I have family in the west of Ireland,and you’d be surprised at the high incidence of BC there! Most people’s drinking water is from their own wells,The women are hard working, they walk miles to town, get lots of fresh air and exercise and eat a fresh healthy diet - which includes a heck of a lot of butter and cheese!!!
do people think that dairy should be cut out of the diet then!!
I don’t know what to do. I read that sugar makes cancer cells grow quickly. I am so worried about mine coming back for a third time I don’t know what to do best. Do I cut out surgar and dairy and eat more red things. I am scared.
Hi millielucas
You may find it helps to read the fact sheet on diet and breast cancer. You can find this by using the following link:-
breastcancercare.org.uk/docs/diet_and_breast_cancer_dec_06_0.pdf
I hope you find this helps.
Kind regards
Sam
Bcc Facilitator
Hi Millielucas
We hear so much about diet and what is harmful and what is good for us and it is totally confusing. I do think you shouldn’t do anything drastic - the only thing you could cut out from your diet which is of no use nutritionally is refined sugar. I have heard nothing about its role in cancer, butj it does plays a part in other health problems such as diabetes, tooth decay etc. However, dairy produce is another matter. It does contain lots of fat, but also contains lots of minerals and vitamins and protein which are good for us. If you did cut out dairy you would need to ensure you ate a balanced diet to compensate. Please get professional advice before doing anything major to your diet. I still think a balanced diet including some dairy, lots of fruit, veg and a little lean meat fish or other types of protein is the best way.
Cathy
xx
Well, I cut out dairy and I think it was the way forward for me.Being triple neg its made me feel I’m doing my bit to help keep it at bay.Even if being dairy free is not the reason I’m still NED, it certainly helped (especially in the early days) by giving me a branch to hold on to - if you know what I mean!
Josie x
And I have taken the plunge too - no dairy in my diet any more. It’s really labourious - reading EVERY single label (!) and I don’t eat Beef, but I do eat chicken & fish. It’s worth a try - so long as you eat a sensible diet you can get all the nutrition you need from sources OTHER than dairy. It’s not hard once you get the hang of it!! Don’t be scared though - counterproductive to happy living!!! What you are currently doing diet wise isn’t necessarily wrong - it’s just a lifestyle choice. Some of us think it will work - some think it won’t - but nothing is for sure is it?
x
I don’t eat meat either and I certainly don’t have a bland diet!Must admit I missed the cheese when I went dairy free though but have just found a nice vegan mozzarella which melts a treat on toast!
I grew up with: “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die” - a family motto in a family that lives to its nineties. I may be about to break with tradition in terms of cremation date - but I’m not going to change the way I eat - everything except processed & chemicals. It hasn’t stopped my getting cancer - but it’s very satisfying.
my theory about why there are so many younger women on this site is that they are more likely to be familiar with computers. the average age for diagnosis is 65, with 80% diagnosed over 50. Younger women are also going to live longer with it therefore more likely to keep logging on
well that’s my theory anyway. I was diagnosed at 48, found lump aged 47 and I am now 52
Mole
just another question to throw into the pot. Why do some women get the more aggressive types of cancer? Just going by my newfound knowledge, it would seem younger women are most unfortunate to get this type. If lifestyle has anything to do with it, you would think the older ones like me, who have had unhealthy lives would be more prone. My lifestyle was about as unhealthy as you can get until my first pregnancy, when I radically changed tact. I smoked, drank buckets of alcohol, ate absolute junk, missed meals, breathed in all sorts of horrible chemicals thanks to the RAF when they used to throw you in the gas chambers to test out CS gas and you had to take off the respirator to sample the effect. The only thing healthy I did, was loads of exercise. I am lucky enough to have a less aggressive DCIS. You would have thought that I would have the worst type if lifestyle was a major factor? Like most things, there are so many different variables, who knows?
PS I did have a shed load of fun though along the way with very little stress so that could help??
Cathy
Hi everyone,
I have read this topic with great interest. I had a benign lump (chronic stromal sclerosis) removed in August and when another one appeared in the other breast I assumed it’d be the same thing. However I’m told it’s not the same and I’m playing the waiting game again as the results of my core biopsy are due any day now. I have started to question why I’m getting these breast lumps. I have said out loud to friends, “Is it something I’m doing, eating or drinking???” My Mum isn’t keen on me drinking soya milk since I was told I have an intollerance to cow’s milk 2 years ago, but if anything, I would have considered this to be a positive step to take. Coincidently, she is having chemo and radio for cancer in her pelvis, likely to be hormone related. BC isn’t in my family so I wouldn’t class myself at a greater risk but I go from thinking it’s just chance, to wondering if it’s something I’m doing, eating or drinking. I asked my GP about this before and she said there was nothing I could do to be causing abnormalities in the breasts. Hmmmmmm, it’s defo food for thought!
Tx
Hi everyone,
I was diagnosed with bc last year…I didn’t even think why me? I started reading a lot about bc and trying to find out what causes this cancer? I thought I have been living a healthy lifestyle - don’t smoke, don’t drink, cook my own food (90% of the time), on pills for only two weeks(16 yrs ago), breastfed my 3 children for up to 2 yrs each, very active working Mum…
My husband suggested deodorant that I have been using and I later thought possibly it was caused by me being a bit heavy…I asked my consultant and oncologist if I should follow a certain diet but was told just eat healthily and in moderation and keep being positive…
Now after having chemo, mastectomy with full lymph nodes removal and undergoing radiotherapy at the moment, I am feeling a lot better… My own conclusion about breast cancer is that all of us have cancer cell in our body but what triggers it to grow is different from one person to another…In my case I think it was related to stress as we lost our son 10 yrs ago, my mum died in 2005 followed by my brother in 2006 and I suffered a bit of depression towards end of 2006 possibly due to delayed grieving of losing our wee boy… So, I am just happy to accept that stress is the major cause of my bc and looking forward to life without too much stress. I know it is impossible to avoid stress but I am learning how to manage difficult issues in life clearly and a good screaming or shouting do wonders…
AND reading all the comments on BCC forum has kept me going and keeping positive…I also have a good cry whenever I need too.
Thanks everyonex
To Flowernbee
I think stress definitely is a factor. I had a horrible stressful 6 - 9 months, divorce, remortgage on my own, just general crap etc,parents no longer alive, and had no one to talk to, before my bc diagnosed, and I often wonder if it had anything to do with it. I was on antidepressants at the time because everything was on top of me, and then low and behold my bc diagnosed. We’ll never know for sure, but if your body is really run down and stressed it certainly can’t help.
Julie
Dear Flowernbee and Julie
I too am a great believer that stress exacerbates health problems. I am not saying that it is a direct cause of cancer, but when highly stressed over a long period, hormones such as cortisol are released which in turn, can impair the immune system. We all know that we are more at risk from colds etc when stressed so I guess if the oncogene that causes BC was just waiting in the wings for some trigger and we get stressed out, then it could well be part of the problem. I was highly stressed for about 10 years with a whole heap of problems including looking after a child with cancer (who is very well now) my mother dying, etc etc. I can’t imagine how stressful actually losing a child must be. I have come very very close and know only too well the feeling of terror and dread associated with a child’s imminent death, but you have had the ultimate worse thing in life that can happen - losing a child, nothing else can compare to that so to say you were stressed is a gross understatement. You then lost your mother, like I did. She gave me so much support during my son’s illness, that to lose her halfway through was horrific. And you also lost a brother. Life has dealt you some shitty cards. In many ways, having gone through that, I am sure you are more equipped to cope with BC than most and will no doubt face it with strength.
All the very best to you
Cathy
xxx
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