Nutrition
Get good nutrition. Your cancer treatment may influence your ability to taste and smell, and it may alter your digestion. Foods that you normally enjoy may not taste good during treatment while, paradoxically, foods that normally don’t appeal to you might taste better. You may prefer and tolerate more cooked versus raw vegetables, so a vegetable stew or soup may be more appealing than a salad. You may have more energy and less nausea if you eat smaller amounts of foods more frequently rather than eating three big meals per day.
Try not to gain weight by overindulging and blowing your calorie budget. Help fight your cancer by eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes such as black beans and lentils. Choose a rainbow of colorful whole foods (like deep greens of spinach, deep blues of blueberries, white for onions, and so on) to ensure that you get a variety of anti-cancer nutrients. Alcohol is usually not preferred or recommended during treatment, but if you do drink, limit your intake to no more than three drinks per week. Recent studies have shown an association between alcohol and increased risk of breast cancer.
