I hope discussions on diet is ok in this form as I did not find any discussions in my news feed.
just curious about your belief on whether dietary restrictions/changes help in keeping recurrence away or delaying it. I am vegetarian and consume dairy. Had moved away from white sugar to alternatives like Jagger and coconut sugar much before my diagnosis. My docs say since my cause is generic, there is no need to change anything in my dietary regimen. But reading about inflammatory foods, sugar, glucose etc suggests that are at best avoided; for general good health itself Leave alone cancer. What are your thoughts?
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Goodgirl98
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I personally think that diet plays a huge role in staying healthy and even perhaps preventing or delaying a recurrence (it can’t do any harm!)
I am plant based no processed foods,sugar or dairy and low ish whole grain carbs.
Inflammation is a big driver of any cancers and dairy, especially standard shop milk can increase this due to the hormones it contains.Again meat can cause this so best to eat organic grass fed meat on an occasional basis if so wish.
great that you have been able to cut out processed food and dairy from your diet. I have also moved to plant based milk but not entirely. Our cows milk comes from organic A2 grass fed cows and I use this for tea and to make curd ( yes, curd/yogurt is a staple for us and we make at home). I really need to curb my sweet tooth a lot more.
I just wanted to share this information resource from Cancer Research UK which explains that whilst there is good evidence that consumption of dairy products can reduce risk of bowel cancer, there is currently no strong evidence linking dairy products to any other types of cancer: cancerresearchuk.org/about-...
Cancer Research UK also have a summary of the current evidence regarding eating processed and red meat and cancer risk, which can be found here: cancerresearchuk.org/about-... . This explains that ‘eating processed meat can cause bowel cancer’ and that ‘eating lots of red meat can also increase the risk of cancer’ before exploring how chemicals found in meat, often added during processing, or produced when cooking can increase the risk of cancer.
I also wanted to let you know that in December 2021, Ovacome hosted a webinar by Adele Hug, a specialist oncology dietitian, titled ‘Diet and Cancer’. In this webinar, dietitian Adele provides the most current advice on diet and nutrition for people living with cancer, and addresses some of the common misconceptions around this topic. If anyone would like to view this, it’s available on our YouTube channel here: youtube.com/watch?v=ghsVRM5....
Dietary requirements and preferences are individual, and we encourage anyone seeking personalised guidance about their diet and nutritional intake to speak to their clinical team who will be able to refer to a dietitian if appropriate. The Ovacome support team are also here to talk things through, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if there’s anything we can help with. You can send us a message through this forum, email us via support@ovacome.org.uk or call our friendly support line on 0800 008 7054. We’re here Monday – Friday, 10am – 5pm.
I am the opposite to Lovedogs41, I believe in eating healthy but as I have been vegetarian all my life I won’t be cutting anything out. I had an eating disorder in my teens and felt in control when I was restricting or cutting out food altogether. I believe that cancer patients do feel out of control (I certainly do) and this may lead people to restrict diet but there is no evidence I have seen that it has any effect on cancer.
Having said that it is down to personal choice, so on this forum I hope we can live and let live ❤️
sugar isnt healthy even without OC so cutting it out can only be a good thing.. checking out nutritional levels with a nutritionist is helpful to see where all your nutrition levels are at and what you may lack in. You can also do home test that includes 30 minute consultation. I take many supplements to boost my immune system and never been told i cant. Im not a great believer in vitamins having reverse affect on treatment, quite the opposite in fact. . There is a huge debate about dairy and many research suggest it is not beneficial nor healthy. I recommend reading a book called “say no to cancer” by Patrick Holford as it has bundles of research and information about diet and supplements. Annie 🥰
I have just signed up with a holistic health practitioner (his team covers nutrition, yoga, meditation, sleep etc) . Did some comprehensive blood work for it. Will be interesting to see how this program goes. Thanks for the book suggestion, will check it out
I've read a lot of books on nutrition and cancer per your suggestion I read "say no to cancer" by Patrick Holford one the the best books I've read spot on very informative
If there were a miracle diet, we'd all be on it and no-one would have cancer. We all know what constitutes healthy eating (low fat, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, not too much meat) but there is no real substance to the "inflammatory foods" theory. The sugar myth has been roundly debunked some time ago. Eat sensibly, but have things you like. Life is too short!
thanks for your feedback and the link. While I agree with your sentiments esp to just eat sensibly, I do think that certain foods are more inflammatory than others. Hence if we can avoid or significantly reduce it, I am sure it will help in some way in the way cancer cells proliferate/operate. Many survivors also believe in several supplements. I am reading about it now but have not concluded on my belief in it yet.
I can only comment on Jane's book. It is excellent and goes into detail on how to "starve" cancer cells. Basically chemo does not kill the cancer stem cells, so over time the disease tends to become resistant to chemo as the cancer cells that survive become immune to the chemo and rapidly spread to other areas. She lists off label inexpensive drugs (metformin, lomatin, etc.) that will kill the stem cells after chemo has done it's thing. Diet, exercise, stress management, and following Jane's advice are the most important factors to survive long term with this disease
Unfortunately there is no robust scientific evidence that diet plays a role in the cause or prevention of ovarian cancer. A good healthy diet is recommended for everyone but no need to cut out specific food groups such as meat or fish or carbs.
Ovarian cancer affects women all over the world where diets differ greatly and even in Asia where diets are low in red meat and dairy they still have ovarian cancer.
So just look after yourself as best as you can and eat what you like.
thanks for your response. Yes, studies are not conclusive on many fronts. I am reading some material from survivors (not specifically OC though) on diets and supplements that helped them but not yet made up my mind. And since I am brca positive, it is even more confusing if life style played a role at all!
