The canola oil is important to the recipe. This was the answer to the same concern about canola oil, from a website that I get sent to Disney for trying to post. The canola oil story is a HOAX!! And that's all there is to it. Any "warnings" from an e-mail are 99 percent certain to be lies and hoaxes. Don't buy into it. "What we have here is a bit of truth about a product's family history worked into a hysterical screed against the product itself. There is no earthly reason to give any credence to this rumor -- Canola oil is not the horrifying product this widely-disseminated e-mail makes it out to be, nor has the FDA turned loose on the American public a health scourge worthy of being named one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. An appreciation of what this scare is based upon begins with a better understanding of what canola oil and how it came into being. The rape plant (Brassica napus) is a member of the mustard family, as claimed in the e-mail. However, before associations between rape and mustard gas set in too strongly, it should be noted turnip, cabbage, watercress, horseradish, and radish are also members of this family of plants. Rapeseed oil has been used for cooking for centuries in Europe, India, China, and Japan. As modern science is finding out, its previous use wasn't necessarily a guarantee of safety. Cooking at high temperatures with unrefined rapeseed oil now appears to be related to an increased risk of lung cancer because at high temperatures cooking oil gives off chemicals capable of causing mutations in cells. Unrefined rapeseed oil is particularly notable for this, but other oils also have this association. Those intent upon doing large amounts of wok cooking with any sort of cooking oil should therefore lower their frying temperature from the 240C to 280°C called for in Chinese cooking to 180°C. Rapeseed oil naturally contains a high percentage (30-60%) of erucic acid, a substance associated with heart lesions in laboratory animals. For this reason rapeseed oil was not used for consumption in the United States prior to 1974, although it was used in other countries. (Americans chose to use it as a lubricant to maintain Allied naval and merchant ships during World War II.) In 1974, rapeseed varieties with a low erucic content were introduced. Scientists had found a way to replace almost all of rapeseed's erucic acid with oleic acid, a type of monounsaturated fatty acid. (This change was accomplished through the cross-breeding of plants, not by the techniques commonly referred to as "genetic engineering.") By 1978, all Canadian rapeseed produced for food use contained less than 2% erucic acid. The Canadian seed oil industry rechristened the product "canola oil" (Canadian oil) in 1978 in an attempt to distance the product from negative associations with the word "rape." Canola was introduced to American consumers in 1986. By 1990, erucic acid levels in canola oil ranged from 0.5% to 1.0%, in compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. This light, tasteless oil's popularity is due to the structure of its fats. It is lower in saturated fat (about 6%) than any other oil. Compare this to the high saturated fat content of peanut oil (about 18%) and palm oil (at an incredibly high 79%). It also contains more cholesterol-balancing monounsaturated fat than any oil except olive oil and has the distinction of containing Omega-3 fatty acids, a polyunsaturated fat reputed to not only lower both cholesterol and triglycerides, but also to contribute to brain growth and development. In other words, it's a healthy oil. One shouldn't feel afraid to use it because of some Internet scare loosely based on half-truths and outright lies."

There are an endless number of recipes to blend for your sons liquid diet! The trick is using enough tasy and nutritious liquids to thin the meal. Campbells soups, especially the chuncky version are quite tasty and blend down very easily. Carnation instant breakfast is also a very healthy choice, very similar to ensure in nutrients. Blend this or a protein powder in to every shake you make! I have a website if you need a feeding device for your son www.zip-n-squeeze.com This product replaces syringe feeding and is SO much easier to use and aesthetic too! Also if you go to yahoo and type in orthgnathic support group you will find an endless supply of recovery sites and links. Your son can also chat with others who are in the same situation. Hope this helps, Susan Beaudette RN Zip-N-Squeeze Products 714-997-7146 E-Mail: zipnsqueeze@earthlink.net Here is a link that might be useful: www.zip-n-squeeze.com

