Diet to help minimize reoccurence.

Aaargh!  I just wrote a long answer to this and then accidentally erased it before I got it posted!

Anyway, I highly recommend these resources:

Anti-Cancer - A new way of Life by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber

Foods to Fight Cancer by Richard Beliveau

Life Over Cancer by Dr. Keith Block

This booklet which I found in a post here on BCO:  http://cancer.ucsf.edu/crc/nutrition_breast.pdf

The China Study by T. Colin Campbell

The top cancer fighting foods that these books suggest are

Strawberries, raspberries and grapes

Onions and garlic

Cruciferous vegetables (raw or very lightly cooked)

Citrus (not grapefruit)

Green tea

Omega 3s - either salmon or supplements

Turmeric

Cooked tomatoes (avoid canned because of BPA from the can lining)

70% cocoa dark chocolate in moderation instead of sweets

I am a reformed total junk food addict.  I had a terrible diet before diagnosis, even though I was interested in healty eating.  I bought the first two books I listed before I even found out I had cancer.  Then four months later - breast cancer.  The day of my biopsy I did a complete turnaround on my diet.  My attitude now is, if it doesn't fight cancer, why would I eat it?  It's my version of "doing everything I can" to prevent recurrence.  1/2 hour of exercise every day is also really important. 

I also take supplements now:

Reishi mushroom tablets

I3C

Calcium d-glucarate

CoQ10

Vitamin D3

Fish oil

Melatonin

And I add greens powder and flax seeds to my morning fruit smoothie.  Flax has been shown to reduce Ki-67 which is an indicator of invasiveness.

I want to get this submitted, but I'll follow up with a couple of recipes.

I don't have anything to add but just wanted to say that I agree with both Rabbit and Deanna. They said it well.

I have changed to a vegan diet and so has my husband and daughters. There is nothing that makes more sense to me.

My PCP (who trained with Weill) recommended the book "Waking the Warrior Goddess: Dr. Christine Horner's Program to Protect Against and Fight Breast Cancer."

dear rabbit_fan

I was very interested in your list and wonder how melatonin works as a susggestion for prevention? ANy ideas how or why it is suggested? Thanks Meadowlark-

Redninrah, try this link, it is the one that I use.

 http://cancer.ucsf.edu/_docs/crc/nutrition_breast.pdf  

Edited to add, you may have to copy the url into your browser. It might be because it is a pdf and BCO may not handle these well.

I strongly agree with the recommendation to read Anti Cancer a New Way of Life by David Servan-Schedrieber, MD, PhD.

It is important that your BMI is in the normal and not overweight range. You can google BMI calculater and calculate yours.

I second giving up foods with refined sugar and white flour. Eat only breads, pastas and cereals that are made from whole grains and bake with whole wheat flour. Agave syrup is the sugar substitute that causes the least increase in your glycemic state and can be substituted in recipes for sugar.

If you continue to eat dairy, cheese, yogurt, milk and butter should always be hormone free and organic if possible. The same is true of fruits and vegetables. You can find a list of the 10 safest non-organic fruits and vegetables and the 10 must eat organic fruits and veggies online. If you have trouble finding it send me a private message and I will forward it to you.

Finally, exercise is important. Multiple published studies show that exercising 3-5 hours/week lowers the incidence of recurrance for breast cancer. The book above assigns a measurement rating to different activities and to reduce risk of breast cancer you can walk at normal rate 2mph at least 3 hours and 45 minutes a week or at a rate of 3 mph at least 2 hours and 45 minutes a week. This is just and idea the book gives measurements for many other exercises.

 At the very least adopting a healthy, low glycemic diet will give you more energy and I found that combined with exercise the extra pounds pretty much slid off and I didn't feel like I was dieting.

I made the dietary changes on the day I got the result of my biopsy. There was so much unknown at that time and I felt like nothing was in my control but diet and exercise were 2 things that I could control and I felt so much better right away. Good luck making the changes!

I'm sorry to hear about your recurrence/mets Nancyh.  I agree that adopting a healthy lifestyle may not be a magic bullet, but it is still important to look after our bodies the best we can.  For example, I have a high risk for recurrence, but, I think it's important to give my body the healthy nutrients, exercize etc. that it needs in order to fight off cancer cells.  Immune function is so important in dealing with this disease and intend to do what I can.  Will it help?  I don't know but our bodies will be better for it regardless of what happens in the long run.

Toomuch -   I am very interested in hearing/learning about the low glycemic diet, especially since they are now doing trials with Metformin.  Could you pm me info about the safest list for non organic fruits and veggies please?  Thanks.

The info Deanna provided was excellent.    One of the first things I did after being diagnosed with estrogen + BC was to eliminate all dairy, soy, caffeine, sugar, & alcohol.   Also there is an extensive list of vegetables that contain estrogen, so you might want to review the list.  I haven't eaten red meat for about 35 years, & I eat very little poultry & fish.  I found it very difficult to stop eating most of the veggies containing estrogen because I found that there wasn't much food left that I COULD eat.   Also, as Deanna mentioned, it is very important to get your weight down.

Coffee and beer???  Crap, I had no idea!   Guess I will cross those off my grocery list.   Boo.

There is no scientific data that I am aware of that shows that eating meat causes cancer.   Plenty of vegetarians get breast cancer (as Linda McCartney would agree with if she were alive).   I don't think you need to go vegan to be "healthy".   I think it's about balance - plenty of whole foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, etc. 

Has anyone read the China Study?  Or Life Over Cancer?  Or Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life? They all lay out a very compelling case for the correlation between diet and cancer.