Julie Lanford, MPH, RD, CSO, LDN, also known as "The Cancer Dietitian", is a board-certified specialist in oncology nutrition and a registered dietitian-nutritionist. She's been a registered dietitian for over 10 years, most of which has been focused working with cancer patients. Julie recently discussed on Patient Power what to eat when you don't feel like eating.
Many cancer patients deal with lack of nourishment to the body because of lack of appetite or digestive issues. Why do digestive challenges occur? What side effects should you be looking for?
This is the bottom line: if you do not get enough nutrition, your body will have challenges. These difficulties could include things like unintentional weight loss, which frequently happens because patients don't feel like eating.
Typically the weight lost during treatment is muscle mass, which is a concern because muscle gives energy and support to the immune system. Those biological effects can lead to weakness and fatigue and that can make healing especially hard.
Julie gave some tips to those who are struggling with not feeling like eating:
Julie has a YouTube channel called the Cancer Dietitian with recipes for nutrition supplement drinks, ice cream, pudding, smoothies, etc. She also has a website cancerdietitian.com to keep updated on oncology nutrition.
To watch the full video or read the interview, click here.
about the author
Erika Johnson
Myeloma Crowd Editorial Contributor, Nursing student, and cancer advocate.
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