Food and Nutrition
Maintaining a healthy balanced diet and eating nutritious food is really important, especially if you have or have had cancer. Cancer treatment can affect your appetite, your taste or leave you finding it hard to swallow or digest food. Have a look at some of the information we found on eating well with cancer.
Video Resources...
Food and cancer Q & A – ask an expert
In this video from Macmillan Cancer Support, dietitian and nutritionist, Jane Clarke answers some of the most common questions around dietary requirements and cancer.
Worried about losing weight? (Podcast)
Specialist Dietitian Suzi Coughlan reads this podcast from The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, which covers what to do if you are struggling to eat or have poor appetite following cancer treatment.
Let’s move forward with your eating (Podcast)
In this podcast from The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Specialist Dietitian Suzi Coughlan talks about what steps you can take with your diet to reduce the risk of cancer returning.
Online Resources...
Your Guide to Prehabilitation
Making small changes to your lifestyle, can make a big difference to the way you respond and recover from cancer treatment. Prehabilitation (or ‘prehab’) can involve making lifestyle changes including eating well, helping you to get ready for cancer treatment.
Life Kitchen
Download a free copy of Essential Flavour - delicious budget-friendly recipes that have been created for those experiencing changes to taste and smell as a result of cancer.
Eat well (NHS Live Well)
To keep well and feel good, it’s important to eat right and get the nutrition your body needs. This resource from the NHS has lots of information about the different food groups and how much you should be consuming of each.
Macmillan Cancer Support recipe bank
The Macmillan website has a large collection of recipes created specifically for people with cancer. These recipes are nutritious and really simple to make. The pork and apple casserole is a particular recommendation from the team here!
Change 4 Life – food scanner (App Store)
This app allows the user to look up the nutritional value of everyday food and drink by showing how much salt, sugar and saturated fat the product contains. It can help you make healthy switches and has lots of tips for making good food choices. Available free from the App Store.
Change 4 Life – food scanner (Google Play)
This app allows the user to look up the nutritional value of everyday food and drink by showing how much salt, sugar and saturated fat the product contains. It can help you make healthy switches and has lots of tips for making good food choices. Available free from Google Play.
BAPEN
If you are worried about weight loss, to help you check if you are losing too much weight and are at risk of becoming malnourished, BAPEN has developed a simple screening tool you can use along with advice to follow if you are at risk of becoming malnourished.
Patient Webinars
This guidance relates to those who have completed cancer treatment. If you are currently receiving treatment please seek advice and support from the team at your hospital.
County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
Living with and beyond cancer can have a significent impact on somebody's appetite and weight. It is common to lose weight prior to being diagnosed and a lot of treatments for cancer can cause further weight loss. Some of these treatments e.g. radiotherapy may also have lasting effects once they have finished, so it's important to keep an eye on your weight.
The Restore Programme
Whether you’re about to start treatment, you are currently on treatment or have recently completed treatment, The Restore Programme is packed with useful information relevant to you. It is also a fantastic resource for friends and family supporting loved ones through their diagnosis. The Restore Programme is an online digital pack of videos and downloadable material which takes you through anything and everything you could want to know about nutrition and cancer.
Cancer Care Map
To find other services or support on this topic, visit Cancer Care Map and enter your postcode to find what is available near you.