The Reading Room: Cancer and Diet

Hatshepsut

There are discussions of cancer and diet from time to time on this board. Here is a link to an article that appeared in The Los Angeles Times today; the article discusses the many health benefits (including anti-cancer benefits) of healthy eating. The second link takes you to The Cancer Project. This organization has been mentioned on this board before and the site includes discussions of diet and cancer and a recipe link. The Cancer Project also sponsors free cooking classes in cities across the nation. I took the cooking class and can recommend it from personal experience. The third link is to an interesting article posted on the Dana Farber Cancer Institute's site. The Farber article discusses diet and its effect on colon cancer recurrence.

As they say, you are what you eat. A healthy diet can not only be a pleasurable part of your life but can augment your cancer fighting regimen.

Link:Battling Inflammation, Disease Through Food

Link: The Cancer Project

Link:"Western" Diet Linked to Increased Risk of Colon Cancer Recurrence

Hatshepsut

nudgie

Thank you
for the information. I am one that truly believes in taking care of one self, but questions or all the studies on diets and cancers, why you ask, cause if eating healthly was the main key than veggies or vegan would never get this disease, right?

The only thing I have changed somewhat is my intake of food. I never eat enough food before DX and with all the workouts and running I did, I can see why I got colon cancer. Turned my insides into sand. Did not hydrate myself at all. Drank coffee all the time.

Now I drink less coffee, eat more veggies and fruits and try and eat 3 meals a day. I went from 126 to 145 lbs, but muscle weights more than fat, so that is a good thing.

So does diet play a role, that is question that we will continue to ask ourselves to the end of time. There are so many health organizations that perform such studies that each one has a different outcome and since everyone is different (DNA), it's hard to determine which study would be benefit whom.

I say do what is right for you. Common sense helps, when used. Cause I sure did not use common sense before DX.

Hatshepsut

nudgie said:

Thank you
for the information. I am one that truly believes in taking care of one self, but questions or all the studies on diets and cancers, why you ask, cause if eating healthly was the main key than veggies or vegan would never get this disease, right?

The only thing I have changed somewhat is my intake of food. I never eat enough food before DX and with all the workouts and running I did, I can see why I got colon cancer. Turned my insides into sand. Did not hydrate myself at all. Drank coffee all the time.

Now I drink less coffee, eat more veggies and fruits and try and eat 3 meals a day. I went from 126 to 145 lbs, but muscle weights more than fat, so that is a good thing.

So does diet play a role, that is question that we will continue to ask ourselves to the end of time. There are so many health organizations that perform such studies that each one has a different outcome and since everyone is different (DNA), it's hard to determine which study would be benefit whom.

I say do what is right for you. Common sense helps, when used. Cause I sure did not use common sense before DX.

Rx for a healthy life
Nudgie:

Glad you are taking care of yourself and watching what you eat. Most of us have a spotty record when it comes to following a healthy diet.

The way I look at it, vegetarians and vegans are subject to the same pollution, the same inherited risks, and the same stress as other people. Thus, they sometimes get cancer like the rest of the population. (And, don't forget, a vegetarian diet can be a high fat diet if oils, eggs, cheeses, etc. are consumed in any quantity.)

A healthy, low-fat diet is just one of the weapons in our arsenal against cancer, heart disease and other ailments. The good news is that, unlike so many of the threats to our health, diet is a factor we can control.

Hatshepsut

Kathleen808

Thanks!
Thanks for the articles. Your timing was perfect. **** finishes he last Folfox6 on Thursday. We have been discussing what are family diet will look like starting next week. On chemo he has eaten pretty healthy but we are going to go for more healthy food.
Take care.
Aloha,
kathleen

sfmarie

Kathleen808 said:

Thanks!
Thanks for the articles. Your timing was perfect. **** finishes he last Folfox6 on Thursday. We have been discussing what are family diet will look like starting next week. On chemo he has eaten pretty healthy but we are going to go for more healthy food.
Take care.
Aloha,
kathleen

Diet
My sister was dx in 03/09, 39 year old mother of three, vegetarian (not vegan), and a marathon runner. I believe in a healthy diet, but not sure it is key to preventing the disease. My two cents.
Marie

Hatshepsut

sfmarie said:

Diet
My sister was dx in 03/09, 39 year old mother of three, vegetarian (not vegan), and a marathon runner. I believe in a healthy diet, but not sure it is key to preventing the disease. My two cents.
Marie

Looking at diet in a different way



I'm struck with how many dimensions there are to fighting cancer.

In the case of food as one of the pieces of your cancer-fighting plan, there are, I think, many ways to look at a healthy diet as a part of your plan. Beyond seeing food at a part of cancer prevention or therapy, I think a healthy diet can be a key factor in making you strong enough to fight your cancer. In my husband's case, I truly believe that our shift to a very low fat diet was key in getting his heart issues under control after his initial cancer surgery. Our cardiologist agrees. Had we not been able to control the heart issues, it is very likely that my husband would not have been able to tolerate his chemotherapy regimen nor would he have been strong enough for his subsequent surgeries.

Hatshepsut