Natural cures for breast cancer treatment
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I want to weigh in on the "growing up in cold places" question. Northern Vermont qualifies as having cold, often bitter, winters and I was born during a cold snap when it was -20F. I exercise outside winter and summer, though it's obviously a lot milder here in the Seattle area. 3 of the 4 miles I walked yesterday were in the dark and chilly pelting rain. I love to ski in the winter, mostly Nordic.
We had a dairy farm and raised vegetables which my mother froze for the winter. I still do this with squash as impossible to get good winter squash unless you do the deed yourself. Now, we are blessed with root vegetables which are particularly wonderful in the Pacific Northwest. The old farmhouses in Vermont had root cellars, and I suspect that everyone got quite sick of the like of onions, turnips, carrots, and cabbages by spring. I know that dandelion greens were welcome as were ramps. (I believe that fasting and dietary restrictions during Lent and Passover are related to the need to preserve enough seeds to ensure a good harvest for the following autumn.)
I think historically that the big change in diet came about 150 years ago when it became possible to ship produce, meat, dairy, and grain by rail. This meant that you weren't limited to what you could raise locally, and had access to citrus during the winter. Canning items such as tomatoes was another huge innovation. Frozen vegetables came about 75 years later.
As for exercise in cold weather, I just love being outside in the winter. I just don't understand those who say "It's too cold out or it's raining". I don't like getting soaked to the skin, but come to no harm when I do. I have warm clothing for skiing. In fact, when you are skiing, the danger is getting hypothermic from working up a sweat, and then cooling down rapidly once the exertion is over.
I do draw the line at ice as landing on it is no fun. But even then, I put on my lug-soled hiking boots and take my ski poles. So very seldom do I fail to get outdoors. I remember my mother once saying "no walk" to her dog when she was in her 70s. It was -29F out. But we did walk a mile down the road to see the Great Snowy Owl. It was something like -12F at the time.
It's all a question of perspective.
On another topic, my Christmas break project is learning to use my new soup maker to up the nutrition content of my lunches via delicious soups such as spinach, tomato, parsnip, squash, leek and potato. We shall see how that one goes. But healthier and cheaper than buying lunches outside. - Claire
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I wasn't the warrior type fighting cancer. I just kind of showed up and put one foot in front of the other. With that said, I had excellent care and loved my physicians and their staff. After every appointment I left with the feeling of being amazed at how nice everyone was. Once I got used to going to chemo it didn't bother me at all to go--I really liked the staff and the chemo nurse was also a horse girl! I'm 10 years out and when I look back I feel so very fortunate.
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Claire, you're one heck of a weather woman! I admire your enjoyment of the elements.
Food theories flop when I compare my family's eating habits. I have 3 older sisters. None have breast cancer. I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer from the start in my early 50s. And now my sisters and I are all older, two are in their mid 60s, one will soon be 70. They do not have breast cancer.
Last year one sister in her 60s was diagnosed with colon cancer. She's smoked her whole adult life and that may have played a part in that, I don't know. She was successfully treated for it and is cancer free. She had twins at the age of 24. I did not have my son until age 31. One sister never had kids and likes her alcohol, but no cancer.
We all grew up in Ohio with average winters. We ate a mostly starchy diet—with 7 kids to feed, my parents made ends meet with lots of inexpensive pasta, potatoes and rice and little meat. We had a garden and mom canned lots of stuff. We ate tons of fruits and vegetables because all the neighbors grew them, too, and the whole neighborhood shared with everyone.
I could not go to a strict vegetarian diet and turn my back on so many foods I grew up with that tasted good to me. If I did, it would feel like one more effing thing that mbc took from me. Perhaps if you're younger it's easier. My son's girlfriend is vegan and has a rather successful plant-based food blog, and he loves what she cooks. But he also still eats meat and foods I made him growing up.
I had low vitamin D when diagnosed. Probably a combination of cloudy Ohio winters and staying inside in the whole house air on hot humid sunny days. But, 2 of my sisters live in the same place. So who's to say.
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Can you give me the name of the documentary
Thank you
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Merry Christmas to all. I am sitting listening to Christmas music with banana bread in oven. Yes, it does have added sugar to allow browning, but much less than recipe calls for.
I am now reading a book called Eat to Beat Disease by William W. Li, MD. His speciality is angiogenesis. He apparently realized that diet can make all the difference with many diseases. I guess a patient once asked him about diet and he realized he knew little as doctors have few hours regarding nutrition. So he felt stupid and thus began his journey. I am only 100 pages into book which is around 400 pages. I just love it. Print is good, and he has a super way of bringing data together. I would highly recommend. I read all the time. People know me with a book in my hand.
