Dietary changes

[Tay100]

Hello it’s me again, sorry I have another question.

I now have the date for my hysterectomy and debulking, it’s the 22nd August. Does anyone have any advice on what’s best to eat to help with my recovery and also to keep the blighter from coming back, if that’s possible. Does what we eat make a difference to OC?

I have been told by my consultant to eat lots of carbs, but I really can’t eat a lot before I’m truly stuffed. Carbs in particular fill me up really quickly. Some friends have bought me some books and given me websites to look at that suggest I should give up all meat, dairy and processed foods.

These diets look as though they are vegan with lots of juices to drink as well. They also look quite expensive to do.

What do you all do?

Big hugs Tay xx

[Coldethyl]

I don't eat many carbs as I am diabetic- I personally think a diet of few processed foods is good whether you have ovarian c or not- other than that, a diet of fresh food, lots of veg and little alcohol would cover most bases- anything that boosts your immune system is going to help you recover from surgery - whether you give up whole food groups or not is a personal decision- the jury is out on many of them even for better researched cancers like breast cancer so depriving yourself when you are already under a lot of physical and emotional strain seems odd to me, but that's just my take. I'd say that adding in some regular exercise as soon as you can is a good thing as it has been shown to reduce risk of recurrence in several cancers so may do same for OC- and keeping weight steady esp as you will be menopausal post surgery and at increased risk of breast cancer which is affected by the oestrogen our fat produces- wishing you well for your surgery xx

[koffeekat99]

Hi Tay100

You will find that there are a lot of opinions on what to eat with a cancer diagnosis. It can get very confusing. If you are in the UK then there are a couple of places you can go to for advice on healthy eating. The Penny Brohn Centre in Bristol does courses on a variety of cancer related things including healthy eating. Also Maggie's centres have healthy eating courses. A local charity does 1:1 appointments for advice on nutrition so you may have something similar close to you.

At the moment you may be experiencing the feeling of fullness as part of your symptoms. So what you want or are able to eat currently may change after your surgery. I couldn't eat for months before my surgery but I woke up from surgery and immediately knew that would change once my bowels woke up again. A couple of days later I had the most wonderful appetite and was able to eat again.

Personally I found the range of possible diets being suggested by other sources to be overwhelming. I've found the Penny Brohn and Maggie's centre diets to be easier to comprehend and more intuitively sensible. They are about basic healthy eating: plenty of fruit and veg, a good mix of basic food groups, freshly prepared food, avoiding processed food, etc.

I was underweight and anaemic at diagnosis so my doctor advised me to eat plenty of processed, sugary and fatty foods and to take iron tablets prior to chemo. But their priority with that advice was about preparing me for chemo rather than coming up with a sustainable diet for the future. That's why their advice sounds counter-intuitive. As it turns out I didn't have chemo so they stopped monitoring my nutrition anyway and I went away and did my own thing with diet.

[Katmal-UK]

Hi Tay. nearly 11 years on and I didn't change a thing. I eat healthily but that's about it. xx

[Lyndy]

I eat normally for me. I am veggie but I eat dairy and eggs . I would suggest consulting a dietitian before any big change. My daughter who is young and healthy became anemic and low in vits and minerals when she first went vegan. Your recovery is important and your Doc knows that xx

[Lily-Anne]

I’ve been told low carbs, high protein which was recommended by the dietician and oncologist. Recovery needs to include a bit of what you fancy too. Recover physically and mentally then get on the fitness wagon if you wish. Listen to your body was some of the best advice I ever had

There’s a lot of research that points diet having no impact on gynae cancers, rather it’s a result of hormone behaviour in our bodies. That’s why it’s not a one size fits all and we react in different ways

Don’t forget to plan a treat every now and then. Ear plugs are essential for hospital too lol

Good luck

LA xx

[Tay100]

Thank you all so much, I was feeling very confused but you have all helped so much. You are right I will eat healthily and avoid processed foods as much as I can. I will have the odd treat thrown in now and then when I want them xxxx

[lesleysage]

Hello Tay,

I didn't follow a specific diet, but focused on which foods my tummy felt happiest (easy) with. My tummy wasn't good with carbs; luckily I've never been a sugar or sweet tooth person (except for a few bits of dark chocolate in the evening! I focused on making small amount of good nutritional value food; used nut butter and honey on a ryvita instead of butter and jam; made a rice pudding with jersey milk (or you could use non-dairy milks) and sultanas, using either honey or small amount of brown sugar to sweeten it. Made a lasagne with butternut squash, mushroom & and spinach and boosted the cheese sauce with dried milk powder (for additional minerals and vitamins); sounds strange, but making a big one of this and the rice pud and when cold cutting them into small portion sizes which I froze gave me breakfast (the rice pud) and evening meals (lasagne) for a week!! Sounds boring but a gentle tummy was my aim and this suited me! Of course, there was a couple of nights a week when some fish or a small gammon (3 or 4 ozs is all I could manage) plus a small boiled potato and some green veg fitted the bill and broke the monotony. But I got through.

