nutrition

Take Charge: Nutrition on April 1st!

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Join us, Thursday, April 1st, from 12-1pm. Please call 582-1600 or click HERE to register.

The Take Charge series is featuring a virtual learning class on nutrition and how to use food to improve your health. Dr. Noelle Butler will be leading the class to help assist you with reclaiming your wellness.

Adequate dietary intake can improve the nutritional status and overall wellbeing of almost all cancer survivors. Treatments like radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery can change nutritional needs. It’s also common that intake, digestion, absorption, and utilization of food will be impacted. Treatment may pose challenges on these body functions because of side-effects, but, there are things you can try that might make fulfilling nutritional needs a little bit easier. These include small, frequent meals and snacks, foods that are easy to chew, swallow, digest and absorb, and foods that are appealing to you.

As important as nutrition is during treatment, it is just as important after treatment. Survivors are encouraged to consume enough calories to maintain body weight and optimal nutrient stores. It’s important to note that weight fluctuations are normal. Treatment and recovery can put extra demand on your body. Overall, this may greatly increase nutritional and caloric needs. Ask your nutritionally qualified health care provider about making a plan that is individualized to meet your specific needs.

 

Take Charge – February 2021

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The four classes in the Take Charge series include nutrition, exercise, side effects, and communicating with your healthcare team. Each class is 1 hour long and available online, this February. 

Take Charge: Nutrition

Eating healthy foods during and after treatment is key to feeling strong and giving your body adequate nutrition, but sometimes survivors may find it more challenging to eat than others. Nutritional needs vary, and eating well overall might help your body feel better, maintain strength, weight, nutrients, lower risk of infection, and help your body tolerate treatment related side-effects, as well as help you heal and recover faster (ACS, 2019). Join us Thursday, February 4th at 12:00 to learn more about using food as a tool to maintain and improve your health. Leading our virtual meeting is Noelle Butler, ND. Click HERE to check the calendar, register, and launch Zoom.

Nutrition handout

 

Take Charge: Exercise

Physical activity can improve mood, energy levels, and be beneficial in maintaining overall health. Evidence suggests “that moderate-intensity aerobic training and/or resistance exercise during and after cancer treatment can reduce anxiety, depressive symptoms, and fatigue and improve health-related quality of life and physical function” (NCI, 2020). Learn easy ways to incorporate exercise into your life during any stage of survivorship with certified personal trainer, Becky Franks, on Thursday, February 11th at 12:00. Click HERE to check the calendar, register, and launch zoom.

 

Take Charge: Side Effects

            Learn from Anna Buckmaster, DPT, CLT, on how Take Charge will assist you with reclaiming wellness. This class will also touch on the side effects survivors may encounter. Although each person’s experience may vary, side effects from surgery, treatment, and therapy can affect the body’s ability to absorb the proper amount of nutrients needed to keep it functioning at a healthy level. Some of these side effects include loss of appetite, nausea, changes in the way food tastes, and feeling full quickly. This series is comprised of open classes that address what you need at the time of transition on Thursday, February 18th at 12:00. Click HERE to check the calendar, register, and launch Zoom.

Side Effects handout

 

Take Charge: Communicating with Your Healthcare Team

This series is comprised of open classes that address what you need at the time of transition. When do you see your Oncologist? When do you see your General Practitioner? It can be confusing. Polly Knuchel, NP is here help you navigate communicating with your healthcare team as well as other questions that you have of this nature on Thursday, February 25th at 12:00. Click HERE to check the calendar, register, and launch Zoom.

 

 

Sources

American Cancer Society. (2019, July 15). Benefits of Good Nutrition During Cancer Treatment. www.cancer.org/treatment/survivorship-during-and-after-treatment/staying-active/nutrition/benefits.html

National Cancer Institute. (2020, February 10). Physical Activity and Cancer. National Institutes of Health. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/obesity/physical-activity-fact-sheet

 

4 Wellness Tips for Transitioning into Fall

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By: PickyDiet -lifestyle / wellness

Seasonal changes can leave us feeling unbalanced and in need of some extra self-care. We want to incorporate practices that help us balance the qualities of the season to stay healthy and feeling our best.

In Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of life and medicine, each season has a certain quality about it.

Fall and early winter is characterized as being cold, dry, light, rough, irregular, moving and quickly changing. The weather turns cold, winds blow, and the earth becomes dry, hard and rough. You might notice drier skin, irregular digestion, and the frantic, unpredictable energy of the holidays, which can easily leave you depleted, overwhelmed, and distracted.

We want to balance these characteristics out with opposite qualities of warmth, moisture, nourishment, slowness, regularity and focus.

Here’s what you can do to stay balanced and well this season…

HYDRATE

We are typically focused on hydrating when it’s hot outside, however it is equally (if not more) important when the temps cool down to help balance the dry air. Start your day with warm water and lemon to balance the cool temperatures and hydrate your organs after sleeping. Throughout the day sip on water or warm, clear herbal tea to stay hydrated, energized and keep your skin looking beautiful.

GET GROUNDED

Fall is the perfect time to cultivate some stillness in your daily life. Take time to connect with yourself and try to reduce the amount of rushing, traveling, and running around that you do. This will help balance out the windiness and quickly moving characteristics of fall. Begin to focus your energy inward. Write, meditate, read, practice yoga, take a bath, cozy up with a tea by the fire, breathe!

EAT WARMING, NOURISHING FOODS

Fall calls for nutritious, warm, cooked foods and drinks like stews, teas, soups, and roasted root veggies. Save the salads and cold, light foods for summer. The seasons affect us in how we react to the outside climate and by the foods that are naturally available to us during these times. Fall foods include winter squash, pumpkins, apples, sweet potatoes and root vegetables – incorporate them into your meals to feel balanced. Grounding foods (food that is literally grown in the ground like carrots and sweet potatoes) also give us their grounding energy to help with tip number two. Enjoying a hot mug of turmeric milk or tea is the perfect evening drink to warm and nourish you.

CREATE A RHYTHM IN YOUR LIFE

Sticking to regular meal and bed times create balance and help you feel grounded. Our bodies feel best when we are in rhythm with nature. Aim to go to bed early and wake up early (and at the same time) every day. You will feel better and it will help maintain a healthy immune system. We all need extra rest during times of transition.