Sugar

GG,

I cannot recall if you are diabetic or not. If you are, then I understand how hard balancing your glucose might be.  I have had hypoglycemia (but never diabetes) myself for decades.

If you are NOT diabetic, I will share what my oncologist told me regarding diet: Eat what you feel like.  Better to get some nutrition than to get none. Food cravings are quite common on chemo, and for months all I wanted was french fries and breakfast drinks, and that is what I got by on.  A friend who had stage 3 as a teenager and who underwent the old MOPP regimine said that for months the only thing he would eat was pot pie, and that was in fact all that he ate. He also told me that he lived near a pond, and had an urge to catch and eat ducks raw (an urge he had never had before or since), but never indulged !  He is alive and well today, 25 years later. 

The same with what I drank. While my doctor (UCLA, Duke for training, four (4) Board Certifications) encouraged that it be water or something healthy, sometimes cravings require that it be something else. I drank a lot of Ginger Ale during those six months of treatments, especially while at the Infusion Center.  They provided a wide range of drinks, but most were the common sodas.  When I wasn't guzzling Ginger Ale (Canada Dry tastes best to me) it was green tea.  The snacks passed out by volunteers were crackers and sugar cookies. Tell you anything ?

I have NO medical training but like most here, have read quite a bit.  I consider the "sugar feeds cancer" mantra to be a mythology, and for myself, pay it no attention. It is the rage at the "Alternative Therapy" sites, which is another reason I consider it a falsehood.  I feel that these home remedy trends give people some false sense of control, when in fact they do nothing, good or bad.  My mother-in-law, who has never had a biology course in her life, has said that if I have prostate cancer it is from "eating bacon," a "fact" that she "'knows for certain, because she read it in book." Beam me up, Scotty !  I cared for a dear friend for about a year who died from prostate cancer a year ago. He had had the disease for 13 years. He was in Hospice, and wanted a milkshake, and another friend complained that it would not be "healthy" for him !  Geeze !  He died three days later.

If I wanted a Hershey bar, I would eat one, but that is just me.  I am NOT recommending anything, just sharing a line of thought. I do not think it would do a damned thing to the effectiveness of any chemotherapy drug(s).  Sugar is a natural nutrient in virtually everything. If it is killing us, God help us. It causes fat, but who knows what else.   I have known several women who were over 300 pounds, but never one with lymphoma. 

Reminds me of the old George Carlin joke: 

"Doctors have discovered that saliva causes stomach cancer, but only when consumed in small quantities, over many decades."

I am learning (the hard way) that testosterone feeds prostate cancer, much as estrogen feeds breast cancer.  What is someone to do ? In fact, a century ago, one of the first therapies for prostate cancer was castration, either chemical or surgical, and in some cases this is still used, especially in salavage therapy.   But not all 30 year old men are running for castrations as a preventative.  I understand why !

I understand contolling sugar intake for diabetes, weigth control, or for mood issues, but not to control cancer.

I hope you get over your nausea quickly,

max

Grace giver, I'm in agreement with the others. Eat what you like during treatment. I do think when you are no longer needing treatment, less sugar is beneficial. If I felt like I was eating too much crud, I would go on a sweets faste. I would not eat deserts, candy, sugar drinks for thirty days. by the end of the thirty days, the craving was curbed. Then I just watch that I don't have more than one treat per day...and no seconds. Not easy, but doable. 

givingrace said:

Thanks everyone for your

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and feelings about sugar. I sometimes get wound up to tight on certain things and need others opinions.  I have been not so strict with my fear of sugar and have eaten what I have wanted the last week.  It's very freeing. And I made a batch of peanut butter cookies and ate a whole dozen threw out one day. Loved it !

I am doing claritin and ativan has been a life saver too.

Hugs,

~GG~

My friend was headed for becoming a vegan etc. and her oncologist told her that when you start getting unbalanced and going overboard about your eating habits, you end up focusing so much on your cancer that you are actually putting a lot of negativity in the picture and not able to relax and keep a good mental attitude.  That makes such good sense to me.  We need to be balanced.

