Eat right and exercise

mommysgirl

My mom is dying of metastatic breast cancer. I have a medical book at home and do all of you out there want to know what the number one cause of cancer is? DIET. And can you believe that in the entire chapter of cancer, not one word was written on the subject, other than the pie chart that showed the stats. My mother never really ate much fruit or veggies, always had diet everything(aspartame, nutra sweet) and I just can't help to think that if she had ate differently and exercised regularly, would she be in this position? I just cannot believe that if diet is such a factor in this disease, why is no one talking about it? I think "Back to basics". What does everyone else think???

hummingbyrd

Absolutely right! I was diagnosed at age 38 w/ breast cancer and my ONLY risk factor was my diet. I love fried food, sweets and food high in fat. Poor example to my kids eh? I think you are right though, diet is VERY significant, but its not advertised much...no money in it, actually would be a loss for a LOT of companies. Ahhh, the almighty dollar, what a powerful tool. Thanks for bringing the importance of our diet back to my attention. I easily slip back into the same old routine. Out w/ the chips and dip, time to get these busty critters back to the fruit and veggie section! God bless. hummingbyrd

Best wishes for your mom!

KDPV

Estrogen based breast cancer does have a lot to do with diet...I am overweight and my doctor told me that being overweight produces more estrogen and puts me in a higher chance of reoccurance unless I get it under control. Hence a low fat diet is on the way.

Marymomof3

Although diet is important, it doesn't explain all of the cancers, I've always eaten right, maintained a healthy weight, exercised 3x/week and I got breast cancer! No family history either. If diet were the only cause, I'd be cancer-free. It's natural to want to find a single cause for the cancer, but it's probably a combination of several factors. Sorry to hear your mom isn't doing well. I lost my mother right after my diagnosis and it was very hard - God bless you. Mary

SweetSue

I agree. Diet is very important. There's very little breast cancer in Japan.

geral

Hello,

I am so very sorry about your Mom.

It's very considerate of you to post here and start the discussion on a very important subject, DIET.

I was diagnosed 3 yrs. ago at the age of 43. Most of my life, fortunately I was not overweight even tho I did not exercise or eat properly. I ate alot of fatty, greasy foods, alot of aspartame, nutrasweet and not enough veggies and fruits.

About a year prior to diagnosis, I had started walking 2 mis. daily and drinking a gallon of H2O daily. Because I appeared to live healthy, friends were shocked when I was diagnosed with BC. But when I took a look back on how most of my life I hadn't exercised or eaten properly, it made a little more sense.

I continued my unhealthy eating habits until one year ago. Now, I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, baked fish, turkey, and on rare occasions, beef. I eat 1500 cals. or less @ 20% fat daily. I was walking again but now have a knee injury.

It's a good feeling that now when I'm grocery shopping, I salivate over fruits and vegetables as well as junk foods, but I only buy/eat the good foods!

I agree with hummingbyrd-the almighty $ is the reason diet is not stessed enough in all facets of life. Even tho fruits, veggies and protein can be expensive, a proper balance of these maintains your blood sugar level, so you don't eat as much. Fats & simple sugars give us immediate 'fixes' by spiking our blood sugar levels, but then the levels drop, so we eat more, therefore, spend more! Also, think of all the $ that would not be made if there weren't a need for diet books, videos, clubs, equipment, etc.

Again, I'm really sorry about your Mom. My mother died of a stroke while I was undergoing chemo two years ago. I miss her so very much.

Please tell your Mom that you've found a good support group here.

Hang in there and welcome to our group.

Take care,
Geral

brooke

I agree 100%. I am a breast cancer survivor. I was sedentary, stressed and living on a busy city diet. Muffins, bagels, sandwiches, chips, fast food, etc. Very little fruits and veggies.

I would love to hear of a study that tracks breast cancer survivors who changed to an organic diet to see if there was a change in survival rates.

Fat does increase estrogen. Also, there is lots of estrogen in USDA beef, which I think is criminal. One day, I believe we will be sueing the beef feedlots just as we have been sueing the cigarette manufacturers. And finally, all of the chemicals and preservatives in food.

There is now lots of evidence coming out about the link between obesity and cancer. Great article in the nytimes.com.

The interesting thing is that if you eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day, which is now the recommended amount, along with good protein, there is not much room or desire for anything else.

I try to stay away from refined flour, refined sugar, caffiene, and alcohol. None of them have any nutritional value.

I have also found an incredible internist that insists that I exercize 6-7 days a week, and wants to hear no bs about it.

Brooke

inkblot

Hi:

I'm sorry that you're having to go through this difficult time. However, you seem to be trying to find the best in it and that's not easy to do.

That you're educating yourself is a wonderful thing. All that we can learn, we can ultimately apply in our lives.

