Diet and exercise

[Seagulls]

I have gone down from 11 st 3 lbs and am now 10st 1 lbs today. I aimed for 1 lb a week and eat muesli plus skimmed milk for brekkie, one poached egg on 1 slice of toast for lunch, Jaffa satsumas as puds, and an evening meal of salad, spaghetti bolognaise or a stir fry with the odd Haagen dasz ice cream tub thrown in. We walk the dog twice a day, main walk is 40 mins over hill and dale. I don’t sit down much. By the way I am 5foot 7 tall

Pardon me but modesty prevents me from going to the Palace for a gong

Seagulls

[Sab53]

Hi Cat10,

Lovely to hear from you and apologies for the late reply. I hope your chemo is going well and you are able to manage it ok. Yes your oncologist is right to advise not to cut out foods whilst going through treatment as you need to keep your strength up to get through treatment. I thinks it’s best at this moment for you to put your focus and energy in getting through chemo, nutrition can be explored once this has finished and you have more energy and will to deal with it.

One thing I’ve learned whilst doing the nutrition courses is that it’s more about introducing the right foods in rather than cutting foods out. You seem to be doing this anyway by introducing more plants and fruits. Keep it up.

Iv’e made an executive decision and am now only following a couple of reliable and recommended Drs and nutritionist for advice on food, diet and exercise. Like you said the advice is so conflicting and overwhelming and confusing. Before I used to get really worried and anxious about it as I was reading too many different articles. I’m managing it much better now.

I have gone back to work on a phased return, living each day with positivity, some days are harder than others as I fear recurrence but then I don’t want to live in fear of something that may or may not happen and something that’s out of my control. So small steps, one day at a time.

take care

[Cat10]

Hi Sab53,

Sorry for the late reply. Things have sort of moved on but not quite how I was hoping! I've recently started chemo as a bit of belt and braces and am having x6 lots, 3 weeks apart. I've spoken to the Oncologist and gave been advised not to cut out any food groups at present and to keep a balanced diet whilst going through chemo. Having said that, I am adding more plant based recipes in and ensuring I eat less sugar and more fruit and vegetables. I have looked but haven't found a nutritionist in my area who specialises in BC diets but your message has spurred me to have another look. I've also seen the other posts regarding diet and will have a good read through, it's not easy deciding what's best to do at present whilst on treatment and there still seems to be conflicting/different advice, very confusing.

I hope everything is going well with you? Take care and thank you x

[JS64]

Hi all

There's a lot of information out there on nutrition. The Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH) has published its own cancer cookbook.

I was a breast cancer researcher many years ago with some of the leading hospitals including the RMH and DFCI (I collaborated on HER2 research 30 years ago!). The DFCI also provides solid advice, free webinars and recipes too, please see:

https://www.dana-farber.org/health-library/videos/eating-well-during-cancer/

https://www.dana-farber.org/for-patients-and-families/care-and-treatment/support-services-and-amenit...

Hope this helps. Plant based Mediterranean is a great place to start!

JS64

[JS64]

Hi all

There's a lot of information out there on nutrition. The Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH) has published its own cancer cookbook.

I was a breast cancer researcher many years ago with some of the leading hospitals including the RMH and DFCI (I collaborated on HER2 research 30 years ago!). The DFCI also provides solid advice, free webinars and recipes too, please see:

https://www.dana-farber.org/health-library/videos/eating-well-during-cancer/

https://www.dana-farber.org/for-patients-and-families/care-and-treatment/support-services-and-amenit...

Hope this helps. Plant based Mediterranean is a great place to start!

JS64

[Sab53]

Hi Cat10,

How have you gotten on with the nutrition side of things ?

Did you manage to see a nutritionist?

Sab53

[Cat10]

Hi Sab, have just seen your post and wondered if you had made any progress with your diet post diagnosis as this is something I'm interested in too? Like you, I was pretty healthy and am racking my brains to see what changes I need to make. I have read that a dairy free, plant based diet can help but unsure what to do at present and am considering about contacting a nutritionist. Any advice would be welcomed! Hope everything is good with you, many thanks.

