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Comments

  • Merilee
    Merilee Member Posts: 734
    edited February 2010

    Am I the only one excited about the aspirin news? 70% reduction in recurrence, Crimminy thats better than any treatment out there

  • luv_gardening
    luv_gardening Member Posts: 362
    edited February 2010

    This article explains the aspirin research in lay terms for those of us who don't understand the statistics.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35426947/ns/health-cancer/ 

  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 171
    edited February 2010

    Patty - when is your apt next week?  Id like to light a candle for you. 

    Merilee- I think it sounds great but I worry about aspirin and my stomach and my blood thinning. But, if it does indeed stop cancer, I could get over it.  I understood the first article but it didn't go into how it stops it - or I missed it.

    ..thats a huge undertaking to regulate the supplement world.  It spans into food, beverage, cosmetics and household products. 

  • vivre
    vivre Member Posts: 881
    edited February 2010

    When I was going through all of my emotional crap, as a result of bc, I kept myself together with long walks. It is a long story (which I am actually putting in a book), but I was drawn to the music of Sting. It seemed he had a song for everything I was feeling. Each of these songs became a prayer for different feelings, when I had no words of my own to express. His music brought me through and out of that dark tunnel. There was one song that was my prayer for everyone I knew and did not know who was going through bc. I would listen to this song, and say the names of all the women in my life who had made me who I was, had been there for me, and even for the women who needed my prayers most, those who had hurt me. I was thinking that we seem to be needing a lot of prayer around here lately, so this is my prayer for all of you today, my dear natural girls:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKxgsGv6JgU&feature=related

  • seaotter
    seaotter Member Posts: 642
    edited February 2010

    Thanks soooo much vivre. Kiss

    Ps73, my appointment for the scan is Tues. at 3. I would love and appreciate all prayers, thoughts,candles or just anything, lol.

    That is great news about aspirin!!! I'm allergic to it, isn't that just my luck these days!!!

    I hope everyone has a very blessed day.

    Patty

  • anondenet
    anondenet Member Posts: 261
    edited February 2010

    We Patty!

    We will be with you, dear friend! Prayers, love, candles, healing thoughts..

    xox, Anon

  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 171
    edited February 2010

    Here is some information, I hope everyone finds helpful. Ive been hell bent on reducing my inflammation thru diet, excercise and breathing.  Not only does food increase or decrease inflammation but so does stress.  No wonder that anti-inflammatory foods help reduce risk of heart attacks! 

    I find that the nutrition data site is not that simple and I hate how packaged foods show up first. Ive contacted them about this as ppl who go on the website are health conscious and dont need to see packaged crapola before their raw whole foods. But, it has a lot of information regarding the foods that are listed.

    One thing these have in common is their high fat content but ive actually lost five lbs so far on the anti-inflammatory (self taught) diet.  There are several books on the subject too.

    these are some foods from http://www.nutritiondata.com/  regarding anti-inflammatory response.  - these have the IF rating next to them.  A negative IF rating means that the food is considered to be inflammatory (increases inflammation), and a positive IF rating indicates that the food is anti-inflammatory (reduces inflammation).  nd didn't have a rating for avacados but ive read that it was used in ancient medicine to help arthiritis, gout and other inflammatory issues.

    here are just a few that stand out.  please add on to this if you like.  the - indicated inflammatory [per nd]

    olive oil 1137, almonds 276, coconut oil -1798, brazil nuts -80, caschew dry 107, hazelnuts 437, macademia nuts 636, walnuts -158, cacao 85% bitter - 226, cacao 45% bitter -473, tuna raw 464, salmon wild 901, salmon farmed 1698, herring 1380 (makes sense that herring is a new year day hangover meal in germany).

    i was shocked to see the coconut oil so inflammatory. Makes me say, is this correct? And, if so, could this go thru the skin barrier and increase our inflammation? 

     here is an article on how to increase your omega 3s and balance the omega 6s to reduce inflammation.

    http://theconsciouslife.com/anti-inflammatory-diet-how-to-balance-omega-3-omega-6-fats.htm

    Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids include salmon, halibut, sardines, albacore, trout, herring, walnut, flaxseed oil, and canola oil. Other foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids include shrimp, clams, light chunk tuna, catfish, cod, and spinach.

    Examples of foods high in monounsaturated fats include vegetable oils such as olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil and sesame oil.  Other sources include avocados, peanut butter, and many nuts and seeds.

    happy eating to reduce inflammation!!

  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 171
    edited February 2010

    Patty - we will all be thinking of you!!!

