Tolerable foods post chemo

[harrie]

Would anyone like to share suggestions on what tastes palatable post chemo tx? Or, what has not been very tasty. I can start. I found eating noodles like ramen is GOOD. Coffee I usually love, but after chemo the taste is just not there. Fish...forget it. Chips like freetos...good! Trailmix...pretty good. Most meats....bad. Bananas...good. Spaghetti....good. Turkey sandwiches...good.
Eggs...good.

[R.B.]

If you are thinking about diet you might like to look ad the "Breast Cancer Diet" thread by Rhondah, and the Greek Diet post.

There are lots of books. I found Smart Fats M Schmidt, and The China Study T Colin Campbell fascinating both of which can be found on the web for $20 and less..

You are what you eat. It is an old cliche but the more I read the more it is evident it holds good. Refined foods sugars etc low nutrient density hihg carbohydrate foods, trans fats etc are just putting a tiny cumulative dent in your health profile each time you eat them. I do too, have my lapses meals out etc but try and make it very occasional, and mostly find that the oat cookie or whatever it was I was hankering after actually tasted rather bland and was unsatisfying.

The food you eat alters your gene expression, and so if you get it right there is evidence it will reduce your risk profile.

RB

[Hazel Joyce]

The only things that taste good to me are fresh pineapple and lemonade!

[Melinda]

Wow what a topic,
I used to love coffee in the AM and now have reduced myself to tea, with a little honey and lemon. THe sweet things that I used to enjoy are no longer on my list....hopefully I will remember this once off chemo. Yougurt usually is a good substitiute... Dannon Lite and FIt, and bananas, The funniest is that when all else fails.... Breakfast hot pockets always allows me something in my stomach. After my 3rd round I was not eating well, becasue everything tasted so lousy... and I really beleived my platelets dropped from not eating properly. IN fact the 4th round was postponed a day because of them, so I went home and ate a cow;) Just kidding but did do high protien foods. Happiliy I was able to get my 4th round in the next day... count bounced to 103. Last night, I had a healthy dinner and today feel so much better than last round. Of course I am about a day behind my normal "side-effect" schedule but all in all feeling pretty good. The steak, asparagus and corn on the cob must have agreed with me. Maybe too much fiber, but I feel good.
Anyone else out there that has any suggestions?

[tousled1]

All I can say is experiement and see what tickles your taste buds. If you have a craving for something - eat it! I know when I was going through chemo what I liked one week, the next week I didn't. I found myself eating a lot of chicken rice soup and jello. Also my taste of what to drink chnaged consistently -- one week water, one week gatorade, etc. I finished my Herceptin the end of April and still have problems with my taste buds.

[Belinda]

I agree you are what you eat, but during chemo I am finding it too hard to be focussed on a radical dietary overhaul - instead, I am making little changes and good plans for when chemo is finished (eg - I am letting the white flour and pasta supplies run down and replacing them with wholemeal and organic, etc etc, buying the same fuit and veg for family, but trying to buy organic when I can, eating the same fish meals but trying to make them weekly rather than monthly etc).

During chemo, I am eating what I need to in order to keep my blood sugar stable, because I am finding that this helps me to stay sane - it helps (but doesn't completely prevent) the emotional crashes that overcome me in the 3-10 days post chemo. I still get them, but when my blood sugar is stable, they don't seem to be quite as low, or quite as deep. (Enough sleep, and keeping hydrated, are the other two things that help).

But, that's been hard because there have been times when even with emend and maxalon I have still vomited, retched or been extremely nauseous - so much so I have lost weight on chemo, whic isn't that common.

