Cancer treatment can sap your appetite. How to meet your nutrition needs… post #4

Don’t Lose Out on Liquids

Cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation can leave you dehydrated. Some drugs can also cause kidney damage if they’re not flushed out of your system, so during cancer treatment, it’s particularly important to get enough fluids. “Adequate hydration can’t be supplied by a healthy diet alone,” says Deng. “Along with drinking more water, patients should try sports drinks, like Gatorade, and other nutritional drinks.”

Some people find it hard to drink enough water (chemotherapy can even make water taste strange), so Deng suggests getting some of your fluid intake through soups. “For some people, the added flavor of something like chicken noodle soup may make it easier to get the liquid down,” he says.

Chicken soup has another benefit: It boosts your electrolytes (the collective term for the minerals sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium), which can often be depleted by the side effects of treatment. “It’s very important to make sure that you have adequate electrolyte intake,” Deng says. Gatorade and other sports drinks also help maintain your electrolyte balance.

The bottom line, according to Deng: “Don’t get fixated on any one particular substance. There’s no magic food or magic supplement,” he says. “Nothing beats a well-balanced, diverse diet.”

SOURCES: Gary Deng, MD, assistant attending and assistant member, Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Sally Scroggs, MS, RD, LD, senior health education coordinator, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. American Cancer Society.

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Cancer treatment can sap your appetite. How to meet your nutrition needs… post #3

Next to getting enough calories in the first place, the most important nutritional rule for people with cancer is to focus on getting a well-balanced, healthy diet from natural sources, including fruits and vegetables, with a heavy emphasis on protein.

“Because the body is under stress from different treatments — whether you’re undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or a combination of these — we really need to emphasize proteins for healing and repair and strengthening of the immune system,” says Scroggs. Red meat, fish, and poultry are excellent sources of protein (and iron as well, which is also important), but if you’ve lost your appetite for these, try other protein options like cheese, beans, peanut butter, eggs, nuts, milkshakes, and yogurt.

Some good food-based sources of important vitamins and nutrients for people with cancer:

• Eggs and nuts are great sources of B-complex vitamins, vitamin E, and protein. Egg yolks are a good source of vitamin D. Peanut butter and crackers are an easy, no-prep snack that pack nutrients and may be easier to keep down.
• Milk, cheese, meat, fish, and poultry are also good sources of B-complex vitamins, as well as protein. If you’re having trouble eating hot dishes (the aroma of cooking food can sometimes trigger chemotherapy-related nausea), snack on mild cheeses, ice cream, yogurt, and other cold snacks. For larger meals, try chilled dishes like chicken, egg, and tuna salad.
• Beans and other legumes offer plenty of B vitamins while helping meet your protein needs as well.
• Since chemo-related mouth sores may make it painful to drink citrus juices or eat citrus fruits, which are the most common sources of vitamin C, consider alternative fruits and juices. “Peach and pear nectars, as well as applesauce, are good alternative ways to get vitamin C,” Scroggs says.
• Green, leafy vegetables, of course, are great sources of vitamins like A, E, and K, as well as minerals like iron. Be sure to wash all fruits and vegetables carefully; your immune system can be compromised by cancer treatment and susceptible to contaminants in food.

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Cancer treatment can sap your appetite. How to meet your nutrition needs… post #2

Get Vitamins In Food, Not Capsules

Instead, say experts, focus on what you need most now: calories. When you’re being treated for cancer, taking in enough calories to maintain your strength and keep your body going trumps pretty much everything else. “For many people undergoing chemotherapy, we’re happy to tell them to eat whatever they like to eat. If it appeals to you and you can keep it down, then eat it,” says Deng. “If you ask someone to eat too strict a diet, often they end up not eating enough.”

If you have trouble eating enough at mealtimes, many experts recommend adding medical nutrition supplements — like Ensure, Boost, and Instant Breakfast — to the menu. These drinks can often help make up for some of the nutrition missed when you can’t work up an appetite for dinner or the energy to prepare it.

“Go ahead and try to eat a meal, and when you’ve done your best, you can supplement it with one of these drinks to give you the calories, protein, and other nutrients you can’t get in at mealtimes,” advises Sally Scroggs, MS, RD, LD, senior health education coordinator at Houston’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Just don’t rely on the drinks so much that you don’t eat regular meals. “They’re called supplements for a reason,” she adds.

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Long term results from untreated celiac desease

SOME LONG-TERM CONDITIONS THAT CAN RESULT FROM UNTREATED CD

• Iron deficiency anemia
• Early onset osteoporosis or osteopenia
• Vitamin K deficiency associated with risk for hemorrhaging
• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
• Central and peripheral nervous system disorders – usually due to unsuspected nutrient deficiencies
• Pancreatic insufficiency
• Intestinal lymphomas and other GI cancers (malignancies)
• Gall bladder malfunction
• Neurological manifestations

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