CION’s oncology dietitian helps you eat well enough to keep your strength and weight through treatment, and to manage the side effects that make eating hard.
18 cancer specialistsEating well matters all through treatment. Which of these apply to you now?
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If any of these apply, CION’s oncology dietitian can help you plan meals around them.
Book a diet consultationYour answers stay on this page.
Bring it to your diet consultation. See what to bring
Sources: ESPEN · NCI Eating Hints · NCI · ACS
CION guide: What an oncology dietitian does, and when to ask for one
CION’s oncology dietitian checks your weight, what you eat, your symptoms and your blood reports.
A plan built on home-style Indian foods you like, fitted to your treatment with your oncologist.
Help with side effects as they come up, with follow-ups in person, by video or by phone.
Rebuilding your strength and getting back to your usual meals, at your own pace.
Small changes at home often help. Open a problem to see what helps.
What helps
Eat small, dry, plain foods every few hours, such as idli, plain dosa or rusk, and sip water, jeera water or ginger water between meals. Cool food smells less. Sit up after eating, and take your anti-nausea medicine on time.
Tell your team if vomiting is severe or lasts more than a day or two, or you can’t keep fluids down.
What helps
Choose soft, moist, lukewarm foods: idli soaked in dal, khichdi, upma, ragi java, mashed banana. Avoid spicy, sour, salty and crunchy foods, and rinse your mouth often with a mild rinse of salt and baking soda in water.
Tell your team if your mouth or gums are sore, or you see white patches or new sores.
What helps
If food tastes of metal, try a plastic spoon. Lift bland food with lemon or mild spices if your mouth isn’t sore, and eat food cool if smells bother you. Try foods again after a few weeks, as tastes often come back.
Tell your team if you can’t eat for 2 days.
What helps
Eat by the clock, not by hunger: a small meal or snack every few hours. Make small portions count with ghee, peanut powder or paneer, choose milk over tea, and drink after meals rather than before. Worry and low mood can dull appetite too, so tell your team.
Tell your team if you can’t eat for 2 days.
What helps
Sip plenty of fluids: water, rice kanji, dal water, thin soups, coconut water. Eat small, soft meals such as rice with dal, khichdi, idli or banana, and go easy on fried, oily, very spicy and sugary food, and on milk if it makes things worse.
Tell your team if it lasts more than 24 hours, or comes with pain or cramps.
What helps
Drink more, and warm drinks can help. Add fibre if your team allows, such as fruit you can peel, cooked vegetables, ragi or whole-wheat roti, and move a little each day, even a short walk.
Tell your team if you haven’t had a bowel movement for 2–3 days.
What helps
Moisten food with dal or a mild gravy that isn’t spicy or sour, and choose soft or mashed foods such as khichdi, upma or soft idli. Sit upright, take small bites and sip water often. If swallowing stays hard, your team can change the texture of your food.
Tell your team if you cough or choke when you eat or drink, or you can’t eat for 2 days.
What helps
Keep easy food ready: fruit, roasted chana and peanuts, boiled eggs, milk. Eat your biggest meal when you have most energy, and let family shop and cook. A ready snack beats skipping a meal.
Tell your team if you can’t eat for 2 days.
More than one of these? CION’s oncology dietitian can plan your meals around all of them.
Book a diet consultationSources: NCI Eating Hints · NCI
During chemotherapy or radiation you may need more protein and energy than usual. Your home food is a good place to start.
Dal, chana and rajma, eggs, paneer, milk, chicken or fish, soya, roasted nuts
Have some at every meal, to keep your muscles strong.
Rice, roti, idli and dosa, potatoes, bananas, a little ghee or oil
Rice and roti are fine: you may need more energy than usual.
Water, coconut water, soups and dal water, milk
Sip through the day. With kidney or heart problems, ask your team how much, and about coconut water.
Ask your team whether curd and buttermilk are okay while your blood counts are low.
Small meals, often. Five or six small meals or snacks a day are easier to manage than three big ones.
Your dietitian adjusts this to your treatment, your side effects, your blood sugar and any kidney problems.
Sources: NCI · NCI Eating Hints
CION guide: What to eat during chemotherapy: an Indian diet guide
Treatment can lower the white cells that fight germs. CION’s approach is safe food handling, not a strict diet: follow any extra rules your team gives you.
Sources: ACS · NCI Eating Hints
Show every supplement to your oncologist first. Vitamins, kadhas, herbal powders and Ayurvedic products can change how chemotherapy or radiation works, and some protein powders contain them. Spices in everyday cooking amounts are fine. And please don’t delay treatment to try an alternative first. Sources: MSK · MSK FAQ · ACS
Sugar, fasting and other common food myths, answered
Myth“Sugar feeds cancer, so cut out all sweets.”
FactEvery cell in your body uses glucose (sugar), and your body makes its own. Cutting sugar out doesn’t starve cancer. Source: Cancer Research UK
Myth“Immunity boosters protect you during treatment.”
FactNo food or product boosts immunity against cancer. Some herbal products and high-dose vitamins can even make treatment work less well. Source: NCI Eating Hints · ACS · MSK
Myth“Fasting starves the tumour.”
