My enthusiasm for cooking, both magically and mundanely, has always been a bit haphazard. I can follow a recipe and even improvise a bit, but I’ve never had the sort of creativity in the kitchen some witches possess. My breast cancer diagnosis forced me to develop those skills, because what you eat during chemotherapy is vitally important to enduring treatment.
Chemo is notorious for making patients so sick they can’t keep food down. Did you know it also makes nearly everything you eat taste like kindergarten paste? Don’t bother pretending you didn’t eat paste when you were little, too: we all did. But as an adult fighting exhaustion, nausea, the emotional side effects of losing all my hair, isolation due to a struggling immune system, and the big C terror, any comfort food that I could taste was a blessing. Here are five of the flavorful, magical foods I used often during chemotherapy.
Basil: Basil is an anti-inflammatory food that helps the body fight free radicals, which makes it valuable in an anti-cancer diet. Basil also has strong flavor and scent, so it’s a useful addition to salads, pastas, and sauces. Magically, basil is used for attracting wealth and protection, both useful while fighting cancer.
Cinnamon: Cinnamon makes oatmeal tasty and smells divine whether you’re making baked goods or lighting a candle. Mix cinnamon in unsweetened applesauce for a gentle flavorful addition to your fruit intake, especially when chemo is tough, and you need soft, soothing food. Cinnamon helps healing, improves your mood, and helps with finances. Burn cinnamon incense to assist with healing and drawing money to you.
Garlic: If you can tolerate garlic without nausea, it promotes healing while adding so much flavor to bland food during chemotherapy. Garlic is on the American Institute for Cancer Research’s list of anti-cancer foods, so use it liberally in your dishes. You might find that it takes a little more than normal to taste it if you’re in the middle of chemotherapy.
Lemon: Any citrus seemed to break through the chemo-paste effect, but lemon has been the most versatile. Full of Vitamin C, lemon water hydrates and boosts the immune system. Lemon also has a reputation for aiding digestion, and magically it is useful for both mental and physical cleansing. Be careful ingesting any citrus if you have mouth sores, a common chemo side effect. I kept lemon essential oil in the bathroom, because it was soothing aromatherapy. A little lemon oil on a cotton ball waved under my nose helped me catch my breath and settle down after getting sick.
Rosemary: The strong scent and flavor of rosemary makes bread, chicken, or beef delicious, and like basil it fights free radicals, which makes rosemary an excellent herb to use often during chemo and radiation. It’s also used for purification of the air as incense, and the scent can help with memory. The brain fog commonly called “chemo brain” that comes during treatment is real and frustrating, so I often include rosemary in my diet and incense.
These are just a few of the foods recommended to me by oncology, the American Institute for Cancer Research, and healthy magical eating resources. In my experience, nearly everything (including my favorite treat, a Starbucks iced mocha) tastes terrible during chemotherapy. It’s vital to find things you can keep down that have some flavor so you’ll eat, because food fuels recovery. The trick is to experiment with different herbs, fruits, vegetables, proteins, and textures until you find what keeps you successfully fed. Adding magically useful herbs you can taste during chemotherapy can only help.
