Using Nutrition to Support Cancer Treatment

Combining sound nutritional and lifestyle practices with conventional cancer medical therapies can work synergistically to help support your immune system, digestive system, and general health throughout the process. This can actually be an opportunity to review your overall health and lifestyle. Thankfully nutritional support and supplements can sometimes eliminate or minimize some of the side effects of cancer treatment. And, in the area of nutrition and lifestyle choices, you are an active participant, and very importantly, fully at choice. This approach can help you restore a sense of control and purpose to maintaining your own health, at a time when, understandably, people often feel out of control.

While good and balanced nutrition is fundamental during all stages of cancer treatment, the recommended therapies and strategies may differ depending on the type of treatment.

Surgery: Specific supplements and nutritional practices can enhance the recovery and healing process after all surgeries, including cancer surgeries. If time allows prior to surgery, there are some preparatory practices that can be beneficial as well.

Chemotherapy: It ‘s important to understand which supplements and nutritional practices can help moderate side effects, enhance your body’s own immune system, and support overall health. It’s equally important to understand which practices and supplements should be avoided, and which are controversial.

Radiation Therapy: Radiation comes with its own special stresses to the body. Here again, it’s critical to understand which supplements and nutritional practices can help moderate side effects and protect healthy cells, and which supplements should be avoided.

Healing and beyond: After a full course of cancer treatment, your body will need time to rebalance critical systems. Often it makes sense to detoxify, and/or rebuild energy and stamina. This is the time to create a sustainable self-care program to support a new level of health and well-being.

We have worked with many clients receiving treatment for all types of cancer, and we work in full support of your chosen therapies. We help you tailor a program, and alter it as needed, based on changes in therapy. We also keep an up-to-date referral list (in our local area) for other highly recommended alternative and complementary care practitioners to consider while creating your personal self-care program.