  • Luna5
    Luna5 Member Posts: 532
    edited February 2010

    Patty...research Ibuprofen...some studies show ibuporofen and naproxin (but not Tylenol acetaminophen) lower cancer risk as well.  I think I read one a while back that actually said ibuprophen was better than aspirin but can't lay my hands on it now.  

    Prayers and healing energy coming your way and also to Julia.

  • Luna5
    Luna5 Member Posts: 532
    edited February 2010

    PS73   I'm not sure I understand your post about nutritiondata.com and was unable to navigate the site to a list of inflammatory foods.  Are you saying coconut oil is inflammatory?  I have been using coconut oil as a lotion!???  I signed in and still could not locate any list of which foods are inflammatory or flammatory.  Is this just about buying that lady's book or is there actual useful information and if so how do I access it?

    Thanks.

  • seaotter
    seaotter Member Posts: 642
    edited February 2010

    anom, thank you for the heart Kiss!!! You ladies are just the best. I don't know what I would do without all of you!!! I'm not even going to think about that!

    Luna, I just read that about ibuprofen! Hey, my luck is changing, lol. I can take that.

    Who all is going to try to make it to the prevention convention? I would love to have something to look forward to and to know who might be there. So, let's here a roll call!!!!

    Patty

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    edited February 2010

    Hey Patty, thinking of you and sending lots of healing energy.

    Ladies...just saw this and thought I would pass it on re the aspirin and breast cancer.  Not that I am opposed to low dose aspirin, however, he does make some interesting points.

    http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2010/02/17/gupta.aspirin.breast.cancer.cnn  

  • Yazmin
    Yazmin Member Posts: 218
    edited February 2010
    Patty: I just noticed that you are having a scan done shortly. Hopefully, everything will be clear. Hang on, girl.
  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 171
    edited February 2010

    Luna, in the search bar enter in the food item.  The inflammatory rating is in a box indicated as IF and its right above the nutrition data and right below the caloric pyramid.  Yes and me too! I couldn't believe that the IF rating for coconut oil is negative 1798 so according to this website, its highly inflammatory. I was thrown by a couple of food items - some evening shade vegs and some fruits had negative IFs.  It almost seems to be pushing the vegan diet.  There is no avacado but Im going to try out organic avacado oil as a moisturizer.  I have some essential oils that I can drop in to make it smell good.  Patty - the aspirin they are thinking could be good because its anti inflammatory properties and this diet seems like it would help as well.  It would be good to know just how anti inflammatory aspirin is.  Ill dig around.  Aspirin was converted from willow bark to eventually acetylsalicylic acid.  Interesting history here. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blaspirin.htm and here is some foods that contain salicylic acid - http://www.food-info.net/uk/qa/qa-fi27.htm

    viv - that was a sweet dedication.  i didn't realize that sting was classically trained. 

    *edited to add more info!

  • Luna5
    Luna5 Member Posts: 532
    edited February 2010

    Thanks PS73, I will try again. 

    That really made me grumpy about coconut oil.  I thought I had found my answer to estrogen free lotion.  Now I'm back to square one. Every time I think I am closing in on my final food/supplements/cosmetics plan  new info comes out.  Oh well, I would always prefer to know than not know.

  • Yazmin
    Yazmin Member Posts: 218
    edited February 2010

    PurpleMe: Excellent video. Indeed, Dr. Gupta is making some great points here.

    PS73 and Luna5: I have gone to the nutritiondata website. Indeed, this is confusing....There is so much contradictory information out there, I wonder if we should look for some other sources for more information on inflammatory versus anti-inflammatory foods.....  

  • Efflorescing
    Efflorescing Member Posts: 27
    edited February 2010

    Yazmin, yes the information about coconut oil in particular is interesting. It seems that the problem occurs when it is used for cooking, which was my understanding, but does not pose a problem when used for cosmetic purposes. I use raw coconut oil cosmetically but I do use it for cooking. If anyone finds information to the contrary please post. It would be nice to have a multipurpose product.

     Here is what Dr. Weil said regarding it.

    http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400611/Confused-About-Coconut-Oil.html

    Q Confused about Coconut Oil?

    I just read in your article on "inflammatory responses" that coconut oil is one item to avoid. If I apply coconut oil to my skin to address dryness, can it make its way into my system and cause any problems?

