Verb - gerund or present participle: eating

Put (food) into the mouth and chew and swallow it.

 

It seems that every step of breast cancer treatment results in the patient gaining weight.  It really is very disappointing!  You’d think, if you have to be ill, you will at least benefit from losing a bit of blubber from the old rump area.

 

That said, chemo can make you feel really off colour, and your appetite will be all over the place.  Certain foods can taste very different, and you might crave other foods that you would never normally eat.  For example, I found that mayonnaise tasted like washing up liquid (for some reason this didn’t deter me from still dolloping on a large spoonful with almost every meal).  I have never liked any kind of pickled food, or vinegar, but I found myself wanting salt and vinegar crisps as the flavor cut through the metallic film that you get in your mouth.  I even ate a pickled egg on one occasion.  It wasn’t a clever move though.  Regretted it for the rest of the day.

 

Acidic foods like pineapple and oranges were really good for cleaning the mouth.  Also Greek yoghurt with honey, with its sweet/sharp taste seemed to satisfy for some reason.  I guess cravings do vary from person to person, but the vinegar theme does seem to be a common one for chemo patients.  It is more important now than ever to try to eat a healthy diet.  Give your body a fighting chance.

 

Your chemo nurses will weigh you before every treatment, and they will really not be worried about you gaining a bit of weight.  They will expect it.  They will tell you off, however, if you do lose weight.  Firstly they will need to get your chemo doses adjusted if you lose too much weight; and secondly, your poor old body will need all the strength and energy it can get to endure the physical assault of chemotherapy.

 

So, if only for the time you are having treatment, don’t worry about what you eat. 

 

Embrace the bulge!