What Diet Should Kidney Cancer Patients Use?

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Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits!

Still, vegetables and fruits are the main healthy choices in your kidney cancer diet. They are your best sources of many essential nutrients for your body’s needs such as fiber and many kinds of vitamins.

Furthermore, eating lots of plant source products are recommended when it comes to diet fighting against cancer. Try to eat at least 5-10 servings of veggies and fruits a day!

Whole grains

Whole grains are loaded with essential nutrients such as fiber, iron, and B-vitamins. They are good choice for your dietary carbohydrate since they are complex carbs that will make you full longer throughout the day and helpful to maintain your healthy diet.

Whole grains can include oatmeal, cracked wheat, brown rice, and whole wheat.

Eat protein at the right amount!

As mentioned earlier, the cancer may interfere with the kidney function – this is particularly true if one kidney has been removed. When your kidneys don’t work as well as usual, it’s much more important to pay attention to what you eat.

People with kidney problem (including kidney cancer) should be more careful to eat the right amount of protein. Diet high in protein may make your kidney work harder. More protein that you eat means that there will be more urea (waste product when the body breaks down protein) that must be removed by the kidneys.

However protein is one of the most essential nutrients required by the body. Kidney cancer patients should also maintain their weight up. This means you cannot completely skip protein from your diet!

So how much protein you should eat a day? This is dependent on your kidney function – ask your doctor!

Get adequate calories a day!

While maintain weight is the main goal, patients with cancer are often recommended to eat high-calorie foods. Because they tend to lose more pounds of weight than gaining weight when fighting against the cancer! Even many cancer treatments can cause appetite and weight loss.

In general, diet for kidney cancer includes many of the things in normal healthy diet. Another thing to concern is the way of how you should eat!

Depending on the problem that you’re experiencing, the way of how you eat may also help. For instance, if your appetite decreases, the following tips may help:

1. Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, try to have 5-6 small ones during the day.
2. Prepare small snacks and make them handy so you can get them quickly when you feel like eating.
3. When your appetite increases, eat as much as you can.
4. Try first with the foods you like most! This may help make your appetite get better!

In addition, it’s also important to take great care preparing the meals. Because the cancer and its treatments may also increase your risk of developing infection!

For more guidance about your kidney cancer diet, work with your physician and registered dietitian!