    A Answer (Published 9/8/2009)

    The reason I recommend avoiding coconut oil in the diet is because it is a highly saturated fat (it's one of the few saturated fats that doesn't come from animals). Like other saturated fats, coconut oil can raise cholesterol levels and, therefore, should play only a very limited role, if any, in your diet. In the past, coconut oil was widely used in movie popcorn, candy bars and commercial baked goods but has been phased out of many of these products because of consumer opposition to unhealthy tropical oils.

    And incidentally, despite the ongoing internet buzz that coconut oil can promote weight loss, there's no scientific evidence to back up those claims. Lauric acid, the main fatty acid found in coconut oil, has shown positive effects as an anti-viral agent in treating herpes, but all in all, I recommend avoiding dietary sources of coconut oil.

    Using skin and hair products containing coconut oil is another story. Although I prefer skin care products with natural anti-inflammatory activity, coconut oil can be quite beneficial for the skin, and also can do good things for hair. Lauric acid is found in a wide variety of skin and hair care products including body and facial cleansers, soap and sunscreens. Some scientific research backs up the use of coconut oil and lauric acid in these products, and a number of studies has shown that coconut oil can help moisturize skin and treat skin infections.

    Research also shows that it can prevent combing damage to hair. You can safely use coconut oil for cleansing, moisturizing and keeping hair healthy with no worries that it will get into your body and raise your cholesterol levels.

    Andrew Weil, M.D.

  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 171
    edited February 2010

    ..well that is good news - thanks for looking into it!!  and yes lots of conflicting data out there.

    hey luna, Cool   and i completely understand - I was cooking with sunflower oil for two months straight and then I read not to.  what can you do? i figure these changes are better than none at all so at least we are getting closer to the golden diet.

  • fairy49
    fairy49 Member Posts: 536
    edited February 2010

    ugh.......I use coconut oil too............right with you Luna back at square one LOL!!

  • vivre
    vivre Member Posts: 881
    edited February 2010

    I have come to find less and less faith in Dr. Weil, as I find more and more of his opinions differ from other things I read. For instance, I was under the impression that coconut oil was deemed to be bad for us when movie theaters got so many complaints from patrons about how bad the popcorn tasted when they went to the cheaper, and unhealthy oils. They came up with the whole coconut oil is bad for you to get people to stop complaining. ALL oils will raise cholesterol, including the healthy fish oils. It is true that oils can become rancid and inflammatory in our systems when heated, but coconut oil has the highest burn temp, so it still seems to me like the best choice. Here is another opinion:

    http://drbenkim.com/coconut-oil.htm

    As for the aspirin, it would make sense that it would be preventative since it is antiinflammatory and inflammation leads to disease. However, I do not think it is wise to take too much ibuprofen:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1547672/High-doses-of-ibuprofen-raise-heart-attack-risk.html

  • mollyann
    mollyann Member Posts: 148
    edited February 2010

    Vivre, Dr. Weil is a conventional doc in alternative clothing.

  • Luna5
    Luna5 Member Posts: 532
    edited February 2010

    Anon...if you don't take calcium because it interferes with iodine absorption, what do you do about calcium?  How do you know if you are getting enough.  I have been unsure about supplementing with calcium...what kind...etc.  Want to make sure I have enough but not sure what kind and how much.

  • anondenet
    anondenet Member Posts: 261
    edited February 2010

     <</p>

    Luna,

    Calcium loss is an endocrine insufficiency so taking bioidenticals keep my bones okay. Calcium loss comes on as hormones decline in the body because the hormones HOLD ON TO the calcium. Tho, I know 65 year old breast cancer survivors who've had their ovaries removed and take no hormones who have no bone loss and take no dairy, just magnesium. 

    I do supplement magnesium which may be even more helpful for a lot of reasons and enhances kidneys, detox, etc. I know my bones are okay because I had a scan. Tho, I won't have any more.

    Calcium supplementation can CAUSE osteoporosis. Countries where dairy consumption has increased have more osteoporosis.

     http://www.4.waisays.com/ExcessiveCalcium.htm

    Luna, I know how you feel. It's so confusing. Everything we've been taught winds up being screwy.

  • Springtime
    Springtime Member Posts: 3,372
    edited February 2010

    I am thinking of taking a mixture of baby aspirin and ibuprophin, like every other day and skip days a time or two each week.

    Are any of you going to do this? I agree, the anti-inflamatory aspect of it makes sense.

