[box] [dropcap style="font-size: 60px; color: #9b9b9b;"] R[/dropcap]ecently, I was contacted by someone interested in writing a guest post for my blog – Jillian McKee has been researching and writing about how beneficial eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle is for someone going through the battle of cancer.

The first thing I though when she emailed me was “who doesn’t know someone that has been affected by cancer?” Whether it’s one of your parents, a grandparent, cousin, best friend, or a neighbor – you probably know someone that has or has had cancer.

I gladly accepted her offer to write a guest post, and I couldn’t agree more with her article!! I hope you enjoy reading this, and please feel free to share it with anyone & everyone [/box]

Take an Active Nutritional Role in Fighting Cancer

When going through the complexities of a cancer diagnosis, reaching for a nutritional supplement can feel easier than learning about good nutrition. Implementing what you learn can be even more difficult. Cancer-related symptoms such as loss of appetite, taste or nausea and the burden that treatment places on the body can make diet seem unimportant. If you just don’t feel like eating, but know you need to maintain a healthy weight, what can you do?

When you first look at nutrition, you can see how easy it would be to get lost in the details. For those going through prostate, colorectal, breast or Mesothelioma cancer, diet can be a large factor in a patient’s ability to survive. It also plays a major role in whether or not aggressive type cancers and those with dietary links return. What you put into your body makes a serious difference in the outcome, and it cannot function correctly if all you’re giving it is supplements. You need wholesome food and adequate water.

Despite the overwhelming amount of information available today, the basics of good nutrition can carry you towards your goal when everything else in your life seems to be fighting against you. When you’re feeling ill and having trouble eating, you don’t have to know where free radicals form or how. You just need to know that real food plays a vital role in your health, and that it’s worth the effort it takes to maintain a healthy weight. While nutritional principles you need to learn do change when you have cancer, it’s not about eating strange or unnatural foods.

In fact, one of the latest research results done on walnuts showed that the risk of breast cancer in mice dropped significantly when they ate the equivalent of two ounces of nuts per day. This was true even though the mice were genetically predisposed to cancer. While nutrition is especially important for breast cancer survivors since their goal is to keep the cancer from coming back, these types of studies show how important it is for all cancer patients to keep their focus on the wholesomeness of their diet. Your body cannot fight if you don’t give it what it needs.

To keep it simple, the American Cancer Society recommends that all cancer patients eat a variety of healthy foods with an emphasis on plants. That means you need ample servings of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables rather than cookies, soft drinks and sweetened cereals. You don’t have to worry about individual foods. By eating a large colorful assortment of healthy foods and enough calories to support your weight, you’re taking an active role in your fight to survive.

By Jillian McKee

I thought I’d add a recipe for you to help incorporate more healthy plant-based foods into your diet:

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