Nutrition and Recipes

Nutrition is of interest to all cancer patients, but of special interest to those who have or have had Esophageal Cancer. Below is a compilation of nutrition information, cookbooks and recipes.

If you have a special recipe or advice that you'd like to share, please send them to us!

Recipes

Avocado Shake

• 1 avocado (make sure it is ripe)
• 2 cups of milk
• teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 tablespoons of sugar or honey or maple syrup (add more or less depending on how sweet you like it)

Peel and cut up avocado, put in blender, add milk, vanilla and sweetener. Blend until smooth, you can add more or less milk to get the consistency you want. Strain if necessary, I had to do this for my dad at first. Serve chilled. Usually makes two servings.
--Submitted by Kelly O'Callaghan

Cancer Candy

When I was doing my Internet research on Esophageal Cancer, I kept coming across a couple of recipes for something called "Cancer Candy" that were supposed to help alleviate mouth sores associated with Chemotherapy and Radiation.
--Kristin Spradlin

Recipe 1: From Joy of Cooking, 1974, p540.

• Heavy pan, big enough to account for foaming.
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tbs water
• 2 tbs vinegar
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (in this case, it was Durkee brand).

Stir all ingredients except pepper together over low heat until sugar dissolved. Boil gently, stirring frequently, until candy is at hard crack stage: 300 degrees. Add pepper at the end of the boiling. Drop candy from teaspoon onto buttered slab or foil to form patties. 

Easy? There are candy tricks: Never double recipes, use a large enough pan, and apparently candy thermometers are fairly inexpensive and well worth the price. Above 200 degrees, the temp really takes off, and has to be watched carefully. 

Stages of candy: 

1. Softball, 234-240 F, candy dropped into cold water is soft. 
2. Firm ball, 242-248 F, candy in cold water is firm, but flattens under pressure. 
3. Hardball, 250-268 F, candy is hard, but pliable.
4. Soft Crack,  270-290 F, candy makes hard but not brittle threads.
5. Hard Crack, 300-310 F,candy makes threads which are hard and brittle. 

So, without a candy thermometer, you can approximate temperatures.

Recipe 2: Betty Crocker, p164 (no other data)

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 tbs cornstarch
• 2 tbs butter or marg
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 8x8x2 buttered pan

In 2 qt saucepan, add sugar, corn syrup, water, cornstarch, butter and salt. Over medium heat, stirring constantly till hard ball stage (256F). Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pepper. When cool enough to handle, butter hands and pull until satiny and stiff. Pull into long strips, cut into 1" pieces, and wrap with wax paper. (I don't know what the buttered pan is for.) 

Power Shake:

• 1 egg, omit if afraid of salmonella
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup of yoghurt or ice cream
• 1 banana
• 2 tablespoons fruit jelly or other cut up fruit, or chocolate syrup
• honey to taste
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth, check for sweetness and add honey to taste. Strain if needed. Serve chilled, this also makes two servings.
--Submitted by Kelly O'Callaghan

Shiitake Miso Soup

Brad wrote...."For example, a compound isolated from Shiitake mushrooms, called lentinan, is a prescription cancer treatment in Japan"...so I thought I'd share a recipe I got out of a book on the Macrobiotic Diet Book that my Mom likes and can eat:

• 6 Shiitake mushrooms
  
• 3-4 TBLS miso (to taste really)
  
• 1 sheet dried seaweed ripped into very small pieces
  
• 1 cup cubed firm tofu
  

Soak shitake mushrooms in little water for an hour (or overnight). Add 3-4 cups of water, seaweed, miso , tofu. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes. If you think you won't be able to chew the mushrooms, mince them in a food processor before adding other ingredients. You can also try soft tofu if the firm gives you a problem. You can find miso and seaweed at any healthfood grocery store (miso is in the refrigerated section.)
--Submitted by Leslie Belsma

Books

Non-Chew Cookbook - This cookbook was written for people with chewing, swallowing and dry mouth disorders. Note: This is a commercial site, and the cookbook itself hasn't been reviewed, but we thought it might be helpful. Besides an overview, a bio about the author, purchasing information, the site also includes a few recipes and a page of useful links. 

Ann Tetrault's Nutrition Book Reviews:

I've noticed a few books mentioned recently and thought I'd give you my opinion on a few of them before you go out and spend $ on books that may not be what you expected. Hope this helps.

"CANCER SURVIVORS'S NUTRITION & HEALTH GUIDE"
Gene Spiller, PH.D. and Bonnie Bruce, Dr.P.H., R.D.

Lot's of excellent recipes for swallowing problems and lots of nutritional information. I like this book and use it frequently for recipes. 

"EATING HINTS FOR CANCER PATIENTS"
National Cancer Institute

 A lot of good information and recipies - plus it's free! Call: 1-800-4-CANCER

"BEATING CANCER WITH NUTRITION" 
Dr. Patrick Quillin

Information about vitamin and mineral supplements and some recipes. The author is Vice President of Nutrition for Cancer Treatment Centers of America. This book also has a few recipes and tells you where to order vitamins. I did place an order for supplements from the author's Cancer Treatment Center because I do believe if you're not eating well supplements will help. Unfortunately the capsules are really big and they recommend about 6 a day. Paul could not swallow them. I called the toll free # and they told me to empty the capsules into a shake. Well, it doesn't mix well, floats to the top and tastes pretty bad, according to Paul.

The book I use for making Paul's meals quite often is "CANCER SURVIVOR'S NUTIRITION & HEALTH GUIDE". It has more recipes than the others. Paul's diet is almost all liquid now, and ensure gets pretty boring. We had a nutritionist recommend instant breakfasts because there is a lot of supplements in it - close to ensure, but they are low in calories so I usually add ice cream in the blender. Also, the free booklet from the Cancer Institute is very helpful. 

Oh, speaking of ice cream, you probably know that all ice creams are not created the same based on taste. But if you are trying to add calories take a good look at the label. The calorie range is big. The highest calorie ice cream has cream listed 1st. 

Hope this helps. If you have any specific questions about any of the books I'd be glad to try and help. 

--Ann Tetreault