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Cancer Nutrition: Working With a Dietician
Dietician professionalism speeds colon cancer recovery
Understanding cancer nutrition will give you a much greater chance of beating colon cancer. Your needs and problems with eating will change throughout treatment. Ideally, your doctor will recommend a registered dietician to assist you with a personalized diet plan. The dietician will collaborate with you to create a good colon cancer diet plan.
Your Role
- keeping a food log
- informing the dietician of your medical history
- telling your dietician about supplements you take
- explaining your lifestyle and family influences on your eating
- asking questions about things you don't understand
- telling your dietician if you have any problems with the nutrition plan
- telling your dietician about how tastes, likes and dislikes change
- reporting nausea, diarrhea, gas, constipation, lack of appetite, and energy levels
The Dietician's Role
- checking in with your doctor
- continually reviewing your blood chemistry
- asking you about your likes, lifestyle, family influence, appetite, medical history etc.
- explaining the what, when, why and how the food choices they recommend affect you
- keeping you up-to-date on current research
- working with you to solve problems and create goals
- checking in, and updating/changing plans as necessary
- checking to see if supplements are necessary or if they will counteract treatment
- answering all of your questions
The Food Log
You begin a food log before you even meet with your dietician. He or she needs to know what you normally eat over the course of a week. People are often amazed at the difference between what they think they take in and what they actually do.
In addition to keeping track of your food, a good dietician will have you keep track of the time of day that you eat, who you were with, what went on that day and how you felt 30 minutes to 12 hours afterwards.
This may seem like a lot, but often this kind of information can help the dietician figure out food sensitivities. It can also help with figuring out eating habits and triggers that may need changing for your cancer nutrition needs. Certain times of day or certain people can affect your ability to eat.
Meeting Your Dietician
The first meeting you have with your dietician involves:
- identifying why you need them
- identifying eating habits
- identifying strengths
- identifying problem areas
- setting up plans for change and strategies
The first role of the dietician is to guide you through changing cancer nutrition needs. Their second role is to give you the education you need to make your own choices. A professional diet and colon cancer treatment regimen is the best way back to solid health.
During treatment, it is important for a dietician to:
- help you keep a healthy body weight
- support your immune system
- determine what supplements may be helpful or harmful
Specific Types of Diets You May Need Help With
Low Residue Diet
A low residue diet may be prescribed during your course of treatment. This diet is meant to lower bowel activity. This diet is exactly the opposite of the recommendations for a healthy diet. It involves eating very little fiber to allow the colon and bowels to rest or recuperate and is intended to be temporary.
A low residue diet may be prescribed before or after surgery. Low residue and low fiber are not the same thing. Your dietician will talk to your doctor to determine which you might need. The dietician may have you take supplements. This diet doesn't give you the nutrition you need, but just supplements the natural food you have to eat.
Supplements
Supplements are controversial in cancer nutrition treatment. They can work against your treatment. Many supplements have vitamin or mineral levels that are far above recommendations. Some of these can work against radiation and chemotherapy. The best way to get essentials is through real food in their natural forms.
Your dietician might advise supplements if:
- you are unable to eat enough to keep up your nutrition levels
- your blood chemistry shows that certain nutrients stay too low
- you need an extra boost of nutrients that are depleted by the treatment
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