Dietary recommendations for a cancer patient undergoing treatment are different unless the patient has some gross medical problem. Unlike other people cancer patients should eat more of high calorie diets with protein and fat when active treatment is going on. Fresh fruits can be eaten but raw vegetables, salads should be avoided. Eat or drink more milk, cheese, and cooked eggs particularly the white part of the egg. Avoid or eat less of high- fiber foods because they can cause diarrhea or mouth ulcerations. Remember that in order to counter the catabolic effects of the treatment you need to take high calories and the required nutrients in small meals because you might not have a good appetite or taste for large bland meals. The diet should be tasty but at the same time non spicy so that your mouth is not hurt. These dietary recommendations are of course valid during the time of active treatment or when you are recuperating, from the disease. Once you are cured, out of all treatment, and have gone back to your normal life, you should follow the diet suitable for your age and health.

Your eating might be affected in two ways. The treatment itself causes loss of appetite, nausea, or indigestion either because the therapy you are receiving also kill the cells of the linings of the gastrointestinal tract and at times slow the activities of liver and kidneys or because you had an operation that has altered the normal gastrointestinal pathways. Or it may happen because you have become extremely anxious or nervous. In either case remedies are available. Talk to your doctor and tell him exactly what your problems are and ask for appropriate medication.

It might be so that the degree of the problem will vary on different days or different times of a day. In that case try to eat as much as you can during the good time, particularly in the earlier part of the day, and when you cannot eat well drink liquids with sufficient calories. But do not begin to eat food that you are not habituated with. It has been found out that the best diet is the one that has evolved in a particular place over thousand of years of experimentation. If it has been fish curry with turmeric and rice for you, stick to it. Only tailor them to your need. No need to jump to ham or pork sausages in search of extra calories. You never know what that is going to do to your body immunity systems. Eat dinner early and have some thing, either a drink or some snacks before going to bed. A glass of milk is a good idea.

Soreness in the mouth and in fact the whole of the throat and food passages is a common problem and that sometime leads to inability in taking food. This can either be the direct effect of radiotherapy or chemotherapy or might be due to infection, particularly fungal infection. The last is a serious condition and always demands treatment. If you have a sore mouth it is better to avoid foods that cause local irritation like toast, uncut whole fruit with skin, citrus fruits and vegetable salads. Rather eat foods that are easy to chew and swallow concoctions of milk, rice and banana, cottage cheese, yogurt, custards, puddings, soft boiled eggs. Use straws to drink liquids. Use some antacid preparation mixed with anesthetics before taking food.

Take measures like frequent mouth wash with antiseptic gargles to prevent infection. Do not use commercial preparations with astringents which might actually cause harm. Later, if you had radiation to the mouth area, you might develop dry mouth and change of taste. There is no effective medicine available to counter this but make do by taking frequent sips of water and eating foods that are slimy and sweet and are prepared with gravy. If the problem is too much, try chewing gums and artificial saliva preparations.

To counter nausea, use antiemetics liberally. If you are in a hospital ward, avoid watching other patients when they vomit. That itself might trigger nausea and vomiting. Nausea and loss of appetite are common symptoms but they should go away once the treatment is stopped. Should they persist, consult your doctor.

If you have diarrhea following chemotearpy, that is a serious condition and needs urgent attention. Otherwise simple diarrhea without indigestion should settle with simple medication and a little change of diet. Only make sure that you are not developing lactose intolerance as a result of taking lot of milk products or intolerance to high fiber food. Eat plenty of sherbets and fruit juices to supplement loss of salts from the body with liquid stool.

Constipation during therapy might be caused by pain killers, some antibiotics, calcium supplementation, prolonged bed rest and lack of exercise. Drink more fluid, do some asanas, and if required take laxatives. Constipation can be a cause for apathy to take food.

Weight loss is normal with cancer patients particularly during a rigorous therapy but some patients actually gain weight, particularly the breast and ovarian cancer patients. It can happen because of hormonal drugs and /or accumulation of more fluid inside the body. Check with your doctor if you are gaining weight.

Anxiety and pain or discomforts are two brothers who coexist and encourage each other. And both generally accompany the disease cancer and its therapy and cause sleep disturbances. If you are not sleeping well, take adequate drugs. Pain killers do not often act if they are not taken regularly and in adequate dosage. Consult with your doctor to prepare a proper pain medication chart and sedatives. It is always less harmful to take medicines and rest well than to try to avoid side effects of the medicines and remain awake and tensed. Also take short naps during other times of the day than relying on one long rest. Sleeplessness can also be caused by too much inactivity. So take some exercises daily.

During the course of the therapy and subsequently during the early phases of recovery it is important that the patient makes all possible and conscious efforts to stay well. It is important to avoid infection by exposure to dirty conditions and food and water that might cause infections. Light exercises are welcome but do not overstrain or engage in activities that might cause bodily injuries. Measure your diets and physical activities according to your physical condition and increase them gradually rather than suddenly returning to the normal life. Engage in activities that keep you amused and interested rather than engaging into serious tasks that exhaust you. If need be, consult doctors and take help to ward off any depression. Take help of physiotherapy rather than to develop preventable disabilities like arm edema, weakness of limbs, body ache etc.