More time to everything else

-     "It has freed up time for us adults, given us fewer worries about whether the food we give contains enough calories, and not least, Ivar has been able to tolerate larger amounts of this food than the one we made ourselves. He has also become less nauseous after meals" 

Therese Korsmo Mjaaland from Bærum, Norway, is mum to four-year-old Ivar. Since Ivar was tiny, he has always eaten little, suffered abdominal pain when he started eating solid food and showed little interest in food. When Ivar was two years old, his weight and energy intake were so low that he had a PEG - also known as a feeding tube - inserted into his stomach. Today, Ivar also eats by mouth, but he gets nauseous easily when he eats, so the portions are small. That's why he gets a top-up of food via a tube three to four times a day.

Mum Therese explains that they decided early on that Ivar should be given homemade tube feed.

- In the beginning, we were afraid of making a mistake, so we gave Ivar formula for a few weeks. Then we realised that Ivar was getting worse and we quickly decided to make the food ourselves. It worked much better, but is very time-consuming.

Therese reacts to the fact that many formulas contain additives such as carrageenan, and has been met with scepticism from the healthcare system because they choose to prepare a blended diet. The family has long been looking for alternatives that make everyday life a little easier.

- We've been ordering whole food products from the US to bring on trips and holidays, but it's extremely expensive.

In 2023, Ivar and Therese participated in a test panel for soups from Hiquid Food, a Norwegian company that wants to make whole food-blends available to anyone who needs a feeding tube or gastrostomy to eat. Hiquid Food creates meals that look delicious, smell good and consist only of meat, fish, legumes, vegetables, fruit, berries and herbs. The soups are developed in collaboration with dietitians and are classified as Food for Special Medical Purposes (FSMP) at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. The Hiquid Food products are available in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherland, Belgium and UK.

Heidi Aabrekk is the founder of the company and has a son with the same eating challenges as Ivar. She was inspired by freeze-dried hiking food, which, when mixed with boiling water, has the same colors and nutritional content as homemade food.

- We want to increase knowledge about tube feeding and create a greater understanding of why good quality food is important for both physical and mental health. That's why we've created a digital course on whole food tube feeding for healthcare professionals and patients.

"Our focus is to create joy and a sense of community at mealtimes for everyone, and we want to improve collaboration between those who receive and give food via a feeding tube, clinical nutritionists, healthcare professionals and associations," says the entrepreneur.

The recipes are specially formulated in terms of nutritional content, consistency and volume. Freeze-drying allows the soups to retain their shelf life, favourable preservation of nutrients and more sustainable transport.

The soups from Hiquid Food were a great success for the Korsmo Mjaaland family.

- It's time-consuming to make homemade tube feeding and it's challenging to calculate the calorie content for those of us without nutritional training. That's why it's been great to test out the products from Hiquid Food. It has freed up time for us adults, given us fewer worries about whether the food we give contains enough calories, and not least, Ivar has been able to tolerate larger amounts of this food than the one we made ourselves. He has also become less nauseous after meals," says Therese.

"It will mean a great deal to our family that these soups are available on the market. It will make it much easier for us in our everyday lives when we can provide whole food-based food with great nutritional content without having to calculate and prepare everything ourselves. It gives us more time for everything else," Therese concludes. 

It's time to eat!

Real Food in the Tube gives access to a variety of meals for you to choose – Bon appétit!