Aiming to gain weight

If you’ve lost weight because of your illness, the transplant dietitian will ask you to follow a special diet to help your body get the extra nutrition it needs before transplant.

The diet can be:

● High energy

● High protein and high energy

Some of the advice for these diets may go against 'healthy eating' messages you’ve heard in the past. However, your body is in need of extra nourishment at this time. During the inpatient assessment, the dietitian will give you a plan to follow, and discuss how long you should be following the plan.

You should have protein at every meal. Even your snacks should be high in protein. For a full list of protein rich foods, and ideas on how to add them more to your diet, go to The importance of protein.

Nutritional supplement drinks

If you are not getting your full nutrition needs from what you are eating and drinking, talk to your GP or dietitian about what supplements they recommend. They can write a prescription and explain how to use them.

On their own, fruit and vegetables are low in energy and protein, but they are rich in vitamins and minerals that are important for healing. You should eat fruits and vegetables, combined with other high protein and high energy foods. For example:

• Add fruit to greek yoghurt.
• Make smoothies by combining fortified milk, yoghurt and fruit.
• Avocadoes are high in energy. Mashed avocadoes can be made into dips or added to sandwiches. They can be chopped into salads, eaten as a side to a main meal or as a snack.
• If you cannot eat fresh fruit, include 200ml of fruit juice each day.

When choosing high fat foods, be mindful of your heart health. Choose foods that are high in unsaturated fat. For example, nuts, seeds, nut butters, olive oil, rapeseed oil, or avocado will all give you energy but won’t negatively impact your heart health.

High energy

Making the most of every bite (PDF, 6.6MB, 222 pages)

A cookbook of healthy, high calorie meals