Table of
Contents:
Introduction
Types of treatment that may influence
your appetite and ability to eat
What to eat during cancer
treatment
What to eat after cancer treatment
Side
effects of cancer treatment that can affect the way you eat
and strategies to overcome them
Eating
enough when you don’t feel like eating at all
Strategies
for increasing protein and calories
Tips
for making meal planning and preparation as easy as possible
Introduction
A
healthful diet helps rebuild body tissues that may be affected
by treatment and prevents them from further breakdown.Eating
right also keeps your body strong by helping your immune
system stay healthy.
During your treatment and
recovery, you can help your body to feel its best by giving it
the nutrients it needs. One
key nutrient that you will need more of during this time is
protein. Protein
is directly involved in the recovery process, helping your
body to heal, rebuild, and fight infection.
It is found in foods like meat, poultry, fish, eggs and
dairy products. To
keep up your energy, include plenty of foods that contain
another vital nutrient, carbohydrates.
Good sources of carbohydrates include fruit,
vegetables, and grains. Eating enough fat is also important now.
Fat, found in foods like oils, butter, margarine, nuts
and seeds, serves as a long term energy source.
It also makes foods taste good and keeps us feeling
full. And be sure
not to forget one of the most important nutrients that your
body needs – water, to prevent dehydration and help your
body rid itself of waste products that may build up during
treatment.
The best diet
right now is a well balanced one that is high in calories and
contains a variety of foods from all of the food groups,
specifically: protein, grains, dairy, fruits and vegetables.
This ensures that your body will get all of the
building blocks it needs for recovery.
Eating frequently throughout the day can help you to
keep your energy level up.
If you find that certain foods don’t agree with you,
just eat what you can keep down.
If you are
taking any vitamin and herbal supplements, be sure to mention
this to your doctor. While
extra vitamins or herbal treatments may sound like a good
idea, they may cause more harm than good.
In fact, certain supplements can actually interfere
with your cancer treatment.
Types of
treatment that may influence your appetite and ability to eat:
Radiation
therapy may affect both your interest in eating and your
ability to eat. Treatment to the head, neck, and chest can cause mouth sores,
dry mouth, sore throat, difficulty swallowing, and dental
problems. You may
also experience changes in your sense of taste, known as
“mouth blindness” that can decrease your appetite
resulting in weight loss.
Radiation to the abdomen may cause nausea, vomiting,
pain, diarrhea, and gas in the early stages and weight loss
and swelling in the later phases.
Chemotherapy,
which works by destroying cancer cells, can also damage
healthy cells and tissues.
This can affect parts of the body that are involved in
eating, causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased
appetite, sore mouth and throat, mouth blindness,
constipation, and weight gain due to fluid retention.
Surgery
puts a tremendous strain on your body, requiring extra
nutrients and calories for healing.
After surgery, certain parts of the body that are
involved in digestion such as the mouth, throat, and stomach
may not be working properly or may be sore.
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AUTHOR: Karen
Ansel, MS, RD
The Cancer Information Network
Date Modified: 04/20/02
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