Dietary Tips and Healing Recipes to Ease Discomfort of Cancer Treatments

Cancer has become a common disease. The World Health Organization estimates nearly 10 million people worldwide died from cancer in 2020—including approximately 400,000 children. Surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are the most common treatments for cancer, and are accompanied by many adverse side effects. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners recommend patients adjust their diets to reduce the side effects caused by conventional cancer treatment and help the body recover earlier.

In East Asia, many cancer patients supplement with traditional Chinese medicine when undergoing conventional treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Modern science has found that many herbal medicines are anti-cancer in nature, which can help promote cancer cell apoptosis, inhibit cancer cell metastasis, improve human anti-cancer immunity, and enhance the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Cancer Patients Should Protect Their Digestive System

Many cancer patients suffer from debilitaing side effects of radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy that include loss of appetite, difficulty in eating, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Traditional Chinese medicine treatment focuses on regulating the body as a whole. In addition to prescribing the appropriate medicines, it recommends that patients regulate the qi and blood through their daily routine, together with care in diet, to enhance the body’s self-healing capability.

In the theory of Chinese medicine, qi…