than you are with the total energy content.  Fats/oils, sugars, starches, protein...  it's all good for you.   Obviously, if you can get plenty of 'real food' alongside supplement drinks like Ensure that's going to really up your nourishment levels.

grrrrrrr...I am a mother, and the **** your hearing from your mom has made me awfully mad.  I'm sorry doll-just drink the Ensure, eat, and get stronger so you will be happier and live a full and awesome life.  I don't mean to be disrespectful, please know that.

Kristy

Your mother is wrong. Ensure is mainly proteins and vitamins.  When I was in IP, the first four weeks all I was given was Ensure Plus and juice, six times a day. Why? Because its an easily digestable way to get in all the nutrients and vitamins needed for the inital stages of recovery when a person is at a low weight and their body isn't used to food. 

Supplements like Ensure or Boost are perfectly fine for you to drink on a daily basis to add calories. Have your mom read the back of the bottle - see how many vitamins and minerals it provides, how much protein and whatnot. Yes, there is sugar in it but certainly no more than a glass of juice. Perhaps your mother is just confused and thought Ensure was like Slim-fast or a milkshake. It may look like one, but it is in fact a healthy way to get in the calories you need.

There are some Ensures that are high in sugar, and high in fiber. My uncle has to drink it.. He's lost tons of weight. And he has diabetes, so they order him a special kind, that is low in sugar. If you want to start your recovery. You can get you some of those high calories YOGURTS or YOGURT shakes, you can do that. But it's okay for you to drink Ensure or Boost. I don't think the Doctors would recommend it for most of the people I see, if it was bad for you. So you need to talk to your mother about this. Another thing we have been using for my uncle to gain his weight back. Is Creme Soups. Maybe you can get your mom to get you a few cans of that. Build yourself up. Don't be scared okay. Just take your time, and have a talk with your mom, and tell her.. What she can do to help you recover.

I wish you nothing but the best.

Take care

Lynn

Don't fear Ensure.

I have a good friend who has had major back problems. Multiple surgeries.  Stomach problems due to long-term pain medications.  She was pretty thin already, and over time she dropped into underweight category.  After the surgery, the docs put her on Ensure.  Enough to get her weight back to normal.

Does your mom have an ED?

^^^^^^Seriously!   Or just kind of twisted.

My Mom doesn't know I have an ED, and I'm not going to tell her, because I know she will NOT be helpful. She thinks I've lost weight through stress and stuff and I think I'm going to have to leave it at that for her.

She used to fast a lot, up to forty day fasts (she quit fasting about three years ago), and we were also fairly poor and when we were really hungry and there wasn't a lot of food in the house she used to make us drink water until we were full (bloated is more like it, and still hungry, and close to tears). I know she was trying to do the best she could to conserve food, but the combination of that and watching her fast all the time is part of what started my restricting habits.

Anyway, we can't be too hard on her because she doesn't know I have an ED, so she has no idea the effect of what she's saying. But I can't tell her I have an ED, because believe me she would never understand and would just make things way worse. She'd probably just tell me, 'That's stupid, get over it.' So I'm trying to overcome it myself and just let her keep thinking my weight loss is stress related, etc.

Actually I was asking if SHE has an ED and from your post I think it's possible that she does but I'm not an expert.  Just drink the Ensure.  She doesn't have to know you're drinking it. Her ED may make it harder for you so be strong.

As someone who has worked at gaining weight and has tried almost everything, I will give my honest opinion about Ensure and similar drinks and supplements.

First of all, they're expensive. If you can afford them, good for you, but I think there are better ways to spend your money. You can make a nutritionally equivalent shake (minus the added vitamins) with cheaper ingredients. All you need is a blender and 5 minutes.

I could never get one down without feeling sick to my stomach. They just didn't set well with me. I guess this issue is a personal issue. Some people can digest them just fine, but because of the nutrient density, they may be difficult for some people to stomach.

