tips on eating during chemo?

tan39

Does anyone have any tips of what the best things are to try to eat afew days after chemo, when nausea still there but hunger kicks in, and does everything have to taste like cardboard! is it true that drinking more fluids helps?, i'm on FEC 4th round coming up soon. thanx, Tan x

Unknown

Hi tan.
You will probably get a range of responses to your post as chemo seems to affect people differently, but some things seem to hold true across the board:
YES drinking lots of 'light' liquids (no alcohol and little caffeine) helps. You want to flush those drugs out of your system asap after treatment.
I ate small, light, and more frequent meals after chemo when I began to feel like food was my friend again. Avoided heavy, greasy, and spicy stuff for several days.
Your taste will definitely be affected. Some people say using plastic utensils and avoiding drinking from metal cans, etc. helps. You might try some 'distinctive' seasonings to mask the 'chemo after-taste' such as garlic or lime. Experiment and see what works for you.
Try to eat as healthily as you can to keep your body built up nutritionally, but hey, if there was ever a time to 'treat' yourself once in awhile, this is it.
Good luck and God bless.

babebussie

I really cant offer to many tips but maybe if you eat lite foods like fruit and steamed veggies (bland) maybe that should help your tummy. I have been lucky praise god during my treatments. Food has never been a problem for me because my diet hasnt changed. My chemo drug is taxotere and i'll be doing 4 rounds of that, actually 3 more rounds to go. When i first started out i was on cytoxan & adriamician (4 rounds). Now that the surgery is over i'm on taxotere.
So try the veggies and the fruit okay.

I hope that helps you, god bless!

ninjamom

Tan
What worked for me was milkshakes and fruit smothies, the cold feeling down my throat help with nausea. The times I was too tired to make the shakes I would just have a tb of sherbert to feel the cold down my throat and then I would be able to eat a little.
Also, eat a little every 2 hours, lots of protein. When the hunger kicked in I was eating scrambled eggs, beans, milkshakes (with protein powder). My nephew made a milk, bananas, vanilla ice cream and 2 table spoons of peanut butter milkshake and it was quite good.

Are you taking your meds? that also helped me.

Also lots of liquids, I got tired of water, (didn't taste good) so I added Crystal Light and it made the water taste less salty.

I hope this helps you. Good Luck

chenheart

You are getting some really good tips and advice. It is truly imperative to keep hydrated and your system flushed. Whether you add flavoring, such as lemon, is up to you. Ditto whether you find room temp more palatable than ice water or vice versa. My b/f would bring me a "snack plate" in the late afternoon~ an assortment of cheeses, some grapes, and crackers. Some days, but not often, when I wanted to say ,"Hey! I am still ME~ I would even have one small glass of wine with my cheese and crackers. This was never on a chemo day, but on the days when I felt good and feisty and larger than the cancer! I had enough days of needing "whine with that Cheese", that somedays I gave in and had the real thing!

Make sure your let your Dr know if you are sick from the treatment~ this is not what they want for you and they will presecibe meds to help alleviate that.

Hugs,
Claudia

mmontero38

Hi Tan:
The first few days after chemo, I found that soft foods such as pasta and mashed potatoes were the only foods by stomach could tolerate. The other days I would eat small meals more frequently. I stayed away from acidy, spicy, fried foods. Grilled or broiled worked best for me. Also, Lots of liquids. Water tasted funny so I added the Crystal light powders to the bottled water and it helped. Drink at least 8 glasses a day it really does help. Good luck with the rest of your treatments. Hugs, Lili

tan39

thanks for the tips all, what is crystal lite powder? im from Australia so is this a worldwide thing? Tanx

cabbott

tan39 said:

thanks for the tips all, what is crystal lite powder? im from Australia so is this a worldwide thing? Tanx

