Eating Right After a Bladder Cancer Diagnosis

By Suzanne Dixon MPH, MS, RD

A diagnosis of bladder cancer can be very scary. You probably have many questions. What does this mean for my family and me? What are my treatment options? What will my treatment be like? Talking to your doctor about these and the many other questions you have right now is an important part of developing the best treatment plan for you.

In addition to this, you can help yourself by making sure you focus on getting plenty of good nutrition now and during treatment. This can help keep your body strong, which in turn will aid healing after each treatment.

Maintain your weight

Maintaining your bodyweight during treatment is very important. This is because your body needs energy from the food you eat to rebuild and repair itself. If your body doesn’t get enough nutrition to maintain itself, it won’t be able to recover as well after treatment. And even if you are overweight, losing weight during treatment is not healthy. Maintaining your weight can help you finish your treatments on time, heal faster and feel better.

Not everyone loses weight during cancer treatment, but some people find that food does not taste as good. They do not have an appetite and don’t much feel like eating. If this happens to you, it is important to pick the right foods so that you get the nutrition you need. Even when your appetite is not good, you can pack a lot of nutrition into your day with the right food choices.

Lack of appetite

One common problem that cancer patients may face during treatment is a lack of appetite. They may not actually feel “sick”, but they don’t feel much like eating either. If this happens to you, use the following tips to get the nutrition you need, even when you don’t feel like eating.

• Eat five or six small meals and snacks each day instead of three large meals. ANY food can be a snack. Don't worry about how much you eat, just focus on eating often.
• Drink fluids between meals, rather than with meals. Drink just enough to swallow your food comfortably, but avoid “loading” up on fluids like water, tea, and coffee during meals. Fluids can make you feel fuller, which makes it harder to eat enough food. Also, if you have had bladder cancer surgery, you may want to limit your fluids to avoid having your neo-bladder or “bag” fill up too quickly. Talk to your doctor about how much fluid you need each day.
• Keep snacks handy. Hunger only may last a few minutes. Try easy foods such as granola bars; fruit; nuts; yogurt; pudding; pretzels or crackers; single serving sizes of canned fruit, tuna, or chicken; trail mix; power bars; oatmeal; hard boiled eggs; and Popsicles.
• Focus on high calorie foods such as nuts and peanut butter. A small handful of nuts contains about 200 calories! This is a lot of nutrition for a small amount of food. Plus, the fat in nuts is healthy fat.
• Treat food like medication. Set some times to eat, such as every one-half to one hour. Then be sure to have at least 1 or 2 bites of food at each “medication” time. Quantity and type of food are less important. Eating often is more important.
• Eat every one-half to one hour. Do not wait until you are hungry. Even a couple of bites of food at a time can be helpful.

Diarrhea

One possible treatment option for bladder cancer involves using a portion of the intestine to create a new way for your body to process urine. This procedure can be very successful, but it may cause some symptoms, including diarrhea. Often, this is temporary and it occurs because the intestine needs to heal itself after surgery. If you do have diarrhea, what you eat can play an important role in managing this side effect.

While diarrhea may seem like an embarrassing problem, it’s important that you talk to your doctor or nurse about this. There are medication options for keeping diarrhea under control. In addition to this, use the following tips to manage diarrhea.

• Eat more foods that are high in soluble fiber. Soluble fiber is the “sticky, gooey” fiber that is found in foods like oatmeal. In addition to oatmeal, other foods with soluble fiber include white rice, bananas, white toast, applesauce, canned fruit such as peaches and pears (avoid the skins & peels of fruit), plain pasta noodles, cream of rice cereal, and plain unsweetened graham crackers.
• Drink at least 6 to 8 cups of liquid each day to prevent dehydration.
• Be sure to sip liquid slowly, but constantly all day. Try to take at least one small sip of liquid every 10 to 15 minutes.
• Drink liquid at room temperature.
• For each loose bowel movement that you have, drink 1 additional cup of fluid. But remember to sip liquids slowly.
• Try Gatorade or other "sports drinks". Use sport drinks that have about 50 calories per serving. Avoid sports drinks with more than around 50-70 calories per serving. These contain too much sugar, which can worsen diarrhea.
• Sip plain broth or bouillon, flat soda, and water.
• Try non-acidic juices, such as apricot nectar, peach nectar, or pear nectar.
• Nibble on salty foods, such as crackers and pretzels, to replace lost sodium.
• Drink fluids between meals rather than with meals.
• Lie down after eating.
• Eat small, frequent snacks or mini-meals. Too much food will "over-load" your digestive tract and make diarrhea worse.
• Eat a little plain yogurt. Yogurt contains healthy bacteria (probiotics) that help your body to digest your food better.
• Try Rice Congee

Enlist friends and family

You may find that your family and friends are worried about your poor eating. They may try help by serving you food all the time. Let them know that you appreciate their help with food and meals, but remind them that you can only eat a small amount at one time during cancer treatment. Do your best to explain to family and friends that you will eat whenever possible. Then, make a commitment to yourself that you will do this. Stress at mealtimes will not help you eat well.

More help for symptoms

We’ve provided some quick tips and ideas for managing some of the issues you may face during treatment for bladder cancer. We have much more information available in other areas of our website, www.caring4cancer.com.

Nutrition for long-term health

Finally, when you are ready and feeling well after your treatment, you will want to eat well to stay healthy. My motto to guide healthy eating is, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food."

And when it comes to which food offers the best “medicine,” nothing beats plant food. By plant food, we mean vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes (beans). Mom was right when she said, “Eat your veggies!” Even after a diagnosis, what you eat can help you stay healthy for the long-term.

A healthy diet plan combined with regular exercise, a healthy body weight, alcohol used only in moderation or not at all, and avoiding tobacco use (including smoking and chewing), will help you on the way to wellness after cancer.

To learn more about the latest news on the best nutrition for cancer survivors, be sure to visit theLife After Treatment section at www.caring4cancer.com. There you will find dozens of articles with ideas on how the latest cancer nutrition research can fit into your cancer-fighting nutrition plan, along with tips for fueling your body right.