6 tips for healthy eating with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

When you have chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)—a type of blood cancer that starts from cells in the bone marrow and affects white blood cells that are part of the immune system—your food choices may help improve your body's own defenses and support your treatment. It may help to focus on two key areas: eating enough and eating safely.

Eating enough can become a challenge when the side effects of treatment—or from the cancer itself—decrease your appetite. During treatment your sense of taste can change, which may make even your favorite foods less appetizing. Or you might experience nausea that makes eating difficult. Although both issues may resolve with time, maintaining your weight when you have nausea or loss of taste can be a challenge and may require some intentional eating.

Food safety is always important but becomes even more so when your immune system is weakened due to cancer and cancer treatment. That’s why you should avoid some foods entirely and be careful when preparing others. When eating in restaurants, you'll need to be even more cautious about which foods you choose. Here are a few more essentials to keep in mind.