Help your loved one eat, drink, and be merry during the holidays.

Highlights Cancer and its treatment can cause a number of eating problems. For a full examination of these, click here. Keeping one’s mouth clean and fresh helps improve the ability to taste foods. Encourage your loved one to try these tips.

A holiday party or dinner with all the seasonal colors, lights, foods, and festivity may be just the break your loved one needs from the regimen of treatment. However, cancer and its treatment can sometimes affect the senses of taste and smell, causing a loss of appetite for the very foods people like to enjoy at this time of year. Here are some ways to help your loved one enjoy the fun and frivolity of the season and also get some of the calories and nutrition he or she needs right now.

• Help boost your loved one's appetite for party fare by suggesting they eat less than usual on the day of a big event, and encourage him or her to get a brisk walk or other exercise beforehand.
• Seek out the spices of the season. Hosts and hostesses will likely provide a variety of party food choices, perhaps including some tastes and spices that aren’t usually in your loved one's repertoire. These can tend to heighten the senses of taste and smell, and thus increase the appetite. Encourage your loved one to indulge in foods and hors d’oeuvres flavored with onion, garlic, chili powder, basil, oregano, rosemary, tarragon, barbecue sauce, mustard, catsup, or mint.
• This is also the season for “nibbling,” so no one will think it unusual if your patient takes only small pieces of this or that. Suggest that he or she choose high-calorie, high-protein items such as bite-size pieces of cheese and nuts of all types. Fresh fruits at room temperature are usually full of flavor and are easy to eat in small bites.
• Unless your loved one has been cautioned not to drink alcoholic beverages, a good holiday drink is champagne or sparkling wine. These two wines offer flavor that breaks through plus the delightful tickle of the bubbles.
• If your loved one has a sore mouth, mouth sores, or a sore throat, you’ll probably need to make slightly different choices than those above. You may want to encourage him or her to avoid alcoholic beverages altogether and instead try apple juice, nectars, soft drinks, and even egg nog. Instead of spicy foods and raw vegetables, better choices are the mild cheeses, mild meats such as chicken, and mild deviled eggs.