Most cancer patients would force themselves to have invigorating soup during treatments for losing appetite. Some would choose fruits and vegetables instead of meats while some would have over intake of the invigorating foods that not fit their physical condition. Actually, all those are unreasonable. The cancer specialists from Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou will tell you more about why those are unreasonable for cancer patients on diets.

　　Misunderstanding: Take much soup can make up the nutrition needed.

　　Normally we can hear the family tell the patient in hospital that: “If you don’t want to have the ingredients, just take the soup.” Because most people think that the nutrition is melted in soup. Actually, the nutrition in soup is little, which takes not over10% of all the ingredients. But to the patients of esophagus and lung cancer or the ones who are in radiotherapy would develop the problem of swallow, so the ingredients in soup are difficult for them. Then how to make sure their nutrition?

　　Tips: Change the diet construction to another that is based on cereals.

　　To the patients with difficulty in swallow can change to have the porridge of mashed cereals, meats and vegetables, or the diets that are well cooked. In this way can improve the nutrition intake for patients. Though invigorating food helps to make up part of the nutrition, it cannot take as the staple food.

　　Misunderstanding: Only have vegetables but no meats.

　　Some patients make out a strict diet plan, for they know it is not good for them to have excessive animal proteins. For example, a breast cancer patient writes down that she can have 3 catty vegetables every day, but no meat. Even a cancer patient, he/she has to take certain animal proteins, insufficient animal proteins would lead to immunity decreases and consequently cause other complications.

　　Tips: Take proper animal proteins.

　　The diets for cancer patients should base on balanced nutrition, so proper cereals, meats, vegetables and fruits are necessary. If a patient tends to have only one kind of food can directly cause insufficient of some nutrition. Take proper animal proteins in diets will increase the immunity of patient.

　　Misunderstanding 3: Follow the dietary experience of other patients.

　　Many patients prefer to talk about their dietary experience in treatment with each other. As individual physical nature and disease condition are different, cancer patients should not follow others blindly.

　　Tips: Find the diets that fit a patient under instruction of doctors.

　　If the economic condition allows, patients can have some food supplement apart from normal diets. The others can have basic diets to ensure the nutrition. But it is better for a patient to consult his/her doctor before choosing food supplement.

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