Care After Cancer Treatment
Exercise
Regular exercise helps in speeding up your recovery and also increases your sense of well-being. It will provide the following benefits:
Strengthens the immune systems
Increases strength and endurance
Increases self-esteem
Improves mood
Reduces depression
Lessens fatigue
Lowers anxiety
Reduces sleeping problems
Emerging evidences suggest that exercise might reduce the risks of a cancer recurrence and reduce the risk of dying of cancer.
Dont burden yourself with too much exercise. Take small steps to make your life more active.
Use stairs more often. Park your vehicle a bit farther from your destination and walk the rest of the way. Start slowly; working your way up. As you recover and adjust, you might find that exercise makes you feel better.
Sometimes you might not feel like exercising. Thats perfectly OK. Dont feel guilty about it. Lingering side effects of treatment, such as fatigue, might keep you sidelined.
Whenever you feel up to it, take a walk. Do what you can do easily. Remember that rest also is important for your recovery.
Eat a balanced diet
Include lots of fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains in your diet. Following dietary guideline is recommended:
Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day
Choose healthy fats
Use omega-3 fatty acids
Avoid saturated fats or trans fats
Select proteins that are low in saturated fat, such as fish, lean meats, eggs, nuts, seeds and legumes
Opt for healthy sources of carbohydrates, such as whole grains, legumes, and fruits and vegetables
Cancer survivors might be tempted to supplement their diet with lots of vitamins and mineral supplements resist that urge. Before taking any supplements, ask your doctor about it to make sure if taking a daily multivitamin is right for you.
Maintain a healthy weight
During treatment, the patient usually loses weight or gains it. Talk to your doctor about it & find a healthy weight for yourself and the best way to achieve that weight goal.
For those cancer survivors who need to gain weight, you have to come up with ways to make food more appealing and easier to eat. Work with your doctor to control nausea, pain or other side effects of cancer treatment that might be preventing you from getting the nutrition you need. If this is not taken care of, then you might lose more weight which might reduce your quality of life and make recovery more difficult.
For those cancer survivors who need to lose weight, you have to take steps to lose weight slowly no more than 2 pounds a week. For this, you might have to control the number of calories you eat and balance it with exercise. Trying to lose a lot of weight might seem daunting but take it slowly and stick to it. Even if you lose a small amount of weight, feel better about yourself.
Stop tobacco use
Kick out this the habit once and for all. Smoking or chewing tobacco puts you at risk of several types of cancer. Quitting altogether will reduce your risk of cancer recurrence.
Do what you can
Entire overhauling of your lifestyle might overwhelm you but dont stress out yourself. Do what you can and make changes slowly. Ease into a healthy diet or a regular exercise and it is more likely that youll stick with these changes for the rest of your life.
by: Ambreen R
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