Staying healthy during cancer treatment

Dr Elizabeth Hart offers diet, exercise and stress management guidelines to help you keep healthy during your oncology treatment.

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Many cancer patients often ask me what they can do to help their bodies during cancer treatment to make sure they get the best treatment results and minimise side effects. There are a few basic guidelines in the area of lifestyle, including diet, exercise, and stress management. 

Diet

1. Make sure to eat a whole food diet. Processed foods are not good for you and your body can’t use them to repair and heal effectively. The more ingredients a food has on the label, the worse it probably is for you. Cook, or get someone to cook, from scratch so you know exactly what is in it.
2. Protein 1.5 – 2g/kg/day. Remember 100g of chicken has 30g of usable protein in it. It’s best to divide the protein out over the day into three meals and protein snacks between meals. All forms of protein are acceptable, including meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy (if you tolerate it), and vegetarian proteins like soya, tofu, chickpeas, lentils, etc. 
3. Phytonutrients are plant chemicals that are good for you as they boost immunity, act as antioxidants, and provide essential support for biochemical functions in the body. They are the compounds that give fruit and vegetables their colour, so the easiest way to know if you are getting enough is to eat the rainbow. Eat as many servings as you can daily from different colour groups (red, green, orange, yellow, purple, brown, white). Be adventurous and try different fruit and vegetables that you don’t normally eat. The guidelines now are nine to 12 servings per day. They don’t have to be huge servings. It’s the variety that is key.
4. If you’re eating the above fruit and vegetable servings, you should be getting enough fibre. The optimal amount is 30 to 50g per day. This is important to keep your gut healthy. Seventy percent of your immune system is in your gut, so keeping it healthy is a priority. Fibre ensures a healthy balance of microbes in your digestive tract and makes sure you eliminate waste and toxins optimally.
5. Good fats are essential in a healthy diet because every single cell wall in the body is made up of fats and proteins. Ideally you want omega 3 from oily fish, and other fats from plant sources like avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil, etc. Avoid sunflower/canola oils as they are high in omega 6 and promote inflammation. They also alter into trans fats at relatively low temperatures. Cook with olive or avocado oil, or butter from a good source. Animal fats are not terribly bad for you, as we have been led to believe, but moderation is important.
6. If you eat protein (as mentioned) at every meal, a large variety of fruit and vegetables and snack on proteins, you’ll keep your blood glucose stable. Blood glucose spikes lead to insulin spikes which causes insulin resistance, and makes your body more inflamed and leads to fatigue. 

Exercise

Regular exercise has been shown to decrease your risk of getting cancer in the first place and decreases your chance of recurrence if you’ve already been diagnosed. It’s also one of the most effective ways to treat fatigue, one of the most common side effects of cancer treatment. 

The guidelines are 150 minutes of mild to moderate cardiovascular exercise per week, and two hours of strength/resistance/flexibility training. That is optimal, but you need to start from where you are right now and build up slowly. Don’t stress your body out by doing too much too soon. 

Stress management

Stress hormones play havoc with your body’s defence mechanisms. I can hear you say, “But I have cancer; of course, I’m stressed!” Point taken, but you can manage stress better using various techniques. 

The easiest is abdominal breathing: breathe in a box – 4 slow counts inhalation, hold for 4 counts, exhale for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts. Make sure that with each breath you’re activating your diaphragm by breathing right into your abdomen. Repeat 10 times at any time of the day you are feeling panicked or stressed. 

Everyone is unique in what they need to manage stress, and it’s important you spend time working out what works for you. Spending time in nature, going for a massage, having coffee with a good friend, exercising, painting, reading. Whatever it is, make sure you schedule it into your life on a regular, if not daily basis. 

A quiet time daily has also been shown to have enormous health benefits. There are fantastic apps these days with meditations, Bible scriptures, or other resources to help you. 

If you need help working out a specific plan, try working with a health coach who can help you discover what works for you. 

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