  • makingway
    makingway Member Posts: 465
    edited February 2010

    This is a great website I found that had a lot of information about the different oils i.e., their fat content, melting point and whether they can be used for cooking or not. Just click on the 'learn more' link on a specific oil and you will find all of the info for it. The one that had the best nutitional value was actually hemp seed oil. It has a very high omega 3 content. And, also has a high iodine value of between 100-200. Unfortunately you shouldn't fry with it.  http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/oilprofile/hempseed.php

    Coconut was my next choice. But, you must make sure that is unrefined because they use chemicals to extract it in the refined oil. By refining an oil it gives it a higher...(sapponification, I think it's called) cooking temperature. When an oil starts smoking bad changes are occuring in the oil-oxidants and carcinogens are being produced.I haven't tried the oils yet, but I'm going to get some coconut as well as some avocado oil. They can both be used for cooking.

    http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkoil/bulkoil.html 

  • Luna5
    Luna5 Member Posts: 532
    edited February 2010

    Thanks Anon.

    I knew I had seen something around here before that made me question supplementing calcium.   I do take magnesium.  Just received my order of organic brazil nuts which I see from the chart in your link have more calcium than mothers milk.  I ordered the brazil nuts to start getting my selenium from them instead of supplement.

  • althea
    althea Member Posts: 506
    edited February 2010

    I've been to the nutritional data site and I wonder if I was interpreting the information incorrectly.  I went there when I started putting watermelon through my juicer last year.  LOVE that watermelon juice, but I wondered about the glycemic index.  Somehow I came away with a glycemic index of 3.  At the time, I wasn't sure I agreed, but I was taking that answer and running with it.  I drank watermelon juice every day for months and loved every drop. 

    After seeing PS73's post about the IF ratings, just makes me wonder if the information is reliable from nutritiondata?  Surely watermelon has a higher glycemic index than 3!  I became interested in coconut oil when I saw it's beneficial for underactive thryoid, my ongoing struggle.  I love love love it on my skin.  When I started trying in the kitchen, not so much.  Eggs overeasy for example are not so easy because they stick to the pan.  I made a pound cake last week and used coconut oil to grease the pan.  It stuck to the pan.  There won't be any love lost if I can't use it in the kitchen, but for skin care, someone would have to wrestle it out of my overcholesteroled dead body.  lol 

    Crunchy, how ya doin' today?  

  • PS73
    PS73 Member Posts: 171
    edited February 2010

    Its not a perfect site and Ive contacted them several times about their funcionality and ease of navigation. I did look into the watermelon Glycemic Load - its listed as 3.  Watermelon has a high glycemic index - at 75 but the glycemic load is actually low.  Watermelon is one of those good bads - there are tons of nutrients in watermelon but it does have a higher glycemic index - yet it also has low calories, lots of water and lots of energy vitamins so I personally think it balances itself out. I love it too and lived on it last summer! The glycemic load of a food can be determined using the glycemic index number for a food, divided by 100 and multiplied times the available carbohydrate you'd eat.   Im no sure how to calculate 'available carbs' but based on this equation, and if available carbs are the same as total carbs which I dont think they are, the load would be around 10 (not 3) but not 75. 

    Im guessing the IF rating is because of the saturated fat in coconut oil.  Ive contacted them to fix or advise with an equation as to why they are saying it has a high inflammatory number.  They should put NA on it if its a special situation that would have a high IF based on its chemistry. 

    Researchers have identified cholesterol's partner in crime as inflammation -- the flood of white blood cells and chemicals that our immune system unleashes to ward off damage or infection.

    I had high white counts for years - I just thought my body was working overtime because of the many germs and toxins in the environment.  ..and that it was a good thing.  I guess not!

  • Yazmin
    Yazmin Member Posts: 218
    edited February 2010

    Efflorescing: Yes, I am thinking that some plants might be OK used as cosmetics, but not so good as food. Some oils might be fine for cooking, while others may not be suitable for that purpose (but still perfect for salads, for instance). As far as the nutritionaldata web site is concerned, I wonder if one might have to look more closely at the FORM in which each of these foods were taken (and found to be unexpectedly inflammatory).

    Luna: MaddyMason provided excellent links on calcium (supplementation), including one entitled "Death by Calcium" if I remember well. She also discussed the real concerns about bisphosphonates such as Fasomax. So I am not suprised when anondenet says that calcium supplementation can CAUSE osteoposis.

  • seaotter
    seaotter Member Posts: 642
    edited February 2010

    Is anyone taking Strontium for the ole bones? I read where to much calcium can cause cancer.

    althea, you comment about the eggs being "not so easy" made me laugh. I tried the same thing with the coconut oil and said never again!!!!

    Love to all,

    Patty

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