[Sab53]

Hi Katie,

how are you getting on? I finished radiotherapy last Thursday. Luckily I haven’t felt any side effects as yet but the nurse did say that you can start to feel fatigue 2 weeks after treatment ends. I feel well within myself, if I don’t look at my body, it’s as though the last 7 months were unreal. I’m staying positive but have my moments of fear thinking about recurrence. I don’t want live in fear of something that may or may not happen, I’m trying to stay in the present.

my sick note finishes 31st Jan so feeling a little anxious thinking about work. In one way it will be a good distraction for me. Spoke to my manager today and she suggested a phased return.

take carex

[Sab53]

Hi adoptedmanc,

Thank you for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it. Yes, I am in the early stages of my treatment still(8 weeks post op). I don’t know why but I have this overwhelming burden of guilt on my shoulders thinking that I should get some proper nutritional advice from someone who specialises in integrative oncology and if I don’t I MAY be at a higher risk of recurrence.

I too, kind of know what a healthy diet looks like as I considered myself to be pretty healthy before BC found me.

I want some good sound advice on nutrition but feel bombarded with nutritional information on the internet with so called experts claiming that cancer cells can be starved if you stop eating this, that and the other. If this was the case why isn’t our oncologist telling us this??
Feel so fed up and down listening to it all.

take care.

[adoptedmanc]

Hello @Sab53 

The CBT course was through the Noom app: I’d been looking at it on and off for a while and finally signed up in May. 
My rationale was I know what a healthy diet should look like but actually putting it into practice was another matter (I used CBT to stop smoking 16 years ago and prior to that I was treated for depression with a CBT course) it cost £88 for 4 months and now instead of thinking I deserve/need a packet of crisps with my sandwich I naturally prefer some fruit for example. I really thought I could never lose weight and I’ve now lost a stone

As I said before one of the hardest things about any cancer diagnosis is getting your head round “why me?” Why does anyone get diagnosed with any cancer? Sure smokers get lung cancer but not every smoker gets lung cancer and not everyone who is diagnosed with lung cancer smoked! I feel very very strongly the word “prevent” shouldn’t ever be heard along side breast cancer (the charity of this name is based in Manchester and used to be called the Genesis trust their work is around trying to find out why breast cancer occurs so maybe one day they can prevent it, but in 2022 with generations of women who can be made to feel guilty about pursuing careers, having children, not having children, having children later, if they do breastfeeding or not: is it any wonder we are left thinking “what did I do wrong?” on top of dealing with the treatment 😳

There is no such thing as a cancer causing food, nor is there any food which prevents it: the best advice you will find is eat a healthy balanced diet, avoid processed and especially ultra processed food (a burger every now and then isn’t going to do any harm), cut down on sugar and  reduce alcohol (but still enjoy the odd glass now and then)  

The scenario I have in my head about my BC now is I pulled the wrong card from the pack (if you’ve ever played the card game Hearts you might know you want to avoid holding the queen of spades) I now have the queen of spades in my hand for life, having it in your hand isn’t game over and it’s significance is reduced when holding lots of other high ranking cards, so for now I’m not too worried about it, I know that could change, but I can’t do anything about that so I will just have to deal with it when and if I have to  

You are still at a relatively early stage and dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis is hard in so many ways, time is absolutely the best healer 

AM xxx

[Demelza]

Thanks AM. I was doing really well but just had an hour pre-op call with the nurse - she was lovely but it's shaken me up. And now I have to do the school run😫!

[adoptedmanc]

Hello @Demelza 

When I mentioned my first length front crawl that was my first one ever due to my life long inability to swim properly (ie with my face in the water 💦) 

It sounds like you are doing absolutely the best thing to help you recover from your surgery (am I right in thinking it’s next Friday?) 

The absolute key to recovery is patience, hard I know, but take each day as it comes and listen to your body: your body is truly amazing and will recover in its own time 

AM xxx

[Sab53]

Hi adoptedmanc

Already following Liz and Dr Mukherjee on insta and yes I do find them useful and informative. Will check out the other 3 you mentioned.

You also sound very active, I was only just hitting the 10k mark before my diagnosis but I carried on with the exercise up until the day of surgery. I do feel it has helped me in my recovery especially my arm mobility.

