Diet and Lifestyle
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Dear Members,
We are grateful that you have created a new Diet and Lifestyle thread and with Momine's permission we changed the title.
The Mods
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Momine and WildPlaces, a great philosophy to live by. We will enjoy every moment.
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Here is a PDF of 14 Eat To Beat Breast Cancer by Dr. Funk from her book Breast.
https://pinklotus.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/D...
I am going to post this in the kitchen and remind my self to not give up. I gave up for a week b/c I worked so hard for couple of months after Dx but didn't seem to lose any weight. I got so discouraged and sad. But I am back. I hate exercising, too. But just got a membership at a gym that my son goes, and try to walk.jog with the dog more often. It could be the rads, 2 teenagers home for the summer, bummed by not losing weight...but I am very tired every day. :[
Mimi
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Intermittent fasting—especially the 13 minimum version. Do you do it? I feel like this could be a very manageable adjustment to my lifestyle but I spent so many years making sure I ate a bite before and after morning workouts it's a bit of switch! And having read about how decision-making is fueled by glucose, how is that affected?
Nonomimi, I love that list. I confess given that I don't really cook (and barely assemble food), my big diet change since DX is a daily bowl of broccoli. It's a snack, it's dinner, it's whatever—I'm sure the Trader Joe's folk think my purchase of multiple bags of frozen broccoli a little odd, but it's by far the easiest way for me to make sure I'm eating something dark green daily. (I'm working on other diet adjustments but it's baby steps!)
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Chelsea,
Love Trader Joe's. They have frozen cauliflower pizza dough. I didn't check the ingredients but I made it and even my picky kids and husband ate it. I heard about the fasting. I don't intentionally do it but I think sometimes I am not eating 13 hours between dinner and breakfast. Keep us posted on how that works.
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WILDPLACES! Thank you! 🌸 That’s the stuff I’m looking for. I want to sit and watch that with my my Onc. and share it with everyone. If we know what drives the cancer then we should be able to stop it. Should be able to, those are the magic words it seems. Down with glucose and glutamine!!! So is the only way to control the level of glutamine achievable by taking the pill mentioned? That will be a good question for my Dr. Thank you again.
I agree about our overall lifestyle needing to be as peaceful as possible. That is something I’m constantly trying to recognize- what things need to stay or leave in my life and what needs to change overall. A taking inventorying of sorts. I can’t have the silly arguments anymore and I need to focus more on what really matters to me, not just to everyone else.
Thank you for that list nonomini.
Hi Chelsea- Yes, I fast. 12-14 is my norm. Eating before a workout is a must for me though. I would just stop eating sooner the evening before if I was concerned about it though. If I don’t eat before I do pure barre, my stomach will hurt because it feels so empty. Lately for breakfast I’ve been having a tablespoon of no sugar no salt almond butter, an espresso with a coconut butter chip and a few berries.
For me, all my focus is on the metabolism (glucose and glutamine) of the cancer cells and how/what I can do to eliminate their ability to survive and or grow.
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Amelia - congrats on finishing chemo!!
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Chelsea, yes, I keep 13 hours between dinner and breakfast most days. It is easy to do and I find I stick to meal times better, which is also supposed to be good.
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Wildplaces, so agree: "I can't have the silly arguments anymore and I need to focus more on what really matters to me, not just to everyone else."
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Just came from my naturalpath (David). He has put me on Turmeric and recommended the Keto diet. He says that insulin feeds cancer cells, not sugar. I honestly am not looking forward to this, but will give it a try. He also put me on something to help increase digestion absorption and a probiotic. I am borderline anemic and he says changing my diet will fix this. So if anyone has some awesome Keto sites I am all ears.
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Yes, congratulations Amelia!!!
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Some scientific background on keto:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215472/#
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4726921/
This was a helpful list for me, but I’m vegan:
http://meatfreeketo.com/ultimate-vegan-keto-shopping-list/
One very informative gal that’s all about keto (and had posted in the old thread for a bit) recommended an app called Cronometer, where you can put in your specific dietary requirements and it’ll keep track of your targets for you. I downloaded it and think it’s great. I’ve never kept a food journal before so it’s helped me to really see what and how much I eat throughout the day.
Hope that’s a good start
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Thank you Warrior for the links and app.
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Vampeyes have you seen the Paleo Pals thread? There are some good keto tips on there.
Warrior, do you have a list of foods with glucose/glucomasine? Please let us know how it goes with your integrative onc.
