Nourish - eating well with cancer

  • Making veg the star of your plate

    FormerMember
    FormerMember

    I've just made the most delicious ribollita, the classic Italian soup with as nourishing a list of ingredients as you could hope to find. With its dark kale, tomatoes and beans, it's a real meal in a bowl. Whenever I make this dish, which I think the word 'soup' undersells, it rekindles happy memories of holidays spent in Tuscany when my daughter Maya was young. There was nothing more idyllic than coming home from the…

  • Festive feasting

    FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Christmas can be such a joyous time but it takes a lot of energy and resources to make it so, even when we are in the best of health. When you are living with cancer and having to negotiate your way around treatments and symptoms, the additional pressure can be a lot to handle. It's easy to feel torn between surfing the festive wave and sharing the season with family and friends, while you may also be struggling physically…

  • Eating to improve sleep

    FormerMember
    FormerMember

    'If only I could sleep better and get a little relief' is one of the most commonly uttered sentiments I hear from my patients undergoing cancer treatment. If it's not worry about their health and questions about treatment popping into their heads when the rest of the country is asleep, it can be the stimulating effects of steroids given to ease sickness, or pain and discomfort, which so often feels worse at night. Sleep…

  • Eating when in hospital

    FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Having spent a decade in and out of hospitals when I was younger, I know first-hand how hospital food can sometimes leave a lot to be desired. When you're going for cancer treatment it can feel particularly disappointing, because this of all times is when you need food to be nourishing and appetizing. There are exceptions, of course, with some hospitals making a real effort to improve the quality of meals they provide…

  • Recipes from Jane - Chicken soup

    FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Chicken soupChicken soup

    Preparation time: about 10 minutes

    Cooking time: about 1 hour and 20 minutes

    Serves: 4

    Ingredients

    5cm (2in) piece of fresh root ginger, peeled
    1 chicken, about 1.4kg (3lb)
    2 celery sticks
    1 medium onion
    1 medium potato
    2 medium carrots, chopped
    2 whole star anise
    6 black peppercorns
    1 lime
    Salt
    A handful of frozen peas
    A handful of flat-leaf parsley or coriander, roughly chopped

    Method

    • Bash the ginger with…