Cancer and Nutrition

Adding Calories

There are many ways to add calories, and eating high calorie foods is a good place to start. Caregivers and people with cancer can enjoy adding the following to increase calorie intake:

• Melt margarine onto hot foods such as toast, soups, vegetables, cooked cereals, rice and soft-boiled eggs.

• Choose mayonnaise instead of salad dressing for use in meat salads, in deviled eggs and on lettuce.

• Serve peanut butter - also high in protein - with an apple, banana, or pear, or spread it on a sandwich with mayonnaise. 

• Top puddings, pies, hot chocolate, fruit, gelatin and other desserts with whipped cream. Cook with heavy cream instead of milk. 

• Sprinkle nuts or seeds on vegetables, salads, and pasta, or sprinkle on desserts such as fruits, ice cream, pudding and custard

Adding Protein

It can be extremely beneficial for a person with cancer to receive extra protein, especially if they are healing after surgery. The following suggestions will help provide more healing proteins and extra calories to the diet:

• Add nonfat dry milk or powdered protein supplements, like Soy Protein Shakes, to regular milk. Also, they can be added to sauces and gravies or used for breading meat, fish or poultry. 

• Cook cereals with milk instead of water.

• Use milk, half-and-half and evaporated milk when making instant cocoa, canned soups, mashed potatoes, and puddings. 

• Add extra ice cream to milkshakes. 

• Add small pieces of meat, fish or poultry to soups and to vegetable, noodle and rice casseroles. 

• Add grated cheese to cream sauces, casseroles, or vegetables. 

• Melt sliced cheese over hot apple pie.

• Combine cottage cheese and cream cheese with fruit.

• Use cream cheese and margarine on hot bread or rolls. 

• Blend finely chopped hard-boiled eggs into sauces, gravies, chopped meats, or salad dressings or sprinkle over salads.  

Loss of Appetite

Sometimes medical treatments and therapies can cause a decrease in appetite. Here are some ways that caregivers can help make favorite dishes appealing again:

• Try seasonings such as lemon juice, mint, basil and other herbs and spices to perk up the taste and smell of food.

• Add sugar and salt to foods, if intake is not restricted.
  Serve food attractively and in a pleasing atmosphere.

• Vary the colors of foods on the plate and use garnishes such as lemon or lime wedges.

• Colorful place settings and soft background music can help make mealtimes more enjoyable, too.

• Use a therapeutic nutritional beverage such as ProSure to help reverse the metabolic changes that can affect appetite.

• Walk the dog or take an early-evening stroll before eating.

• Light exercise may help stimulate the appetite.

• Plan the biggest meal of the day when a person with cancer is most hungry, even if that’s early in the day.

• Serve foods a loved one enjoys whenever they feel like eating, even if it’s not a usual meal time:
   

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