Healthy Lifestyle

[Shar0n]

Has anyone eliminated tea, coffee, alcohol or sugar from their diet since diagnosis and if so, has your overall health or wellbeing improved?

[jmcobb50]

I eliminated sugar from my coffee and try to use non diary milk, eliminated red meat from diet as well as other changes. My CT has reveal a decrease in size of my lymph nodes and I have been on Watch & Wait since August 2015. I retired so my stress level has decreased and I sleep late since I no longer have to get up at 5:30 am.

[avegan2]

I eliminated all animal products, alcohol, and sugar, and white flour. I enjoy my mourning black, green, and white teas. If I do drink coffee it is organic shade grown coffee. I eat plant based high nutrient dense delicious foods. I don't use oil, salt, or sugar when baking.

[yooper5]

Tea is good for you. Read Dr. Ken Crawford's book, You Are What THEY Eat, and then get Nu-Oncology, Cancer Prevention & Anti-Aging. Ask to join his FB page, Nu-Oncology, Inc.

[R16728]

I firmly believe that eliminating refined sugar almost completely is a good thing. Nothing will happen if you have a piece of birthday cake once in a while but the best for all of us is to get our sweetness from whole fruits. If we are to believe the "gurus", SUGAR "feeds cancer"!

A second tenet of those who know about cancer is that it is a genetic problem made worse by inflammation. The inflammation is something we have control over by changing diet and exercise. I believe that much of this inflammation originates in our stomach when we don't "feed" our good bacteria what they need. Our bodies were designed to use many different, natural foods but often in our modern world we are enticed to the “dark side” by a taste for the bad calories. If we leave out certain foods for too long, good bacteria in our gut weaken and inflammation follows, hence cancer, diabetes, obesity etc. It’s a tough road to follow, but if we learn to eat a wide variety of natural foods that are chemical free, life will be better all around.

[Shar0n Volunteer in reply to R16728]

Everything you say makes perfect sense. This is what I try to do also. If we can break our attachment to sugar and sweetness we are doing our bodies a big favour And inflammation seems to me to be caused by anything that annoys or aggravates our immune system, whether it be chemically 'enhanced' foods, stress , or too much of anything ,which turns a benign substance into a poison.

[Hidden]

I'm not a big advocate of "cancer gurus" or "healthy" lifestyle books. My view is that unless the advice is freely given, the advice is financially driven in the main and tries to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of its market. Us!

I only trust primary sources such as Cancer Research UK etc., whose advice is based on sound scientific research and analysis and not conjecture or opinion.

Nevertheless, I agree that a healthy diet and lifestyle is key to being able to cope with treatment and stay to healthy in between. This doesn't mean cutting out foods such as meat, dairy or sugar. It just means a varied diet with protein, fats, carbs, minerals and vitamins.

The best piece of advice I have been given is to have as many colours on my plate as possible and reduce processed foods to the lowest level possible.

I haven't been ill since the end of R-CVP in Dec 2016. I was back in work by March and full-time by beginning of June. I have Rituximab every two months until Dec 2018. I walk for thirty mins every evening after work, do a 5K every Sat.

Good luck to you all. Keep healthy and positive. I'm glad to see that you are all finding routes that work best for you.

[R16728]

I would certainly agree that we should stay clear of "gurus" that are trying to profit from our weaknesses. My bigger concern is ignorant science that consumes vast quantities of money without making headway. I'm referring to the drug companies that support their own interests. I've left the door open to several doctors that are promoting good sound life practices which seem to keep cancer rates down in other cultures. Science is just catching up to these differences between cultures and what they can tell up about our own. YouTube is rich with lectures. I think the chemistry of how our bodies react to different foods is in its infancy as are how these reactions contribute to cancers. I'm betting that the life style of Western Culture is the biggest culprit!

[BelindaTupper]

I was off all caffeine during my chemo treatments (6 months) then just decaf coffee and a bit of tea. That was 2015. Now it's 2017, I'm back to work (loving coffee like never before). I can't see that it made any difference one way or the other to be honest.

[BelindaTupper]

I decided to do an experiment to reduce my sugars. Coffee intake with a large sugar in each one is an issue for me, I realize. Sooo, this week I'm cutting back. I actually do feel better without the sugar (not sure about the caffeine)....