What’s For Lunch?

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Explore nutritious snack ideas, grocery list inspiration, and a guide to what your child should be eating in a healthy, balanced diet.

Always check with your primary care physician, oncologist, hematologist, or nutritionist/dietitian about specific nutrition needs & food choices.

 

Quick & Easy Snack Ideas

  • Popcorn (plain or buttered)

  • Fresh fruit chunks (canned or dried fruit can also be used)

  • Cereal

  • Cheese cubes with crackers or fruit

  • Chicken or fish spreads on crackers or breads

  • Dips made with cheese, beans, or sour cream

  • Granola on yogurt, ice cream, pudding, hot cereal, pancakes, or canned or fresh fruit

  • Guacamole on breads, crackers, or chips

  • Nuts

  • Peanut butter (spread on fruit, cracker, or eaten with jam or jelly on bread)

  • Pita bread and hummus

  • Pizza bagel or English muffin

  • Puddings and custards

  • Raw vegetables and dip

  • Whole or 2% milk (chocolate or plain)

  • Non-dairy milk (soy, almond, oat, pea protein)

  • Yogurt with fruit or yogurt in smoothies

  • Veggies, every color

  • Cruciferous veggies: Arugula, bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, radish, turnip and watercress

  • Avocados

  • Whole grains: Quinoa, brown rice, freekeh, steel cut oats and bulgur wheat

  • Legumes: Beans, peas, lentils and peanuts Fruit, every color

  • Fermented foods: Yogurt, kefir, pasteurized kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi, tempeh and pickles

  • Pasteurized yogurt and kefir

  • Spices

  • Nuts and seeds

  • Cold water fish: Salmon, sardines, anchovies, cod, snapper and trout

  • Eggs **

  • Poultry, beef, bison, lamb **

  • Booster foods: Beef collagen powder, ground flax seeds, hulled hemp seeds, spirulina, bee pollen, wheat germ, chia seeds and royal jelly

  • Beverages***: Water, coconut, water, green tea, milk, herb teas, broth and bone broth

  • Olives and olive oil

  • Black cumin seeds and oil

*Salt content may be high
**Choose pasture-raised, grass-fed, free-range and organic proteins whenever possible
***Avoid serving grapefruit or grapefruit juice during treatment

Info adapted from Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford Nutrition and Wellness Guide for children with cancer and their families.

 

Superhero Foods to Add to Your Grocery List

 What Kids Should Eat

For children, a healthy diet is especially important as a sufficient amount of calories will ensure a normal rate of growth, fuel the body to repair and replace healthy cells, and provide energy for the body to break down chemotherapy drugs and excrete their byproducts. When chemotherapy is being administered, maintaining weight is a higher priority than a balanced diet. Research shows that well-nourished children can tolerate more treatment with fewer side effects, recover faster from treatment, and maintain weight better.

If the body becomes malnourished, body fat and muscle decrease, leading to lack of energy, weight loss, weakness, impaired immunity to fight infections, and more difficulty digesting food. These health issues may require a reduction in the dose of chemotherapy drugs. 

To keep your child’s body well-nourished, foods from all six basic food groups are needed. The groups are: Meat and other proteins, Dairy products, Bread and cereal, Fruits, Vegetables, and Fats and sweets.

Children on chemotherapy can benefit from a higher than average intake of fats, which add more calories. Focus on protein sources if your child cannot tolerate dairy products.

Examples of foods contained in each group are listed below, with a small child’s serving size in parentheses beside each food. Consult a nutritionist to determine the serving size that is appropriate for your child.

Proteins & Meat (2 or 3 servings per day)

  • Meat (1 ounce)

  • Poultry (1 ounce)

  • Eggs (1)

  • Peanut Butter (2 Tbsp)

  • Beans, cooked (1/2 cup)

  • Fish (1 ounce)

  • Cheese ( 1 ounce)

  • Tofu (1/2 cup)

Dairy Products (2 or 3 servings per day)

  • Milk (1/2 cup)

  • Cheese (1 ounce)

  • Ice Cream (1/2 cup)

  • Yogurt (1/2 cup)

Whole Grains, Breads, & Cereals (6 to 11 servings per day)

  • Bread (1/2 slice)

  • Oatmeal (1/2 cup)

  • Cream of Wheat (1/2 cup)

  • Dry Cereal (1/2 cup)

  • Granola (1/2 cup)

  • Cooked Pasta (1/2 cup)

  • Potatoes (1 baked)

  • Rice (1/2 cup)

  • Whole Grain Crackers (~4-6 pieces)

Fruits (2 to 4 servings per day)

  • Fresh Fruit (1 piece)

  • Dried Fruits (1/4 cup)

  • Canned Fruit (1/4 cup)

  • Fruit Juice (1/2 cup)

Vegetables (3 to 5 servings per day)

  • Cooked Vegetables (1/4 cup)

  • Raw Vegetables (1/4 cup)

Fats & Sweets (Several servings per day)

  • Butter or oil

  • Nuts

  • Mayonnaise

  • Peanut butter

  • Avocado

  • Meat fat (in gravy)

  • Olives

Info adapted from alexslemonade.org and Childhood Cancer, A Parent’s Guide to Solid Tumor Cancers, 3rd ed. By Anne Spurgeon & Nancy Keene.
“Childhood Cancer.” Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, 1 Nov. 2019, www.alexslemonade.org/childhood-cancer/guides/childhood-cancer.