When I got my diagnosis, I kept thinking about if I could and should have done anything differently and I don't think I could have. Also the hard part after surgery  and treatment is trying to think about making changes, what if you can't think of any changes to make?? I want to have a healthy relationship with food and  get away from the mind set that certain foods are encouraging cancer growth.

Your CBT course sounds good how did you access it?

Take care 

[Demelza]

Hi AM and thanks again for sound advice. Did you say you were 12 months post treatment and just managed your first swim? I am swimming quite a bit at the moment, including unusually backstroke, with surgery a week to go. Hoping that "pre-hab" will help. Taking quite so long to get back into the swim sounds quite daunting but best if I know in advance. I can't do breaststroke because of a bust knee.

[adoptedmanc]

Hello @mumof3runs and @Sab53 

I would very much echo your advice of using Instagram for finding useful information.
As well as following Tim Spector , I have found following Dr Liz O’Riordan and Dr Annice Mukherjee (the.hormone.doc) really really helpful through my breast cancer journey along with Ticking off Breast Cancer and Get Me Back. 
Dr Jen Gunter is quite fun too: she’s a Canadian(?) menopause doctor who loves debunking some of the more extreme so-called health experts and health claims: and if nothing else she has fabulous hair and shoes! 

Good luck with getting back to the triathlon training (I don’t think I’ll ever manage one but I do run and I’m part of a triathlon community: I managed my first length of proper front crawl last week so who knows??)

Doing more yoga and Pilates can only be a good thing, I found that the habit of doing my post surgery and radiotherapy physio exercises made me want to do more stretching so I’m much more regular with this habit now 😊

It’s so frustrating isn’t it to feel like you follow all the advice for good health and then you get a breast cancer diagnosis (I ran the Manchester 10k in a Prevent Breast Cancer t-shirt surely I was immune?? 😳🤣) however I think acceptance of getting a diagnosis isn’t down to anything we have or haven’t done is one of hardest part of it all

PS for now, if you want to eat that chocolate cake, do it! Please don’t beat yourself up with what you “should” or “shouldn’t” be doing whilst still in active treatment there will be plenty of time to think about other life aspects afterwards I’m 12 months post active treatment now and have used a CBT course to change my food relationships and I’m now slimmer and healthier than I was before diagnosis!

AM xxx

[Sab53]

Hi Rachel,

Thank you for your input , I will definitely check Zoe nutrition and Tim out on insta. There’s so much “information” and “misinformation” out there on social media it sometimes becomes difficult to establish which source is reliable or not, especially when your’e feeling vulnerable.

The common theme I seem to be hearing from health professionals is to follow a balanced diet(which I thought I was doing anyway) but increasing the intake of fruit,veg,grains etc as you mentioned.

I am 7 weeks post op now. During these beautiful, mornings, I have started taking walks, managing around 5 k daily, some days I feel like breaking into a jog but I’m holding back. I try to fit in a bit of gentle yoga or Pilates too as well as my arm exercises.I will check out if there are any Pilates classes near me.

I’m in a bit of a dilemma of whether I should pay someone for proper nutrition advice for cancer patients or just carry on as I am. I feel I should be doing this but unsure again if they will tell me anything different to what I already know?

Me too eating more carbs than normal!

take care…

[mumof3runs]

Hi @Sab53 

You sound like you were doing pretty well before your diagnosis, I was the same, it feels a bit frustrating doesn't it as we were seemingly being preventative and yet still here we are.

I am very fortunate to have a friend who has done an MSC in oncology nutrition and she has given me some excellent top tips to improve my diet. My best recommendation would be to follow Zoe nutrition on instagram and Tim Spector. They talk a LOT of good sense, the main thing is to increase your fruit, veg, grains, seeds, herbs and spices. Aim for 30 a week (this includes grains eg lentils, quinoa etc) and try and eat the colours of the rainbow as they contain lots of different phytonutrients. Even different coloured carrots / peppers contain different nutrients to the same vegetable - if you know what I mean.