Ya, blender: get some protein powder from a health food store or excercise food store READ the label. You can make delicious SMOOTHIES with 'product' recommended serving of protein powder, any fruit of choice, milk and BLEND, yogurt too. You can even use peanut butter to throw in. Tell you doctor you want a dietitician - immediately. They can help with balanced meals. Can even try talking to a pharmacist for recommended supplements to put in these things. SMOOTHIES are great - yogurt and fruit and water Mashed potatoes and chili whipped into a drink with beef broth to thin out... Try those lovely canned stews and blend them, chunky soups and add MASHED potatoe to them for the starch content. Let me know if any of this helps. Dessert can be ANY PUDDING MIX, thinned out a little with milk... Green vegetables? Try another dinner shake with a creamy cheese sauce thinned with a little milk (recommend carnations canned 2 percent). Think about when you were a kid...I loved hamburger, mashed potatoe, peas and ketchup. I would smash it all together on my plate before eating it. If he is turned off by the LOOK, get some of those plastic cups with the straws that are solid colour so you can only taste and not see. The mind is funny sometimes. I hope this helps. Strongly suggest a dietician, need protein with his meals. Oh yeah, banana and peanut butter shakes are good to... chocolate and raspberries/strawberries (fresh/frozen) Let me know how it goes, Peggy

My BF was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer 3 1/2 yrs ago and after chemo, radiation, loss of part of his tongue, jaw replacement and throat replacement with muscle from his arm was told he would have to live with a PEG tube for the rest of his life. He refused and learned to down Ensure, aspirating a little each time but swallowing tests show it is not detrimental as he has learned to drink over a sink and he coughs out the last little bit. He has not been able to gain weight beyond 140 lbs (he looks like a stick man) even downing 16 bottles of Ensure a day and eventually adding whey protein powder until I met him. He likes to race in Enduro motorcycle competitions so is high energy. I am an RN and can't stand to see people using Ensure as a meal replacement, it is only meant to be a supplement and other than the vitamins and protein only contains oil and sugar with milk solids. I figured if he could down anything I could get him back to consuming vitamins, fat, etc. through natural foods and put some weight on him. The sugar in the Ensure has also taken a toll on what was beautiful white teeth. He had purchased a Vitamix 5200 (pricey but worth it) to mix another powdered sweet drink he found (can't remember the name) to put weight on. The vitamix will actually dessimate anything you place in it and is so fast it will heat the food so hot that you can't drink it. I have learned to blend the weirdest foods together to get the high calories and the only problem I've had is with the broths/juices/milk you have to add to get it to the very liquid consistency will sometimes dilute the flavors. I literally blend anything I eat for him and he is eating better than ever. I now taste everything (sometimes it sounds like it would be gross) and have been astounded at how flavorful meals can be. He has gained 10 lbs over the last 2 months since I add cheese, butter, use whole milk, and for shakes blend high fat nuts like Macadamia and coconut (he loves) and add to them. I have noticed that chicken and dumplings is his favorite because the base of the soup is all I need to use to thin it so it is full flavor. Also for some reason the italian dishes like spaghetti, lasagna, etc. even when thinned severely with beef broth keep the original taste. White sauces are best thinned with chicken broth and milk (both) and sweet and sour chicken is best thinned with apple juice. He is Jewish so when we made potato latke's I put the apple sauce and sour cream in and thinned with apple juice and milk and it tasted almost just like mine in a liquid version. One potato latke thinned equalled 64 ounces so thank goodness he can drink alot! Next time I may add a few potato flakes for extra calories. He has started blending sushi and thins with seafood broth found only at Central Market here. I've done steak with potato including sour cream, butter, bacon bits and thinned one time with milk and another with beef broth and added beef gravy...he loved it! Most of our "soups" come out restaurant quality:-)My next jump is to make steak with Au Jus and Demi Glace to try to get the flavor to come out better. I encourage you all not to be afraid to try different things together and remember that on a liquid diet you need to increase your calories significantly. His Oncologist said he can't believe I've been able to put weight on him but he's defied all of them from the start:-)