Diet & Cancer: A Conversation

Palliative Care: Can lifestyle changes help to manage both the symptoms of the cancer as well as the treatment?

The goal of palliative care is to prevent or treat, as early as possible, the symptoms and side effects of the disease and its treatment, in addition to the related psychological, social, and spiritual problems. Palliative care is also called comfort care, supportive care, and symptom management. Improving the patient and family members quality of life is the ultimate goal.

One of the myths of palliative care is that it is the same as hospice care. This is not true. Palliative care should be given throughout a patient’s experience with cancer; from diagnosis, through treatment, follow-up care, and the end of life. Although hospice care has the same principles of comfort and support, palliative care is offered earlier in the disease process. Hospice care is a form of palliative care that is given to a person when cancer therapies are no longer controlling the disease. It focuses on caring, not curing. When a person has a terminal diagnosis (usually defined as having a life expectancy of 6 months or less) and is approaching the end of life, he or she might be eligible to receive hospice care. Hospice care requires that the person has a terminal diagnosis and is no longer receiving any curative treatments.

Providing palliative care has a positive impact on the patients life. Research shows that palliative care and its many components are beneficial to patient and family health and well-being. A number of studies in recent years have shown that patients who have their symptoms controlled and are able to communicate their emotional needs have a better experience with their medical care. Their quality of life and physical symptoms improve. For example, if the nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy were minimized, the patient would not only feel better but be able to continue on their chemotherapy for the entire cycle.

Good nutrition:

The internet can be overwhelming, providing testimonials, myths and a list of more dietary options that will have your mind spinning. You can read about the Gerson, Macrobiotic, Kelley Metabolic, and Moerman diet, as well as laundry lists of what to eat and what not to eat. In the end, I believe that a balanced diet, which includes all the essential nutrients (see Diet and Cancer Part 1) and pays special attention to maintaining ones weight, will ultimately be the most beneficial.

Good nutrition is important for good health. A healthy diet includes eating and drinking enough of the foods and liquids that have the important nutrients (vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, fat, and water) the body needs. A healthy diet can help to manage the symptoms of both the cancer and the cancer treatments. There are many side effects of cancer and cancer treatment that can affect our ability to eat a healthy diet. These include but are not limiting to:

• Anorexia (loss of appetite).
• Mouth sores.
• Dry mouth.
• Trouble swallowing.
• Nausea.
• Vomiting.
• Diarrhea.
• Constipation.
• Pain.
• Depression.
• Anxiety.

Helping with side effects:

There is a fair amount of evidence that your diet can be helpful in managing side effects. People who have cancer are generally advised to eat a high-calorie diet as weight loss can be a problem. A high-calorie diet also helps to keep your energy levels up during treatment.

The type of cancer you have and the way it is being treated influences the best approach to take with your diet. Someone with a sore mouth would get different advice than someone having bowel problems following radiotherapy to the abdomen. One of the side effects of chemotherapy is loss of appetite. Cancer-induced cachexia is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer treatment and is experienced in up to 80% of late stage cancer patients. Since you may not feel like eating much during your treatment it is recommended that you eat a little more often, rather than trying to eat larger main meals. Add high calorie meals “in a drink” if you don’t feel like eating much. You can also buy protein powders and high energy powders and sprinkle these on everyday foods or add them to recipes.

Malnutrition, caused by the lack of essential nutrients, can cause the patient to be weak, tired, and unable to fight infections or get through cancer treatment. Eating too little protein and calories is a very common problem for cancer patients. Having enough protein and calories is important for healing, fighting infection, and having enough energy.

Helping the cancer patient to obtain these essential nutrients can be achieved by juicing to increase vegetable and fruit intake, making smoothies for increased calories, adding healthy fats to make foods taste good and increase calories, take supplements to ensure the intake of vitamins and minerals, and using medicinal cannabis to improve appetite, decrease anxiety, and encourage better sleep. Anorexia and cachexia are common in cancer patients and should be addressed and treated as early as possible. My personal experience, in caring for my husband who died of glioblastoma, was to do anything and everything that improved his nutrient intake. If he liked it, I made it and he ate it. I juiced, made smoothies, provided supplements from common multi-vitamin and mineral complexes to turmeric and fungi supplements. As my grandmother would say, “If you like it you should have it”.

My journey, a 2-year journey with my husband, Randy, diagnosed with incurable brain cancer, provided me with a different perspective on foods and health. I did ‘throw the kitchen sink’ at him including juicing, supplements, and more. However in my heart I knew that being healthy in both ‘body and mind’ leads to an improved quality of life and, for Randy, dignity in death.

Watch for the next segment of our diet and cancer conversation; Curative: Can changes in my diet cure my cancer? in the next issue of Randy’s Club Newsletter.