Patients with gastric cancer commonly have digestive dysfunction and are unable to effectively digest food and absorb nutrients; therefore, they often suffer from varying degrees of malnutrition. During chemotherapy, the diet can also be affected due to the appearance of some adverse reactions. Chemotherapy patients should make good dietary modifications to successfully survive the adverse reaction period and complete the necessary chemotherapy cycles.
Increasing appetite
Most chemotherapy patients will experience a decreased appetite. During chemotherapy, patients can choose some easily digestible carbohydrates (e.g., rice, noodles, etc.), drink some yogurt and vegetable soup. Some sweet snacks and smearing some peanut butter or other jam on bread can make food taste heavier and sweeter and may also increase appetite. When drinking water, you can add some honey and lemon to plain water. In addition, preparing your own food may also increase your appetite.
Balanced nutrition
Some patients believe that fish, poultry, and livestock are hairy, acidic foods and should not be eaten. In fact, tumor patients have a higher protein requirement than healthy people, and the above-mentioned animal foods are important sources of high-quality protein, and a simple vegetarian diet is not beneficial. It is recommended that patients pay attention to the following points in their diet to maintain a balanced nutrition.
- A combination of meat and vegetables is recommended, with 20% to 30% meat and 70% to 80% vegetarian dishes. Patients should also pay attention to matching coarse processed foods with fine processed foods, and fine grains (rice, noodles) with mixed grains (corn, millet, sweet potatoes, etc.). Against taboos and partiality, the variety of food should be increased, and the more mixed the food or nutrient source (including origin), the better.
- Advocate for southerners to add some northern foods and northerners to add some southern foods; mountain people to add some seafood and seaside people to add some mountain products.
- Healthcare products are not equal to nutrients, routine supplementation of health care products is not advocated, and increased intake of fruits and vegetables is recommended.
- Starvation cannot starve tumor cells, but can only cause malnutrition, leading to weight loss, immune system decline and affecting patient health.
Ease mouth ulcers
During chemotherapy, the patient’s immunity is reduced and mouth ulcers often develop. The first thing to do to promote mouth ulcer healing is to pay attention to oral hygiene, rinse your mouth with light salt water or mouthwash, drink plenty of water, and eat a slightly warm or cold liquid or semi-liquid diet, or mix regular food into a homogenous drink. It is important to avoid alcohol and spicy, overheated and irritating foods.
Ease nausea
Patients who experience nausea during chemotherapy should eat a light diet, with fewer and more frequent meals, 5 to 6 times a day, and be careful to eat more often (mostly in the early morning) during the time of day when they are least likely to be nauseated. The patient should drink as little water as possible before and after eating, and should not lie down immediately after a meal to avoid food reflux and nausea.
Avoid alcohol, do not eat foods that are too sweet, greasy, spicy and fried, and eat less tryptophan-rich foods, such as bananas, walnuts and eggplant. Patients can avoid contact with people who are cooking or eating to reduce irritation.
Improve constipation
Drinking more water and eating more vegetables, fruits, and fiber-rich foods are effective ways to combat constipation. Patients can also prevent constipation by being more active and promoting bowel movement.
It is important to slowly adjust the diet and to do some exercises such as walking and massaging the abdomen.
Fighting diarrhea
When you have diarrhea, avoid eating foods that are too hard, too hot, too cold, too spicy, too sticky, fried, or pickled; try to eat less or no stimulating foods such as onions and leeks. At the same time, drink less coffee, sugar-sweetened beverages, modulated wine, fruit juices, etc., and eat less salads and raw foods. You can drink more porridge and eat more vegetables such as cabbage, cabbage, potatoes, white cauliflower, broccoli, and shiitake mushrooms.
People with diarrhea can also take milk and yogurt containing intestinal probiotics regularly, which helps to protect the intestinal mucosa and strengthen the absorption function of the intestinal mucosa.
In conclusion, the most important thing is to have a varied and balanced diet during chemotherapy, and not to focus on one food or a few foods, and not to think that only the expensive ones are good. (Contributed by Cheng Yu, Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University)