Hope this helps you create your own ideas of what may suit your tummy. But, best to avoid processed foods and sugar if you can. Try to eat a 'rainbow of colours' was another bit of advice I found helpful.

If you can find a second-hand juicer, I still do a carrot, a beetroot, a small orange (easy peeler), apple with a small piece of root ginger and this suits my tummy now.

Still need (five years after last op and chemos) Movicol (lactulose) and Aloe Vera Colon Cleanse tablets every day to help my bowels ... just how my body is!

Warm wishes, Lesley

[Tay100 in reply to lesleysage]

Thank you for the great advice, I appreciate it xxx

[Cnmart]

Hello Tay, the other ladies have already given excellent advice. I already had a very healthy diet before I got OC so all I'm doing is making sure I stay as fit and healthy as possible - just in case I have to go round 2 (and 3 and 4 etc..,) with this evil bugger. Life is for enjoying though, so treats are definitely on the menu from time to time! I just came back from a three week oncological rehabilitation cure (I live in Germany, it's part of their long-term treatment plan), and they said including things like cooked tomatoes (better than raw apparently), cumin (curries!!), all types of cabbage (incl. cauliflower and broccoli), onions and berries were particularly good- sugar not so good. The usual stuff dietitians say.., hope this helps. But, yes, listen to yourself and eat what you need. After surgery I had to gain weight to go through chemo - I was only 49 kg when I left Hospital and I only had about 3 weeks before chemo started! So the doctors and oncologist said eat lots of cake!!! Xxx

[Neona]

My surgeon told me to build myself up for my op by eating protein- he recommended fish. This is supposed to be good for healing.Unfortunately I couldn't eat at all in the 3 weeks before the op so went in very weak. I went to see a top oncologist in London after I recurred and I asked if she recommended any particular diet - the answer was no. It aeems that there is no evidence that diet makes a difference so eat well and enjoy things you like.

[Neona in reply to Neona]

After my op I was seriously under weight and was told to eat butter, cream, crisps, add powdered milk to dtinks and soups etc. - anything to add nutrition.I also had milk shake food supplements on prescription.

[bamboo89]

I did change my diet to whole food plant based (and yes, its more expensive and requires a lot more thought, preparation and cooking ) but not until around 7 weeks after surgery. I don't know if everyone else lost weight in hospital post surgery, but I lost around 11lb - I went in at just over ten stone and came out at 9 stone-ish. And then, because of a bowel resection, had to eat low fibre/low residue when I first got home for 2 or 3 weeks, so essentially protein rich, barely any carbs. So my advice would be not to change your diet prior to surgery, unless you're already very slim, in which case I'd suggest packing on some more weight if you can before you go in.

If you have chemo, a change in diet might not be helpful nor doable at that stage - I think its a case of eating what you fancy when going through that.

According to my oncologist, diet makes absolutely no difference if you have cancer, and especially not ovarian cancer. Regardless, I adopted a primarily whole food plant based diet anyway; I tend to follow Dr. Greger on Nutritiionfacts.org because his nutrition stuff is based on scientific evidence rather than anecdotal belief,and much of his info is related to cancer - its not exactly vegan, because they still eat junk (sugar, white refined flour), but fairly close in that it excludes dairy, meat, fish, eggs - but I still have an egg around once a fortnight, organic meat about once a month, oily fish fortnightly or so. But never any dairy... surprising how you get used to not having dairy, I thought I'd go nuts if I didn't get hold of some Brie initially... So basically, I try to stick to around 95% whole food plant based.

One other piece of advice - there's tons of stuff on the web about diet and cancer, and a lot of it is conflicting. This is partially because there are different approaches, so best not to mix and match between them all...

Its probably something you have to make your own mind up about - nutrition is not something our doctors are trained in, having only about 2 or 3 hours teaching on that subject in their whole 7 years of training.

[coksd in reply to bamboo89]

Hi what would you use instead of butter on toast that is my one problem with dairy as I swapped over to koko milk and yogurts as a lady dietitian friend had a sister with breast cancer and said to avoid soya too I am vegetarian for the last 20 years but I avoid processed foods and try to juice as much as I can.

[Hidden in reply to coksd]

I believe the recent research is suggesting that soya product consumption is not linked to breast cancer (phyto-oestrogens don't act the same way in the body) and may even be associated with a lower risk of death from the disease. Probably best to avoid the highly processed soy products though.

Best wishes Dawn

[bamboo89 in reply to coksd]

I still use a small amount of butter on toast or bread, but the fact is, I rarely consume bread anyway. If I want a piece of bread (with which I'd normally eat a piece of cheese, sad I can't any more!) I use the tiniest amount of butter possible - as its such a rare thing for me to eat (maybe once a fortnight or less) I don't worry about a smear or two of butter. But I do use Meridian's crunchy almond butter, or Tahini paste occasionally on wholemeal or multigrain bread - sprinkled with a little salt, its reminiscent of peanut butter. Truth is, I have not yet found an even remotely satisfactory vegan cheese or substitute butter that approximates real cheese and butter. I do have vegan friends who happily eat polyunsaturated spreads instead, but I've never believed they're particularly healthy even before getting OC, and they're no substitute either...