Eating well is SOOOOO important - please read.

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I have taken on a really strict liver support/cleansing type diet to help me get through chemo and the difference has been nothing short of incredible. Please. please consider making the change. I brief outline below:

I had 3 FEC, which was horrendous as I had terrible nausea. My first TAX was far worse than I thought it would be with joint pain and depression etc. I had virtually a week in bed and never quite bounced back.

BUT

A week before my second Tax, I wet on a a major liver cleansing diet, cut out all salt, saturated fat, dairy products, red meat, only a tiny bit of organic eggs and chicken, and tons of fruit vege and whole grains and good oils. Drunk 2-3 litres of bottled water a day and had 30-40mns of brisk walking.

I have sailed through this TAX with only a tiny bit of joint pain - after hot showers. I have walked every day and have had NO time in bed (except of course at night!). Most importantly no tears or depression/melancholy and I feel like ‘me’ again. Happy and enthusiastic about life.

Diet is largely ignored unless you go on the internet and search it out, yet the difference even two weeks has made to me is life changingly incredible.

My new regime was triggered by a link on this site to a wonderful website canceractive.com/

It is hard work and at times very boring, I am day 9 of my second tax and have treated myself to small amounts of some processed foods like hummus, organic dark choc and a couple of biscuits in the last few days.

My diet went a bit like

porridge made with half water half soya milk for breakfast
Smoothie mid-morning (mad with soya milk)
Omelette with loads of veg and salad for lunch
brown rice and steamed vege for dinner

Also
soups made with lots of spices - no salt/stock.
stirfrys made with no soy sauce, just lots of fresh ginger and spice for flavour
salads
quinoa
sprouted seed and legumes
Basically NO processed food.

Salt is very difficult to avoid and I did have a few wholemeal pittas (with no e-numbers) for extra carbs. Bread is not good as commercial bread is loaded with e-numbers.

Exercise is also very.very important. I also went for a 2 hour walk over the downs yesterday and had FAB sex with my boyfriend for the first time in two whole months!

Friends and family are astounded with the huge difference in my personality too, back the the old me.

I hope this helps. It is hard work but worth it!

x

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Fab sex? Pass me the porridge!
Lizzy x

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Hi Gretchen

I am doing a similar diet, but only started after chemo finished (apart from cutting out dairy half way through). I have been reading a lot about diet in the fight against cancer, and have become convinced that it has a large part to play in prevention and treatment. I am doing a cross between the Plant Programme and the Servan Schreiber diet - and it is wonderfully healthy. I am losing weight without trying - have completely lost the urge to snack, and feel much happier. I will keep the diet up for life. Are you planning too as well, or just to get through chemo?

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Glad this worked for you Gretchen.I couldn’t even walk to the end of the road without feeling exhausted whilst on chemo let alone have great sex and 2 hour walks.I deffo would not have been able to stick to any eating routine,everything tasted yuk even when my next chemo was due I still had no taste.I think with some types of breast cancer soya is not advised.

Mel xx

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melly the soya thing is a bit controversial because soya contains plant oestrogens, but there is a lot of agreement among experts that phyto-oestrogens are good for ER+ bc, as they block the body’s own oestrogen from attaching to cancer cells. The advice is not to take concentrated soya supplements, just a normal amount of dietary soya.

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Really,I was always under the impression that soya should be avoided if ER+.One tells you this then another something different lol.By the way I now have the anti cancer a new way of life book.I will find time to read it over the holiday weekend.

Mel xx

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Melly I am so glad you are going to read it - I found it a real eye opener.

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Gretchen

I did all you have done from the day I was diagnosed except I also excluded all sugar and alcohol and was very ill throughout all my chemo. I think a lot depends on how your body copes with the chemo and I had a severe reaction to both FEC and taxotere. I finished my chemo in October and my energy is only just improving. My mood though remained surprisingly good throughout.

That said I am still a strong believer in changing diet to the one you suggest. I’ve lost weight on it and now everyone is saying I look amazingly well, far better than I looked before. My eyes are so much brighter and my skin is the best its ever been.

