How many vegan 🌱 mbc survivors do we have? Did you switch bc of your diagnosis?
vegan 🌱?: How many vegan 🌱 mbc... - SHARE Metastatic ...
vegan 🌱?
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Casual
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Before I was diagnosed, I was struggling to lose weight and my endocrinologist recommended a vegan diet and suggested I watch the documentary Forks over Knives. After my diagnosis, the nutritionist at the cancer center was more in favor of not leaving any food groups out and said it is much harder to meet nutritional and energy needs on a plant based diet. I added back organic grass fed meat and some organic dairy. Fast forward 9 months, I have some progression and I am currently in between treatment protocols. I have gone back to plant based diet and juicing for now and will see how I feel once I am back on treatment.
Hello! (How do you all get those images/icons into posts...like the leaves?). I went vegan about 11 months after being diagnosed metastatic, almost 5 years ago. I did it for ethical reasons...I'd lived in willful ignorance for years re: the pain I was inflicting on sentient beings just so I could eat a steak, burger, or iced cream, all of which kind of disgust me at this point. I had said for years that, if I lived my ethics, I'd be vegan, but never got around to it. I fail my ethics on many fronts, so NBD. Once I was diagnosed, I realized that I needed to make the change, not for health reasons, but so that I could die with a clean/less tarnished conscience, and that really what it was about. HOWEVER...
...I almost immediately (2 weeks in?) felt an amazing difference! Great, smooth energy, just a feeling of well-being that I did not expect! I also lost about 5 pounds, which was not an aim, but I did feel lighter. Then I read more (e.g. China Study), watched some documentaries, etc. and realized that this would likely make a positive difference in the course of my disease. Such a win-win-WIN!
Has my veganism contributed to my medical good fortune? I think it's currently unknowable, but I am certainly defying the odds. I'm 5 years in, metastatic, and I'm still "bone only" and have zero symptoms, aside from fatigue from the meds. I participate in a study out of U. of Wisconsin for "extreme survivors"...they did ask diet/lifestyle questions in the survey portion, so maybe they're looking at this. I know that, anecdotally, there seem to be a lot of vegans...and extreme exercisers...in the very long-term survivor population. I'm still working on the exercise part... 
All I know is that I FEEL so much better...physically, mentally, and psychologically, meaning I can look my sweet pooch in the eye, guilt-free, that I'm not harming pigs (who are more intelligent than she is, but don't tell her! ), cows, sheep and lambs (who all have such a high emotional IQ...and peaceful innocence that should not be subject to slaughterhouse treatment), octopi (who are extraordinary intelligent), and even fish, crabs, and lobsters, who are smart enough, and, damn it, just want to live their lives without torture! Kind of like the rest of us!
...And don't even get me started on how much I've done for the environment/ my grandchildren's future by not supporting livestock "production" (living beings).
Sorry to rant! I try not to prosthelytize (sp? !), but yo asked the question! In short, one of the best decisions I ever made - in my life - was to go vegan. Hard stop.
Thanks for bringing it up. Somehow this topic is almost "political" in that others often take offense if you mention it. Seems weird to me, doesn't make sense, there's a rational case to be made.
Anyway, I'm eager to see how you fare...and I'm glad that you are vegan!
Best, Lynn
Mets1 in reply to
Lynn, Do you take supplements? Thx!
Lilykristymichael in reply to
Dear Lynn. Thank you for your thoughts. I know I feel better and do better when on a vegan diet. I appreciate you sharing your journey.
Casual in reply to
I posted this a year ago and had many life stressors that got me off track of being vegan. I am back on it again. Thank you for your response and I hope you are still well 😊.
Hi,
I have also switched to a plant-based diet when I was diagnosed with mbc (bones only) in May 18. I have oily fish and organic eggs twice a week so I am not completely vegan buy I avoid dairy, sugar, glutten and meat! I juice every day.
My first CT scan after diagnosis showed no active disease in my previous "extensive" bone mets. Within 3 months my CA 153 dropped from 75 to normal leves (it fluctuates between 21 and 26 now).
According to my onc I am doing "extremely well". I have responded very well to the medication but I am sure the diet (+ supplemements, exercise, infrared sauna...) are all helping. I don't think I would have achieved such good results with just the pills.
Eva xx
I am vegetarian and I switch when I was dx with breast cancer. I lost weight when I start the 1st time in my 1st dx. In my second recurrence I have ovaries removed and the new meds make me gain weight.
Yes my meds make me gain weight as well. And my joints hurt with them too, so trying to lose weight with physical exercise is hard.
there are no essential carbohydrates, but there are essential amino acids that can not be made by the body & can not be found in a vegan diet.
in reply to SpongebobMom
Hi SpongebobMom (I like your name! ). My friend google tells me that all essential amino acids can be found in nuts, legumes, tofu, tempeh, etc., etc...There were numerous credible sources, including Livestrong.com.
Casual in reply to
Yes, beans and rice give you those essential amino acids you need.
