Eating for Cancer: This is a topic I've... - Healthy Eating

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Eating for Cancer

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27Administrator
11 Replies

This is a topic I've noticed being asked about a few times recently, so when I heard this podcast today, I thought it would be a useful resource to share.

The food doctor is a podcast by a GP, who recommend we live a "plant focussed" lifestyle (note, this isn't a plant based diet).

In this episode, he interviews an oncologist, and they briefly touch on the subjects of Keto, paleo and veganism. *Spoiler alert* she states that, as with cancer treatment, diet is not a case of one size fits all, so some will have success with veganism, while others will have success on paleo.

The overarching lesson is that we must eat more nutrients from vegetables!

thedoctorskitchen.com/podca...

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Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27
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11 Replies
Zest profile image
Zest

Hi Cooper27

Thanks for sharing this, I'll hope to have a listen on the weekend. In the meantime, I'm enjoying some delicious and nutritious vegetables and fruits - and enjoying them, amongst the other foods I like to eat.

I hope you're having an enjoyable week so far.

Zest :-)

Kaz747 profile image
Kaz747Star

I love Dr Rupy and his podcasts. I’ve listened to all the episodes. I also enjoy the “Feel Better Live More” podcast by Dr Rangan Chatterjee and “The Food Medic” podcast by Dr Hazel Wallace.

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27Administrator in reply toKaz747

They're on my list for once I'm through this series :)

Matt2584 profile image
Matt2584

Hi,

I don’t know a great deal about the paleo or keto diets.

I don’t really like it when people talk about specific diets. The way I see it, whatever you put in your mouth is your diet. Whether it be natural food or processed foo.

My nan used to ask me quite a few times if I was on a diet because there would be some foods I would avoid.

It always made me think “Well, yeah. We’re all on a diet of some sort”.

Anyhow, I used to have a terrible diet when I was younger. Lot’s and lot’s of sugar and fizzy drinks and hardly any fruit or veg. I was then diagnosed with a brain tumour.

After coming out of hospital, I swa my GP and he guessed that the tumour must have been growing all my life.

I carried on my terrible diet as usual, unkowing that it could be bad for me.

In 1998 I was diagnosed with a cyst which doctors told me was the equivalent of a tumour.

2 years for that to appear, seems a bit quick to me.

Because of these tumours I had a lot of operations on my head.

As I was growing up I started coming away from the sugar intake and was starting to look and feel better for it.

I now eat much more better and include more fruit and veg. I don’t eat as much meat as I used to either and have given up drinking fizzy drinks because these are bad news.

I am not saying that my diet IS the reason for me feeling much better but I would not be surprised if it was the reason :).

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27Administrator in reply toMatt2584

I'm glad to hear your dietary changes have helped you :) sugar was one covered in the podcast - it's definitely good to cut back on sugar, as it's empty calories, and adds nothing nutritionally. A little bit once in a while is fine, but not the amounts we tend to have.

I'm similar to you - I hate people asking if I've been on a diet, because I try to avoid them! For me dieting is about lifestyle changes!

Matt2584 profile image
Matt2584 in reply toCooper27

Some will compare sugar (refined sugar) to cocaine.

Sugar is addictive and once you’re hooked on it it can be hard to get rid of.

‘Can be hard’. Not hard for everyone though. Once I read about redined sugar I virtually dropped as if it was hot :).

When people offer cake or biscuits, I usually refuse it. Unless it is homemade cake :).

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27Administrator in reply toMatt2584

I've heard the cocaine comparison before - I can believe it!

I'm not 100% perfect on sugar, I go through little spells where my consumption is higher (Christmas and holidays), but I'm doing my best the rest of the time. It's in so much though - you can't use shortcuts if you want to avoid it (even chilli/ginger puree).

Matt2584 profile image
Matt2584 in reply toCooper27

I completely agree with you when you say you are not 100% perfect on sugar and you go through spells where consumption is higher. I am pretty much the same.

On an everyday basis I try to get rid of as much ‘obvious’ sugar I can like biscuits and so on but like you say it is in so much food. Not just sweet foods but savoury foods and even condiments.

Why would you put sugar in a microwavable lasagne or in tomato ketchup?

Sugar can be used as a preservative and I expect, I don’t know for sure, the supermarkets might tell us that they add sugar in foods to keep them for longer.

If supermarkets only sold natural, REAL food then any left over food that didn’t seel would start to rot and they can then be composted AKA feeding the planet. Supermarkets would not be wasting food that way and there would be no need to add sugar to foods either.

But the world we live in today is a heavily corrupt, messed up world.

It is pretty sad how it has ended up really and I for one don’t exactly enjoy living in a world like this.... saying that thouhdoesn’t mean I am going to go top myself though haha.

TheAwfulToad profile image
TheAwfulToad

I've argued elsewhere that a diet of mostly vegetables (but not entirely vegetables) is ecologically sound as well as a good match for our biology. I'm not too sure about the cancer link, but if you put lots of vegetables on your plate it does tend to displace rubbish, and I suspect that's the important factor.

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27Administrator in reply toTheAwfulToad

There are theories that some cancers are a sign of chronic vitamin deficiencies, and increasing veg intake can only help to displace some of the junk in our lives.

They are currently doing research into whether Keto helps with brain tumours too, and if that's the case, then obviously an entirely vegetable diet isn't the way to go.

I'm more comfortable sharing dietary advice that is backed by an oncologist though - anything else feels too much like gambling with someone's life for my comfort levels.

TheAwfulToad profile image
TheAwfulToad in reply toCooper27

Just listening to it now. Personally, I really, really don't want to get cancer (hence my post from a while back, "I want to die of heart disease") so I'm quite prepared to consider tips from an oncologist!

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