I am a very curious person. I want to connect dots. My sixth grade teacher who I adored inspired my thirst for WHY.
I have absolutely no idea today if my cancer was removed by surgery almost 2 yrs ago. So that cancer may well have spread and as of yet I do not detect anything. I believe we all have cancer cells, most never grow and our immune system can mop these cancer cells up. So it is essential to have a strong immune system. I am committed to allowing balance to thrive in my body by eating what will allow that. I see my body as my buddy that frankly I never respected.
What caused my cancer? A few things I have learned that appear to be contributors. One, my mother was 45 when I was born. The years prior to my birth were filled with trauma for her losing a child in a horrific car accident. Her body was a mess. Her finances were a mess. Her marriage was a mess. But, she was a trooper and a very religious woman that soldiered on.
Girls begin their period at around 12, which biologically mean we were meant to have children very young, not at the old age of 45. Mitochondria is passed on by mother only coupled with my dad being even older with equally horrendous physical and mental issues.
I ate a lot of sugar my entire life. I baked a lot. I owned a restaurant. I was the kid craving candy. My dad ate a carton of ice cream every so many days. Both my sisters never cared that much about sweets. Neither did my mom. None had breast cancer. However, my dad's mom was a very obese woman and died of breast cancer.
I never drank alcohol because I came from a family of drinkers. Irish. My sister died of alcoholism. My dad drank heavily and got very early dementia. My mom died of melanoma. She never went out in sun, but moved to AZ and was out a lot in sun. Both my parents saw skin cancers after moving.
I was also an environmental activist. I was around carcinogenic materials on several occasions for long period of time. My dad used DDT like it was water on the farm. I was the kid following him around barefoot. My sisters were indoor kids. I was outside 24/7.
I realized recently I never slept. Not even as a kid. Going to camp was torture because it made sleeping worse. I am claustrophobic in a big way. So when they shut the door, turned off the lights, and it was still, I just laid there. I believe lack of quality sleep is a big contributor to chronic diseases. Cancer is a chronic disease. I have had 2 bouts since 40. I am 67. My sleep habits have improved greatly. Sleep is my priority. If sleep researchers are correct, poor sleeping as a child causes lifelong metabolic issues. Today with technology at our fingertips many kids are being exposed to dangers that will significantly damage their health going forward. Sleep is the only time cells can hope to repair, remove, and organize data in the brain. Get the book Why we Sleep. We need both REM and NREM sleep to live. Period.
When diagnosed with breast cancer a second time, I realized what I was doing was just plain wrong. I needed to make a radical change if I planned to live longer. Some on this board have said they will not change diet. I believe that sentiment is shared by most. Many cancer patients make a few changes and then slowly revert back to old habits. I will not be one of them. Here is why. My change in diet, meaning removing sugar as much as possible, few carbs, fasting, has removed many of my chronic ailments which I do not miss. I can sleep now. I never have any aches or pains. No migraines. My loss of 50 lbs allows me to do so much more. I am in the best shape ever. My miserable knee due to accident, stopped hurting. I was on crutches.I can ride my bike 30 miles at a time. I can walk miles now with no pain. I feel grateful. Do I miss baking all the time? Yup. However my body does not crave sugar and so I can sit with friends and watch them eat deserts, fried foods, wine, and not feel I am being punished. I simply do not care.
My friend, my body, I am respecting.
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100% agree with all you said. Bravo for being good to your body!
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Dr Wiliiam Li has a good succinct ted talk for anyone who is interested....
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today's NYT, on the many deleterious health effects of refined sugar:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/well/eat/sugar-diet-healthy.html
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santabarbarian, that's a good summary. I used to underestimate the problems that sugar causes, because I don't happen to have much of a sweet tooth. But I get it, now, and have made the effort over the last few years to keep trimming my sources of added sugars. Now I'm more careful than ever. That doesn't mean I don't add sugar to anything, or that I don't eat any processed foods. But I know what the "limits" are, how to read labels, and how to add up the numbers in meaningful ways. Eating less added sugar now makes my desire for it less, too. It's easier all the time, really.
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MM that has been my experience too. It gets easier and easier. A sugary treat once in a while does not make me feel like binging, either-- which it used to. Now it just feels like a special treat, and then I go back to my whole foods eating.