It is true that they have a lot of sugar. And if you look at the ingredients, it's processed sugar. If you're into natural foods, nutritional supplements are far from the definition of natural. Now, whether or not the sugar actually has that much of a bad effect on you, well, it's also a matter of personal opinion. You can find studies that support both sides of the sugar argument. I would say, however, that a long term diet of processed nutritional supplements isn't the best idea.

With that said, I should also note that these drinks can be very helpful for those with illnesses that make it difficult for them to get all of the nutrients they need, especially if they have difficulty preparing their own food. For someone with an eating disorder, they can provide temporary assistance in teaching the body to handle calories again. But I think once you get back on track, you can switch to more natural alternatives.

If you mother simply won't let you buy them, then you have other options. You can find recipes for high calorie shakes you can make at home that have more calories and are healthier than the supplements. Another thing to keep in mind is that you will only have to rely on these calorie dense/high sugar foods until you have gained the weight you need to gain. Once you're done gaining, you can phase out the weight gain foods.

I also think it's unreasonable to assume that the OP's mother has an eating disorder based on the fact that she doesn't think Ensure is the best option. She could be genuinely concerned with her health.

My dietitian would have a heart attack if she heard me say this, but I think that the Ensure/Boost can be really helpful.  Dietitians "prescribe" this stuff because it DOES have important vitamins and minerals in it (among other things).  And personally... the first couple of times I drink them (I've gone through spells of having to drink them, but recently it's once a day) I feel REALLY full... but the feeling goes away.  Sometimes I'm still hungry after drinking them, now.

The sugar doesn't make me crash, but they do make me really thirsty.  Drink water with them!

Tangerine; what are you comparing the sugars in Ensure to? 22 grams of sugar is the same amount you'd find in an average glass of orange juice.

That beng said - you can easily make your own shakes that taste much better and have less sugar. 2-3 tablespoons of peanut butter, one large banana, some milk and maybe some ice - there you go. Or if your more for fruit flavors, try coconut milk with  pineapple or strawberries and yogurt (or ice cream! I used both.) Before it started getting cold, I would make a shake that packed about 600-700 calories for breakfast every morning. Damn good stuff too.

My contribution is that I think the concept behind Ensure is a fine thing for certain people. A high calorie, high nutrition product that provides a good chunk of what's necessary and is easily removed. In the Maudsley method, I know it's common for parents to have a "'shake" as part of the menu - a milkshake of up to about 1000 calories on top of everything else consumed in a day. They would also always be dense on nutrients.

Personally, though, I prefer to get my nutrition and calories in the shape of food. But that might not be plausible for everyone. If you do do this, though, I think you should only have the one smoothie a day of about 500-600 calories tops and, when you feel more ready to, have extra food instead of the smoothie.

So if you're intent on having a meal replacement in the forum of a smoothie or otherwise, I think you're best to try and make your own. You can also shoot your mother down in this aspect; if she sees you making a smoothie with calcium containing dairy, both in forms of live whole fat yoghurt and whole fat ice cream, fruits - aka, complex carbohydrate containing various essential nutrients, nuts of choice, avocado... all good, not all "fast sugars" and what your body needs. (Avocado in a smoothie adds a creamy texture, calories and nutrients, but because it has such a light taste stronger flavours like nuts and other fruit tend to mask it).

I also have to ask along with what has been already: does your mum have disordered eating problems herself? Because her attitude disgusts me. How could you say what she did to someone in recovery? Ugh.

Thanks to everyone for their ideas, I think shakes/smoothies are the better idea then, after reading everything you guys said.

ellie - like I said before somewhere, my Mom DOESN'T KNOW I have an ED, and I will probably never tell her because I know she would be extremely unhelpful. She's a great person in certain respects but there are just some things she doesn't/can't understand, so I'm going it alone in my recovery. No one knows, just me and you guys. When I move out I'll have more freedom to seek outside recovery help.