When a person is healthy, eating enough food to get the nutrients and calories that they need is not usually a problem. Most of the nutrition guidelines stress eating lots of vegetables, fruits, and whole-grain products and limiting the amount of red meat that the person eats, especially meats that are processed or cutting back on fat, sugar, alcohol high in fat, and salt; and staying at a healthy weight. But when a person is being treated for cancer, these things can be hard to do, especially if they have side effects or just don’t feel well. Good nutrition is especially important if a person is having cancer because both the illness and its treatments can change the way the person eats. They can also affect the way their body tolerates certain foods and also uses nutrients.
During cancer treatment one might need to change their diet to help build up their strength and withstand the effects of the cancer and its treatment. This may mean eating things that aren’t normally recommended when they are in good health. For instance, one might need high-fat, high-calorie foods to keep up their weight, or thick, cool foods like ice cream or milk shakes because sores in their mouth and throat are making it hard to eat anything. The type of cancer, their treatment, and any side effects that they have must be considered when trying to figure out the best ways to get the nutrition their body needs. The nutrition that people needs with cancer vary from person to person. Their cancer care team can help them identify their nutrition goals and plan ways to help the person meet them. Eating well while one is being treated for cancer might help them by feeling better, keeping up their strength and energy, maintain their body weight and their body’s store of nutrient, better tolerate treatment-related side effects, lower their risk of infection and heal and recover faster. Eating well means that eating a variety of foods to get the nutrients the body needs to fight with cancer. These nutrients mainly include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, water, vitamins, and minerals. The person needs protein for growth, to repair body tissue, and to keep their immune systems healthy. When their body doesn’t get enough protein, it might break down muscle for the fuel it needs. This makes it take longer to recover from the illness of cancer and can lower resistance to infection. People with cancer often need more protein than required. After the surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy, extra protein is usually needed to heal the tissues and also helps to fight with infection. Good sources of protein mainly include the fish, poultry, eggs, low-fat dairy products, lean red meat, nuts and nut butters, dried beans, peas and lentils, and soy foods.
Fats also play an important role in the nutrition. Fats and oils serve as a rich source of energy for the person’s body. The body also breaks down the fats and also uses them to store the energy, insulate body tissues, and also transport some types of vitamins through the blood. One may have heard that some fats are better for the person than others. When considering the effects of fats on their heart and cholesterol level, choose monounsaturated (olive, canola, and peanut oils) and polyunsaturated fats (these are found mainly in sunflower, corn, safflower and flax seed oils and seafood) more often than saturated fats or trans fats.
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