If you are reading this guide, it likely means you or someone you love is walking through a cancer journey. Before anything else, I want to say this: you’re not alone here.
This guide was created to sit beside you, not to overwhelm you with rules or pressure, but to gently offer guidance, comfort, and clarity especially around an area that can quickly feel confusing during treatment: food and strength.
Cancer changes so much: your routines, energy, sometimes even your relationship with food and your own body. Many people tell me, “I don’t even know what I should be eating anymore,” or, “Everything tastes different, and I feel guilty when I can’t eat properly.” If that sounds familiar, exhale.
You are not doing it wrong. You’re a person going through something big and your body deserves kindness, not perfection.
Why this guide exists
This isn’t a strict diet plan or a list of good and bad foods. Instead, this guide will help you focus on small actions that support healing. Small adjustments can make a big difference in energy, weight stability, treatment tolerance, and overall well-being.
How to use this guide
There is no-start-at-page-one-and finish-everything expectation here. Think of it as a companion you can flip through depending on how you feel that day. Some pages may speak to you immediately, others may be useful later. Take what you need, when you need it.
You might find it helpful to keep a pen nearby to jot down meals that worked for you, questions for your healthcare team, or simply a note to remind yourself of how far you’ve already come.
CO-CREATORS
Meagan Atcheson is a clinical dietitian, specialising in oncology nutrition and complex clinical care. She focuses on quality of life, managing treatment-related symptoms, and empowering patients through every phase of cancer care with structured yet gentle nutrition guidance.
Mikyla Heins is a registered dietitian currently completing her Master’s degree in Paediatric Oncology. Her focus is on improving nutritional outcomes for children undergoing treatment, with a commitment to evidence-based, compassionate care.
Casey Forman is a registered counselling psychologist with a special interest in oncology support, rare diseases, and palliative care. Her work focuses on empowering individuals and families through compassionate, evidence-based psychological care across the illness journey.
Sindi-marie Hall is a registered dietitian with a passion for imparting positive transformations through the realm of nutrition. She is committed to fostering well-being among those grappling with chronic or life-changing conditions, such as cancer, and the elderly.
Robyn van der Westhuizen is a clinical dietitian who works at Life New Kensington Rehabilitation Clinic and Life Bedford Gardens Hospital, and runs NutraConnect, her own private practice that supports patients at home, including those needing palliative care during cancer treatment.
Amy Harrison is a clinical dietitian. Her focus is adult malnutrition and nutritional management for critically ill patients. A significant aspect of her work involves supporting oncology patients and providing optimal nutritional support.
CONTENTS
MANAGING SIDE EFFECTS DURING TREATMENT
POST-TREATMENT NUTRITION
