Recovery plan for cancer patient?

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi Docs,

My mom (54 years old) has been in treatment for her ovarian cancer stage 2. She got surgery and is now in chemo. She has been a long-time yoga practitioner, but she has never appropriately eaten for training (no food tracking, not knowing the importance of adequate protein etc.). Now I try to help her to recover well, so I am wondering:

  1. Would I set up her diet plan as for a healthy person? Say 40% carb, 30% protein and 30% fat after I find out about the TDEE?
  2. Should I let her keep practising Yoga while she’s in chemo (I’m not sure how heavy her training is yet, but it seems to have a lot of bodyweight exercises), or should she do something lighter, like LISS cardio instead?
  3. Any supplement I should be noticed to let her take? I’m thinking about Vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2 as a must, but not yet looked up any academic evidence.

Thank you, Jordan and Austin.

2

Hi,

Sorry to hear about this issue.

  1. Does she have access to a dietician as part of her cancer care? That may be a useful place to start in terms of assessment and recommendations. I’m not sure I’d be worrying much about TDEE, but rather working towards our usual health-promoting dietary recommendations with particular emphasis on protein intake.

  2. I see no reason to restrict her physical activity. Unless she has specific medical reasons to avoid it, doing more challenging resistance exercise may actually be the more beneficial option compared with going lighter.

  3. Why do you view D3/K2 as a “must”? I don’t think we’d agree with that, in general – see podcast episode 152.

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