Amelia, congrats on finishing your chemo. Do you recommend kamut flour for other baking? I would love to find a gf cookie recipe that doesn't taste like a hockey puck 🙄.
Fasting makes good sense to me and it is an ancient practice. I try to keep 13 hours between dinner and breakfast. At the very least, it stops evening snacking. I don't mind waiting for breakfast, but I find it hard not to have coffee first thing in the morning. Anyone have a solution, or is a flawed fast better than no fast at all?
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DearLife, I used Kamut flour for a while, including for making fresh pasta. I found it to work well and be tasty.
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Amelia - well done on finishing chemo - take extra good care of yourself!! I keep meaning to PM you ( all will be revealed) but I have had a grizzly work week and I am running a little behind.
Warrior - the whole conference is worth watching - everyone is pitching a slightly different angle as you can see - Valter Longo talks about fasting and the Paris group talk about the gut microbiota
Momine - I love Greece! For so many reasons ....
In my search of vegetarian recipes with a twist I came across Rick Stein's India book - YUMM!
I hope we can all treat ourselves and each other well this week!!
( Moth - I do go on a bit but I can't get the rock picture out of my mind - I have seen it before but I guess your post made it click at a particularly poignant stage for me - thank you!)
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For a long but sharp explanation of insulin and glucose - search -poster Zarovka on abemaciclib insulin - it's a good post - and data wise Z shoots straight 😊🌷🐣
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DearLife, calorie free liquids should be fine on fast, right? In fact, I'm drinking my coffee right now, waiting for time to break fast! I've been doing some reading on it, and it does seems like coffee is fine. Unfortunately, a latte is probably overkill, and I stopped myself before entering the coffee shop this morning because I realized that shop is connected with donuts to me—and that definitely wouldn't play! But does adding a bit of milk to coffee kill the fast? (I read some things about <50 calories, and I wonder whether that applies to the 13h version as well.)
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I love Greece, too! Wish I could spend more time there and will plan to once DD is in uni. (I am in Switzerland so it's university here.)
DearLife, that is Jane Fonda and not Jane and Tarzan, where Tarzan is doing all the work. LOL. Search YouTube for Jane Fonda Walking cardio Level I. Wildplaces, there is a Level 2 also in case you're interested. I can't seem to embed the videos here.
I also do a 12-13 hour fast at night. BTW, Valter Longo says that a 14 hour fast is not recommended - raises cardiovascular risk. He said it during an interview so don't know where he got that from. I did a 17 hour fast for a whole year with two-week breaks every three months. It may have been good for metabolically tricking cancer and hopefully I've repaired any damage to my heart since. He also says high protein diets are not good for cancer patients. Protein can be converted into glucose, can be associated with higher IGF-1, leucine, glutamine, methionine, asparagine, etc., all of which can drive cancer growth on a bad day. OTOH, we need protein to maintain muscle mass, so we really should be exercising/weight training but avoid the protein shakes. Using our muscles signals to the body the importance of channeling (scarce) nutrients there and perhaps there is a certain Darwinian justice here that prioritizes moving muscles over hungry cancer cells.
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DearLife,
On coffee 😊
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article-abstract/60/...
There are others, but the above one is quick to read, coffee/caffeine has a calciuric effect for up to 4 hours - its stronger in postmenopausal women and appears to be negated by the use of steroid hormones. Effectively if one hasosteopenia or osteoporosis and a general lowish calcium intake lots of coffee ( 3-4 ) is not ideal. There is caffeine in green tea so one would have to add those to counts if you drink green tea.
On the positive side - work over the last 5-10 years looking at associations between coffee and dementia and they are inversely related - drinking coffee might be protective in Alzheimer'.
Do I drink coffee? - yes - but I try and keep it at one a day - this is the thread we were relinquish our marbles - and I found I quite like a small double ristretto flat white or I go dark and all oil espresso ( try and remind myself of Napoli, where after a 5 minutes conversation wanting a lighter version in pot I was served the same oil consistency in a water pot - I being of Eastern European mix and origins and not prone to throw anything drank from it for several days 😱😉🌷
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A lot of hype about green tea and macha green tea. Anyone drinking these...if so, which brand is good?
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Heidi thanks for the info about a 12-13 hour fast, not longer. I can do this. I find Letrozole gives me a bit of a morning headache and I need coffee to sort out my marbles 😜.
Switzerland of course with a name like Heidi. I think Johanna Spyri's book inspired my love of lifelong trees and nature.
Momine I will try using kamut flour.
