Just at that moment I was reading pages of the IPS officer Nidhin ValsanThe story in his book From Cancerman to Ironman: A police officer’s journey to stop the diseasedescribing his struggle with cancer where you start to feel a burning sensation in your digestive tract and switch to bland, tasteless foods, I was going through that too. Samara Mahindra‘s Thriving through treatment:Your culinary companion while recovering from cancerfull of tasty recipes designed for cancer patients. As Nidhin wrote, “I had to resign myself to the fact that from now on my food will be tasteless,” while Samara said, “I want to break the myth that food for cancer patients has to be bland.”
Samara Mahindra is the founder and CEO of Carer. Her six-year journey caring for her mother during her battle with cervical cancer drove her to find ways to improve the lives of cancer patients. “My mother had the best doctors, but we were at a loss when it came to post-treatment care. There were no clear guidelines on what to feed her, how much exercise she needed, or how to manage her intense emotions. I felt completely helpless.” That’s when she began her journey to earn a certification in holistic healing for cancer patients that also included diet and nutrition management.
Samara says patients and their families often come to them emotionally exhausted and confused about what to eat. “Families are exhausted, not knowing how to support their loved ones. This is critical because nutrition can make or break the treatment experience. What many don’t know is that certain foods can interact negatively with medications, and this is something people often overlook.”
Samara talks about how important it is to break the myth that food for cancer patients has to be bland and tasteless. “The right food with the right flavours can not only improve a cancer patient’s physical health but also lift their spirits,” she shares. They also see it improving their mental health. Her goal is to make patients understand that their nutrition can be extremely enriching. “It can be delicious and it can actually be almost like medicine, that it can combat side effects. And that’s when we started collaborating with these beautiful recipes that we have. We had thousands of patients try them and see improvements, and we said we have to share it with the world and that was the exception in the book.”
The hard road of cancer patient caregivers
An often overlooked aspect of a cancer diagnosis is the unending, invisible struggles of caregivers. Having been in that situation herself, Samara shares, “Most caregivers feel an immense amount of guilt and helplessness. But this feeling does more harm than good. Our life was on hold for six and a half years and all we focused on was her, with an immense amount of guilt and helplessness. Obviously, we would take time off. Sometimes we would go and meet our friends and I personally have felt immensely guilty when I went out with them. The times when I would forget about my mother and enjoy my time, I used to feel guilty about that. It’s unfortunate that caregivers go through this.” She adds, “We actually ask caregivers to go back to work, be normal and create normality in the environment rather than, you know, trying to create this environment where you are trying to give your love and trying to give the attention. But it does more harm.” And that’s where clinical psychologists, psycho-oncologists and practitioners really come in to guide you along the way. “It doesn’t mean that you’re mentally unstable or that you’re crazy or that there’s something wrong with you.”
You don’t have to stop your work.
You don’t have to stop going to school.
You don’t have to do it.
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