Dietary Tips and Healing Recipes to Ease Discomfort of Cancer Treatments

Cancer has become a common disease. The World Health Organization estimates nearly 10 million people worldwide died from cancer in 2020—including approximately 400,000 children. Surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are the most common treatments for cancer, and are accompanied by many adverse side effects. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners recommend patients adjust their diets to reduce the side effects caused by conventional cancer treatment and help the body recover earlier.

In East Asia, many cancer patients supplement with traditional Chinese medicine when undergoing conventional treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Modern science has found that many herbal medicines are anti-cancer in nature, which can help promote cancer cell apoptosis, inhibit cancer cell metastasis, improve human anti-cancer immunity, and enhance the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Cancer Patients Should Protect Their Digestive System

Many cancer patients suffer from debilitaing side effects of radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy that include loss of appetite, difficulty in eating, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Traditional Chinese medicine treatment focuses on regulating the body as a whole. In addition to prescribing the appropriate medicines, it recommends that patients regulate the qi and blood through their daily routine, together with care in diet, to enhance the body’s self-healing capability.

In the theory of Chinese medicine, qi is a kind of energy that similar to blood and body fluids, circulates continuously through the body to maintain human life.

Shu Rong, director of Dr. Rong’s Clinic in England, whose family has been practicing medicine for generations, said in the Epoch Times “Health 1+1” program that there is an intricate network inside the human body, where energy runs through the meridians, just like rivers and streams. If the flow of water in a stream slows down, sediment will accumulate, and sandbars will be formed. A similar analogy, is that if the energy of the human body is not flowing smoothly, blockages such as tumors will develop.

The energy in the human body—or “qi” comes from the “innate qi” passed on by the parents when one is born. In addition, qi is acquired from the human digestive system by absorbing nutrients, from which comes the “acquired qi.”

Chinese medicine believes that the most important organs in the digestive system are the spleen and stomach. Modern medicine treats the spleen as an organ that governs immunity, while in Chinese medicine, more than an anatomical organ the spleen carries an extra functional dimension—it is considered part of the digestive system.

In this regard, many modern TCM practitioners believe that the pancreas, which secretes digestive juices, is also part of this system.

Shu said: “When the qi and blood of the human body are lost during surgery, radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy, the spleen and stomach must absorb extra nutrients to compensate. Therefore, regulating the spleen and stomach will form the primary recovery plan. And at the same time, individual conditioning should be done according to one’s specific situation.”

Targeting the three common symptoms of cancer, Shu suggests the following three soup recipes, which, when taken regularly, will replenish the body’s energy, strengthen the digestive system, and accelerate the excretion of toxins from the body.

1. Pork Bone Soup for Reinforcing Qi and Strengthening the Spleen

Ingredients:

• 250g (8.8 ounces) pork bones
• 9g (0.3 ounces) astragalus
• 7g (0.25 ounces) yam
• 7g (0.25 ounces) Atractylodes macrocephala
• 7g (0.25 ounces) lotus seeds
• 7g (0.25 ounces) Rehmannia glutinosa
• 5 jujubes (cut open)
• 5g (0.2 ounces) Hericium erinaceus
• 5g (0.2 ounces) cinnamon bark
• 3 slices of ginger

Preparation:

Add enough water and stew for an hour, salt to taste, and serve.

Applicable symptoms: dizziness, shortness of breath, and fatigue.

2. Pork Bone Soup for Invigorating Qi and the Stomach

Ingredients:

• 250g (8.8 ounces) pork bones
• 9g (0.3 ounces) astragalus
• 7g (0.25 ounce) yam
• 5g (0.2 ounce) Atractylodes macrocephala
• 7g (0.25 ounce) lotus seeds
• 5g (0.2 ounces) bamboo rutabaga
• 7g (0.25 ounces) lentils
• 5g (0.2 ounces) perilla leaves (can be wrapped in soup bag)
• 5 jujubes (cut open)
• 3 slices of ginger
• 5g (0.2 ounce) cinnamon

Preparation:

Add enough water and stew for an hour, salt to taste, and serve.

