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Why a Plant-Based Diet is Good for Your Health | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

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For more information, recipes, and tips, and to watch more videos on Eating Well During Cancer, visit http://www.dana-farber.org/eatingwell.

Studies continue to support a link between obesity and increased risk for certain cancers. Eating a healthy, plant-based, balanced diet can not only help you manage your weight, but may also help reduce your risk for developing certain cancers, while supporting your immune system, helping you feel well during treatment, and promoting healthy survivorship.

Transcription:

I’m Stacy Kennedy, a nutrition specialist for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Welcome to Eating Well During Cancer. Today I’d like to talk to you about why a balanced, plant-based diet is good for your health.

Studies continue to support a link between excess body fat or obesity and the risk for cancer. We know that eating a healthy, plant-based, balanced diet can help you not only manage your weight but may also help reduce your risk for developing certain cancers, helping support your immune system to feel well during treatment, and also help to promote survivorship.

Eating balanced diet means choosing primarily unprocessed or minimally processed natural, fresh foods in abundance. In addition to that, drinking plenty of water and choosing a plant-based or lean protein is another important part of a balanced diet. A plant-based diet means that the majority of foods you’re eating are coming from plants. These include bright, colorful fruits and vegetables, but also other foods, like spices and herbs and seasonings, as well as nuts and seeds, whole grains, beans, and legumes.

It’s important to think about a variety of colorful foods, because those colors signify a lot of nutrition. Whether it’s a bright red like a beet, which are full of important phytonutrients to support your health, or bright, beautiful yellow like a mango, the color signifies a lot of vibrancy and a lot of nutrition.

Choosing local foods as often as possible will help not only increase the amount of vitamins and phytonutrients, but can also help to put away some concerns around pesticides or other contaminants. Certain foods are also important to choose as organic, and for more information on which foods are best to get organic, for recipes and lots of tips on how to create your own plant-based diet, we encourage you to visit our website or download our free app. On behalf of the nutrition department at Dana-Farber, I’m Stacy Kennedy.

The food we eat impacts all aspects of health, including our lung health. Subroto Paul, MD, Director of Thoracic Surgery, RWJBarnabas Health, offers insight into the foods that can help our lungs work their best.

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Paul, please visit https://www.rwjbh.org/doctors/subroto-paul-md-mph/.
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How to Manage Chemotherapy Symptoms Through Food | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

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How to Manage Chemotherapy Symptoms Through Food | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Eating well during chemotherapy treatment can be a challenge. For more information, recipes, videos, and tips, visit https://www.dana-farber.org/health-library/videos/eating-well-during-cancer/

Chemotherapy can affect both appetite and flavor preference But don’t despair! Here are ways to keep your body healthy and your immune system supported during treatment.

Transcription:

I’m Stacy Kennedy, a nutrition specialist for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
Welcome to eating well during cancer. Today, I’d like to talk with you about how to help manage symptoms associated with treatment, specifically with chemotherapy. During chemotherapy treatment, it’s very common for patients to not really feel like eating, or for appetite to be low, or the taste of food to be off. In addition there are often many other symptoms that can impact your overall wellness and ability to keep yourself well-nourished through a healthy diet. Things like fatigue are very common, bowel changes, like constipation or diarrhea, mouth sores, and nausea.

There are so many tips and tricks, and easy, simple ways that you can go about keeping your body healthy, your immune system supported during your treatment, even in the face of all of these symptoms. When it comes to taste changes, if food doesn’t taste good, it’s very hard for it be desirable to eat. One of the ways to help make food taste better is to think about some different flavors. Often times tart, or more sour flavors, things like a pomegranate, ginger, lemon, apples—those can help manage some of that off, or undetectable taste. Now, if you’re experiencing mouth sores, tart flavors can sometimes burn, so you would want to consider something a little more soothing. Think of the texture and flavor, say, of a baked sweet potato.

When it comes to a lot of symptoms that I described, there are some overarching, or common, themes that can really help to manage all of these symptoms. For example: To stay well hydrated. If water doesn’t taste good, consider flavoring your water naturally. Not only will you stay hydrated, you’ll get a boost in immune-supporting phytonutrients. One great tip for nausea is to make a tea using ginger and lemons. Ginger and lemon have both been shown in research to have some anti-nausea properties, and they’re in that flavor profile, which can be really, really helpful. In addition to that, having small, frequent meals and drinking your fluids in smaller amounts throughout the day can really make a big difference. Oftentimes, seeing a large plate of food will really decrease a person’s appetite during chemotherapy. So using a smaller plate, making things colorful and light, can really make a big, big difference.

When it comes to eating throughout the day, including a healthy source of protein is also a good way to help stave off nausea, and also to reduce some fatigue. When we think about keeping our bowels healthy, eating that plant-based diet, rich in fruits and vegetables, can really make a big difference, when it comes to constipation. If you’re experiencing diarrhea, some fruits and vegetables may be harder to digest. There are many ways to go about helping this, while still staying on your healthy diet. That would include sometimes making a smoothie, or fresh juice. For many more recipes and tips and tricks for managing your symptoms in a healthy, natural way, visit our website, or download our free app.

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