People undergoing cancer treatment often complain that they have lost their appetite and don’t feel like eating food. This may be caused due to several reasons which include the caner itself, medicines taken for the treatment, negative emotions and depression, pain and other treatment side effects like vomiting and nausea. Loss of appetite can be a severe hindrance to your recovery process and you need to make sure that you are having a healthy and balanced diet throughout your treatment. Here are a few tips you can follow to make sure you are getting enough to eat.
1. If you don’t feel like having solid food, try taking some juice or soup that will be easy to consume and will provide a good amount of nutrition for recuperating.
2. Instead of having 3 large meals (Breakfast, lunch and dinner), split your food intake into 5 to 6 smaller meals taken regularly throughout the day
3. You wouldn’t want to waste time in cooking when you do feel like eating so keep some ready to eat snacks at home or carry them with you when you go out. This could include dried fruits and nuts, granola bars and crackers.
4. Try to include variety in your diet. Instead of simply having a banana, have a banana milkshake instead. This will not only be easy on your stomach but will provide the added nutrition of milk along with the banana.
5. Most people prefer having cold and soft foods during treatment, so stack up on yoghurt or fruit yoghurt, make and store milkshakes and smoothies and cold juice.
6. Try not to have your meals alone. Instead, ask family and friends to dine with you and try to have jovial conversation at the table. Not only does this make having food fun but you are also more likely to consume more when you are happy!
7. Try to get in some exercise to build up an appetite.