What to eat during chemo

pelapi

Hello,

I also posted this over in the triple negative forums, but I just realized it may be more relavent here:

My wife was diagnosed with stage 2B, no lymph node involvement, triple negative breast cancer around a month ago. Since then, she has started her regimen of checmo (4 rounds of A/C, 12 of taxol). I have read many survivor stories such as Patricia Prijatel's story and book, and Jennifer Griffin's story here: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/09/08/jennifer-... . Both of them enforce that a healthier diet of lots of veggies, whole grains, and lean and veggie protein (fish, beans, etc) were a big factor during their chemo and in their recovery.

I have completely adjusted our diet to meet those requirements. But here is what stresses me out: I also read that, for chemo to be most effective, you WANT the cancer cells to be very expressive so the chemo can kill it. From what I read, this very healthy diet does the opposite. It starts to shut down cancer cell replication. Which normally would be outstanding, but not during chemo. Is that correct? I'm scared that my efforts to get my wife super healthy, is adversely effecting the power of the chemo itself.

Any input would be appreciated.

Ingerp

You might be overthinking this. Your wife's food preferences will likely change through chemo--taste buds are often affected. Many women have strong sugar cravings. (I ate ice cream every day after the first few weeks, and I usually don't have it in the house.) The only intentional change I made was to increase my protein intake--I ate a lot of red meat and added a protein shake every day. My bloodwork through treatment was great--in fact my MO said I was the only patient she'd seen who was actually making blood through chemo. Conventional wisdom is to eat what you can tolerate through chemo. It's probably more important what you eat after treatment going forward to minimize the probability of recurrence.

WC3

pelapi:

I actually had the same thoughts, but in the end, what I eat during chemo is dictated more by what I can eat than what I should or shouldn't eat. I am eating a lot more bread and carbs than I normally do and fewer vegetables than I normally do because near the beginning of my cycle my mouth and throat are very sensitive and as the days progress, my GI tract becomes affected and I can't digest much. So I eat bread type items, egg white sandwhiches, chicken noodle soup, occasionally a spoon full of yogurt or pudding though I am limiting my dairy. A lot of things taste bad or rough and grainy and I might also have acid reflux and have to avoid acidic things or things that might aggravate the reflux.

Around day 7 to 10 of my cycle I start to get stomach cramping after eating and also start to lose my taste. Sometimes things taste completely bland and sometimes they manage to retain enough of the wrong flavors and taste bland and bad. Typically though sweet things still taste good. At this point I can eat small meals but nothing with a lot of bulk or weight.

Towards the end of my cycle my taste returns to normal and I start to be able to tolerate food normally again. I try to get some vegetables and salads in around this time because it's the only time I can in any quantity.

I do try to limit my dairy, certain fatty acids, sugar and copper intake and I avoid peanuts. I also am only eating fish and fruit sparingly because of concerns that fish oil can make chemo less effective and fruit due to the preference of cancer cells for fructose. Certainly not a diet I can vouch for as far as combating cancer but it's the best I have been able to manage without a chef who doubles as an oncology nutritionist/dietician and who has also been through chemotherapy.

As far as sugar, sometimes I just need a popsicle or a few sips of soda or some hard candy to suck on because my blood sugar gets low but I try to avoid high fructose corn syrup.

WC3

Ingerp:

I haven't eaten red meat since childhood but my CBCs are not keeping up and the other day after taking the dexamethasone I was sitting there thinking "Should I have a burger?" Maybe! That or take some iron and B12 maybe but I don't know if my stomach can handle iron pills right now so I will talk to my MO about it in a few days.

Lula73

Don’t stress the diet right now. She should eat what she finds palatable and in the quantities that she can handle. Many things are not going to taste right at all and some she won’t be able to handle even the smell of. I survived on macaroni & cheese and roast pork loin with white gravy pretty exclusivelyfor a year. It was >5 years before I could even handle the smell of chicken much less the taste and prior to chemo I loved chicken.