Perhaps your pdoc suggested Ensure/Boost because it contains vitamins & minerals along with calcium which your body sorely needs (along with the calories) and assumed that would be an easier way to consume it (by drinking, not eating). I actually used Slimfast shakes (refrigerated) in addition to meals to gain weight because they had more flavor varieties and tasted better to me to help with weight gain. But I had to have like 2 or 3 of those in a day in addition to eating meals, yeah, it really sucked for awhile there. I started making smoothies out of the Slimfast shakes too, blending them with ice which to me helped with the flavor too.