Hi Vegan, I try to “eat from the earth” having least amount of processed foods that I can. I do have fresh fish daily and have added organic chicken recently towards the end of Ibrance cycle to help speed up recovery. I watched TED Talks “Starve Cancer” with Dr William Li research in anti-angiogenesis and how to cut off cancer cells ability to make new blood vessels. It involves eating just a healthy diet so I pretty much follow that. Lots of garlic, veggies, and juicing (veggies, carrot, ginger apple only because that’s all my cheapo masticating juicer can handle! Giving up sugar and carbs was must difficult for me as that was my staple before diagnosis. Dr wants me to have some sugar for my brain health but I get sugar from fruits and some veggies like beets or sweet potato and occasionally I’ll have a baked potato. Drs really don’t have a lot of training in nutrition. I have been doing well on Ibrance and Letrozole for 16 months ...original breast tumor and lymph node has reduced more than half and other areas are smaller partially calcified. It could be meds working, but I feel it can’t hurt to eat clean.
I have been a vegetarian for many years prior to my cancer diagnosis.
Most nutritionists will tell you that a balanced diet is probably the best way to go.
If you go vegan or vegetarian you will need to supplement your diet especially with B12.
Before you switch to vegan, speak to your onc or a nutritionist.
Like you I have been vegetarian for many years (35 years) but I do eat a little dairy , and I just try to eat a fairly balanced diet . I love fruit, veg , nuts etc., but l still have regular treats , like ice cream , dark chocolate and the odd slice of cake ! I haven’t yet started on any supplements or juicing ( personally I prefer the whole fruit to a drink !) but so far it hasn’t affected my results , with ‘normal range ‘ bloods and “stable” results . I would like to lose the extra pounds ( tho’ I am not classed as overweight) , which I have gained in the last 2 years since diagnosis , which I will try and do in the coming months ! I think it is all a matter of balance ! ⚖️ x
I agree!
I stopped eating meat when i was diagnosed because my oncologist said that there is evidence to suggest that eating meat causes cancer.
I was a vegan for over a year, but now I'm a vegetarian
Thank you for confirming from your doctor that eating meat can contribute to cancer. Stands to reason that if animals get cancer it can be transmitted to humans.
If you look online or listen to TV these days, everything can cause cancer. My onco told me cancer is random. She said even vegetarians can get cancer. I still eat meat. God put certain animals on the planet so that mankind can survive and eat (IMO). I know a woman who has been on Ibrance for 35 cycles so far and still holds down a full-time job in S. Dakota as a elementary school teacher. Her and her family also have a large cattle farm which requires alot of work. They have eaten meat for years and she continues to eat meat and she has been on Ibrance and falsodex for close to three years with no problems.
I had bc 11 years and I’ve eaten the same all the time, got cancer again and still eating and enjoying life , I’ll way sensible but still love a kfc etc and wine
Enjoy your life exercise sleep laugh n cherish x
I agree. I have not changed my eating habits at all. I still eat meat, use sugar, etc. I have done nothing different in my eating habits at all. Love steak and hamburgers. Love pasta. I was never much of a drinker but I will have a vodka gimlet when out for dinner. I don't know what NOT eating the above is supposed to do. It is not going to make my cancer go away so I continue on with my life the way it was before the cancer, except for that darn monthly visits
I first had breast cancer 30 years ago. Went to a health clinic where they suggested I adopt vegan diet. I am a vegetarian from birth. I was nearly 40 at first diagnosis and stayed mostly on vegan diet until about 10 years ago. Gradually went back to eating cheese and eggs but no milk. Reoccurrence occurred at 78 years of age but I am a huge sweets person. No doubt this contributed to reoccurrence. Univ. of Mich oncologist said she had never seen a reoccur acne after 30 years. No doubt vegan diets are best if you are fully informed as to proper protein intake and 6-8 servings of fruits, and veggies a day. Beans should also be a large part of a vegan diet. God's original diet for Adam and Eve was fruits, grains nuts and seeds. I believe the person who created us certainly knows the best diet to maintain health. I am on Ibrance and Arimidex now. Tolerating both very well. Eating mostly vegan now with occasional "falling off the wagon." This is my personal experience and I respect other views as well.
I don't think God created us to be vegans. In the Bible there is a scene where Jesus shows the disciples all types of fowl and animals and announces that "It is not what goes into the mouth that makes on unclean, it is what comes out of a man's mouth that makes them unclean." He was trying to show the Jewish people that the old law was being done away with about not being able to eat certain foods, and with the arrival of Jesus to bring all men to God, that what you ate or didn't eat did not make a difference anymore in the eyes of God. Certain animals are put on this earth to sustain mankind. Fish included. People get cancer, random. Doesn't matter if nobody in your family ever had it and if you are a vegan, that does not drink or smoke and runs daily, you can still get cancer. I do not deprive myself. I believe the new meds slow down the cancer tremendously and not a diet of only certain items, or fasting, etc. But if someone believes that by eating a certain way they will stop the cancer from progressing, and mentally it works for them, then do it. The mind is a powerful thing. I have not changed my eating habits at all.
Oh, gosh, girlspitz....I envy you the gift of certainty! I'll admit that it's a burden to question things, and painful to entertain the notion that our food and environment are possibly making us sick. I'm sometimes overwhelmed - and sad - thinking about it all, so I retreat into just trying to keep my own self alive. So I look to science to help me sift through all the information, which leads me to my best individual choices. Be well, Lynn
I could not agree more! ENJOY! It will kill us, unless a random bus gets us first! (not sure a smiley face is really appropriate, but I don't know how to do anything else! To each her own; I support this! BE WELL! (heart emoji!),
