Over the years, I’ve watched as quite a few dear friends battled cancer. No matter what type of cancer they were dealing with (breast, prostate, etc.), or what type of treatments they had (chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, etc.), it seems like they all shared a few things in common: loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and weight loss.
While many cancer patients are given anti-nausea pills during their treatment, especially those who are dealing with chemotherapy, it just seems that no matter what they do, food just isn’t as appealing during this time. As a result, many folks lose a lot of weight, at a time when they really need to keep their strength up as much as possible.
So when visiting my friends who have been fighting cancer, I’ll always ask what type of food I can bring or what type of restaurant we can go to, and then I’m always happy when they come up with something that sounds good. If a friend says she wants a big hot fudge sundae from Baskin Robbins for lunch, then that’s where we would go!
From talking with my friends and family members over the years, it seems like most of them were essentially on their own when it came to their diets during cancer treatment. Some might have gotten a pamphlet or two or had a quick chat with a nutritionist, but for the most part they were given the anti-nausea pills and sent on their way.
The other day I was thinking about this subject again. I had just spoken with a dear friend of mine whose father successfully fought off Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and she had mentioned that even though he faithfully took his anti-nausea pills during his rounds of chemotherapy, he ended up dropping about 30 pounds that he really didn’t need to lose and he also lost his taste for many of the foods he always loved.
So I got out my trusty laptop and began to research nutrition and cancer. More specifically, I was trying to find cancer facilities that treat cancer patients everyday, and that offer them nutritional support. I found a couple of places right away that feel that this subject is crucial to the well-being of cancer patients. Please check out these links below:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/nutrition/Patient/page4
http://www.cancercenter.com/integrative-treatment.cfm#complementary
I found the information in these links to be really fascinating. For example, the parts about how certain foods can make treatments more successful—did you have any idea that that was the case? I didn’t realize that focusing on eating specific foods could actually help the medications do their job even better, and/or reduce the side effects of the treatments. Amazing.
And I also like the approach of doing an early nutrition assessment on every cancer patient and then screening them along the way looking for changes. And then also coming up with a meal plan for people and having them work closely with registered nutritionists.
All of the information in the links above just seems to be full of so much common sense. After watching so many friends sort of muddle through the nutritional angle on their own, it really makes me so happy to know that future patients will be able to get the nutritional help they need and deserve.
If you are a cancer survivor or going through treatment right now, what type of nutritional support, if any, did you or are you receiving? Do you know any patients who met with a registered dietician and came up with a meal plan? Do you think this is a good idea? I look forward to hearing from you!