Comfort Diet in Oncologic Palliative Care: Reflections on Food-related Meanings of Comfort
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32635/2176-9745.RBC.2023v69n2.3828Keywords:
diet/psychology, palliative care, neoplasms, emotionsAbstract
Food plays an important role in people’s lives, not only for physiological reasons, but also considering social and psychological aspects involving food. Due to the global epidemiological transition, a large portion of the population lives with several chronic diseases, among them cancer. In this context, palliative care emerges as an approach that aims to improve the quality of life of patients and their families, through the prevention and relief of suffering, early identification, and treatment of pain and other physical, psychosocial, and spiritual problems. In advanced disease, changes in eating experiences often bring great suffering, and the “comfort diet” is widely used in this clinical practice, but its definition has no consensus yet. This article seeks to evoke reflections on what “comfort diet” involves in the area of oncologic palliative care. Comfort can be defined as a multidimensional phenomenon, an experience strengthened if the needs related to relief, tranquility and transcendence are met in four contexts: physical, psychospiritual, sociocultural and environmental. The diet may be able to provide comfort in all these aspects, by relieving symptoms, rescuing affective memories, strengthening the bond with family members, and maximizing life potential in face of the illness. Individualization must guide the decision making about the diet, considering the several dimensions of comfort and understanding all the subjectivity that this word can assume.
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