Thu, Oct 9, 2025 at 12:00 AM

Dietician at Cancer Care Center helps guide patients to proper nutrition

One of the countless questions swarming around the heads of recently-diagnosed cancer patients is ‘What should I eat?’

In an effort to help clear up the mystery surrounding food and to encourage patients to eat as healthy as possible, the Marshall Cancer Care Center now has a registered dietician on staff to help them choose the best dining options.

Allison Sisk is a registered dietician with a Master of Science degree in human nutrition from the University of Alabama and an Oncology DPG from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She serves as dietician for Marshall Medical Centers and is available to meet one-on-one with patients at Cancer Center as well.

“As a new service at the Cancer Center, we are exceptionally excited to offer more holistic care with nutritional planning as an avenue to help patients, during their treatment process,” said Director Brandon Evans. “This allows the patients to keep their bodies in a good nutritional state which in turn can allow more focus on overcoming the disease process.”

How can a dietician help cancer patients?

1. Assist with making a nutritional plan – Sisk can sit down with a patient and discuss specific dietary items that will help achieve the research-proven goals to reach the correct calorie, protein and hydration intake.
2. Educate and counsel patients in cancer-specific dietary interventions to optimize their daily nutrition.
3. Provide research-based medical nutrition therapy throughout each stage of care – before, during and after treatment.
4. Offer nutrition tips to help control side effects associated with the disease.
5. Enhance the menu – This may include providing healthy meal and snack recipes as well as tips for navigating the grocery store.
6. Help patients maintain the proper food nutritional status by providing reliable nutrition and cancer information.

“Nutrition plays a very important role pre-, during, and post-oncology treatment,” she says.

Sisk comes to Marshall Cancer Care Center with a background in oncology. Before relocating to Alabama with her husband Dr. Chad Sisk, a gastroenterologist at Marshall North, she worked at the Atlanta location of Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

“It was such a rewarding job,” she said. “It was a truly great experience.”

Allison, originally from Idaho, is very active, often running half marathons. She enjoys running on the walking trail that winds along Guntersville Lake. Healthy eating is important to her but she is not a fanatic.

“I try to focus on foods that are going to make me feel good and nourish my body,” she says. “However, I still think it’s important to indulge in sweet treats.”