It often happens in the hospital ward, a large group of family members of tumor patients surround the doctor and ask whether they should eat this or not, so what can tumor patients eat? Can they eat sea cucumber, shark’s fin, bird’s nest and other tonic things? Can they eat spicy food? Sichuan people do not like spicy food, but can they eat and drink freely during their illness?
About “hairy food avoidance”.
At present, there is no effective means to cure malignant tumors, and some patients are suffering from recurrence and metastasis soon after surgery and radiotherapy. Some patients and their families think that the reason for recurrence and metastasis is carelessness in diet or laxity in “avoiding food”. In some places, it is said that chicken cannot be eaten, fish, shrimp and seafood are “hairy”, and scaleless fish cannot be eaten. In many ancient prescriptions, according to the different drugs also recorded a lot of corresponding “taboos”, some are quite strict. However, in the clinical work, we did not encounter any definite cases of recurrence or deterioration due to the laxity of “taboo”. Some early stage patients with good results of radical surgery did not have recurrence or metastasis even without dietary “taboos”. This shows that there is no scientific basis for blaming recurrence and metastasis entirely on the laxity of the “diet”. Further scientific research is needed on the issue of “avoidance of food”. In this regard, appropriate “avoidance of food” is still needed, but we should oppose the behavior of over-emphasizing “avoidance of food”. The “taboo” for tumor patients should not be too strict, and the recipes should not be too narrow. Some people make a fuss about it, so that the patients are at a loss, which makes their nutritional status deteriorate day by day, which is very harmful.
The diet of tumor patients should not only focus on its content, but also consider their hobbies and eating environment. Eating their favorite food can increase the secretion of gastric juice, which can promote appetite and improve the absorption and utilization of food. In addition, the eating environment can also affect the patient’s appetite, so a pleasant eating environment should be created for the patient. The diet of tumor patients includes common rice, soft rice, semi-liquid food and liquid food, which should be given according to patients’ specific condition and digestion and absorption ability. For example, some patients after neck surgery are prone to choking and coughing when eating, so they dare not eat, so they should be given soft rice or soft and dry semi-liquid food. Patients with neck radiation therapy have less saliva, dry and painful throat and difficulty in swallowing, so diet should be more watery and cooler.
Due to the different treatments received by tumor patients, the appropriate diet should also be given according to the specific treatment. For example, patients receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy often have abnormal taste and anorexia, and everything they eat becomes bitter or tastes wrong. The ways to deal with this are: eat more high-protein, high-nutrition food and fresh fruits and vegetables; add condiments in food; make more food with good color, flavor and shape to arouse appetite; drink a small cup of acidic beverage before meal can play an appetizing role; give patients appropriate amount of zinc and vitamin B complex, which can also improve the sense of taste and increase appetite.
The treatment methods of malignant tumor are mainly based on surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and with medication. Patients who receive different ways of treatment should also make certain dietary adjustments accordingly.
After surgery, patients should eat more high-protein products, such as lean meat, fish, eggs, milk, soy milk, tofu, soy products, etc., to facilitate the growth and recovery of wounds.
Chemotherapy patients should have a light, easily digestible and nutritious diet, and can eat less and more meals. Patients are also mostly accompanied by bone marrow suppression and low blood picture, they should eat more red dates, peanuts, wolfberries, spinach, liver, or stewed cavity bone, ribs, stick bone soup with astragalus and angelica, etc., which is beneficial to enhance white blood cells and hematocrit.
Radiotherapy patients should eat more heat-clearing and yin-supporting and detoxifying products to reduce radiotherapy reactions due to heat toxicity damage. For example, patients with oral cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer have obvious symptoms of dry throat, sore throat and difficulty in swallowing during radiotherapy. Rinse your mouth with warm salt water in the morning and evening.
“Doctor, can I eat eggs?” , “Doctor, can I eat seafood?” These are questions often asked by many cancer patients and their families.
Chinese people are very concerned about eating and avoiding eating, which is also the concern of Chinese medicine. People are food-oriented, so of course we should be careful about eating. So how to eat when you have cancer? Is there any precaution? Or should cancer patients avoid eating?
In fact, it is difficult to answer this question accurately, and there may be a hundred answers for a hundred people because there are few relevant studies and lack of standards. Although there are a lot of related popular science books, especially the nutritional approach of many nutrition experts, which can certainly be used as a reference, my opinion is that diet should be properly precautionary, but it does not need to be overly complicated, which will distract limited energy and sometimes make people very tired and overwhelmed. So much time is spent day after day tossing around whether this can be eaten, whether that can be eaten to fight cancer, and the so-called cancer prevention and anti-cancer recipes, most of which, in my opinion, are not very reliable, but the people believe in this very much, so there is a market for such books, and the resulting misinformation to the people is also very deep.
In the consultation questions from cancer patients and their families and in medical check-ups, one of the most frequently asked questions is, “Can I eat so-and-so? In fact, except for a very few special cases, most of the foods can be eaten by cancer patients. The key is not to be “biased” or “too much”, and the so-called bad foods are only relative. Balance is most important. The diet of cancer patients should be viewed in a dialectical way, that is, we should not go to extremes.
Why do the Chinese people like to ask whether they can eat such questions? In fact, both TCM and Western medicine have valid points, so we should integrate the views of TCM and Western medicine. This is especially true during cancer treatment. A balanced and scientific diet is the key to ensure the supply of nutrients required by the body and to help control the disease.
Some people think that cancer patients should have an all-vegetarian diet. I think that if it is not for religious purposes, an all-vegetarian diet is not the best choice, and it is not conducive to a balanced supply of nutrients, nor is it conducive to physical recovery and disease control. An all-vegetarian diet is not scientific, and eating too much meat is also not scientific. It is still the same principle that the diet should be balanced, and the recipes should not be too narrow and diverse.
Does it mean that cancer patients do not need to avoid eating? Of course, we can’t say so, but it is still necessary to avoid general taboos, such as quitting smoking, preferably not drinking alcohol, and eating less spicy and oily food, fried and barbecued food, and indigestible food, etc. Such taboos are necessary. Other daily diets do not need to pay too much attention to not eating this and that, or the so-called tonic products every day.
The diet of cancer patients should be balanced and diversified to take care of both the need of cancer prevention and the need to cooperate with treatment. Therefore, for patients undergoing cancer treatment, due to various factors, including possible weakness after surgery, nausea and vomiting caused by chemoradiation or loss of appetite, in order to recover their strength, they need targeted special nutritional requirements based on a balanced and diversified diet, and it is recommended to follow the advice of a specialist according to their physical condition and ongoing treatment at that time.