Ask the Nutritionist

Q: Is drinking juiced vegetables every day safe for cancer survivors? Is a high-vegetable diet with a little meat better than a meat and vegetables diet?

A: Juicing is best used as a supplement to a healthy, plant based diet to help boost your intake of fruits and vegetables and ease the absorption of certain immune boosting and health promoting nutrients.

For patients going through cancer treatment, we suggest adding in fresh juice as part of a healthy, plant-based diet that includes eating fresh, whole fruits and vegetables. Juicing is a way to provide a nutrient-dense meal supplement that can go along well with cancer treatment and recovery.

Treatment may cause a change in the taste of food and beverages as well as difficulty swallowing food, which is where juicing can come in handy. Do not rely on a strict juice-only diet. A well balanced diet during this time is important and a juice-only diet cannot provide you with all of the protein and calories that you need during treatment.

You can find juicing recipes on the Nutrition Services section of the website.