What Should The Diet For Breast Cancer Patients Include?
Breast cancer patients often need to follow a diet that is different from what is considered healthy for the rest of the population. They need to eat to maintain energy and overcome the side effects of treatment.
When health is good, eating enough is usually not a problem. However, faced with cancer and the corresponding treatment, this can be a real challenge. That’s why today we’ll explain what the diet of breast cancer patients should be like.
Breast cancer and food
Breast cancer is a type of cancer that forms in the cells of the breast. After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in women in the United States. Breast cancer can occur in both men and women, but it is much more common in women.
Substantial support for awareness and research funding has helped advances in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Survival rates from this disease have increased and the number of related deaths is steadily decreasing.
What should the diet of breast cancer patients be like?
Eating correctly during breast cancer treatment can help:
- Stay healthy
- maintain energy
- Get the right nutrients
- Avoid unexpected weight gain
While you are having chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or both, follow these tips:
- Drink at least 8 glasses of non-calorie (ie water, tea) or low-calorie beverages each day. Not drinking enough fluid can cause dizziness, nausea, constipation, fatigue and
urinary tract infection. - Avoid skipping meals. Try to eat small meals, spaced regularly throughout the day.
- Limit alcohol consumption or stop drinking altogether. If you have any questions, talk to your team of doctors.
In what proportion and what to eat?
The balance of food on your plate is important when you are trying to eat healthily. Remember the image of the dish shown below. She can help you choose the right portion size for different foods.
The protein can be vegetable or animal
Vegetable protein is obtained from quinoa, sprouts, legumes, wheat, vegetables, among other sources. Animal protein is obtained from white meat such as fish, turkey, chicken and others. You can eat red meat, but only once or twice a week, due to its high cholesterol content.
Fruits and vegetables of all colors are welcome
If patients are not undergoing chemotherapy, they can consume raw fruits and vegetables. However, if they are undergoing chemotherapy and have entered a state of neutropenia (low immunity), they should only consume cooked food.
What should breast cancer patients avoid in their diet?
Hearing a big string of “no” can be demotivating. For this reason, we recommend that you don’t think about “nots”. Instead, pay attention to why you should avoid these foods.
- A cancer patient should avoid canned, smoked and fried foods. Sausages are also not an option because they contain nitrites and nitrates, carcinogens, as indicated by the World Health Organization (WHO). Smoked, grilled and French fries foods contain unhealthy saturated fats.
- It is recommended that, in the case of breast cancer, the consumption of soy and grapefruit be restricted. For a patient with another type of cancer, soy can be beneficial because of the proteins it has. However, for a patient undergoing chemotherapy, this food must be restricted as it may cause some type of interaction with the treatment.
- Grapefruit produces an enzyme that helps eliminate medications from the body and also interacts with other drugs used in chemotherapy.
- If you have low defenses or neutropenia, it’s best to avoid probiotics. They are good regenerators, but in the case of patients with low immunity, they can have the opposite effect. For example: instead of defending the intestinal flora, they can cause a type of infection.
Finally, in addition to diet, physical activity is also recommended. Brisk walking, yoga, and dancing are activities that help generate endorphins for breast cancer patients.