Crystal Lite is a brand name of powered flavored kid's drink mix. It comes in lots of flavors here like Pink Lemonade, Stawberry Kiwi, or Raspberry Cooler, and things like that. It doesn't add calories, but it is sweet(thanks to artificial sweeteners) and flavorful. I bet you have other powered drink mixtures down under that would also work. Or you could squeeze a lemon or lime or other fruit juice into some water on ice for naturally flavored water. There are some cookbooks out there for folks on chemo. Most that I have read suggest frequent small snack meals. Whole grains, potatoes, and fruits sit better with most folks compared to meat, fat, and spicy dishes. Small custards (like egg custard, corn custard, pumpkin pie custard) might go down easily and provide protein and needed calories. The old fashioned kind of oatmeal tastes a whole lot better than the instant kind, but that depends if you have the time and energy to make it. If you have a small freezer and a microwave, you can quickly heat up some macaroni and cheese or other pasta dish and eat before the smell gets to you. I remember being a bit queezy after my last operation. My mom wanted to cook something so I would eat up and get my strength back. Fortunately my husband warned her that my tummy was badly affected by cooking smells and other odors. Usually I love the smells of a kitchen, but this time it was a trigger for problems. So my mom being the great mom that she is, made my dad go out and buy a store cooked chicken and served it with instant mashed potatoes and green beans. I managed a plateful which I never could have done if she had filled the place with the smells of the delicious things she usually makes. Good luck finding out what works for you!

Unknown

Have you tried ginger tea? Ginger is very good for settling the stomach. It is spicy, which may be good. It is best made with fresh ginger from the produce dept. For a cup of tea, cut some of the ginger root off, about like three carrot medallions. Peel them and throw them in a sauce pan with water. Boil then simmer for about five minutes. The longer, the stronger. If it is too strong, thin with water. I sure hope it helps. I never had much of a problem with nauseau (except spelling it!) so I couldn't really test it on myself. I do like it though and still drink it. And, as some of the ladies have suggested, yum to those fruit smoothies. Have you got a Jamba juice in Australia? Hope you find some relief in these suggestions. love, Joyce

Unknown

Have you tried ginger tea? Ginger is very good for settling the stomach. It is spicy, which may be good. It is best made with fresh ginger from the produce dept. For a cup of tea, cut some of the ginger root off, about like three carrot medallions. Peel them and throw them in a sauce pan with water. Boil then simmer for about five minutes. The longer, the stronger. If it is too strong, thin with water. I sure hope it helps. I never had much of a problem with nauseau (except spelling it!) so I couldn't really test it on myself. I do like it though and still drink it. And, as some of the ladies have suggested, yum to those fruit smoothies. Have you got a Jamba juice in Australia? Hope you find some relief in these suggestions. love, Joyce

KathiM

Small amounts, frequently. Comfort stuff...my fav was scalloped potatoes (potatoes baked in a light cream sauce).

I drank 4 quarts of water day before, day of, day after chemo...now, that is a bit over the top...but I don't have any residual tingles or other side effects. Any flavored or unflavored water will do...do they have Propel 'down under'?
I found that this didn't change taste like most everything else. The BIG key is to remain hydrated, as Claudia said...I didn't, and ended up in the hospital with a drug addict for a roommate simply for hydration!!!!

Hugs, Kathi

tan39

tan39 said:

thanks for the tips all, what is crystal lite powder? im from Australia so is this a worldwide thing? Tanx

thanks again everyone, Cabbott, the custard suggestion sounds great, never thought of that one. I will look out for the powder as well. As i am getting such good advice, is anyone else on FEC or i think its CEF over there. Do the side effects seem to be worse each time?, i'm getting ready for 4th out of 6 cycle and am praying for fewer side effects each time (hasn't happened yet)! I am also having Zolidex injections but think this just makes me weepy not sick. AND how long after last treatment before anyones hair grew back ?? thanks again everyone xxx

mmontero38

tan39 said:

thanks again everyone, Cabbott, the custard suggestion sounds great, never thought of that one. I will look out for the powder as well. As i am getting such good advice, is anyone else on FEC or i think its CEF over there. Do the side effects seem to be worse each time?, i'm getting ready for 4th out of 6 cycle and am praying for fewer side effects each time (hasn't happened yet)! I am also having Zolidex injections but think this just makes me weepy not sick. AND how long after last treatment before anyones hair grew back ?? thanks again everyone xxx

Hi Tan:
I was on CAF and lost my hair 2 weeks after the 1st infusion. I can't say that the side effects got better. They actually got worse with every infusion and I had 8 rounds of it. Thought I was going to die by the last one but we made it through and so will you. It then started growing back gradually. I had my last infusion on Nov. 16th and my 1st haircut by March. It is now very curly and thick. Good luck to you Tan and keep us posted with your progress. Hugs to you, Lili