Cancer patients struggle to maintain adequate nutrition owing to multiple reasons like general disinterest in food, reduced appetite, altered taste due to treatment, side effects like vomiting and diarrhea or intolerance to regular food. Lack of adequate nutrition results in further problems for the patients as it affects their general condition making them weak and vulnerable to more side effects and infections. Eventually, these problems lead to inability to continue cancer treatment and interruptions leading to poor outcomes.

What to eat
A balanced diet for cancer patients will include more vegetables, fruits and whole grains. It is important to include adequate amounts of water in the diet. Your diet should help you maintain a BMI (body mass index) of about 18.5 and 25 kg/m2. The below ideas are for cancer fighters on active treatment. If you have other conditions such as diabetes, you will need to consult your doctor or dietician before you follow a meal plan.
Snacks or small meals
For breakfast, tea-time snacks or snacks between meals, you can draw inspiration from these lighter dishes. It is considered good for you to have a larger number of smaller meals rather than three large meals, so feel free to indulge at odd hours.With small meals, focus on increasing the protein intake. Below is a list of quick bites that will help you do that.
Eggs: Being a good source of proteins, eggs in all forms, particularly scrambled or sunny-side up may improve your appetite
Nuts: A good helping of nuts like almonds, can form a suitable snack on the move
Peanut butter: Unsweetened varieties are available in the market. These can be spread over toast or a roti
Cheese: Cheese cubes can be ideal nibbles. Home- made cottage cheese (paneer) will help you avoid processed cheese
Sprouts: Sprouts like moong dal can be consumed with a touch of lemon and salt, or with honey for those with a sweet tooth
Uttapams: This South Indian dish made from a batter of sprouts and rice makes for a filling meal. You can additionally add onions, coriander, tomatoes etc to the batter to improve the taste
Dahi Vada: A combination of high protein foods like curd and moong dal can be a wholesome choice Smoothies: By combining fruits like bananas and apples with milk, you can come up with a variety of milkshakes and smoothies. You can also try including vegetables like carrot, spinach and beetroot to up the nutrition quotient. You can add oats or nuts to make the drink thicker and more filling
Main meals
When planning the main meals, ensure you include these aspects:
Unrefined flours
One portion of the meal must constitute unrefined flours like bajra, jowar, oats, brown rice etc. These help maintain an optimum level of energy within the body, to combat constant fatigue and weakness.
For example: brown rice khichdi, jowar rotis, oats porridge
Proteins

Meat, lentils and beans, soybean, dairy products, etc, make for good sources of proteins.
When Choosing The Meat,go with lean meats like fish. Avoid red meats as these are difficult to digest
Legumes Like Peas(muttar),chickpeas(chana), lentils (dal), kidney beans (rajma) are high in proteins
Abowlofcurdintheformofraitacanbeaddedto every meal. You can add a hint of spices to improve the taste.