What to eat and not to eat during CHEMO and RADs

Mama G

Just thought I'd start a thread about this to see how many of our oncologists agree on certain things. Like the vitamins for example. Most seem to say NO until it's over.
How about SUGAR?
Coffee?
Antioxidants?
ect....

Mine says to eat anything NOW to stay healthy and keep up my weight, but AFTER chemo to load up on the veges/fruits and keep meat at a minimum.

Sher43009

My oncologist (or maybe my
My oncologist (or maybe my surgeon) gave me the ASC booklet "Nutrition fo the Person with Cancer during Treatment". It's a great guide that tells you what to eat for what side effects. As far as vitamins he said as long as the daily dose is not more than 100%.

teresa41

Sher43009 said:

My oncologist (or maybe my
My oncologist (or maybe my surgeon) gave me the ASC booklet "Nutrition fo the Person with Cancer during Treatment". It's a great guide that tells you what to eat for what side effects. As far as vitamins he said as long as the daily dose is not more than 100%.

my oncologist and radiation
my oncologist and radiation dr told me to eat what i wanted and i took vitamins during chemo and radiation.. they also gave me books on nutrition.

Whoknowz

Mine said to definitely
Mine said to definitely continue my daily multivitamin but not to take any antioxidants otherwise. Also no green tea. Discouraged citrus juices because of acidity adding to mouth issues. Nothing else prohibited. After I lost so much weight so fast, they suggested a glass of wine with dinner to help the appetite.

We haven't gotten to what to do after treatments are done.

Kat11

teresa41 said:

my oncologist and radiation
my oncologist and radiation dr told me to eat what i wanted and i took vitamins during chemo and radiation.. they also gave me books on nutrition.

My Onc said eat whatever I
My Onc said eat whatever I can durning chemo.

shortscake

i was told
I was told to eat what every i wanted and i try but cant taste anything so it makes hard to eat.

TraciInLA

Multivitamin fine, limit soy and alcohol, not too much milk
Because there had been so much talk about vitamins on this board, I made a specific point of asking my medical oncologist (before chemo) and my radiation oncologist (before rads) about my daily multivitamin. Both said I could continue taking it during treatment with no problem -- my radiation oncologist said that a basic multivitamin was fine, but not to add any additional antioxidant vitamins during radiation.

I also had the soy conversation with my oncologist and with a 2nd oncologist I saw who's a breast cancer specialist. Both agreed that it's impossible to completely eliminate soy from my diet, but to avoid foods that are soy-based, like soy milk, edamame, etc. My oncologist said, "If you have a little soy sauce on your Chinese food once in awhile, don't stress about it."

My oncologist also mentioned that a glass or two of milk per day is good, but not to go too crazy with milk, because of the hormones that may be in it.

I know that alcohol's estrogen-like properties can also be a problem for breast cancer survivors -- but I rarely drink, so I didn't bother to ask him about that.

Traci

Ritzy

TraciInLA said:

Multivitamin fine, limit soy and alcohol, not too much milk
Because there had been so much talk about vitamins on this board, I made a specific point of asking my medical oncologist (before chemo) and my radiation oncologist (before rads) about my daily multivitamin. Both said I could continue taking it during treatment with no problem -- my radiation oncologist said that a basic multivitamin was fine, but not to add any additional antioxidant vitamins during radiation.

I also had the soy conversation with my oncologist and with a 2nd oncologist I saw who's a breast cancer specialist. Both agreed that it's impossible to completely eliminate soy from my diet, but to avoid foods that are soy-based, like soy milk, edamame, etc. My oncologist said, "If you have a little soy sauce on your Chinese food once in awhile, don't stress about it."

My oncologist also mentioned that a glass or two of milk per day is good, but not to go too crazy with milk, because of the hormones that may be in it.

I know that alcohol's estrogen-like properties can also be a problem for breast cancer survivors -- but I rarely drink, so I didn't bother to ask him about that.

Traci

I was told no vitamins
I was told no vitamins during rads because you don't want your cells being healthy. I was told no soy by my oncologist as I am ER and PR +. You need to ask your own rads oncologist and your own oncologist to see what they say. I am speaking only for rads as I didn't have chemo. They all seem to differ.

