ILC team Need advice pls

zohra

Hello ,

My mother just done with chemo . She is going to have surgery by the end of June. She is  trying to avoid red meat and Dairy. Also , she came to know sugar is also not good for cancer. What can she use instead of sugar ?Can she use honey brown sugar or maple syrup? Is there any special  cheese or milk for her that she can use ? Any information will be help full.

Thanks

Momine

It is not sugar itself that is a problem. It is thought that having high blood sugar may be bad if you have breast cancer for various reasons. So, the best idea, probably, is to avoid sweets as much as possible and to eat starches that are high in fibre. In other words, brown rice instead of white rise, beans instead of potatoes and so on. Oh, and according to a new study, especially in older people, blood sugar can be regulated much better if they walk for 15 minutes after each meal. 

As for the dairy, it is really hard to get straight info and I am not convinced that dairy is really so evil. There was a study recently that seemed to conclude that BC patients may be better off to avoid dairy with a high fat content. So, stick to low-fat milk and yogurt, avoid cheese and butter. 

Anonymous

I would add to stick to organic dairy (low fat) when ever possible. The hormones used in making cows produce more milk leach into the food that you consume.  Everything I've read says to eat low fat, organic when possible because of the pesticides (if you can't afford it at least avoid the "dirty dozen" that are most contained and buy organic there) and high quality protein, veggies and some fruit/avoid refined sugar and processed flour and food.  I subscribe to Michael Pollan's saying: eat food (he means whole, not processed), not too much, mostly plants.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/dirty-dozen-foods#slide-1

Racy

Hi Zohra, you may wish to read the book 'Foods that fight cancer'. It recommends agave nectar as a substitute for sugar. It is similar consistency to syrup and can be bought at health food stores.



Wishing you and your mother well.

dlb823

I would also recommend the books, Anti-Cancer, A New Way Of Life by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD; and Beating Cancer With Nutrition by Patrick Quillin, PhD, RD, CNS.  Both are a wealth of good information going forward.

I follow the advice I got from another BCO member, and when I buy cheese, try to stick to ones imported from Europe, where they don't use as many hormones.  Almond milk, coconut milk, and organic soy milk are much healthier options than cow's milk.

I think it's also important to know which foods are best to buy organic, to avoid getting pesticides and herbicides along with them.  The Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen are good resource lists:  http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

And supplementing with D3 is important.     Deanna