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Very interesting discussion on sugar. I have had a terrible sweet tooth though I am a bit of a snob and always went for high quality baked goods and candies. No Chips Ahoy or Kit Kat’s for me. I have had some eating difficulties for the past 9 months. I feel full after eating very small portions and many things that previously appealed to me simply don’t. Surprisingly, when I eat sweets, I am satisfied with very small portions. I have, as a result of my changed eating habits, lost almost 25 pounds and I was not overweight to begin with! Thus far, there appears to be no physical reason for the change in my digestive/eating habits, but the unexplained loss of desire for sweets is fascinating
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This thread is exactly what I needed. These holidays I have gone completely off track with desserts every meal, ice cream, cake, fries, hamburgers. Traveling contributed...Prior to the holidays I slipped back to old stressful habits: taking on too much at work and sleeping very little. The only constant has been daily exercise.
I need a reset and I am motivated to start the year on a healthy note. Best wishes to all
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I do and believe 100% in natural cures over Pharma. In remission from 20 years of Chronic Lyme, stopped progression of end stage Emphysema, was on supplemental 02 for 2 years and now completely off it for 7 months all due to natural healing solutions and exercise. I intend to treat my newly diagnoised Stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma exactly the same way.
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imorris,
Could you please share the details? What is your approach for BC?
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imorris, no surgery for you? No rads? I'm assuming no chemo. Would your thinking be different if your staging were higher?
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hello Imorris, I'm keen to know how you're going with your holistic and complimentary medicine treatments. I also believe 100% in alternative and herbal medicine, and am always researching and trying different modalities. I would love to share some information and hear more about your journey and experiences. regards Sandra
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This topic of sugar and cancer is one I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and my younger daughter believes that I’m overreacting to the connection so I asked her to define what moderation means when it comes to eating even a little. In almost the whole of human history people have been unable to access it in any great amount unless they were wealthy. She admitted I have a point.
I know I have a point because my own experience has shown me what sugar can do. When I was diagnosed, I stopped the sweets and did the keto diet and also some fasting and I did only alternative healing for seven years, but addictions being what they are, I slid right back into binging and if sweets were alcohol I’d be on skid row. It’s all in my bones now and i started Ibrance a couple of weeks ago but it feels like it’s getting worse instead of better and the pain is worse. I haven’t lost hope though and I stopped the sweets and I hope it’s for good now. It may not be the answer for everyone’s cancer cure but I know it is key for many of us to lower our consumption as low as we can go. If you need to stop then you probably know who you are and if you find it difficult, then you definitely would benefit from striking them from the diet. Sorry if I sound preachy here but it’s one that’s very close to
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my heart. lol. The forum started to eat my post so I hurried up and submitted.
Anyway, maybe I sound sad but I’m not so much. Just a lot of feelings to process. I really enjoyed reading all your alls posts on the topic and there are definitely some kindred souls here.
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I’m going to offer a differing perspective. Too many women have food issues. It feels to me like drastically altering the type of food you eat after getting a cancer diagnosis is a way of blaming yourself for “getting breast cancer” because you were eating the wrong stuff. Too many women adopt this mentality that they were so stupid for bringing this on themselves.
It also feels like some religious underpinnings make women think if somehow they deprive themselves of something that is enjoyable, God will recognize their sacrifice and remove the cancer from their bodies. Like we have to be good girls and somehow we did bad things to get breast cancer, it’s our own fault.
Society ingrains in women that they must make sure their children and husband are fed and stay healthy while the woman herself must monitor what she puts in her own mouth because the holy grail is to stay thin in order to be attractive to men and not be the object of criticism from other women. And don’t get sick, it inconveniences everyone else.
Society has a huge problem with women experiencing pleasure. Don’t enjoy that pastry, it’s a sin. Society says women are supposed to be more concerned about their appearance than getting enjoyment and pleasure out of life. No indulging. It’s a sin.
Question your beliefs and be honest with yourself. Are you believing things that were taught to you from a young age? Or do you have the courage to decide for yourself what you believe, even if it goes against your earlier teachings. Maybe the way to healing is about being fully who you are, the unique you, and not conforming to what society tells you to be.
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You make a great point DivineMrsM and it’s one my daughter pointed out as well and it’s important to let go of the self blame, which I am infamous for, but the way I see it is that balancing my diet is a way for me to take control. All I know is that when I was not eating sweets and working my alternative program I somehow managed to survive for seven years with no conventional therapy and then when I began to eat them my cancer began to grow with astonishing speed and then when I went to full on binging, I came very perilously close to dying.
It has occurred to me that all of this may be due to a strong belief system that sugar is the devil and has to do with the placebo/nocebo effect but I also think that your beliefs are one of the most important aspects of healing.
Anyway, I’m not arguing that I’m right as I believe that both points of view bear examining and all of us should do our best to root out self blame because we can only go forward from here. My God I had a binge in early May that would shock the shorts off of most people but I’m not kicking myself...just going forward into the unknown like the rest of us and I just know that I’m dealing with a bad addiction. This is not having a piece of birthday cake every now and then...it’s more like eating a whole pan of brownies in a day and having to hide that fact because it feels like most people would be truly 😳 😮 shocked.