Some recent research shows good things about soya - I’ll try and find it and post it over the weekend so you can see what they are saying. Personally I could never go back to dairy now as I’ve got used to not having it. Cutting out dairy meant cutting out cheese, cream, and milk chocolate so lots of fat removed.

My husband changed to the same diet and has lost weight and his cholesterol level previously very high has gone right down.

Elinda x

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elinda the effect on the skin is amazing - I agree, mine is the best it has ever been. I am also amazed how less hungry I am - I had breakfast at 7 this morning, and didn’t have lunch until 3.30 - before I would have been hungry by 12 and nearly dead by 3pm!

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I have used Soya milk to make my porridge for years. I also pile it up with bluberries and strawberries and mix linseeds in with it. Since diagnosis I have substituted dairy yoghurt with Soya yoghurt and soya cream. I am drinking more Redbush tea and fruit teas which don 't need milk. I eat very little cheese and only eggs at weekend which we get from a poultry keeper on our allotments.
Also trying to eat a Rainbow diet regarding fruit & veg. I also have got information off the Canceractive website.
my BC nurse has put forward for a survey run by the Genises Centre in Manchester, which is tracking people going through treatment with regard to diet & excersise. She must have me down as a healthy eater!

Carol

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An alternative to Soya milk is oat milk -the brand is Oatly. I use it for delicious smoothies with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries linseed, l-carnitine, l-glutamine, vit c powder etc - it’s a great energy boost. But my main point is to introduce Oat milk as an alternative to Soya - and I couldn’t drink it with dairy milk - it would be too rich.

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I am now on Tamoxifen and was alerted to non use of soya products. I was instead given information on goats milk. I have psoriasis and this has helped for years.

A BC blog link I found:

blog.delameredairy.co.uk/goats-milk-helped-me-through-breast-cancer-14-04-2010

Good health everyone

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This is recent 2009 research regarding soy:

jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/302/22/2437

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19221874

This shows a positive effect to eating soy.

Finty I agree about feeling less hungry. I used to feel hungry all the time pre the change in my diet and now like you I have a good breakfast and then nothing usually until about 3pm.

Elinda x

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Elinda those links make very comforting reading - thank you.

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Hi All

I too avoided sugar and alcohol. Must admit, I finished chemo 5 weeks ago and have slipped up a bit diet-wise! It was so difficult and tedious to cut ALL dairy out etc.

My skin is fab! A good se of cancer. Used to have very dry skin, now silky smooth and the skin on my face has never been better. I believe that cutting out all soap and only using minimal organic moisturiser has really helped too. All the rubbish that is in most cosmetics is irritating to the skin.

So now I eat as healthily as I can during the week and slip up on the weekends when with my boyfriend or out with friends, I don’t wan to become a complete diet bore.

I am an absolute biscuit-fiend and gave them all up completely during chemo, but got so tired after my mx op (only 3 weeks ago), that I craved carbs and scoffed the custard creams!

Feeling good again and back on the healthy food. Have found fresh spices really good for joint pain.

I don’t drink too much soy milk and have introduced rice milk a bit too.

Any newbie reading this, EAT really, really WELL, it really makes a difference.

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Elinda thanks so much for those links, really helpful as I am vegetarian and consume a lot of soya products. Other than that I really agree with your eating health regime. Mine is not so strict as yours but I eat loads of fresh fruit and veg, make soups and smoothies, have reduced salt and eliminated alcohol and get to the gym and walk when on good days, and I am doing quite well compared to others so I suspect you are right about the link between good food intake and general health while on chemo. And certainly the exercise link seems to work for me. I have to make an extra effort to do it as quite tired, but it seems to make me feel better rather than worse provided I dont overdo it. I have a certain amount of energy “in the bank” each morning and I just have to pace myself eg if I do a gym workout however minor have to sit and rest later on and get early to bed.

good luck with the rest of your treatment everyone, keep eating good stuff and exercising and good luck with achieving the elusive great sex which was mentioned :slight_smile: x
love Carol x