Mind & Body

Inspired by his own mother’s battle with cancer, Jim Fisher, chef patron of French cookery school www.cookinfrance.com has worked with nutritional therapist, Lucy Hyland http://www.foodforliving.ie to create ideas and recipes to help people going through chemo. Available on his website completely free of charge, Jim plans to add to the pages and creating a valuable resource for cancer patients throughout the year.

Commenting on his Chemo Cookery,

Jim Fisher said:  “My mum and I used to love cooking together but once she was diagnosed, there were more important things to consider than gourmet cooking. We had to focus on maintaining her strength and fitness as well as choosing foods that helped her overcome chemo’s radical effects of her body. This included a diminished appetite and a drastic change in her sense of taste.

We concocted a series of recipes that could be adapted on the fly to her changing sense of taste and her - often severe - physical symptoms. Chief amongst those that affected her appetite and ability to taste was Oral Mucositis which caused pain and inflammation of the surface of the inside of her mouth.

Mouth ulcers were also a problem making it difficult to eat, drink and even talk. Coupled with this was constant fatigue, high levels of stress and a nagging fear for the future.

Our recipes and approach helped Mum and I hope others will get benefit from this too”.

JIM’S CHEMO COOKERY ADVICE

Maintain and repair mucosal lining of mouth, stomach and gut

Calm lining with teas such as liquorice, chamomile and fennel. Ginger tea also helps with any post nausea. Include these ingredients in dishes or even juices if it helps.

Increase consumption of easily digestible foods

It’s the perfect time for slow cooked stews and casseroles and soups with heaps of veggies. Liquidise as much as possible –people drink broth to get the electrolytes and nutrients in. Freshly made smoothies and juices are great if you have a blender – dairy can be hard to tolerate but you might be able to add some yogurt to smoothies – if not, I tend to use 100% nut butter blended into smoothies and not noticed – great source of easily digestible protein and good fats (great for all that repair work)

Increase consumption of anti-oxidants to help boost immune system

Consume plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables (see soups above) or stew your fruit if you can’t handle fresh. Add fresh herbs and spices to dishes - – perhaps infusing a broth with rosemary to provide anti-oxidant support.

Increase natural anti-inflammatories as body is generally quite inflamed afterwards
Examples include garlic, ginger, nuts and seeds (grind them if they are too course or use nut butters) fish. Also try to reduce naturally inflammatory foods such as dairy, sugar and meats.

Ensure a healthy bowel by eating plenty of fibre rich foods

Wholegrains such as porridge for breakfast, brown breads at lunch and brown rice/pasta for dinner, beans and legumes (hummus, adding a tin of chickpeas to your stew or vegetable soups), nuts and seeds and heaps of veggies and fruit.

This is more for post chemo – the body may not be able to handle all this fibre and so use your blending and pureeing and grinding techniques to make digestion as easy as possible.

Increase water intake

Try to consume at least 8 glasses of water a day and try to walk a little every day.

Increase protein intake

The body is undergoing some repair and so having protein with every meal will help fuel this, for example, eggs or yogurt with breakfast, and beans, legumes, fish, eggs or a limited amount of meat with lunch and dinner. again – this is post chemo but going for easy to digest proteins might help – I blend beans and legumes into soups so people don’t need to digest them as much. Even if people can tolerate a little porridge in the morning, I will grind some nuts and seeds and sprinkle on or soak the nuts and seeds over night to make them much easier to digest.

Make stocks, soups and sauces from natural ingredients

Often, processed foods can taste strange or metallic so try to use fresh or non-processed ingredients.

Back off on salt, pepper and spices and avoid overly-browning meat and over-reducing sauces

Sometimes, highly flavoured foods are too strong for chemo patients. Sometimes, it’s beneficial to serve hot foods cold or at room temperature because heat increases flavour.

Avoid dairy and fats

These can trigger nausea - use pure nut butters and soy products where possible.

See - Three great recipes for all the family:

For more information:

Check out Jim's website: www.cookinfrance.com

Lucy Hyland www.foodforliving.ie