Sue

survivorbc09

shortscake said:

i was told
I was told to eat what every i wanted and i try but cant taste anything so it makes hard to eat.

During rads I could eat
During rads I could eat anything. However, I was told to not take any vitamins at all.

Good luck!

Mama G

Ritzy said:

I was told no vitamins
I was told no vitamins during rads because you don't want your cells being healthy. I was told no soy by my oncologist as I am ER and PR +. You need to ask your own rads oncologist and your own oncologist to see what they say. I am speaking only for rads as I didn't have chemo. They all seem to differ.

Sue

THanks for your replies
IT's so interesting about the vitamins. I wonder why some say ok and others say no way.
Also, I didn't know about the soy sauce. What's up with that? I was told no soy milk because it has been found to cause cancer (the ones here in America are not the same as the soy used in other countries according to my first onc)
Keep em coming! We can all use advice of this nature!

Tux

I had no restrictions on
I had no restrictions on vitamins/soy. However, I relied heavily on soy products before bc & I have now cut way back, even though the med onc said it was OK. Depends on the doctor, I guess.

MyTurnNow

Yes, very interesting
Yes, very interesting responses so far. I, too, wonder why we get different recommendations from our doctors. My onco said to avoid soy, I'm ER+ and PR+. Rads onco said to eliminate vitamins until radiation treatments were completed. No one said anything about green tea and I drink green tea daily. I'm not a big alcohol drinker so I never asked but did partake in a couple of beers on the weekends I watched college and pro football.

TraciInLA

MyTurnNow said:

Yes, very interesting
Yes, very interesting responses so far. I, too, wonder why we get different recommendations from our doctors. My onco said to avoid soy, I'm ER+ and PR+. Rads onco said to eliminate vitamins until radiation treatments were completed. No one said anything about green tea and I drink green tea daily. I'm not a big alcohol drinker so I never asked but did partake in a couple of beers on the weekends I watched college and pro football.

EatingWell magazine review of research on alcohol
Just thought I'd share an article that I found very helpful -- the November/December issue of EatingWell magazine had an article entitled "Is the Party Over? The Latest Research on the Pros and Cons of Drinking Alcohol," that included a specific review of recent research on alcohol and breast cancer.

The article is at http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/is_the_party_over_the_latest_research_on_the_pros_and_cons_o

If you'd rather not follow a link, just go to their homepage, eatingwell.com, and search "is the party over" in the search box at the top of the page.

Traci

MAJW

Vitamins....
I was told by all 3, surgeon, medical oncologist and my radiation oncologist.....NO vitamins and no alcohol... .don't drink so that didn't matter.....no green teas..I was told by all to take 1800 mg of calcium and Vitamin D-3 daily, during both chemo and rads......as chemo is really hard on your bones......different strokes for different folks....each needs to follow the advice of their own physicians.

Kylez

MAJW said:

Vitamins....
I was told by all 3, surgeon, medical oncologist and my radiation oncologist.....NO vitamins and no alcohol... .don't drink so that didn't matter.....no green teas..I was told by all to take 1800 mg of calcium and Vitamin D-3 daily, during both chemo and rads......as chemo is really hard on your bones......different strokes for different folks....each needs to follow the advice of their own physicians.

I was told to not take any
I was told to not take any vitamins at all during radiation treatments. I was also told to avoid soy whenever possible. I don't know anything about chemo.

As with everything, do what your own doctor's tell you to do, not what you read on here because we are all different.

KYLEZ ♥

carkris

Kylez said:

I was told to not take any
I was told to not take any vitamins at all during radiation treatments. I was also told to avoid soy whenever possible. I don't know anything about chemo.

As with everything, do what your own doctor's tell you to do, not what you read on here because we are all different.

KYLEZ ♥

i take a daily vitamin
i take a daily vitamin because i simply dont get any good vitamins in with my GI issues. My doc thinks they are a waste of time and money "you just urinate them out" I am taking a class afterwards that is offered at the hospital because I am pretty debilitated. hope it helps.