Let's treat ourselves!!!

The jury is out on soy.  The studies I've seen seem to indicate that if you have soy from childhood, then it can reduce your risk.  But if you start to consume soy as an adult, since soy is a phytoestrogen, it may increase increase estrogen levels and increase risk.  The problem is that the studies are all over the map on this. 

I'm ER+ and the advice I was given was to avoid large amounts of soy.  I don't get fussed about soy sauce or small amounts of soy that seems to be in almost everything, but I've stopped drinking soy milk (which I loved) and I don't eat tofu. 

I'm often posting that it's important to not take personal anecdotes too seriously because they are representative of what's happened to just one person but I'll post my personal anecdote here anyway.  In the 5 or so years before I was diagnosed, I was eating the healthiest that I'd ever eaten and I was the most fit that I'd ever been.  I had also cut back at lot on wine (my biggest vice) and for the first time in my life, I was consuming a lot of soy.  It's probably all coincidence but since that's when I was diagnosed, I now consume wine with no guilt and I no longer consume soy. I'm 7 years into my 'new' diet and so far so good, with no recurrence and no new diagnosis.

When I was first diagnosed, I just so happened to walk into my local farm stand when the farmer was coming in from picking.......KALE!

I became a kale junkie, making huge pots of Kales soup that became my dinner on nights when I was too tired to do anything else

so here I am 5 years clean, so maybe add kale?

good luck and eating healthy sure won't hurt

I too also tried to eat healthy even before my diagnosis. So go figure.

But I'm trying to be as good as I can now anyway.

I like your list. All the cruciferous veggies are extra great. Kale and cabbage, like you said, but also broccoli, Brussels sprouts, etc. Broccoli sprouts are being studied by numerous researchers, but I have a hard time finding any that aren't  wilted and droopy at the supermarket. 

 Wish I could wrap my head around all the contradictory info on soy:-)

Also very important to remove sugar from your diet, and to eat organic when possible.

I have celiac as well as a vertigo disorder and high cholesterol.  There's no a heck of a lot I can eat.  Low fat, low sodium, no gluten, no addtives, food in its purest form.

I stay away from soy whenever possible.

I didn't take this advice too seriously, but one surgeon I consulted with, gave me written materials that said I should stay away from fresh soy products, but processed soy (as in soy baloney, hot dogs, sausage, "ground soy"--like ground beef) is OK because it's not "real food" so it doesn't have the phytoestrogenic effect--LOL.  OK, I took that with a grain of salt.

I would do the opposite, frankly, that is, if I consumed soy, it would be the less processed soy, such as occasional tofu.  Soy milks tend to be processed.  Like Beesie, I loved soy milk (being lactose intolerant).  I have given it up in favor of hemp milk, which is actually very palatable.  I think that it is good to try to have generally only unprocessed, fresh foods (preferably organic), where possible, and I aspire to that, but I'm not able to do that all of the time, working 2 jobs, not having the money for the organics, trying to accomodate other family members, etc. I actually lessened the demands on myself during treatment, allowing things like cookies, to help myself get through it.

Thanks Beesie, that almond milk sounds delicious!

For anyone who hasn't already checked it out, the environmental working group, ewg.org, has a veritable gold mine of good info. They put out a list of the dirty dozen/clean fifteen (foods with high and low pesticide content that are good to buy organic or fine to buy conventional) as well as a searchable database of various commonly used cosmetic products that rates the safety of the products based on their ingredients.