Becky 

Rocquie said:

Second Round

Grace, the anti-anxiety drug, Ativan is surprisingly effective for nausea and acts quickly. After my first Neulasta shot, I wound up on morphine the pain was so bad. Later, a nurse told me about taking claritin and that was like magic for me. I took it the day before the shot, the day of the shot, and for 3 days afterwards. I never had another pain (that I needed medication for).

The subject of sugar is interesting. I never had much of a sweet tooth, even as a child. But when I was on chemo, I had strong cravings for it. I just had to have something sweet every single day. My doctor said that was fine, that I should eat whatever I wanted. In fact he once went so far as to say, "I want you to consider any food health food". A few months after I finished chemo, my cravings subsided. 

So I agree with what others are saying, unless your doctor has told you otherwise, I'd not worry about it right now. Do whatever and eat whatever  makes GG feel better. 

Hugs,

Rocquie

 Hello all!

It's been a while since I checked in here. I was very busy with the move to the new condo and have no idea how I did it and where did I get all that energy?! I felt like I was on fire but then almost colapsed....Learned my lesson the hard way and my husband wasn't very happy with me either since he always incourages me to take it easy and to make myself my first priority except that I'm having a hard time doing that....maybe it will come one day?

Now to the disscusion about sugar. Just like you Rocquie, I never had much of a sweet tooth either and I even once worked in a little boutique called Laura Secord that sales ice cream, candies, chocolates and truffles. So my job as a manager was to taste this chocolates to best describe them to costumers and I hated it! I can have a small peace of dark chocolate once in a while when I get some crvings for it with a cup of black espresso but then I have the chocolate bar just sitting in my fridge and waiting for me for 2-3 months at the time or even longer. When I used to bake, I would only use less than half of sugar what the recipe calls for and it tasted sweet enough for me. Now, strange things happened right after my first chemo, the only thing that tasted good and I craved it over and over again were sweets! The problem is that I have type 2 diabetes and because of the steroids taken my sugar levels are already way above normal and eating sweets doesn't help. Recently the numbness in my fingertips that I used to get after each one of my treatments has disappeared but then I got numbness in the bottom of my heels, the right one more than the left and I was wondering if anyone has experienced this ever or is this because of the elevated sugar levels? I do eat very healthy and even today the nurse who helped me with my chemo was very surprised in a good way about my blood test results which were unusually good for someone with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. So as of fear of not losing my feet I went back to the way things were before the chemo and stopped eating sweets but today I just couldn't resist, I had to have some French pastry called Twists, not much, two little once (less than 10 call and about 1o gr of carbs and an hour after dinner). If I didn't have diabetes and were you Grace, I would eat what tastes good and makes you feel like food is still a pleasure. I find it weird and it's new but meet started tasting funny and no matter what kind, they all have the same kind of taste which is they don't have much taste, too bland! So last night I squeezed lots of lemon juice on my chicken breast and only then it tasted a little better. And the other thing I love and always loved eating is fruit. I eat 3 a day and I like almost any kind of fruit. I call myself a Fruit Monster. ))

Grace, I hope your nausea is well controlled by now and you can enjoy your sugar.

Sugar won't help cancer because sugar is natural but depends how much and for how long. Processed foods, white bread, white rice, pasta, my favourite French pastry desserts and junk food are also carbs but they are not as good for you here is why?  Carbohydrates are the body's ideal fuel for most functions. They supply the body with the energy needed for the muscles, brain and central nervous system. In fact, the human brain depends exclusively on carbohydrates for its energy. Carbohydrates are found in fruits, vegetables, beans, dairy products, foods made from grain products, and sweeteners such as sugar, honey, molasses, and corn syrup. The body converts digestible (non-fiber) carbohydrates into glucose, which our cells use as fuel. Some carbs (simple) break down quickly into glucose while others (complex) are slowly broken down and enter the bloodstream more gradually. During digestion, all carbohydrates are broken down into glucose before they can enter the bloodstream where insulin helps the glucose enter the body’s cells. Some glucose is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles for future use, like fueling a workout. If there is extra glucose, the body will store it as fat.  But no one will dare to tell you, hopefully, that during your chemotreatment you should have so many restriction becaause sometimes this can be the only pleasure for time being, until we get better and the nightmare is over.

givingrace said:

Wow Thankyou that's great

Wow Thankyou that's great info.

