Good Nutrition Question

My mother has been diagnosed with bile duct cancer and it is inoperable. She begins chemotherapy next week. She has lost some weight and we are trying to help her with good nutrition. I received a booklet about what to eat during treatments and how to gain weight. Many of the things they suggest are high fat and I'm wondering if this is okay for this type of cancer. Does anyone have any experience with diet and bile duct cancer?

My husband has bile duct cancer and has lost about 30 pounds since September 2004. He was in the hospital for two months and had surgery in October. He had radiation in January and February and has been on chemo since January also. We have not been able to get him to gain weight but he seems to be holding steady since January. It has been very difficult to try to help him gain weight while also feeding him nutritious food that can help fight the cancer. If your only concern is helping your mother gain weight than you can feed her the high fat, high sugar foods. However, if you want to help her fight the cancer naturally then you should limit fats and definitely sugar. Most of what I have read says that sugar actually feeds the cancer cells. A really good book on the subject is Beating Cancer with Nutrition. It has a lot of great information about nutrition and cancer and a really good list of the best to worst foods for fighting cancer. There are some foods that can help and are also high calorie (yogurt, avocados, etc). The doctors have all told my husband that he should eat whatever he wants so he can keep weight on (like McDonald's fries, etc.) but I strongly disagree and think he needs the variety of nutrients from fruits, vegetables and whole wheat grains. Good luck with your fight.

I wanted to also add that melons and berries have been great for my husband since he has been on chemo. He goes to accupuncture and the nutritionist there recommended watermelon, cantelope, honeydew, blueberries and pears. They all have a cooling effect on the body which counteracts the "heating" effect from the chemo. It really seems to be true and the melons are also very easy on the stomach. There are some days where he has almost lived on watermelon. We also make a lot of yogurt smoothies with a variety of berries (organic if we can get them). You can also add protein powder (soy or whey) to increase the calories in a shake or smoothie. He doesn't always like the taste of the protein powder so we add it in small amounts.

Hi Leslie, im sorry to hear bout your mum, my grandad was diagnosed a few months back with this cancer too. his is also inoperable so he's undergoing chemo. He keeps losing weight as well but my grandma tends to get him whatever he feels like when hes hungry, and the doctor has told us its trial and error with his diet. Apparently semelina pudding helps and keep the imune system up and dark chocolate is good as well because of the coaco.
I recently bought some essaic herbal tea but he cant take it till hes finished the chemo, thats also supposed to help fight the cancer.
I dont know if this is any help, I can try to find out more when i go and see him.
Hope your mum starts to put more weight on and this is helpful.
Ailsa x