Unfortunately there is not a lot of research done on how natural stuff can help cancer because non of the big companies will fund it as there is no money to be made. Personally I believe diet can help. However I can get a bit hung up on it all and get a bit stressed so have had to learn to get a balance and still enjoy my food. I am also brca positive but will continue to give my body the best chance x
Well I don't think it stops reacurrence. But I've been told to eat low fibre diet orlow residue to help inflammation and diahorria and blockages. It goes against my usual eating but if it helps so be it. This is my third li e of treatment.
My wife has stage 4 ovarian cancer. We recently switched over entirely to a vegan diet. For those of you who have Netflix I would suggest you watch a documentary called "What the Health". Very informative about our pharma, health care, and food industries. Everyone can draw their own conclusions, but to us it was a no brainer.
HI dear. I definately seen some feeds about diet on Ovacome before. Because I was interested about this subject for a while too. YES ofcourse sugar is better avoided i belive but probably not cut out entirely. Just in moderation or special occasions if one used to like nice sweet stuff 😊 Funny thing just few days ago when i had my face to face with onco doc , i had a chat with my clinical nurse Helen very nice person I was upset what doctor told me and asked my nurse if cancer came back because over this last 2 month since my chemo finished i was comforting on sugar and noty food may be too much? May be i should be stricter and cut it completely to keep cancer at bay ?!. Helen said NO NO NO, DON'T CUT SUGAR COMPLETELY. YOU GOING TROUGH SO MUCH AT THE MOMENT, YOUR BLOOD IS FINE. CUTTING THINGS OUT OF YR DIET WILL STRESS YOU MORE AND WE DON'T WON'T YOU TO BE STRESSED. BALANCE IS THE KEY. Saying that if you can live without sugar no problem and that not stressing you out then ofcourse its better without. No nutrition in it only energy that fluctuate. Other diet recommendations is just healthy, simple , " clean" as they say now, fresh, no junk . Also I will never forget when i had my debulk op almost 2 years ago, ladys patients in the post operative room was chatting about diet and cancer and ask doctor on duty about "Isn't it cancer feeds on sugar doc?" And nice , wise lady doc said : "Cancer feeds on anything and everything , and you need to eat to too recover and be strong. Ofcourse we dont have to yoy " FOR TWO" but eat to help your immune system....."
This is a great 18-minute YouTube video by Mayo Clinic, in which doctors discuss how cancer is affected by diet. The discussion is by a nutrition and cancer expert, and is based on scientific studies. Dr John Shen does a nice job of addressing whether certain foods/diets can encourage or discourage cancer growth. Perhaps take a listen and see what you think:
I don't know if diet has anything to do with cancer but I do think it has a lot to do with overall health. I eat very little meat and hardly any fruit. I like vegetables but don't eat enough of them every day. I don't drink tea or coffee and only drink soya based milks. I do drink alcohol. My diet could be better but I go through phases of excellent eating habits and not so good. I eat chocolate and plain yogurt every day. I'm not really overweight and my exercise has gone down during the last few months. Other than all that, I'm doing okay so am I tempting fate? Only time will tell. (reading this back sounds awful)
I'd like more vegetarian slow cooker recipes, if you have any, especially with the price of electricity now.
I hope you are feeling okay and send my best wishes. Zena xx
I am glad your approach is working for you and no, it does not sound awful! Only surprise for me is the soy milk because I have only been told the following as I am a vegetarian: avoid soy products and tofu (because of fluoride and phytoestrogen in it), refined sugar, white rice or bread, trans fat, carbonated and fruit juices, fast and tinned food).
It's a mine field knowing what to do for the best. You can get advice on the booklets offered on this site. I found the one about blocked bowel very useful. xx
I firmly believe that a plant based diet is the healthiest diet for all but especially for women with breast and ovarian cancer and men with Prostate cancer. Plenty of research out there to support this. I recommend 2 more books in addition to Patrick Halfords already recommended by Annie.
“How not to die” by Dr. Michael Greger
“The China Study” by T. Colin Campbell.
Both books make a really good case for plant based.
In addition to “What the health” I recommend 2 further documentaries, these make the case for plant based diets to save the planet. Both on Netflix.
Cowspiracy
Seaspiracy .
All worth a read/watch if your curious about going plant based.
There are lots of books out there suggesting specific foods. I asked my oncologist what can i do to help myself when i got my first sign of a recurrance and she said " there is nothing that you can do that will make any difference, other than continuing to take your PARP inhibitor daily". Even so, I try to eat well.
When I was diagnosed with stage 3B endometroid OC I must of read 30 books on nutrition I scrutinized every morsel I put in my mouth I rarely eat meat if I do its free range no hormones I consume a lot of cruciferous veggies, berries with flaxseed I eliminated milk eat wild caught salmon try to eat vegetarian on most days, I am 1 year NED I have eased up a bit upon occasion I cheat with a comfort food, I also like red wine within reason.
it was suggested I limit sugar intake. That’s all they said. Always check herbs and supplement use prior to taking. Some “helpful” supplements can interfere w chemo chemistry. Good luck.
As Leniko says above, it's really important to let your clinical team know about any herbs, supplements, vitamins or botanical products you are considering. This is so they can check for any interactions or counterindications. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre have a comprehensive 'About Herbs' database here that may be of interest: mskcc.org/cancer-care/diagn... . In addition, please ensure you always purchase from a reputable supplier. The Association of UK Dietitians have some information about this here on their website: bda.uk.com/resource/supplem... .
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