Lifestyle changes

hardo718 said:

I take supplements

including turmeric fairly regularly.  I also take, at the recommendation of my uro/onc, a pure cranberry capsule daily but that may be due to the fact that I've always been prone to UTI's. 

Yes, kidney tumors tend to be slow growers, but I personally wouldn't wait too long about that appointment. 

Lastly, may I ask why the extended fasting?  Can't imagine why throwing your body into a starvation mode is of any advantage.  Respectfully, please educate me on the benefits of this, if there are any.

Thank you,

Donna~

Here's the idea. When you stop eating, your body must get what it needs from storage.

Our energy needs are met by fat burning. Our small glucose requirements are met by converting the leftover glycerol from fat burning and also by conversion of some protein.

Amino acid requirements are also met by using up a small amount of protein each day.

The body supplies some of this by recycling old and sick cells. That is the idea.

So, while you are fasting you use up fat and less important protein and I hope that includes recycling the material in cancer cells.

A modern proponent of fasting is Jason Fung, a Canadian nephrologist. His interest is diabetes, not cancer, but his videos and blogs are interesting.

My own thinking is that it can't hurt, it might help, it is something I want to try just for curiousity, and I don't know what else to do.

Steve.

Abunai said:

Not a supplement guy myself.

Not a supplement guy myself.

I've done low carb, off and on, for years. It helped me loose over 100 pounds at one point. I'm still 80 pounds down from my heaviest.

I have started eating more anti-angiogenic foods though. Some of them don't fit the induction phase of a lot of low carb diets, but I've never seen a person get fat eating apples and the like, so why not?

I avoid fruit because it raises my blood sugar, which is a bit sad... But not really a big deal.

My appointment with the urologist will be December 7th, so I have 5 weeks to get healthy(er).

Steve.

APny said:

Cholesterol is probably high

Cholesterol is probably high from the fat content of the diet. But honestly, i'm convinced that if you try to fix one thing it just screws up another, lol. I just use common sense when eating and not overdo any one particular thing. As for the kidney tumor, you could have done everything right and still get one. The major risk factors are being African American, overweight, smoking, family history and being male. I'm none of the above yet still got it. I think we tend to blame ourselves that if we only did this, or only didn't do that, we wouldn't have got cancer. I don't think it necessarily works that way. But being health and diet conscious is certainly a good thing.

I think you're spot on regarding the cholesterol. If I am burning fat for energy it has to be moved around the body in vldl particles which will ultimately become ldl. That is my understanding.

I am stll overweight in spite of 18 months of low carb. My BMI is just under 30. I have not been very strict with low carb otherwise I would be much lighter already. 

Hi rae_rae,

Low carb has worked well for me so far, but I have type 2 diabetes.  Last time I visited a doctor he said 'with these results we can't really say that you have diabetes.'. If I start eating starchy food I am sure that my blood sugar will go through the roof again.  I know Dr. McDougall says that he can fix people's diabetes with his diet but I would rather stick with what is working for me now.

Having said that I will certainly be adapting my eating patterns in future. I will most likely eat more plant food than I do now. I don't want to follow anyone else's agenda. I just want to find what is right for me.

What I know for sure is that eating processed 'food' is a path to destruction. Almost everything I eat is fresh.

But lately I have been experimenting with fasting. My last meal was breakfast on the 1st of November (and a small snack that afternoon) so I've gone 9.5 days without food. It is a lot easier than I was expecting. 

Steve.

todd121 said:

9 Days of Fasting?

I can't say I understand how that would be good for your body, especially if you may have cancer. Your body needs nutrients to keep your immune system up. How does starving yourself help exactly? Are you taking vitamins at least?

I know very little about this, but I've never heard anybody suggest a long fast like this is healthy for your body.

Best wishes,

Todd

I gave my reasons above. But I suggest you google 'health benefits of fasting'.  You'll get a lot of hits.

One big reason I am interested is simple curiousity. People have been fasting for thousands of years or more likely for as long as humans have existed.  Having ample food available 24/7 is definitely not the normal human condition.  Possibly all of our chronic diseases come from eating too much food and eating the wrong kinds of food.  On the other hand calorie restriction has been shown to have benefits.

Some researchers are studying the effect of low blood sugar on cancer. They don't claim that it cures cancer but it seems to slow it down. Fasting is the ultimate low carb ketogenic diet because all of your energy comes from body fat.

I have no idea if any good will come of it but I am sure there will be no harm.  Compare that to chemotherapy. Quite often no good comes of it but it always causes harm.

I will keep you all informed.

Steve.

Jan4you said:

INFLAMMATION is the enemy for

INFLAMMATION is the enemy for all chronic/terminal diseases.

Tumeric is anti inflammatory supplement. You will FEEL better.

CANCER survives on SUGAR. So food feed the cancer FIRST.

A lot to think about in the battle against monster C.

Jan

I have some tumeric but I'm not eating any food to mix it with. I think my inflammation levels are low from my low carb diet. If I get a scratch, for example, it heals with minimal inflammation.

There's something I've never understood about cancer. A cancer cell is dysfunctional. It is sick and broken. Why does cancer so often defeat everything that is thrown at it? It should be weak, not strong.

sblairc said:

Fasting and breast cancer

I recall reading about extended fasting lowering breast cancer risk. One can always do extended natural fasting by not eating after a certian time before you sleep and after you get up. There's a reason why your first meal is called "break fast." I try to do this since I'm prone to headaches if I don't eat regularly. But after reading about fasting and breast cancer, I thought this sounded like a good option. 

I've been doing something similar for over year. I make breakfast my main meal of the day, snack in the afternoon then no more food until the next morning.

It's good for type 2 diabetes to do this kind of fasting, which is how I got interested in it.

By the way, I had two minor heart attacks in 2008/2009 and got stented each time. So... Heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Do they give out prizes for a perfect score?

Actually the kidney mass has not yet been identified so maybe I don't qualify.