Quick Read:
- Use these chemo tips to thrive: move your body, be strategic with supplements, eat for healing, be intentional with therapies, and prioritize your well-being.
- Yes, chemo may be a critical part of your healing journey, but there is so much you can intentionally do to improve quality of life.
While chemo is one of the most common, and sometimes necessary, treatments…it’s also one of the toughest on your mind, body, and soul. It can leave you exhausted, nauseous, foggy-brained, and struggling to keep up with daily life. However, with strategic and intentional nutrition, support, mindset, and complementary therapies, you really can thrive through it.
Here are Dr. V’s top tips for navigating this part of your journey with confidence, support, empowerment, and resilience. Because it really is possible to feel vibrant during treatment.
1. Move Your Body, Even When It’s Hard
Exercise can kick out miserable chemo symptoms—even when it’s the last thing you want to do! To start off, take a brisk walk outside and listen to our podcast episode with Fit Fun Carly [1]. She is a Triple Negative Breast Cancer thriver who used the joy of exercise to push through 16 weeks of aggressive chemo.
Movement improves circulation, helps manage fatigue, keeps muscles strong, and boosts physical recovery from chemo. Studies [2] have also found that metastatic cancer risk is reduced by as much as 72% with high-intensity exercise. And while physical strength and metastatic prevention are critical, one of the main reasons you should exercise is for the gifts of mental strength, joy, and stress management that it gives you. The sweat life leads to the sweet life.
Therefore, even if you would rather just flop on the couch (and you still should rest and recharge), motivate yourself to do a little exercise.
- Walking outdoors: Boosts your mood and gives your lymphatic system a gentle push. Learn more about loving your lymphs here [3].
- Light strength training: Preserves muscle mass, which is often lost during treatment.
- Gentle HIIT (high-intensity interval training): HIIT has been studied in oncology and found to promote apoptosis, increase oxygen, regulate hormones, and reduce inflammation. Tap here to learn more [2].
- Yoga or stretching: Excellent for flexibility, stress relief, and lymphatic flow.
[1]
For focused 15-minute workouts to do during chemo, listen to Carly’s podcast episode [1] and check out her GIFTT “Guidance, Inspiration & Fitness Through Treatment (and beyond)” programs [4].
As always, listen to your body and rest when you need to—but know that even 10 minutes of walking can make a difference.
2. Support Your Body with Smart Supplementation
Supplements can be incredibly supportive during treatment, but here’s the important part: not every supplement is safe to take with chemo or meant to be for your specific healing journey. Some may interact with drugs, reduce effectiveness, or alter how your body processes medications.
That’s why this area requires extra care. Work closely with your doctor and your 7 Essentials System® Coach [5] to determine what is safe and supportive for you.
That said, here are some examples of supplements that have been studied for their potential to strengthen the body during cancer treatment:
- Triple-Positive Breast Cancer [6] blog post.
- Triple-Negative Breast Cancer [7] blog post.
- HER2 Breast Cancer [8] blog post.
- Immunity Complete [9]: All of those immune system superfoods that you hear about: echinacea, elderberry, green tea, a buffet of mushrooms, etc., are all in this one powerful blend. Since chemo is known to weaken your immune system, it’s essential to take extra action to strengthen it.
- Vitamin D: [10] It does everything you need during chemo: brings extra support to your happiness/mood, bones, immune system, cardiovascular system, energy levels, and oh-so-much more. It is also known to
[11] enhance the effects of chemo. - Poly-MVA® [12]: It’s an innovative blend known for energizing during chemo, as well as reducing inflammation, detoxing, and stopping the spread of cancer.
- Melatonin: [13] Melatonin puts you—and cancer—to sleep. To learn more, please review this blog [14] and this one. [15]
This is not a prescription list, but rather a glimpse into what has been explored in numerous trustworthy case studies and by doctors worldwide. The bottom line: never start a supplement protocol during chemo without guidance. Your doctor and coach can help you decide what is right for your unique treatment plan.
3. Eat for Healing and Thriving, Not Just Surviving
Chemo often affects appetite and taste, which makes it tempting to reach for comfort foods. But food can be one of your greatest allies during treatment. The right nutrients reduce inflammation, balance blood sugar, and strengthen your body’s ability to heal.
Here are Dr. V’s food guidelines for thriving during chemo:
- For a more complete list, please review this blog post [16] on food to eat during chemo and other treatments.
