Food and nutrition                                 

A healthy, balanced diet reduces your risk of developing cancer

This page is about trying to achieve a balanced diet when possible for those with existing diet problems

A healthy diet is also an important part of getting ready for cancer treatment. This preparation is called prehabilitation. Prehabilitation includes a

focus on what you eat, your weight, physical activity and mental health

How eating well helps

Eating and drinking a balanced diet is important when you have cancer. It can help you feel better. You may have more energy and it could help you cope better with your cancer and treatment side effects.

Having a healthy balanced diet can also

• help our immune system to work well and cope better with infection

• reduce the risk of other conditions such as heart disease or diabetes

A balanced diet means eating foods from all the food groups that your body needs. But for many people with cancer, eating and drinking well can be a struggle. 

.Your healthcare team can discuss ways to support you with eating and drinking. And there are things you can do to help yourself

A balanced diet

Try to eat foods from all food groups to include everything your body needs to work well. These include:

• Drink 6 to 8 glasses each day. For example water, sugar free drinks, milk, tea and coffee.  

The diagrams below show how much of each food group you should eat each day to follow a healthy, balanced diet. They are also called Eatwell Guides. This is general information about a varied diet and recommended portions. If you have problems that are affecting your diet, your healthcare team may suggest that you change the amounts you eat from each group

In general, eating a healthy, balanced diet reduces your risk of developing cancer, while a poor diet increases your cancer risk. Cancers associated with diet are most commonly found in the digestive tract, including the oesophagus, stomach and bowel.

Improving your diet can be as simple as trying to eat more:

• vegetables, fruit and legumes
• cereals (preferably wholegrain) - bread, rice, pasta and noodles contain fibre, and a diet high in fibre can reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer.

While at the same time you can try to eat less: 

• red meat such as beef, veal, lamb, venison, goat and pork 
• processed meat such as salami, ham, hot dogs and canned meat.  

There are many factors that influence our body weight, including our genetics, our access to nutritious food and safe places to exercises, other health conditions and medications, as well as what we eat and how we move our bodies.  In turn, body weight can influence our cancer risk