Dairy...so friggin confusing.

rosemary-b

Thank you Beesie

This cancer crap is so bad that we are all looking for ways to keep it from coming back but if there was an answer to that question we would all do it. All we have are indications and hopes, nothing definitve. Heck if hanging by my heels would be proven to keep cancer from coming back I would do it but I would want to see proof not anecdotes. That is why I have such deep admiration for those who take part in clinical trials. 

peggy_j

What??? Hanging on your heels works?!?!?! I'm going to start a thread on that!

I agree with the earlier post: at some level this is all a freaking crapshoot. Of course we want to do what we can.... 

AnewBeginning

Beesie Rocks!  Thanks for all your time and research for all of us.......

hugs

kiwithoughts

Following my diagnosis I read everything I could about the causes of BC including the impact what we eat has on those causes.  I also read a lot about the impact what we eat has  on our bodies' ability to fight the disease.  As is clear from these posts, there are many differing views and studies.  There seemed little dispute that a largely plant-based diet with limited animal protein and low or no alcohol was a good idea.  On dairy the view was either no dairy or low dairy and if low make it grass-fed organic.  The jury seemed to be out on the science re dairy so in the end I chose my path based on what felt right for me.  I eat a largely plant-based diet with some fish/eggs/meat but have cut out dairy, most processed foods and most sugar (save for an addiction to very dark chocolate).  I don't miss either the dairy or sugar.  When I went off dairy, my head cleared, the catarrh in my throat disappeared, I lost 5 kilos and generally felt better than I had for the whole of my adult life - even during chemo.  Another thing to note is that when you remove (or reduce) dairy and sugar you end up eating far more of the plants that everyone agrees are very good for us.  The role too much dairy plays in supplanting that part of a diet that should be filled with veges is often overlooked I think.  I can't tell you how often I go into a cafe and am not able to eat a single thing as everything contains dairy - even the salads have feta in them. All that said, my advice is this.  Once you've done your reading, try different things and then choose a path for yourself that feels right.  One thing a BC diagnosis does for many of us is give us a far greater body awareness.

mcgaffey

I have cut out all dairy, sugar and eat tons of veggies, lentils, beans brown rice, fruits. I have had to add some eggs, fish and pork back in. I was off all animal products from September to April and began to experience dizziness and not feeling right. My BP was so low like 106 over 60 and I added back things with B12 because I wondered if I just wasn't getting it through this supplement. Lo and behold within a day or two, I was feeling better. A girlfriend put it this way: we are older and the body just has to work harder. Anyway, I have tweaked my diet a bit, not many animal products in it but some. I am working it out through hit and miss and a dietician here and there. By the way, I am on my last month of taking Arimidex.

sweetbean

Well put, Kiwi.  And yes, McGaffrey, I think that we are all different and we need to listen to our bodies.  If people do choose to eat meat or dairy, the only thing I would definitely recommend is that it be organic, grass-fed, etc.  But I think everyone is pretty much on that band wagon anyway.

tortoise

finished my chemo 8 weeks ago, currently half-way through rads.  i decided i have nothing to lose by drastically reducing all animal products.  within 2 weeks of doing so the asthma that i had suffered from for 29 YEARS has completely disappeared!  to me this is HUGE, and if such a diet can positively effect on my health as comprehensively and quickly as this, i cannot help but think there may be a nugget of truth in the suggestion that a plant-based diet might help get rid of / slow down some people's BC, too.  no doubt my cholesterol will drop too as a result (will get it checked again in a few weeks) - so on some level at least a plant-based diet is working for me.  anyway, i'm continuing with it as i like not having cancer!    

purple32

RE:  Anti-Cancer, A New Way Of Life, by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD.

I too recommend this book.  It is fabulous!  I was saddened to pop into his website yesterday and see that he had passed- after a 20 yr battle with cancer.

GREAT book.

sweetbean

Tortoise, that's awesome.  I was just talking to a woman whose mother switched to a plant based diet after being diagnosed with cancer and it cleared up her arthritis.  Meat and dairy are very inflammatory, so I wasn't surprised.  This woman is still cancer-free, although I don't know what kind of cancer she had.   But still - cancer-free!

Purple, yes, I was totally bummed out when he died.  He helped a lot of people and i like to think that he lived a lot longer because of his approach.

Anonymous

I don't know if it's the dairy in and of itself as much as the mucus it may promote in certain individuals.  Not unlike sugar, I read that cancer feeds on mucus.  I love my cheese, yogurt, kefir, goat milk.  Next shopping trip, I'll try the sheep products. Of course, regular dairy with its loads of antibiotics and co. is out for me.

Over-expressed mucus also makes it easier for cancer cells to break away from surrounding cells and move through the body, or metastasize 

http://phys.org/news/2011-03-mucus-barrier-unveils-cancer-cell.html

Congrats to you Tortoise