Applicable symptoms: loss of appetite, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, hiccups.

3. Pork Bone Soup for Invigorating Qi and Detoxification

Ingredients:

• 250g (8.8 ounces) pork bone
• 100g (3.5 ounces) mung bean
• 9g (0.32 ounces) astragalus
• 7g (0.25 ounce) of unprocessed Rehmannia root
• 7g (0.25 ounces) Polygonatum odoratum
• 7g (0.25 ounces) dendrobium
• 7g (0.25 ounces) Ophiopogon japonicus
• 7g (0.25 ounces) lily
• 7g (0.25 ounces) ginseng
• 3 slices of ginger

Preparation:

Add enough water and stew for an hour, salt to taste, and serve.

Applicable symptoms: dry cough, sore throat, sore mouth.

The Importance of Excreting Toxins After Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy

After chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy treatment, many patients are prone to dry throat, bitter mouth, upset, flushed face, and other uncomfortable conditions. This is the result of accumulation of harmful substances produced by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. To expel these toxins, it is necessary to first enhance qi, the life energy in the body, in order to push the toxins out of it. All the above three medicated diet recipes are beneficial to qi replenishment.

Shu also reminded us to care for the health of the liver and kidneys when treating cancer because they work in tandem for detoxification. The liver breaks down toxins and excretes them through the kidneys. Therefore, toxins produced during radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy will certainly increase the burden on the liver and the kidneys.

Taking Astragalus Can Reduce Risk of Death in Patients

The ingredients mentioned above are all common ingredients of Chinese medicinal herbal soups. Among them, astragalus is useful in cancer treatment, and can improve the body’s immunity, enhance the ability of macrophages to kill cancer cells, and promote cancer cell apoptosis.

For patients undergoing radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, taking the decoction with astragalus reduces side effects and the effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

A meta-analysis study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology showed that for patients with non-small cell lung cancer who were receiving chemotherapy, taking traditional Chinese medicine with astragalus had a better chance of survival within one year than those who did not take traditional Chinese medicine at all. Risk of death was found to be lowered by 33 percent.

Another study found that patients with colorectal cancer who took a decoction containing astragalus could reduce the probability of nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy.

It should be noted that although astragalus has anti-cancer effects, more is not necessarily better. Taken in excess it can cause dizziness, poor sleep, flushed cheeks, and irritability.

In addition to herbs, these three soups also have pork bones added to them. Shu explained that traditional Chinese medicine believes that animals and the human body have many similarities and can therefore drive the energy of the latter. Using animal ingredients in medicine will excelerate restoration, and the fusion of ham bones and medicinal materials is particularly effective in that respect. However, if you do not eat pork, you can substitute with beef, chicken, or duck.

Proper Diet Supplementation After Cancer Therapy as Essential

Shu recommends that cancer patients also eat a fungi called Ganoderma lucidum to replenish the body’s positive energy and inhibit harmful substances.

Ganoderma lucidum has a long history as a tonic. More than 2,000 years ago, the classic of traditional Chinese medicine, “Shen Nong’s Materia Medica,” listed Ganoderma lucidum as a highly effective herb and believed that regular consumption of it can make people “feel lighter and stay young.” Modern scientific research has confirmed that Ganoderma lucidum has anti-cancer effects, can enhance the immune system, and has anti-oxidizing other effective properties.

Concerning fasting or abstaining from certain foods to “starve cancer cells to death,” Shu said that cancer cells are inherently stronger than normal cells. If patients refrain from eating, cancer cells will exhaust the body’s remaining nutrients. He pointed out that after radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, the number of cancer cells in the body has decreased, and normal body cells are also weak. At this time, attention should be paid to the intake of nutrients to make the body stronger so that the remaining cancer cells can be eliminated.

Some of the herbs mentioned above may sound unfamiliar, however many of them can be found at your local health food and Asian grocery stores. Here are two recommendations for sourcing the herbs online:

(1) T S Emporium

(2) Kam Wo Herb & Tea LLC