Maintaining a healthy diet can make a hugely positive impact on the life of someone fighting metastatic breast cancer. Patients who eat a healthy, well-balanced diet can fight the cancer more vigorously and prevent many of the nutritional deficiencies that lead to side-effects. In addition, a well-designed diet can also lessen many of the side-effects of common cancer treatments that prevent patients from leading a better quality life.

Here are some ways maintaining a healthy diet can do these things and more:

It can maintain energy levels. Patients battling metastatic breast cancer often have trouble maintaining their energy and vigor. A healthy diet that includes a balance of healthy fats (think: mono and polyunsaturated fats found in foods such as olive oil), and carbohydrates can help the patient maintain energy levels. This helps the patient combat lower energy levels that make fighting the cancer even harder to do.

It can prevent weight loss. A healthy diet that has enough calories spread out throughout the day helps patients keep their weight up to a healthy level. Not only does this give the patient needed energy to do everyday activities and fight fatigue, it also helps the patient's body withstand the side-effects of chemotherapy and other common cancer treatments.

A healthy diet with more protein added to it prevents muscle wasting. Patients fighting metastatic breast cancer will often suffer from muscle wasting. A well-balanced diet that includes extra protein helps prevents muscle wasting by giving the body the extra building blocks it needs to build muscle tissues that is often lost through muscle fatigue-a common symptom of muscle wasting.

In addition, a healthy diet that includes the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals is also important to the patient battling metastatic breast cancer. Patients suffering from metastatic breast cancer have to go for more treatments to battle the disease. These extra treatments can affect your body's ability to use nutrients properly. If your body can't utilize nutrients, then you can suffer from maladies such as poor gum health and muscle cramps. To prevent these problems, eat a healthy diet that includes the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals. A diet that includes fresh fruits and lightly cooked fresh vegetables will often provide the body with enough vitamins and minerals each day. Ask your doctor about adding vitamin or mineral supplements if you feel you need them.

Finally, speaking of eating fresh fruits and vegetables, a healthy diet that includes these yummy foods also helps a patient control many of the side-effects of cancer treatments like diarrhea, a bloated stomach or constipation. The fiber in these foods helps you regulate the amount of water that is in your body and thus combat these problems. Plus, the foods taste good too!




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