While the hustle and bustle of shopping and family gatherings that are often centered around food may bring joy to many, it can feel daunting to others when time, energy, and appetite are running low as a result of cancer treatment. Many chemotherapies affect taste and smell and diminish appetite. Radiation therapy often leaves patients feeling fatigued and is also a major time commitment. Recovering from surgery can be physically limiting and tiring.
The holiday experience may look and feel different for anyone going through treatment for cancer, and that’s ok. How do you explain this to family and friends, and how do you manage holiday dinners when you’re just not up for eating much? These are such common concerns among patients that Dartmouth Cancer Center (DCC) dietitians Nicole Parker, RD, LD, and Elise Cushman, RD, LD, focused an entire session of their Intuitive Eating and Cancer Survivorship webinar on the holidays, complete with holiday affirmation cards and a holiday-grounding tip sheet with recipes.
Here is some of their advice on how people with cancer—and their loved ones—can make the season more manageable and meaningful.
Healing Harvest: A Helping Hand for the Holidays
Between appointments and treatment, fatigue, and limited time or energy for shopping and cooking, holiday meals can feel overwhelming.
Dartmouth Cancer Center’s Healing Harvest program provides free, nutritious groceries to all DCC patients. During the holidays, volunteers put together a special “Everything but the Turkey” Thanksgiving kit, filled with comforting sides such as cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and candied yams.
“The kits were a big hit last year,” says Healing Harvest program manager Julia Boger-Hawkins. “We wanted to take one thing off people’s plates—literally—so they could focus on rest, recovery, and spending time with loved ones.”
For patient Elizabeth Borowsky, Healing Harvest offered far more than just practical support.
“When I first received my diagnosis, my immediate thought was, ‘I don’t have time for this,’” Borowsky shares. “Healing Harvest has helped simplify my life and allowed me to focus on what was most important. But beyond the practical benefits, the program brought me small moments of joy. Each pick-up felt like receiving a thoughtful gift.”
From the starfruit in her first box to the mango in her next, those small gestures made a big difference. “Healing Harvest reflects the same spirit of kindness and thoughtful care I’ve experienced throughout my treatment,” she says. “I am deeply grateful.”
Grace and flexibility
“The holidays often center around food, family, and tradition,” says Parker. “For those navigating a cancer diagnosis, the season can bring emotional and physical fatigue, changes in appetite or taste, and even pressure to celebrate normally. The goal is to find grace and flexibility rather than guilt or restriction.”
That means letting go of “rules” about what or how much you should eat and instead listening to your body. Intuitive eating—a gentle, compassionate approach to nutrition—can help you reconnect with hunger and fullness cues.
The goal is to choose foods that support healing and energy, such as lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and ensure you are hydrated. "In gentle nutrition, we're ditching the mentality, we're ditching the rules, we're ditching rigid restriction, and we’re focusing instead on how food feels in your body," Parker notes. “Enjoyment is nourishment, too.”
“You really want foods that taste good and feel good to you right now,” adds Cushman. “Maybe you bring a dish along that supports and nourishes you. Give yourself unconditional permission to eat—because restriction adds stress, and stress doesn’t help your body heal.”
Both dietitians emphasize that holiday favorites don’t need to be off-limits. “These are special foods that you don’t eat every day,” Parker notes. “Maybe they’re part of family tradition. You can taste everything, enjoy what feels good, and skip what doesn’t. That’s part of caring for yourself.”
Managing emotions around food and the holidays
Holidays can also stir up powerful emotions—grief, comparison, nostalgia, or even guilt for not feeling festive. “It could be comparing yourself to others or to what life was like before diagnosis,” says Parker. “It could be remembering family members we’ve lost. Intuitive eating encourages emotional awareness instead of emotional eating.”
Some tools she suggests include:
- Asking for help, whether that means letting someone else host or accepting offers to bring food
- Setting boundaries about what gatherings you attend and for how long
- Keeping a gratitude journal to refocus on what feels meaningful
- Taking a few mindful breaths before meals to relax and connect with your body
“Try a simple counted breath exercise: inhale for four counts, hold for six, and slowly exhale for eight,” Parker guides. “Extending the exhale longer than the inhale activates your parasympathetic nervous system—the rest-and-digest response,” she explains. “It helps your body relax.”
Both Cushman and Parker emphasize that nourishment goes beyond calories or nutrients to include emotional nourishment. “You might choose foods that support healing, like lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains—but also those that bring joy. Nourishment is about body and soul,” says Cushman.
And if your energy or appetite is low? Keep things simple. Ask for help with meal prep, accept shortcuts, and focus on staying hydrated. A light, hydrating drink or even a mocktail can make you feel part of the celebration.
“The most important thing,” Parker reminds, “is to offer yourself kindness and compassion during cancer and the holidays. This is a journey, not a destination.”
If you’re looking for support with nutrition during or after cancer treatment, DCC’s registered dietitians are here to help you find what works best for your needs, taste changes, and lifestyle. To access Parker’s and Cushman’s full webinar on intuitive eating during the holidays, or to receive their holiday affirmation cards and a holiday-grounding tip sheet with recipes, please email CancerSupport@hitchcock.org.