Diet & Exercise with WM

Having a good diet can help to boost your energy, strengthen immunity, and support your overall health. Staying active, will also help to reduce fatigue, improve mental health, control weight and blood pressure, and even manage treatment side effects.

You may find your weight changes if you are on treatment or unable to exercise as normal, but your healthcare team help to suggest ways you can maintain a healthy diet and weight.

A balanced diet is made up of:

Eat a balanced diet including:
- At least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day
- Starchy foods (carbohydrates) like pasta, bread and potatoes – preferably wholegrain.
- Protein-rich foods like lean meat, eggs, pulses, nuts and fish
- Dairy products like cheese, milk and yoghurt

Limit the following foods:
- Foods that are high fat and sugar.
- Processed and red meats
- Foods that are high in salt, like crips.

Try to drink between 2-3 litres of fluids a day. This could be anything that doesn’t contain sugar, such as: water, sugar-free squash, tea or coffee. You can also have fruit juice, but since this contains high levels of sugar, it’s best to have just one glass. Limit alcohol intake too – as this also contains high levels of sugar.

Tips to stay active

You might find it harder to stay active due to symptoms or the side effect of your treatment. But staying active will help to reduce fatigue, improve your mental health, control your weight and blood pressure, and reducing your risk of heart disease. It can also help to manage some treatment side effects.

Gentle exercise like walking, gardening and household chores can really help. Guidelines suggest you should aim to do around 150 minutes of moderate activity every week. These can be in bursts of just 10 minutes.

Plan: If you know you often have more energy in the morning, then schedule in a gentle morning walk.

Build up gradually: If you’re not used to exercise or haven’t exercised for a while, start in small 5-10 minute chunks and gradually build up the time from there.

Try gentle exercises: This might include household chores (gardening, hoovering), walking or yoga.

Adapt activities: If, for example, you are a keen cyclist but can’t manage hills, swap your old bike out for an electric one to help you on the inclines.

Get expert guidance. If you’re unsure where to start ask your doctor or physiotherapist to help you put together a plan.

Managing WM symptoms

You may have WM symptoms or related conditions that make exercising a bit more difficult, such peripheral neuropathy which can affect balance. It’s still important to keep active, so chat with your healthcare team who should be able to refer you to a physiotherapist who’ll help you make adjustments.