Cancer News

From MayoClinic.com
Special to CNN.com

After your cancer treatment, you were eager to nurse your body back to health. But beyond your initial recovery, you might be interested in ways to improve your long-term health so that you can enjoy the years ahead as a cancer survivor.

The advice for cancer survivors is no different than the advice for anyone who wants to improve their health: Exercise and improve your diet. But for cancer survivors these strategies have added benefits — research shows these simple steps can improve your quality of life, smoothing your transition into survivorship. Follow this guide to what you can do to take care of your body after cancer treatment.

Exercise

Regular exercise increases your sense of well-being after cancer treatment and can speed your recovery. Cancer survivors who exercise often experience:

• Increased strength and endurance
• Stronger immune systems
• Fewer signs and symptoms of depression
• Less anxiety
• Reduced fatigue
• Less difficulty sleeping
• Improved mood
• Higher self-esteem

Adding physical activity to your daily routine won’t take a lot of extra work. Focus on small steps to make your life more active. Take the stairs more often or park farther from your destination and walk the rest of the way. Check with your doctor before you begin any exercise program.

With your doctor’s approval, start slowly and work your way up. The American Cancer Society recommends adult cancer survivors exercise for at least 30 minutes five or more days a week. As you recover and adjust, you might find more exercise makes you feel even better.

Sometimes you won’t feel like exercising, and that’s OK. Don’t feel guilty if lingering treatment side effects, such as fatigue, keep you sidelined. When you feel up to it, take a walk around the block. Do what you can, but know that rest is important to your recovery as well.

While exercise has many benefits, there’s no evidence that exercise can keep your cancer from coming back. Many cancer survivors are concerned about cancer recurrence and want to do all they can to avoid it. It’s not clear why cancer recurs in some people but not in others. Exercise won’t stop your cancer from recurring, but it can make you feel better and help prevent other diseases, such as heart disease.

Eat a balanced diet

Vary your diet to include lots of fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains. When it comes to selecting your entrees, the American Cancer Society recommends that cancer survivors:

• Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day
• Choose healthy fats, including omega-3 fatty acids, rather than saturated fats or trans fats
• Select proteins that are low in saturated fat, such as fish, lean meats, eggs, nuts, seeds and legumes
• Opt for healthy sources of carbohydrates, such as whole grains, legumes, and fruits and vegetables

This combination of foods will ensure that you’re eating plenty of the vitamins and nutrients you need to help make your body strong.

While it may be tempting to supplement your diet with a host of vitamin and mineral supplements, resist that urge. Some cancer survivors think that if a small amount of vitamins is good, a large amount must be even better. But that isn’t the case. In fact, large amounts of certain nutrients can hurt you. If you’re concerned about getting all the vitamins you need, ask your doctor if taking a daily multivitamin is right for you.

No special diet is known to prevent cancer from recurring. However, some preliminary research in breast cancer survivors indicates that a low-fat diet may reduce the chance of breast cancer recurring. In this study, which has yet to be completed, it isn’t clear whether the slight reduction in breast cancer recurrence was from women eating less fat or from women losing weight on the restricted diet. It also isn’t clear if a low-fat diet has any application to other cancer survivors.

Maintain a healthy weight

You may have gained or lost weight during treatment. Try to get your weight to a healthy level. Talk to your doctor about what a healthy weight is for you and the best way to go about achieving that goal weight.

For cancer survivors who need to gain weight, this will likely involve coming up with ways to make food more appealing and easier to eat. You and your doctor can work together to control nausea, pain or other side effects of cancer treatment that are preventing you from getting the nutrition you need. Losing even more weight can reduce your quality of life and make recovery more difficult.

For cancer survivors who need to lose weight, take steps to lose weight slowly — no more than 2 pounds a week. Control the number of calories you eat and balance this with exercise. If you need to lose a lot of weight, it can seem daunting. Take it slowly and stick to it. Any amount of weight loss can help you feel better about yourself and improve your health.

Stop using tobacco

Kick the habit once and for all. Smoking or using chewing tobacco puts you at risk of several types of cancer. Stopping now could reduce your risk of cancer recurrence and also reduce your risk of developing a second type of cancer (second primary cancer).

If you’ve tried quitting in the past but haven’t had much success, seek help. Talk to your doctor about resources to help you quit.

Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all

If you choose to drink alcohol, keep it to a minimum. At most, women and anyone over 65 should drink no more than one drink a day, and men should drink no more than two drinks a day.

Alcohol does have health benefits in some people — for instance, consuming a drink or two a day can reduce your risk of heart disease. But it also increases the risk of certain cancers, including those of the mouth, throat, liver and breast. While it isn’t clear whether drinking alcohol can cause cancer recurrence, it can increase your risk of a second primary cancer.

Weigh the risks and benefits of drinking alcohol carefully and talk it over with your doctor.

Do what you can

While you may fear it will take an entire overhaul of your lifestyle to achieve all these goals, do what you can and make changes slowly. Easing into a healthy diet or regular exercise will make it more likely that you’ll stick with these changes for the rest of your life.

· Cancer survivors: What to expect with follow-up care

· On the job with cancer: Managing common workplace challenges

· Cancer survivors: Relationships with family and friends after treatment

· Cancer survivors: Late effects of cancer treatment

· Cancer survivors: Managing your emotions after cancer treatment

· Sexuality after cancer treatment: What women can expect

· Sexuality after cancer treatment: What men can expect

· Cancer recurrence: What it means and how to cope

October 05, 2005