One thing I've discovered since being diagnosed with cancer is the conflicting advice on offer...
For instance my colorectal cancer nurses informed me that I should eat ice-cream, cream cakes, very high fat foods, doughnuts, McD milkshakes and chocolate because they were worried that I would lose weight after the surgery in September....
Then when I met with the Clinical radiologists they tell me 'No! don't put on any weight because we've done your tatoo marks now and it's important to keep your weight stable during Radiotherapy'...
Then I read up on numerous internet sites about healthy stuff and cancer and find that time and time again I'm seeing that sugar is possibly one of the worst things to indulge in - cancer feeds off the sugar - along with 'bad fats' (hydrogenated and trans fats for example).
Now some people may say all this faddy food diet stuff actually means nothing, just eat what you want it makes no difference to cancer..... Well, of course that maybe true BUT when I lost my appetite back at the end of last year (2009) at times my body was giving massive signals that all I wanted was sugar and bad fats - coincidence maybe or possibly the bad cells asking to be 'fed'?
I don't really know - but what I do know is that I've put myself onto my own type of healthy eating plan which will consist of fresh fruits/vegetables, rice, lentils, flax oil and seeds, Chlorophyll supplement as I've been advised this is good as well for increasing the oxygen in blood and cancer doesn't like excess oxygen. It won't cure me but it sure as hell won't kill me.
I started this a few days ago and it's gone ok - apart from yesterday when I struggled to eat much, so instead of worrying about it I made some of Tony's healthy green drink (and forced Rab to have some too, LOL) and ate bits of fresh fruit all day.
Yesterday I could so easily have eaten something rubbishy like burger and chips because that's what my brain was telling me I needed - well, no chance tumour!! You're getting green veg, fresh fruit and healthy stuff from now on....if you're not happy with that you can always leave :-)
Jacqui got me a yoghurt maker for my birthday and yesterday I made up the first batch which was then ready today.
It was lovely, probiotic homemade yoghurt which I served with fresh raspberries, strawberries, chopped nuts - it was easy to eat and delicious. I shall be using this gadget lots. Rab was impressed and said it tasted much nicer than what you get in the shops - next batch I make will be a Greek bio-yoghurt :-)
Tonight I made a nice vegetable lasagne with salad, feta cheese, olives and a beetroot/bean side salad. I didn't manage much of the lasagne but did at least eat some - then I made some juice out of apples, pear, orange and carrot so at least getting some good vitamins inside me - even if it is only in juice form.
I'm also reading the book that Sarah sent me this week (thanks Sis x ) 'Anti-cancer a new way of life by Dr David Servan-Schreiber'....good reading and gets you into a more positive frame of mind which was exactly what I needed.
I've now completed 10 sessions of Radiotherapy - 15 more to go which means that next Wednesday I'm more than half way there.
About Me
- Carole
- I'm Carole, living in London, happily married and mum to two amazing boys.I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Rectal Cancer in April 2010. Surgery took place in November 2010 and I now have a permanent colostomy...Spinal mets were then diagnosed in October 2011...In January 2012 I was told of further spread to the hip area (multiple lesions)..My life expectancy is now 6-9 months. Walk alongside me on the last part of my experience with this..
Carole, you are an absolute star....
ReplyDeleteI have read on the cancer forum sometimes that people dis the healthy eating as false hopes and all that. What a load of bull, I have not felt as strong and healthy for a long, long time. It is so easy to think 'I have cancer, therefore I will treat myself to a burger and chips' however where is the treat in a burger and chips.You are treating yourself by not eating that.
There are some great foods out there...It is also not always green juice and lentil soup etc....I really did treat myself as it was Fran's birthday, we had a curry from the best Indian restaurant in town 'Maazi' in Matlock...the curry was made with tandoori chicken, spinach, ginger, chilli and garlic...not bad and only once in a blue moon...Stanley behaved too!
I think also the diet gives us some control back, there is enough poisons in our bodies so what is wrong with eating better, cleansing and detoxing our blood and helping our bowels. They do say that bowel cancer can be caused by diet so makes bloody sense to eat better ay.
Dont forget the blueberries and grapes in your porridge, keep that spleen happy...apparently the spleen filters 350 litres of blood per day so if there is anything wrong with your blood it upsets the spleen...eastern medicine pays a lot of attention to the spleen and what it does.
There is so much we can do to help ourselves as the blimmin hospital treatment doesn't seem to do much good...RadioT gives you super sunburn and chemo either sets off any latent bugs in your system or in my case gives you a serious angina attack.
Anyways my spleen needs to sleep as I am sure my body needs rest somewhere along the line :-)
Stay cool and well done for doing the crazy, fad diet and joining a cult...we really are crazy but our insides, blood and skin is really fit...lol
T xx
I also read back on some of the older posts on there and saw some pretty negative and sarcastic stuff regarding good diets = miracle cures...
ReplyDeleteI just don't really know why some people have to concentrate on being so bloody negative about things that can only do people good (cancer or no cancer) :-(
The way I see it is if someone wants to eat rubbish and then complain when Radio/Chemo doesn't fix the problem then maybe, just maybe, they should have taken SOME responsibility for their own improvement in health.
You're right, it does give you back some form of control and as you know, that's something that is immediately taken from us with that initial diagnosis.
Have now put grapes and blueberries onto my list of superfoods :-)
And lastly....Go Stanley, Go Stanley - can't believe the little sod decides to behave at the very last possible moment :-)
At least he didn't ruin Fran's birthday xx
Tip from Manolis mum, Put four cloves of garlic in water or milk, cover and soak overnight. In the morning before you eat anything, remove the garlic cloves and just drink the water/milk. This apparently cleanses the system. Also quite handy in case you get bitten by a snake! LOL!
ReplyDeleteAnother tip, water with squeezed lemon. You've started me off now as I'm reading up on a GI healthy eating plan to cut out some of the useless fats. All the small changes we make can only be positive.
Countdown to GMT internet, about 2 days..........???????? xxxx
LOL, that is so funny (the snake bit), please tell M's mum thank you - but can you ask her if I do this in water (don't drink milk) won't it just taste of pure garlic? Can I add anything to take taste away?
ReplyDeleteAm very interested in any old Greek tales regarding healthy stuff - Mediterranean people seem to have got it right for years now.
When you get your internet back up and running Sis, google Trans fats and hydrogenated fats....very very scary stuff indeed.
Also I'm sending you a link regarding margarine - Jacqui's never ever touching it again !
Yes taste of garlic only, that's the point to cleanse. I love garlic and we have it everyday, at least 2 cloves in our food and always add to salad now as it gives it that extra spice! Yes, the bad fats block up all the body, but they taste nice, thats the problem! Also read about hunger pains and the reason the body craves the bad fats. Goes back to days of when the human had to hunt for food, the body would store the fat but was always reluctant to use up this fat in case of starvation. Evolution has not moved on much since then and because we have access to food everyday, when the hunger pain starts we just crave the fat again when in fact if we ate healthy the stored fat would be used up and we would not get FAT! Or have the crap left in our body!
ReplyDeleteI like Garlic but not sure about 'drinking' it...I'll give it a go tonight and see what it tastes like in the morning eh :-) (at least it'll keep those snakes away from me anyway)...
ReplyDeleteThe book you got me is great Sis, am reading and absorbing the info.
For anyone else interested it's called 'Anti cancer - a new way of life' by Dr David Servan-Schreiber.
Well worth reading if you want to make improvements in the quality of your diet and overall health and you don't have to wait until you've actually GOT cancer either!