Eating Well with Cancer
Five simple steps to build healthy eating habits before, during and after treatment.
When you're facing cancer, what you eat matters. But changing your diet can feel overwhelming. You might be introduced to new foods, unfamiliar cooking methods or a long list of “don’ts” that can make mealtimes stressful.
As an integrative health and wellness coach, I encourage patients to focus on what they can do instead of what they can’t by identifying achievable steps that lead to healthy habits. The goal is to make eating well feel less like a chore and more like an opportunity to care for yourself, one meal at a time.
5 Tips for Healthy Eating Habits
Here are five tips for building healthy eating habits before, during and after cancer treatment.
1. Upgrade Your Ingredients for More Nutrition
Food is medicine, and each bite you take is an opportunity to nourish yourself.
To get the most nutritional value, try swapping processed foods for whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and unprocessed proteins. Whole foods are unrefined and contain nothing artificial, so they offer greater nutritional value. A few simple swaps:
- Brown rice instead of white rice
- Whole wheat bread instead of white bread
- Natural peanut butter without additives
- Greek yogurt sweetened with real fruit or maple syrup instead of refined sugars
2. Combat Decision Fatigue with Meal Planning
If figuring out what’s for dinner feels like a monumental task, you’re not alone.
Decision fatigue is real, and it can lead to hasty, poor choices at mealtimes. But a little meal planning — even once or twice a week — goes a long way. If pasta is a favorite, try a plant-forward “pasta bar” once a week with whole wheat pasta and rotating toppings like seasonal vegetables and lentils. Or make “Taco Tuesday” a tradition with whole wheat tortillas, brown rice, sauteed veggies, beans and avocados. Cook extra for lunch the next day, and you’ve taken care of two meals in one go.
3. Start with Foods You Already Enjoy
What are two or three fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthy proteins you enjoy?
How do you like them prepared? Adding favorite healthy foods to your plate instead of fixating on what to subtract is a pleasure-based approach that can be easier to follow than one based on restrictions.
4. Make Movement Part of Your Diet
Just like food is medicine, movement is medicine too: it fuels your body, impacts your energy and affects your mood.
Exercise can also increase metabolism, which is helpful for patients who lose their appetite during treatment. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. As with nutritious food, a little movement goes a long way. If an hour of exercise isn’t practical, try “exercise snacks” — short, frequent bursts of movement throughout the week. Consistency is key, so try not to skip too many days in a row.
5. Aim for Progress, Not Perfection
You likely won’t overhaul your diet overnight — and that’s OK.
When it comes to eating well, you have many opportunities throughout the week to make healthy choices. Because cancer treatment and recovery can change from day to day, it helps to stay flexible and focus on progress, not perfection. Begin where and when it feels right for you and remember: Small steps add up to big changes over time.
Jessica Coleman, MLA, NBC-HWC is an integrative oncology health and wellness coach at The Osher Center for Integrative Health at University of Vermont. If you are a UVM Health cancer patient interested in working with an integrative health and wellness coach to develop healthy habits, ask your provider for a referral or send an email to Jessica.Coleman@uvmhealth.org
Healthy Recipes for the New Year
Our Culinary Medicine program strives to nourish health in the community through cooking and nutrition science. Here are two plant-based, whole-food recipes from its archive to stave off the winter chill.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
- 2 tablespoons curry
- 1 tablespoon cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 large (3lb) butternut squash or pumpkin, peeled, seeded and chopped
- 6 to 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
Instructions
- In a large, thick-bottom soup pot, heat 3 tablespoons oil. Add onions, garlic and ginger. Sauté until translucent.
- Add curry, cumin powder and cayenne. Sauté until well incorporated.
- Add squash and stock. Simmer until squash is very tender.
- Add maple syrup and season to taste. Puree until smooth.
Ingredients
- 1/2 red or green cabbage
- 2-3 carrots, whole, unpeeled and scrubbed
- 1-2 parsnips, whole, unpeeled and scrubbed
- 1 bunch fresh green herbs (e.g., parsley, cilantro, dill), chopped
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup vinegar (e.g. rice wine, red wine, sherry)
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Cut the cabbage into pieces that will fit into the food processor.
- Using the shredding attachment, shred the cabbage, carrots and parsnips.
- Add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix well.
- Move to refrigerator and let marinate at least 30 minutes before serving.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
- Store in air-tight container in the refrigerator and use within five days.