FactGoing without food doesn’t starve cancer. It weakens you, and makes treatment harder to get through. Source: ESPEN · NCI
Myth“An alkaline diet clears cancer from the body.”
FactYour body keeps its acid balance steady whatever you eat. There’s no evidence this diet prevents or treats cancer. Source: Cancer Research UK · NCI Eating Hints
CION guides: Herbal and Ayurvedic products with chemotherapy · Diet claims: what the evidence shows
Why patients choose CION
Food advice joined up with your cancer care.
CION’s oncology dietitian works alongside your oncologist, so food advice fits your treatment.
Your food plan follows the treatment plan your specialists agree together at CION’s tumour board.
Built on the dal, rice, roti and idli you already eat, not a printed diet chart.
Follow-ups in person, by video or by phone when eating gets hard.
From the start of treatment to rebuilding your strength afterwards.
CION’s oncology dietitian works with these 18 specialists.
Treat cancer with medicines such as chemotherapy.
Reviews CION’s guides on eating during chemotherapy
10+ years · MBBS, DNB (Internal Medicine), DM (Medical Oncology)
8+ years · MBBS (Gold Medal), DNB (General Medicine), DM (Medical Oncology) (Gold Medal)
8+ years · MBBS, MD (General Medicine), DM (Medical Oncology) (Adyar, Chennai), ECMO, MRCP SCE (UK)
8+ years · MBBS, MD (General Medicine), DrNB (Medical Oncology), ECMO, MRCP SCE (Medical Oncology) (UK)
10+ years · MBBS, DM (Medical Oncology), MD (Radiation Oncology)
7+ years · MBBS, DM (Medical Oncology), MD (Internal Medicine)
Treat cancer with carefully aimed radiation.
13+ years · MBBS, MD (General Physician), DNB (Radiation Oncology)
Decide whether an operation can remove the cancer, and when.
Head of Surgical Oncology
12+ years · MBBS, MS (General Surgery), M.Ch (Surgical Oncology)
20+ years · MBBS (AIIMS), MS (Surgery) (AIIMS), DNB (Surgical Oncology), MRCS (Edinburgh)
10+ years · MBBS, MS (General Surgery), M.Ch (Surgical Oncology)
8+ years · MBBS, MS (General Surgery), M.Ch (Surgical Oncology), FMAS, FARIS (ongoing)
7+ years · MBBS, MS (General Surgery), M.Ch (Surgical Oncology), FMAS
5+ years · MBBS, MS (General Surgery), DrNB (Surgical Oncology), FALS Oncology
10+ years · MBBS, MS (General Surgery), DrNB (Surgical Oncology)
Specialist in blood cancers and blood disorders.
Dr. Basudev Pokhrel
Reviews CION’s guides on diet in blood cancers
10+ years · MBBS, MD (Immunohaematology & Blood Transfusion), Fellowship in Clinical Haematology (CMC Vellore)
Start with a Diet Consultation
Your dietitian and oncologist plan your food around your treatment.
Ask your oncologist, or call us to book.
Your checklist
If someone cooks for you, bring them along.
35+ CION centres
Still unsure? Call 1800 202 8726.
Small, frequent meals of home food you enjoy, with some protein at every meal, such as dal, eggs, paneer, milk, chicken or fish. Rice and roti are fine. Drink plenty through the day unless your team limits fluids, and follow the food-safety tips while your blood counts are low. Your dietitian fits this to your treatment.
Often yes, if your dietitian suggests one: a nutrition drink can help on days you can’t eat enough. Check with your team before you buy any powder or drink, and show them the label, because some contain herbs or high-dose vitamins that can affect treatment.
While your blood counts are low, hot, freshly cooked home food is safest; skip street food, chaat and cut fruit from stalls. At other times, choose food that is cooked fresh and served hot, and ask your team if you’re not sure.
Keep sipping fluids, and tell your team if you can’t eat for 2 days, or as soon as you can’t keep fluids down. Anti-nausea medicine, softer foods and nutrition drinks often help. If eating stays too low, a feeding tube can give liquid food for a while, through the nose or into the stomach, and some people still eat a little by mouth alongside it if their doctor agrees.
Don’t skip meals to control your sugar. Some treatments, such as steroids given with chemotherapy, can raise it, so your dietitian plans regular meals that keep it steady and your doctors may adjust your diabetes medicines. Keep checking your sugar as advised, and if you can’t eat, ask your team what to do about your diabetes medicines.
Offer small portions often, without pressure, and keep easy foods ready. If cooking smells make you feel sick, cook in another room with the windows open. Bring the person who cooks to the dietitian visit, and remember that some days will be better than others.
Yes. Diet sessions can be by video or phone, especially follow-ups, which helps if you live outside Hyderabad or find travel hard. Ask when you book.
Yes. Bring your treatment plan, recent reports and medicine list. CION’s oncology dietitian and oncologist go through them with you, and there’s no commitment to move your treatment to CION.
Tell CION’s oncology dietitian what makes eating hard, and get a plan that fits your treatment.
This page explains nutrition support at CION Cancer Clinics. It is general information, not medical advice: your dietitian and doctors fit food advice to your treatment and your blood counts.
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