HI everyone I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for food that would be good for keeping high energy levels during their chemo sessions? Thanks so much. Claire X
Probably anything you find palatable and it varies from person to person. Depending on the type of treatment you may find things taste odd or metallic or you may feel nauseous at the thought of certain foods even your favourites. Little and often is better than 3 big meals a day. If you cant eat much you could use nutritional supplements, your hospital can advise on this, the thick milky ones are hard to choke down but if you dilute them with milk and turn them into a milkshake they go down easier. The fruity ones are drinkable but are sometimes better diluted with some cheap fizzy water. Wish you all the best in getting through your treatment. Kim
Kim has given you some very good tips which I hope will be helpful to you. I thought I would also share this link with you which contains useful information from our website.
I hope this helps a little. Don't hesitate also to give our nurses a call too on this free number 0808 800 4040 - you can call them Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm if you want to get their expert advice on this.
Thanks so much for the reply. I agree it varies so much from person to person. Yes, I've been talking to a lot of medical people recently and they all said similar things regarding small amounts throughout the day. It's more manageable as well. Milkshakes are a good idea thanks didn't think of that one! I've recently been looking at energy bars - Found one on Live Better With that I think might work :) Thanks for reaching out! Claire
Hi Clair
I found my taste changed and lots of things tasted metallic. I drank cranberry juice sometimes diluted with water and any fruit juices I could palate. You need to drink plenty of fluids especially water. As to food I found spicy food activated my side effects as did alcohol so I cut these out for the week before and after treatment.
I also supplemented my diet with vitamin and mineral tablets don't know if they helped but because I wasn't eating much veg thought I needed something and I always have iron tablets every other day because of being anemic years ago.
Try to do some gentle exercise but rest when your body needs to. Don't spend a fortune on special foods if you have a good diet now keep that up. Oh and chocolate doesn't have any calories when on chemo