- Sea Salt Chocolate Date Bark: This delicious treat helps you maintain your weight, nourish your soul, and energize. Click here [17] for the recipe.
- Focus on plants: Cruciferous vegetables [18] like watercress, broccoli, and kale are especially powerful because they help your body detoxify carcinogens and support hormonal balance.
- Load up on protein: Adequate protein is essential for tissue repair and immune strength. Plant-based proteins (like hemp, chia, or lentils) and clean animal sources (like wild-caught fish or organic poultry) are excellent choices. Learn more about prepping for chemo here [19] and more about protein here [20].
- Cut out sugar: Cancer cells thrive on glucose. Limiting sugar and processed carbs helps starve cancer cells and stabilizes your energy. Click here [21] and here [22] to learn more about sugar and breast cancer.
- Manuka honey: It can help heal and soothe painful mouth sores from chemo and radiation. Uncover more sweet secrets of manuka here. [23]
- Mindfully consider fasting: Intermittent fasting or fasting-mimicking diets (done under supervision) may improve chemo effectiveness and reduce side effects. However, please review this blog post [24] and consult your medical team before fasting.
4. Explore Complementary Therapies
Chemo doesn’t have to be your only line of defense. Complementary therapies can provide much-needed relief from side effects, enhance the effectiveness of treatment, and improve your overall quality of life.
Some powerful options include:
- Red light therapy: Helps reduce inflammation, pain, and fatigue. Click here [25] to uncover more details.
- Pelvic floor therapy: Chemo can weaken the pelvic floor muscles and the delicate nerves that support them. Click here [26] to learn about how to support strength, reduce incontinence, and restore confidence from your pelvic floor and onward.
- The Cancer BioShield™: It’s designed to reverse immune collapse and empower the body to heal itself from the inside out. Learn more about this blog post [27], which explores how it can be paired with chemo or radiation to optimize their capabilities and minimize side effects, or serve as a powerful healing therapy on its own.
- Dendritic Cell Therapy: It helps your immune system recognize and destroy cancer cells by using your blood cells to only target the cancer cells—not your healthy ones. Therefore, this therapy helps you spend less time dealing with the symptoms of conventional cancer treatment and more time actually fighting the cancer cells. Learn all about it here. [28]
- Mistletoe therapy: It is known to help decrease miserable chemo symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite. Mistletoe may also help stimulate bone marrow activity, which is also helpful when undergoing treatment. Dig into the details of mistletoe therapy via this blog post. [29]
5. Prioritize Your Mental and Emotional Well-Being
Your emotional health is just as important as your physical health, which is another reason why Essential #4 is Heal Your Emotional Wounds [30]. Chemo can leave you feeling drained, anxious, and depressed. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can take actionable steps to bring calm sunshine to your life and protect your mental wellness.
Here are some practices that can help:
- Rest without guilt: Some days, the best thing you can do is allow yourself to sleep or simply be. Watch a funny movie, read a book, lie in the sun, and just let yourself breathe.
- Meditation and breathwork: Simple techniques calm your nervous system and reduce stress hormones. Click here [31] for simple tips and techniques to try today.
- Gentle self-care: Massage, dry brushing [32], warm baths, journaling, or quiet reading can bring relief, connection to your body, and joy.
- Lean on your tribe: Strong friendships have been linked to better recovery and even longer survival. Surround yourself with people who uplift and support you. They literally are your lifeline; read the science behind it here [33].
- Consciously lower stress: Chronic stress weakens the immune system. Whether it’s yoga, laughter, or spending time in nature, find daily ways to bring joy into your life. Click here [34] for insight into creative and mostly free ideas.
Joy, love, peace, and connection are truly powerful medicine! Indulge yourself!
[35]Give Yourself Permission to Heal
Above all, give yourself grace. Healing during chemo is not about perfection—it’s about progress. Some days you’ll have the energy to meal prep and go for a walk; other days, rest will be the best medicine. Both are valid. Listen to your body.
By weaving together fitness, nutrition, supplements, complementary therapies, and emotional care, you’re building a healing environment that empowers your body to not just survive chemo, but thrive during it.
We’ve seen time and time again that women who take a proactive role in their healing journey feel stronger, more hopeful, and more resilient. We are here to support you every single step of the way with insightful blogs [36], deliciously healing recipes [37], fascinating podcasts, [38] action-packed online courses [35], and in-person retreats [39].
You are never alone. You got this; we’ve got you.