You all are so helpful. 

I have gotten threw the nausea and go in for third treatment in about 12 days.

I'm feeling pretty good but it was pretty rough. 

I have been able get my food choices a little under control.  Yesterday I spent some good time at the farmers market with filling my cart with some good fruit and vegetables. 

I am going to make my famous cheesecake in the next day or two. After this last week with a family crisis,  I think it's well overdue. 

I gotta say everyone in my family is truly luck I didn't grab a back back and bail this last aftermath of my treatment.  I am not as strong as alot of you who have been threw a whole lot of crazy chemotherapy and health fall outs. God Bless every survivor out in this world. 

~GG~

You'll make it through this trial too somehow.  We had a great trip, hope soon you will get your dream.

Thinking of you, Becky

givingrace said:

Wow Thankyou that's great

Wow Thankyou that's great info.

You all are so helpful. 

I have gotten threw the nausea and go in for third treatment in about 12 days.

I'm feeling pretty good but it was pretty rough. 

I have been able get my food choices a little under control.  Yesterday I spent some good time at the farmers market with filling my cart with some good fruit and vegetables. 

I am going to make my famous cheesecake in the next day or two. After this last week with a family crisis,  I think it's well overdue. 

I gotta say everyone in my family is truly luck I didn't grab a back back and bail this last aftermath of my treatment.  I am not as strong as alot of you who have been threw a whole lot of crazy chemotherapy and health fall outs. God Bless every survivor out in this world. 

~GG~

gg:  Sounds as if you are doing better but I checked Am. Can. Society publications re food anyway:

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/bookstore/cookingnutritionbooks-acsbookstore-americancancersociety

At the cancer clinic I go to, there are always pamphlets re food and other topics.   Some from AMC.   Maybe they have some of those  pamphlets, etc. in stock   I did not have the strong stuff you had, but I did lose my appetite when I was taking Rituxan for 2 years, followed by heart surgery.  At one point had an Endoscopy to check my stomach.  It was OK.  So I decided maybe it is stress, which never totally goes away.

Glad you did not "grab a backpack" and take off.

I have not had cheese cake for many moons.  Sounds good.  You are famous for cheese cake.     I am famous for scrambled eggs.

Nancy

unknown said:

Sugar is Sugar

Basically sugar is the same whether from fruit, sugar beets or sugar cane. The exception is corn sweetener. The fruit has the added benefits of slower absorption, more fiber and vitamins. Unless it's organic, fruit has the disadvantage of the use of insecticides by growers. Fruit juice, in particular orange juice, has more sugar than an equal volume of mexican Coca Cola (made with crystaline sugar, not corn syrup). If you have to choose, go with the fruit. Just avoid the fruit juice in anything more than 4 oz servings. Least thats what my nutritionist says.

GKH,

Your caption reminds me of the delightful old Wendy's commercial... Your content also made me think of the millions of people who will walk past a free (and lead free) water fountain to spend $2.00 on some bottled water that is absolutely no different.  Water is water. By definition, it is oderless and tasteless. Any taste at all is from trace impurities.  

Since most people have no memory, some smart guy has re-introduce the pet rock. Perhaps the second iteration will earn the millions that the original did in the 70s. "It never whines, is totally loyal, requires no feeding...etc.  Rocks is rocks, even when in people's  heads.  These new ones are only $19.95 !  And they have a letter of authenticity...they are really real rocks, not fake !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTzLVIc-O5E

http://www.petrock.com/

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