Benefits of Self-Care With Nutrition

A diagnosis of cancer can be overwhelming. You have many decisions to make. You have many choices regarding your treatment options. With all of this on your plate, why think about nutrition? It's helpful to think about nutrition for a number of reasons, many of which are not even related to food.

Receiving a cancer diagnosis can make a person feel a loss of control. Making your own nutrition choices, no matter how small they may seem, is something you can do to help yourself. Being involved with your own nutritional self-care is one way to become an active member of your cancer care team. This in turn can help you regain a sense of control over your future. In fact, studies show that people who are active participants in their own cancer care feel better about their health and feel more positive about their future after cancer.

Redefining Your Role

While some people feel that nutritional self-care must mean shopping for your own food and cooking for yourself, nothing could be further from the truth. By working with your family and friends, you can come up with a plan that will allow you to meet your nutritional needs and regain a much needed sense of control.

After a cancer diagnosis, many people may want to help you, but they may not know how. You can benefit from this expression of caring and love by putting together specific instructions for what you need nutritionally. Plus, you will be giving your family and friends something positive and concrete they can do to help you. It's a win-win situation.

Pretreatment Planning

Before treatment even begins, you can plan for how you will eat during treatment.

• Identify helpful family members and friends you can call on for a quick run to the grocery store to pick up food when you are too tired to do so yourself.
• Do some “pre-education” with family and friends. Let them know that your appetite may not be great during treatment, but that you will call on them for help with food, meals, and grocery shopping when you need them.
• Draw up a quick "schedule" of food preparation for each day of treatment and for a few days after each treatment session. This is the time when you are likely to feel tired and will most appreciate help with food preparation.
• Ask your family and friends to "sign up" for just one day each on your food "schedule." On their day, they can help you by fixing dinner or preparing another meal or snack. You even can complete this task by circulating your "schedule" via email. It may feel strange to ask your friends to fill out a "food schedule," but by coordinating these tasks in advance, you take the pressure off yourself and you help your friends feel like they are doing something positive to help you during a difficult time.
• Draw up lists of quick and easy snack foods that you might want to have on hand. Ask family and friends to help you stock up in preparation for each treatment cycle. This list might include easily digestible, bland foods, such as oatmeal, applesauce, yogurt, soup, crackers, cream of wheat, and toast.
• Have your friends brainstorm about what foods they like to eat when they feel "under-the-weather," and ask them to help you find these special foods.
• Remember, it's not about eating only "healthy" foods during treatment. You may not feel well and if you are losing weight, no foods are off-limits. By simply chosing to eat something to nourish your body, you are maintaining some control over your own care.

These small steps may not seem like much, but remember, any sense of control that you can regain will make you feel more positive and more involved in your care. This in turn can help you become an active member in your own cancer care plan.

For dozens of specific tips, recipes, and ideas to manage symptoms that may arise during your cancer treatment, be sure to see our information on Symptom Support.