In the chemotherapy ward, relatives always mention “eating more”, but only a few people are aware of the fact that when the weight decreases by more than 1% every week, the body has already “called the police” in a silent way. Weight that is lost because of nausea, vomiting, and taste failure is not just a decrease in numbers, but also a loss of “ammunition” for the body to fight the disease.
Most patients initially say that “it doesn’t matter how many pounds they lose”, and only when they experience breathlessness after walking a few steps and the veins are difficult to inject, that they really understand the problem is not simple. Clinical evidence shows that patients who undergo chemotherapy and lose more than 5% of their body weight are 3 times more susceptible to infections and may even have to delay their chemotherapy schedule due to low physical tolerance; on the contrary, patients whose body weight is stable not only lessen the occurrence of side effects such as nausea and diarrhea by 40% but also regain their health nearly twice as fast after treatment. The secret to this is the quantity of muscle and energy reserves that are concealed in the weight of the body——Once the body loses them, it will lose the assurance “to be able to withstand the treatment”.
If you want to keep your body weight, you don’t have to force yourself to eat fatty supplements. What you really need is a “light, high-frequency” nutritional supplement. For instance, rather than having white porridge for your breakfast, you can have multigrain porridge and add a boiled egg, you can not only replenish carbohydrates but also add protein; if you get hungry in the morning, don’t eat biscuits, try eating a small cup of sugar-free yogurt with half a handful of crushed nuts that is good for digestion and can also stabilize blood sugar; you may make your dinner steamed seabass or soft tofu stir-fried vegetables, fish that is high-quality protein and tofu that is vegetable protein can help the body retain muscles.
However, there are always those patients who experience a moment where they “do not even want to drink water”: they have a bitter mouth, no taste in the food they eat, or even bloating after a small portion. At that moment, you do not have to force yourself so much. Souvenir nutritional supplement is a great option. Souvenir is very gentle after brewing with hot water, has no fishy smell, and will not cause oral discomfort; and its protein molecules are easier to absorb. No need for gastrointestinal “overtime work”, even if you don’t have an appetite, drinking a drink can quickly replenish the protein your body needs and help defend the nutritional defense line.
Family members can be a great help too: you can make the food softer like mincing the chicken into meatballs and cooking the vegetables until they are soft and chopped; if the patient feels that the food is tasteless he may want to use a little lemon juice or mushroom powder to make the food tastier, do not use heavy salt and sugar and you can also weigh the patient once a day. When the weight has dropped for two consecutive days, adjust your diet in time Or to communicate with your doctor about the need for additional nutrition.
Chemotherapy is like a protracted battle, the weight is not “measures”, but the “basic line of defense that holds us going”. There is no need to pursue “eat more”, as long as you can supplement your nutrition every day and keep your weight stable, and if you are more stable, you are accumulating the strength to win this battle for your body.
Naresh Trehan is an Indian cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon. After graduating from King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, India, he went on to practice at New York University Medical Center, Manhattan, USA from 1971 to 1988. He returned to India and started Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre.