Mimi, there is lots of research on green tea. I don't like it plain but a good squeeze of lemon makes a big difference. Not sure about brands or what macha is. Maybe female muscle mass 😊?
Wildplaces your research is amazing, also Warrior and others. I love how this thread is a mix of solid research and simple tips.
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I too fast 13h. It's what I did even before cancer...
I became a Matcha green tea drinker upon diagnosis. There are tons of articles about the benefits if you search. I like the taste, I gave up coffee for it. My husband doesn't like it
I buy it organic online. the Matcha gives me energy without crashing later. You can put the powder in smoothies or baking as well.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4127621/
As for flours and pasta: I use kamut, quinoa and spelt in variation. I have some food sensitives and this works really well.
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Forgot to add this re the green tea - people with ulcers should not drink it. I purely drink it for the energy boost as I take CBD for pain relief which can make me a little tired. As for cancer prevention more studies are needed.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26680603#
https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/green-tea
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Macha green tea is a powdered form of green tea. It's really popular hereand they even have it in Starbucks.
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Oh, I just remembered I posted this about green tea in the old thread.
If you're going to drink tea, please drink organic & fair trade certified. Tea is one of the crops that can be heavily contaminated with pesticides and herbicides, and is usually a hugely exploitative crop. The BBC did a story on this in 2015 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-341735...For green tea, I'm fond of Numi's Jasmine Green https://shop.numitea.com/Jasmine-Green/p/NUMIS-101...&c=numiteastore@teabag@green
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Hi all!
I love my coffe and would never want to give it up. I try to drink one cup of green tea a day but besides coffee I only drink water. Since my surgery, I haven’t been drinking much tea. I had to stop all forms of green tea 3 weeks out from surgery because it thins the blood and can cause additional bruising. Didn’t want that for surgery so now I’m out of the habit. I like matcha tea too. It’s good in smoothies and yummy in chai tea lattes!
Met with two Drs today- MO that specializes in BC at the Cleveland Clinic and my geneticist. Hormone therapy is all rage right now, after this latest release. It was what he discussed thoroughly and he sees that being the main benefit for hormone positive BC, more than chemo and rads. I asked him if waiting 5 years to take it would make more sense for me. That made him think, and he said it’s never been trialed before and that it’s a good question. It’s a thought of mine. Either way, before I personally consider hormone therapy, which I’ve obviously been considering for a while, I need to be at my best, physically and nutritionally. He fully agrees about the diet and lifestyle ‘needing to be the best it can and recommended all the same supplements we hear of all the time- multivitamin, C and D and plus all fruits and veggies. Same old same old.
As far as the genetics appt- I didn’t realize that even though I didnt test positive for the BRCA genes, my sister is now at high risk for BC and should be seen at a facility that specializes in high risk BC. I worry for her now.
Tomorrow is the Integrative Doc. Looking forward to that and will update after 😘
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Wildplaces, yes...and here is some additional info for you. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutri...
Amelia, Congrats on finishing chemo!
Thanks, all for the great insight and tips!
Mimi, I can relate on having kids home for the summer. For me it's cook, clean-up, repeat with some entertainment thrown in there! Hang in there with the fitness. One step at a time, literally.
I completely agree that a combination of lifestyle plus good nutrition plus modern med can help us all in the long run. Someone on BCO once said (when talking about moving on after treatment) that she didn't want to look back decades later and realize that she lived in fear of mets, and keeping that in mind helps her to enjoy life. This is a paraphrase and I wish I could remember the source because it was a huge turning point for me in healing emotionally.
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Saw this in the science news about pulses. Adding them to a meal can reduce blood sugar by up to 35 percent (replacing with potatoes in this maximal benefit case). That is pretty impressive.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180613162701.htm
I'm lazy to cook lentils and company because you need to soak them or cook for a long time. I will try using the slow cooker I bought and never used and see if that works.
Warrior, which release are you referring to? Let us know how it goes with the integrative onc.
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Warrior - re glutamine: Last week there was an interesting online docuseries called The Truth about Cancer. Some interesting stuff presented by researchers. They just posted a 48 hour replay of the series. In Episode 4, a researcher talked about glutamine and natural blockers of glutamine.... flavenoids like curcumin, resveretrol, quercetin, etc and which foods high in glutamine to avoid...msg, mushrooms, black beans, soy, etc. I need to rewatch that episode and take better notes. If interested in watching, PM me your e-mail address and I'll forward the details. I don't see a link that I can post here.
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