Home Support & Meal Guide

How to set up a home that lowers nausea rather than triggering it — and what to offer when almost nothing stays down.

For: Partners, family & caregiversRead: 7 minutesFormat: Letter · keep in the kitchen

Set the environment first

For many women with HG, smell is the single strongest trigger. Before you think about food, think about air. Environmental changes are free, immediate, and often more effective than anything on a plate.

Cook with the door closed and a window open, or cook outside the home

Switch to unscented soap, detergent, shampoo, and cleaning products

Remove bins, fruit bowls, flowers, and pets from her room

Keep the room cool, dim, and quiet

Serve food cold or at room temperature — heat carries smell

Give her a clean cloth with a tolerated scent, or nothing at all

Keep a fan moving air near her

Never bring your own meal into her room

When almost nothing stays down

The goal on the worst days is not nutrition. It is fluid and calories in any form she can tolerate. Frequency beats volume: a sip every few minutes is more achievable than a glass. Do not push. Offer, place it within reach, and leave.

If she can manage

Try offering

Only liquids

Ice chips, frozen fruit pops, flat cold soda, diluted juice, electrolyte drinks, broth

Cold and plain

Watermelon, cucumber, canned pears, plain yogurt, cold plain pasta, cheese

Dry and salty

Crackers, pretzels, dry toast, plain chips, dry cereal

Small amounts of protein

Cold chicken, hard-boiled egg, peanut butter on cracker, protein shake

Nothing at all today

Focus on sips and cold ice. Call the provider — she may need IV fluids.

The kitchen habits that help

·Keep something bland pre-portioned and visible at all times — waiting for hunger does not work in HG.

·Small portions on small plates. A full plate can end the attempt before it starts.

·Never ask "what do you want to eat?" Offer two specific options, or just bring something.

·Track what worked, even once, and buy more of it. HG tolerances change week to week.

·Keep food and drink beside the bed and bathroom, not only in the kitchen.

Seek care without delay

Weight loss, dark or absent urine, dizziness, or no fluids kept down for 12 hours means she needs medical attention now — not a different food. Food strategies support treatment; they do not replace it.

THON Tip

Write down every food or drink she tolerates, with the date. On the days you cannot think, that list is the plan.

Foods and fluids that worked this week

Part of the THON Partner Toolkit™ · Evidence-informed · Last reviewed July 2026 · Next review January 2027
This resource is educational and does not replace the advice, diagnosis, or treatment of a physician or another qualified healthcare professional. If she cannot keep fluids down, feels faint, or you believe this is an emergency, contact her provider or seek emergency care. © 2026 The House of Nirvana · thehouseofnirvana.org · info@thehouseofnirvana.org · You are not alone.