The Cancer Dietitian

24/08/2026

Something that comes up quite often in clinic is just how much checking can start to surround food.

Reading labels. Comparing products. Looking up ingredients. Scanning foods into an app. And sometimes going back for another look.

When you're navigating cancer, it makes complete sense to want to do everything you can to support your health.

But there can come a point when the level of checking stops being helpful.

It can start to take up a lot of energy and headspace. And rather than settling things, it can leave you questioning your food choices.

If this feels familiar, I've written about it in my latest blog, with some practical tips on how to keep food labels in perspective and find a balanced approach to using them.

📚Read the blog here: https://www.thecancerdietitian.com/post/when-checking-food-labels-stops-being-helpful

30/07/2026

One of the things I value most about my work is helping people make sense of nutrition in the context of their own health.

We live in a world of headlines, reels and quick takes, where foods are often presented very definitively as either a hero or a villain.

Those posts can be interesting, but they can't join the dots between the research and what it means for you.

They can't take account of your health, how a particular food affects you, how much you're having, or how it fits into the rest of your diet and everyday life.

If a nutrition claim catches your attention and makes you question what you're doing...

Think of it as an invitation to stay curious. Like the start of a conversation, not the end of one.

The most helpful nutrition advice doesn't add pressure. It helps you put things into perspective.

10/07/2026

This week, I found myself coming back to the same message with several people in clinic:

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

What I mean by that is the changes that make the biggest difference are the ones that become part of your normal routine.

As you'll often hear me say, research increasingly shows us that it's our overall dietary pattern that matters most, rather than individual foods. It's what we do most of the time that shapes our health.

That's good news.😊

It means you don't have to get everything right all the time. You don't need a plan that's so ambitious it feels exhausting before you've even started.

If you're thinking about making a change, ask yourself:

What's one small change that I could start today that I could honestly see myself still doing in a few months' time?

It might be:
🥦 adding a portion of vegetables to one meal each day
🚶 going for a 10-minute walk after lunch
🛌 getting to bed half an hour earlier.

Just start there.

Think about brushing your teeth. You don't wake up each morning and debate whether you're going to do it. It's just part of your routine.

That's what we're aiming for with healthy habits too. Once something becomes second nature, it stops using up so much mental energy.

𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.

And that's why consistency is the intervention. It's what we do most of the time that shapes our health.

21/04/2026

“𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫?”
If you’ve come across something suggesting milk or dairy might increase risk, it’s easy to feel like this is something you should act on.

But this is where it helps to step back and look at the evidence as a whole and in context.

When you do that, it helps to put things into proportion.

The research around dairy and prostate cancer is:
• not strong
• not consistent
• and doesn’t show a clear need to avoid it

What does seem to matter far more is the bigger picture - the same patterns we associate with long-term health:

⚖️ maintaining a healthy body weight
🚶🏻‍♂️‍➡️ regular physical activity
🥗 a plant-rich, fibre-rich diet
❤️ (think heart healthy eating patterns)

This is where the strongest and most consistent evidence sits.

Dairy doesn’t have to be part of your diet.
And it doesn’t have to be avoided either.

I’ve written an article breaking this down, including:
– what the research shows
– why some studies sound more concerning than they are
– how dairy can fit (or not) into your diet in a way that feels right for you

https://www.thecancerdietitian.com/post/do-i-need-to-avoid-dairy-after-prostate-cancer

Wondering if you should avoid dairy after prostate cancer? Here’s what the research shows, so you can make sense of it with confidence.

05/04/2026

Wishing you a Happy Easter 🐣

I’ve been a bit quieter on here recently. I had some unexpected back surgery. I’m on the mend and finding my way back to things.

Yesterday was my first short trip to the gym, followed by a slow wander around Waitrose, where I spotted these plates. I just love them. I have one at home – the one with the blue squiggle with the heart in the middle.

It made me think about something I often talk about in clinic.

When your appetite is low, or food just isn’t that appealing, smaller plates and smaller portions can make things feel much more manageable.

There are also days when eating anything at all feels like a win, and it becomes about what feels doable in that moment.

For me recently, that’s been something simple like soup or cheese on toast with Marmite. Just something that felt possible.

And sometimes, that’s enough.

Hope you have a lovely rest of the weekend.☀️

27/01/2026

When there’s a lot of information about nutrition, it can be hard to know where to put your attention.

What matters most.
What to prioritise.
What’s actually worth your energy.

When everything feels important, it’s easy to lose your footing.
That’s often when things tip into overwhelm.

In my clinical work, I see how this pulls people away from the foundations because they look too simple.

But the foundations aren’t second best.
⚓️ They’re the anchor.
They ARE the work.

They’re what you return to when everything else feels noisy or scattered.

If things feel busy or unclear with food right now, my new blog may be helpful:
https://www.thecancerdietitian.com/post/the-foundations-that-matter-most-in-cancer-nutrition

Why focusing on the right foundations can bring clarity and steadiness to nutrition during and after cancer.

20/01/2026

As the year gets underway, many people are still finding their footing.

In cancer nutrition, meeting people where they are - without trends or pressure - is often what helps most.

It allows support to fit real life, rather than asking more of it.

22/12/2025

15/12/2025

𝐀 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 🥣
At this time of year there’s often plenty of festive food around. That can be lovely, and it can also be a distraction when you’re trying to keep your nutrition steady.

One helpful way to navigate that is to have a few simple, nourishing options you can come back to and keep as part of your core routine. We’ve just added a soup recipe to the website that fits that idea well: Clodagh McKenna’s Immune-Boosting Vegetable Soup.

“Immune boosting” is a phrase we see everywhere at this time of year. Food doesn’t boost the immune system in a literal sense, but it can certainly help to support and bolster it as part of a nourishing way of eating. Soups like this can be a really practical way of underpinning your nutrition - quietly doing their job in the background.

This recipe is based around root vegetables, with ginger, chilli flakes, and lemon. On its own, root vegetable soup is low in protein, so if you’re having it as a meal, adding a protein source can make a real difference. I’ve shared a few simple ideas in the recipe.

It can also work well as a small mug mid-morning or mid-afternoon if appetite is low or you’re trying to maintain your weight. In those moments, having a more nourishing fluid can be a helpful way of getting nutrition in.

👩🏻‍🍳 You can find the full recipe here:
https://www.thecancerdietitian.com/post/clodagh-s-immune-boosting-soup

A cosy root vegetable soup with simple protein additions for extra nourishment. An immune-boosting recipe from Clodagh McKenna.

24/11/2025

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬?

A question I sometimes hear is:
“𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭?”

Should I wait until after chemotherapy?
After radiotherapy?
After surgery?
Until things feel calmer or I’ve got more headspace?

It’s a very reasonable question, and it usually comes from people who are highly motivated and want to do everything they can to support themselves.

If you’ve wondered the same, you are not alone. And there’s an important piece of reassurance here:

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐲.

This isn’t about doing more.
It’s certainly not about perfection.
And it definitely doesn’t mean overhauling everything overnight.

Good nutrition support starts from where you are - preparing for treatment, in the middle of it, on a low-energy day, or when you’re finding things harder than usual.

Those more difficult moments are often when nutrition support becomes especially valuable.

I’ve written a new blog that explores why early nutrition helps, what the evidence shows, and what people often share after focusing on their nutrition sooner.

If this resonates with you, you might find it helpful.✨
https://www.thecancerdietitian.com/post/when-is-the-best-time-to-focus-on-cancer-nutrition

When is the best time to focus on your nutrition after a cancer diagnosis? Early support can improve treatment tolerance, recovery, and clinical outcomes.