So for me, the kind of things that work in the 10 days post chemo, are baked potatoes (I nuke them in the microwave) with cooked or canned corn kernels on top, sometimes a little butter when my mouth is dry. Avocado masked on wholemeal toast, sometimes with tomato slices on top (depending on taste buds that day). Cream cheese spread on wholemeal toast. Bananas in between meals - sometimes I can only manage a mouthful or two, and I prefer them a bit on the green side - can't tolerate the smell or texture of them when they are ripe and fragrant. I seem to be able to manage white grapes well all of the time, so I buy lots and have them washed in the fridge ready to grab a handful. I also keep pitted prunes in the fridge - they help in the first days post-chemo when I am constipated, and are also a great rescue remedy when I feel like my blood sugars are dropping.

On my 'good' days (days 11-20) I can pretty much eat what I like - easy. No nausea.

Post-surgery and first cycle, I was eating raw muesli and flaxmeal every day, but I developed an aversion to it in the first cycle.

In my third and fourth cycles, I ate a big breakfast and lunch before chemo, drank heaps, then didn't eat dinner. The reason for this is I was vomiting or retching post-chemo anyway, and because of this I still have an aversion to the foods I ate for my first meals after chemo on cycles 1 and 2. My chemo was late afternoon, so this wasn't a problem for me - just made sure I had a reasonable breakfast on hand.

Hope that helps. Just go with what you can tolerate - be gentle to yourself, eat whatever you can to keep nourished during chemo.

Belindax

[Montana]

The only things I could tolerate were homemade macaroni and cheese, and real Coke with lots of crushed ice. Not exactly a good diet!

[Adriana Mangus]

Hi Harrie: The only thing I could eat and a whole bunch is pickles, crackers, pasta and 7up. Explore; you may find something else out there :)

Sending you positive Bives.......

[Adriana Mangus]

Hi Belinda: That's exactly what I did. This is my second time around so I got to be extra careful. I really liked the wheat pasta, (husband still does not know is 100% wheat je je je). I continue eating as usual, the BIG thing for me now is vegetables and fruit. Only organic, if there is nothing available, I buy frozen. I read an article regarding frozen vegs and fruits and nothing is loose during processing, this is specially true for vegs. It is much more expensisve, (I live en CA, an already pricey state to live in) but it's worth the price. I also buy all meats and chicken organic, to my surprise I enjoy the taste very much. Other than that nothing has changed, I continue eating the same foods as before.

[harrie]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I usually eat healthy, LOTS of fresh fruits and vegtables. HUGE salads. But for the post-chemo week I tend to eat whatever is tolerable. The lemonade I am going to have to try. That sounds good. My last round of chemo is this coming Friday.

Harrie

[StephN]

It has been a while since I had chemo, but for a while I had a lot of those drugs so have a good memory of what bothered my mouth sores and acid stomach and what didn't.

Organic chicken broth is very versatile and I found that I could add all sorts of leftovers and have something nutritious and palatable. If I had leftover rice or couscous, veggies, mushrooms, even scrambled egg it was good.

Bagels and muffins were good to have around to make little sandwiches with or toast with peanut butter or melted cheese or a soft spreadable cheese such as Rondele with spinach leaves.

I ate an egg almost every morning for the protein. Eating in the morning was essential for my energy level.

Gave up caffeine and went to the gamut of herbal and detox teas. I still use these without sugar or sweetner. Like Ginger Ale a lot and it was great on a hot day with some blueberry or pomegranate juice as a spritzer.

Stevia or Sweet Leaf Stevia. This is a great substitute if you still need something sweet in your drink or cereal. Hubby is diabetic and he uses it, though I rarely do.

Puddings were good and nicely coated my mouth sores. Jello as well, but not much as it is too sweet and I hate the taste of the "diet" foods. The chemos made these even more sharp and metallic to my taste.

Pastas are very bland but you can add whatever feels/tastes good on any given day. I would fry up some ground turkey with herbs and this worked well for me. Or dice up some tomatoes, add some portabello or shiitake mushrooms sauteed in olive oil and then toss in more olive oil.

I shifted to about 85% organic and try to maintain that. Am strict about ONLY organic MILK. Good luck!