I am three months post-radiation, and I cannot seem to gain any weight. I was able to stay off of a feeding tube during treatment and only lost about 5 lbs, but once I was able to eat and got off of the Ensure (once my taste returned I could not stomach drinking them anymore), I have continued to lose weight. I am eating constantly, but cannot get my weight over 100 lbs. The easiest and most fattening things for me to eat are sweets, but I am nervous to eat too many sweets, as I have been told sugar is a carcinogen for cancer. Does anyone have any advice? And since I am still underweight, is it a bad thing if I continue to eat sweets now?

For at least the first year your body needs extra calories and protein to help it rebuild itself. Some days I would take in 7000 calories a day and I never gained an ounce. If you really want to put on a few pounds, try to get 3000 calories daily. Milkshakes are high in calories and you can eat 'healthier' by using low fat products. Try substituting half and half instead of milk in things like cream soups or mac and cheese.

You can also try drinking Carnation Very High Calorie. It can easily be purchased online thru the Amazon link on the main forum pages. Look for the green box towards the top.

AI found that by eating cheesecake every day and drinking hot chocolate made with half and half I began to put on some weight. Another high calorie item is tapioca pudding. I make a huge bowl and would eat a big bowl every single night before bedtime.

Good luck!!!

Hi there I'm the same with you about sugar... My suggestion make your own power drinks. I'm a vegetarian, every morning I make a protein shake. the powder I use is non animal based and a combination of proteins - they are also sweetened with stevia so they have no glycemic impact at all. I add flax oil, a bit of cottage cheese (budwig principle), chocolate, or vanilla unsweetened almond milk, fresh fruit, usually berries, and half a banana... It has 400 calories and the protein is in the 50's - I know the cottage cheese makes it sound unappetizing, but mixed with all the other stuff you can't taste it. If there's not enough sugar in it then add a bit of agave - which also has a low glycemic index. A couple of these types of drinks a day will help you gain or maintain if you use them to supplement your meals. Too much protein can be very hard on the kidneys, so cut the amount of protein powder you have in half that way you get the same amount but more calories because it's spread over two drinks and just add more fruit (fresh - or frozen) . One thing I do allow myself is ice cream. I buy organic, make sure it has the lowest amount of sugar possible (mine has 12 gms- per half cup - i generally have 1/2 a cup - read the labels, nutritionists say you shouldn't add more than 50 gms of sugar to your food daily. Most of my food is from scratch so I know what's in it, (canned crap, and most cereals have obscene amounts sugar - modified corn syrop, glucose fructose -and really anything that's processed - and if it's says sugar free, it's worse because it has Splenda or aspartame) so I avoid all that stuff so if I have half a cup of ice cream ocassionally, it's okay, since the only other "sugar" I've had is the complex carbs in any fruit I consume. I make my own hot cocoa but I add a tablespoon of agave instead of sugar... Before all this I was a sweet-a holic. So you could throw maybe half a cup of ice cream in as well. Nutrition is very important to healing, and you do need calories - but empty calories serve no purpose. There are some great recipes that are sugar free but filling, high calorie and nutritious. Before all this I was a microwave cook... (I hated cooking) these days I see someting I think looks good, check out the recipe, modify it to make it super healthy - and try it. My family has fallen in love with a few of them...

You can do this. Tonight's supper was a fresh from scratch pea soup, and a frittata made with egg whites fresh veggies, and one potato, 'twas delish.

Hugs...

Thanks for the advice! I will certainly try some of these recipes!

Oh nutrition and weight gain, I know thee well. Over the last year I've gained 30lbs of lean muscle mass, got injured and drank obscene amounts eggnog over the holidays and gained "unnecessary" weight to which I've finally "shed".

When you look at "nutrition" or diet, it's not just about caloric intake, or macronutrient (fat, protein, carbohydrates) breakdowns etc, it's also about absorption and timing, think about it as the 3rd piece of the pie. Weight gain and loss has a lot to do with hormone balances in the body, especially in the cancer patient.

Cachexia, or cancer related weight loss is an interesting subject and one not entirely understood by our medical community. Basically your immune response to the cancer releases hormones that make absorbing nutrition difficult and redirects amino acids to immune function as opposed to rebuilding muscle tissues etc. So we experience a "wasting" effect as our body are in a heightened catabolic state and begins to breakdown it's own lean muscle mass for the necessary amino acids not being absorbed in digestion.

There are ways to battle this obviously, the greatest one is an eating schedule, eating smaller meals and proper digestive support (probiotics). Understanding that a calorie isn't just a calorie, understanding that your body can only absorb so much at one time, particularly protein as Cheryl pointed out it can be rough on the kidneys.

There are great free tools available now that can help track nutrition if you have a smart phone, personally I use "My Calorie Counter" (available for iPhone or Android) so that I can track not just my calories but my macronutrient intake as well.

Top level athletes generally are religious about what they put into their bodies and when. There is a strategy that body builders and top trainers use called "The Golden Ratio" which calls for your macro nutrient breakdown to be 40-50% carbohydrates, 20-30% fat, and 20-30% protein. They also break their intake down into six meals to help with absorption, and to me this strategy makes sense for cancer patients in the struggle and those in recovery if you consider that both athletes and patients bodies are being broken down and using nutrition and rest to rebuild them.

Tips I would recommend:

Eat 6x per day
.55-.70 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.
protein of no more than 20-30 grams at any one sitting

Complex carbohydrates like multigrains (I blend oatmeal), green leafy vegetables, fresh or frozen berries(solid, juiced or blended)

Fats! Olive oil (omega6), walnuts (omega6 & 3) Shell Fish, fish (mackeral is great if you can eat it, salmon etc...) coconut oil and coconut milk.


Hope that helps, good luck!