I had been training for my first triathlon at the point of my diagnosis but couldn't do it cos of my surgery. I have only been able to walk every day which has been enough, but I have built it up throughout each cycle gradually trying to walk faster and further later in the three week (or four weeks when i have had delays). I tried running just a tiny bit and my lungs nearly exploded so I have given up on that and just not pushed it. Frustrating on these beautiful winter mornings!! I may try going on my bike as that be more less brutal on the body, but not had a go at that yet. I think you just have to try and be gentle with yourself, give something a go and be prepared to stop if it hurts or you feel uncomfortable. I had two ops and after the axilary clearance of lymph nodes, aggravated the wound with some over enthusiastic stretching! it got a bit leaky, but did calm down again.

Yoga definitely helps, I am trying to do that more regularly now my wounds are all closed up. It might be worth looking to see if your local breast cancer support group has any exercise classes, there is one near me who are doing pilates, I haven't been yet, but might give it a try if I get on ok with my docetaxel which I have just started. 

Wishing you all the best and hope you don't get too frustrated! 

I have definitely eaten more carbs/comfort food than I normally do, and not being as active isn't helping!! But I will get back to it.... I hope!!

Good luck 

Rachel xx

[Katie_S]

Hi all,

What an interesting topic.

I do not know much about it, but like you other ladies I think I was quite healthy before. I am not overweight, enjoy fruit and vegetables as well as most other foods and only had about 2 alcoholic drinks a week.

Since diagnosis I have given up alcohol entirely and do not miss it. I have replaced it with chocolate though which may actually be worse for the body!

I have had a lumpectomy, started taking tamoxifen and have radiotherapy starting next week. 

I was told by my consultant to give it a couple of months after surgery before I went swimming again and it might be the same after radiotherapy.

When I feel well enough I am walking and using the exercise bike.

Katie x

[Demelza]

• Hi Sab, and thanks for raising this and to AM for answering it. I was also leading a pretty healthy lifestyle before this came along, and wish the diagnosis hadn't prompted me to reach uncharacteristically for less healthy food and turn away from fruit and veg which my body needs and I usually love. I will have a look at the no-nonsense doctor, thank you. Pre-op I am trying to get my swims in, very aware that I won't be doing that for a while, and would also love some advice on exercise. Xx

[adoptedmanc]

Hello again @Sab53 

I just spotted this post after replying to your post on Tamoxifen 

I too was someone who always lead what I considered to be a relatively healthy lifestyle prior to diagnosis and have been left wondering why me? What did I do “wrong”? I’m bit further down the journey than you so I’ve had a bit more time to think about this. 
My conclusion is nothing, it’s not my “fault” I don’t know why I got BC and I probably never will: I just happened to pull the wrong card from the pack. 
I was diagnosed at a similar time to Julia Bradbury and I’ve followed her story on Instagram and was intrigued by her quest to find out why me? Seemingly one of her risk factors was her height! 😳

You will find lots of people offering to advise you but as you have already identified they probably aren’t going to tell you anything you don’t already know, and if you’d like another person to follow on Instagram to provide sensible no nonsense advice then Dr Liz O’Riordan (a former breast cancer surgeon and a very fit triathlete who has had two primary bc diagnosis) is your lady; she has recently been posting about what she calls “nutri-b*****ks” ie claims that diets can prevent cancer. 
I’ve concluded that to give myself the best chance of no recurrence is to keep doing what I’m doing and not stress about it as the stress could be another factor (ie do what I can to continue to eat healthily take regular exercise and not worry!)

AM xxx

[Sab53]

Hi can anyone shed any light on diet and nutrition post op. I led a pretty much of a healthy lifestyle before my diagnosis, exercising 6 days a week, eating healthily, not much junk food or take outs, always made home cooked meals, didn’t drink or smoke and a good healthy weight.

So what do I change about my lifestyle post op ??

I have been reading up on different websites from cancer nutritionists who advise on healthy eating and meal plans. Has anyone signed up to one of these programs and what are the benefits? If someone could please shed light on this for me. I feel I need to be getting advice on diet and nutrition but I’m not sure if they will tell me something I don’t already know?.

I am 5 weeks post opp from a mastectomy with diep reconstruction. How long do I need to wait before I can go back to my regular hit classes and running? ATM I’m doing some yoga an stretching.

thanks in advance