People with pancreatic cancer often find it difficult to maintain their weight and follow a healthy diet. Proper nutrition is crucial to your care to help you feel better, stronger, and more energetic.
Working with a dietitian to optimize your health and avoid excess weight loss during treatment is essential. Poor nutrition decreases the body’s ability to fight infection. A dietitian can help you choose foods that are easy to digest to maintain good nutrition, which is linked to better treatment outcomes.
Eating easy-to-digest, small, and frequent meals and focusing on high-protein foods is often recommended. Staying hydrated is also important, so consider having protein shakes and other liquid meals to maintain caloric intake.
Nutrition after Surgery
After surgery, your healthcare team will monitor you for digestive issues or abnormal blood sugar levels. They will assist you in managing any changes that occur. If you are experiencing digestive issues, you might need to take a supplement to replace the natural digestive enzymes produced by the pancreas. Additionally, you might need to take mineral and vitamin supplements. In case of high blood sugar levels, you may require medication to manage your condition.
For more nutritional guidance, we have a variety of presentations and information from our experts to support you in your recovery and help you live your best life. We are here to support you on your journey. Please reach out should you need more nutritional guidance.
Diet & Movement
It is crucial to stay strong throughout pancreatic cancer treatment and nutrition and movement are key tools to help make that happen. Diet and wellness are also important, particularly post-diagnosis. There are often nutritional myths when it comes to managing pancreatic cancer that we address, as well as optimal nutrition for both surgical and non-surgical patients.
Enzymes
Pancreatic Enzymes can help patients navigate digestive issues post-surgery and may provide relief for common side effects. We also have additional information on Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) and how it can be treated with Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy (PERT).
Additional Resources
Created by a cancer survivor, this great resource provides a library of nutritional recipes searchable by dietary concern geared specifically towards those in treatment and dealing with certain side effects
Developed by the Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology, this recipe collection emphasizes the importance of nutritional wellness as part of cancer care. Search by meal type, dietary preference, and health condition to find what fits your dietary needs, especially knowing it’s important to adjust your diet based on your symptoms.
This hands-on cooking demonstration led by Dr. Zhaoping Li at Sur La Table allowed patients and caregivers to cook delicious and nutritious food tailored to those with various pancreas disease concerns with recipes provided
