Length 13.33 minutes

What is in this film?

Our nutritional therapist explains how what you eat affects you during and after breast cancer treatment. 

You will be introduced to the Haven healthy eating plate which explains the proportions of each type of food to have at each meal. This will help you to get a good balance in your diet so that your energy levels are maintained. Here is a flavour of what is in the film:

You are encouraged to have a rainbow of vegetables and fruit every day, with about two thirds’ vegetables and one third fruit. These are full of vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and phytonutrients.

You might like to have your fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch and three portions of vegetables with dinner.

We suggest you include some complex carbohydrates and invite you to choose wholegrain versions of bread, pasta or rice to keep your blood sugar better balanced. Have about a cupped handful at a meal.

We recommend to include protein at each meal as this helps to balance out the blood sugar effects of the carbohydrates as well as providing amino acids  which are the building blocks of the body.

We suggest red meat a maximum of twice per week, perhaps venison or organic red meat if possible. Oily fish including salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines are wonderful sources of protein.

Other sources of protein include lentils and a variety of beans. Lentils are easy and don’t need to be soaked first as beans do.

Eggs are a great source of protein and two eggs make a portion of protein at a meal. These are best if you can get organic of free range and the same applies to eating chicken, both of which may be intensively farmed.

Unroasted and unsalted nuts and seeds are great sources of protein. Limit your daily intake to about three tablespoons per day.

Soya is a good and safe source of protein, choose organic and non-genetically modified. They best sources are fermented soya such as tofu, tempeh, and miso.

Healthy fats should be include at each meal – two tablespoons at each meal and they won’t make you fat. Olive oil, nuts and seeds too. Oily fish, herring, pilchards, sardines are recommended three times per week.

Keep yourself well hydrated especially during treatment.

And there is so much more you can find out from the film and our Haven’s Guide to Healthy Eating.