I am basically in agreement with the other ladies here. We all know that limiting our fat intake is good for us and that exercise is VERY important. Equally, if not more important than diet.

Another really serious health consideration these days is the amount of environmental toxins to which we're exposed on a daily basis. They're in the air we breathe, the water we drink and bathe in, lakes, streams, oceans. Everywhere. We also take in a lot of polluting agents via our diet. (I'm a life long, physically active, ovo-lacto vegetarian but I still got breast cancer) For those who consume beef, it's a lot to think about. It contains large amounts of growth hormones, antibiotics and growth enhancers of all manner. Here too, profit is the name of the game. It's up to us to get informed and adjust our diets, where we purchase our foods, etc.. Poultry isn't much better for us either. Many eat more poultry today, in an effort to reduce their fat intake but the manner in which it is produced is unhealthy also. There are many ways of getting an adequate amount of protein in our diets. Vegetable proteins, combined properly, actually fulfill our bodily requirements just fine. If our B12 gets a bit low, it's nothing that a couple of injections from the doc won't remedy. There are also sub-lingual B12 tablets we can add to our diets to prevent any such problems.

I love gardening and grow veggies every year. I KNOW that they are clean, organically grown, and not polluted with huge amounts of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Commerical growers use tons more of those things than are necessary. Fish...well, I don't eat that either. If we look at what's in our streams, oceans, ponds and lakes, we don't risk it. We have a couple of chickens which provide our eggs, and I do eat eggs. They're also clean, fed properly, kept free of pests and housed in a clean manner. Our water is filtered, with no additives of any kind. That's about the best I can do for myself and my family in the diet department. My family does like meat occasionally and I buy it from a friend who raises organic beef and poultry. She has a small operation and sells to a few local stores. A bit pricier but well worth it. It's good to remember that just because something we see in a market is marked "organically grown", it really doesn't mean a lot. We have absolutely no way of knowing if we don't do our homework. Sometimes, "organic" isn't organic.

As I said, I've always been active, have always eaten a healthy diet (although I do indulge in the occasional chip), yet I got bc. My friend's sister is a lifelong health buff, and a personal fitness trainer, yet she was diagnosed with bc at the age of 32. Who can say what the cause may be? Much of the research points to DNA damage but exactly what causes that damage is not known.
How it causes the damage is not known.

The best we can do is take excellent care of ourselves and teach our children how to do the same, so that they can remain as healthy as possible. As we see, time and again, people get cancer who we'd think were the least likely candidates. If we're overweight, physically sedentary, have poor diets, smoke and drink, then we're definitely asking for health trouble. The rates of heart disease, diabetes and stroke are all increased by failing to take the best care possible of our bodies. The link between cancer and a poor diet/lack of physical activity, has been correlated in study after study but we can harm other of our systems too and must take care of our whole selves. Even then there are no guarnatees!

Just my approach, for whatever it's worth.

You are in my thoughts as you go through this stressful and painful time. Remember to take good care of yourself.

Love, light and laughter,
Ink

DeeNY711

If fruit, vegetables and exercise prevented breast cancer, I would never have developed it. Yes, Japan has a lower rate of breast cancer. Japan also has a higher rate of stomach cancer. Blaming the patient for their own plight is a nasty piece of ground.

ksfc

I agree that we all need to try and be as healthy as we can, but unfortunately there isn't a simple answer. I'm overweight, maybe that had something to do with me getting bc, but my neighbor also got it and she's incredibly fit, eats very well and runs almost daily - no family history. Let's remember that stress also plays a role in many illnesses and feeling it's our fault that we got cancer is probably the last place we need to go.
Take care - Diane

hummingbyrd

ksfc said:

I agree that we all need to try and be as healthy as we can, but unfortunately there isn't a simple answer. I'm overweight, maybe that had something to do with me getting bc, but my neighbor also got it and she's incredibly fit, eats very well and runs almost daily - no family history. Let's remember that stress also plays a role in many illnesses and feeling it's our fault that we got cancer is probably the last place we need to go.
Take care - Diane

Japan has a high rate of stomach cancer because the fish they eat have mercury in them...BUT that's besides the point.
No one should 'blame' themselves for getting cancer. My word, we all go through enough as it is without taking a guilt trip.
So, you're absolutely right Dee, there is no one cause for cancer, and your energy needs to be focused on the now! Does no good to beat yourself up over this and there is no reason to, in my opinion, not even if you smoke cigarettes! However, I do believe there is some wisdom in changing high risk behaviors. Regardless, cancer or not, a good diet and exercise does a body good...I do apologize if anyone got the impression, from me, that thier cancer was thier fault.
I'm a STRONG advocate of positive attitude, positive people and making the most out of a situation. God bless. hummb
P.S.
I still gotta stay away from those chips and dip!