Eating for Cancer Recovery

© Dr. Ed Bauman, 2025

It’s rough living with cancer, often feeling confused, fearful, overwhelmed and exhausted, facing loneliness and existential dread. And then it’s time to eat. For a few minutes, memories of happy meals, whether at the golden arches or at our family dinner table come to mind. Eating is a time when we can feel like we are nourishing ourselses if we weren’t so dazed and confused. My suggestion is to work out a peaceful, healing food diet that is based on the highest quality and most diverse selection of foods we can find.

All food is nourishing when it is whole, fresh and properly prepared. That includes animal, vegetable and mineral foods. Various forms of animal protein may be what a person craves not because of habit, but because they are protein and iron deficient. A diversified, whole food diet is better for a person who is suffering than any radical raw food, fasting, Keto, Paleo, parasite purging elimination diet that may be helpful for a short time, but may also add to aggravation and nutrient depletion. People with cancer need substantial food-based nutrients. An example of this kind of eating is the Mediterranean Diet, or traditional eating approaches from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, America and global Indigenous cultures. Nowhere is packaged, processed, microwave heat and eat food eating for recovery.

Healing S.O.U.L. Food

Dr. Bauman’s Eating for Health™ food system is the model he uses to customize a meal plan around the healthy comfort foods a person loves and can digest that are as S.O.U.L. (seasonal, organic, unprocessed and local) full as possible. The food has to smell and taste good to the person, which is not easy when taste is altered from treatment. It’s wise to serve moderate size meals, every three to four hours to support blood sugar regulation, mood and energy production, which is often low during treatment.

Diet Approach

The role of diet is not to kill cancer, but rather to nourish the person to endure cytotoxic treatment without losing too much weight, muscle mass, cognitive function, hair, skin, and joie de vivre (joy of life).

It is better to base the food selection on what the person loves to eat, rather than what is purported to “cure cancer.” When a person eschews chemo and radiation or has reached the limits of tolerance for it, then a different cleansing, balancing and building diet approach with herbs and supplements can be implemented. During treatment, an average size person weighing 70 kilograms or 150 pounds can aim to ingest between 1600-2000 calories from quality protein, fat and carbohydrate sources.

About half or more of the food on one’s plate can be colorful fruit and vegetable carbohydrates. One quarter can be from proteins, either pasture raised poultry, wild fish, free-range eggs, organic fermented whole milk dairy products from goats, sheep and cows, such as yogurt and kefir, organic beans, grains and seeds. One quarter of the food can be from unrefined, gluten-free starches such as root vegetables, brown rice, quinoa, oats, non-GMO corn, millet and buckwheat as a whole grain pilaf. If appetite and digestion are poor ground up into a porridge or hot cereal. Crackers or whole grain sourdough toast with organic butter, nut butter, or a spread such as humus is another fine food option.

Eating healthy fats at each meal is a key to eating for cancer recovery. Good fats support neuro-hormonal balance, lower pain and inflammation, and help people calm down and feel full. The best fats are whole olives, both green and black, avocados as much as an avocado a day in the form of a mild guacamole, seeds such as flax, sunflower, chia, pumpkin, and sesame, and nuts such as soaked almonds to make them more palatable, cashews, pecans, walnuts, Filberts, also called hazelnuts (my favorite) and macadamias. Nuts and seeds can be blended into a paste if chewing them is a  challenge, or they can be made into seed and nut milks. See RECIPES for lots of healthy whole food recipes.

Beverages can be two to three liters of fluids per day that are free of added sugar, chemicals, alcohol and added caffeine. Dehydration is common, along with electrolyte imbalances, when people are undergoing treatment. Organic green, black, oolong, herb, and spice tea are excellent beverages, along with purified water, flat or sparkling with lemon, miso, or bone broth, fresh fruit and vegetable juices, diluted 25% to make them lower glycemic. Soups and smoothies are great options for folks who know they need to eat, but cannot stomach a plate that has salmon, brown rice and broccoli on it. Making a tonic beverage with a ginger tincture in sparkling water with a splash of unsweetened pomegranate or cranberry juice settles the stomach better than a Diet Coke™, ginger Ale or 7Up™.

Eating for Recovery

We always want to offer options to people going through cancer treatment, so that they feel empowered to make healthy choices rather than trying to coax them to eat food that they find unappealing when they feel sick. Dr. Bauman’s Eating for Health™ Model suggests principle food groups as the staple foods in the diet:

• Fresh fruits
• Fresh vegetables
• Seeds
• Whole grains and legumes
• Lean proteins
• Clean fats
• Green and herb teas

Sugar Feeds Cancer

Simple sugars are present in virtually all packaged foods, condiments, and even medicines. Some names of sugars to look out for are:

• Fructose
• Glucose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Lactose
• Milk sugar
• Dextrose
• Maltose
• Barley malt
• Brown rice syrup
• Molasses
• Fruit juice concentrate

Let’s aim to keep our life simple, and our carbohydrates complex.

— Nan Kathryn Fuchs, Ph.D.

Peaceful Eating

Beyond what we eat, how, when, where and with whom we eat is equally important. Aim to eat in  peace, without the distraction of the television or screen devises. Keep the conversation uplifting. Let’s not trigger anyone with editorial opinion about the state of the world, medical care, finances and family dysfunction. Let’s bless the food, the farmers, earth and spirit that nourishes us. Where gratitude for life is expressed, suffering is diminished. Meal time is healing time. We all need more nutrients and less dogma, more fruits and veggies than sweets and treats if we are going to heal. What we eat today will build the blood, organs, muscles and tissues of tomorrow. It will support our nerves, hormones and immune systems. As we eat well, we grow well. This is the key to eating for cancer recovery. We heal our cells one bite at a time and neutralize the toxic effects of treatment with beautiful fresh clean food and healing waters. Salud! Bon Appetit!

RESOURCES

For a virtual cookbook of Eating for Cancer Recovery recipes, please visit the RECIPES and BOOKS pages.