Managing Your Overall Health with an MPN
Accredited Practising Dietitian Nathalie Cook, OAM, is an experienced, knowledgeable dietitian who also has polycythaemia vera. This has given her an even greater understanding of the importance of diet to MPN patients. Her knowledge and skills of medical nutrition therapy help people living with blood cancer understand the link between nutrition, disease management and wellness.
Nathalie emphasises the benefits of an anti-inflammatory diet for MPN patients, something which Dr Angela Fleischman from the USA (UC Irvine Health) is also researching – see Dr Fleischman’s presentation HERE (courtesy of the MPN Education Foundation).
Nathalie also presents to Australian and international audiences about these issues. Below are her most relevant presentations.
- “Healthy eating, something you can do to live well with an MPN” – Nov 2021 at the international MPN Horizons conference.
Download the slides Living-well-with-MPN-Nutrition accompanying Nathalie’s video presentation. - “Keeping well with MPNs” – Feb 2020 at the MPN Patient Education morning, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
- “Managing Your Overall Health with MPN” was presented at the 2016 Leukaemia Foundation Blood Cancer Conference in Melbourne.
Download Managing Your Overall Health with an MPN (PDF 17169kb) - Nathalie has also written about the importance of maintaining muscle strength with an MPN: ‘Keeping muscles strong through healthy eating and physical activity to stay well with MPN’.
Leukaemia Foundation’s publication ‘Eating Well – a guide for patients and their support people’
Nathalie has recently collaborated with the Leukaemia Foundation in updating the excellent publication ‘Eating Well – a guide for patients and their support people’. The booklet, published in 2022, is based on expert, up to date, evidence based information. Please note it has a broader audience than MPN patients, having been written with all blood cancer patients in mind, including those going through intensive treatment.
Healthy Hearts
One of the most important self-management things we can do with MPN is to look after our cardiovascular health, to reduce risk of blood clots. Eating a diet rich in high fibre plant foods (fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains), and including moderate amounts of lean proteins, low fat dairy and heart-healthy fats like olive oil, nuts and seeds protects our heart health. This link to The University of Sydney’s Heart Research Institute contains free downloadable information on nutrition, recipes and lifestyle tips for heart health.
Download Living Well “Healthy Hearts” document (PDF 7615kb)