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DivineMrsM, thank you. You raise a very important point. It breaks my heart the number of women who come to this site thinking that they did something to cause their cancer. So often, they are thinking about diet. If it was that simple - just change your diet, add a bunch of supplements and you will be fine - wouldn't we all be cured? Wouldn't we be able to wipe out breast cancer? Cancer is complicated. It's a change in the cells in our bodies. The process to develop cancer probably started for most of us years or even decades ago, and probably involved an unfortunate confluence of a dozen factors. And those dozen factors are different for each of us.
"Society has a huge problem with women experiencing pleasure." If there is one thing my life experience - breast cancer and other life-shattering events - has taught me, is that I am not willing to sacrifice my enjoyment of life unnecessarily and for an unknown. Will I accept the some QOL side effects from meds that have been proven to reduce my risk of mets? Yes. Will I exercise and maintain my weight and try to eat an overall healthy diet because it's been proven in dozens of studies that this helps maintain health as we age, and for some people extends life? Yes. But will I do anything to the point that it makes me miserable? No. Will I completely eliminate something that I enjoy, something that give me pleasure? Absolutely not. As I've said before in posts, I feel that breast cancer has taken enough from me; I'm not going to volunteer to give up even more. pipers_dream, to your point, I will find the right balance that works for me. The balance where I feel good that I am doing things to improve my health and hopefully reduce my risk related to breast cancer, but where I don't feel that I am sacrificing my enjoyment of life.
And one very important thing to remember: Correlation is not causation. If it was, I would have to wonder if exercise, a reduction in alcohol consumption and a lower body weight caused my breast cancer, because my breast cancer diagnoses seem to correlate with times when I was the 'healthiest'. Hmmm... I don't think that's it.
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One thing that frustrates me is seeing posts/comments from people declaring that they didn't have any treatment, and are cured of their cancer anyway. Hm. From what I can tell, the vast majority of those are women who had an early stage cancer or only DCIS in the first place, and they had surgery, but declined radiation, chemo, or other therapies. Cured!! Meaning, no recurrence. Well, that's fantastic! I'm truly and sincerely happy for them. But the surgery was the most important treatment for them, in those cases. It reduced their chances of recurrence by leaps and bounds!! (Notice I'm not using stats here, but importantly, they aren't, either.)
I would like them to stop saying they didn't have treatment and were cured anyway. I would like them to stop implying that "no treatment" or surgery only is appropriate for other patients, for ANY other patients. That's a decision for any other patient to make with their own doctor, not someone whose decisions are made based on fear or internet reading.
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Pipers, thank you for such a thoughtful reply to my post. It's nice to have an open-minded discussion on matters. I appreciate your saying “I'm not arguing that I'm right." It shows that even tho you've arrived at certain conclusions based on your experience, you accept that there are other perspectives. I definitely have a feminist slant to my posts; I feel it's important that women prioritize themselves and learn to recognize and question societal trappings placed on them. It's a big lesson I've learned since being diagnosed ten years ago with mbc and I still have to work at it. I do wish you the best, I can tell what a sweet soul you have.
Beesie, what a beautifully written post, I agree with pretty much the whole thing.
MountainMia, I agree that women who have surgery to remove breast cancer yet claim they didn't have treatment but are now cured is misleading.
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pipersdream,
It’s good to “see” you 😊! As divine noted, it is lovely to have reasonable open discussions with you even when many of us have taken a different path. You are a mensch!
As for women, will we be forever punished for original sin (Which I don’t interpret as a literal happening)? How on earth can we be the weaker sex? I had two natural childbirths. No man would have survived it.
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Pipers_Dream, it's nice to 'see' you.
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nice to see you Pipers dream!
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Aww thank you for the welcome back ladies! I must admit I don’t get on here much these days but mainly because I just get tired of thinking about cancer lol. Don’t we all? And covid...what a year it has been and I hope we are all taking the best care of ourselves that we can because I don’t think we ever realized how stressed out we really were. And yes exbronxgirl, men could not do what we do but I’ve never really wished I was a man except for some moments when I was disgusted with the stupid period stuff.
But yeah I’m still floating around and have started ibrance and it’s wearing me out and I’m losing some hair which I did not have much to lose, but otherwise ok and no nausea. I feel like sitting most of the time but trying to stay moving without overdoing it and it’s a balance for sure. I’m actually amazed at how much mobility I have, considering how my bones are full of tumors and I was musing earlier that I probably have less pain than your average past high school athlete and that is a blessing.
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