What to eat during chemo

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.

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.