Looking for Diet and Lifestyle Advice from Long Term Survivors

Hi Warrior, I am not very long in the survival game, but just passed the 2-yr mark from my BMX. I have waded through a lot of food info, and my own, completely personal and unscientific, conclusions are:

1. Nobody seems to know very much for sure.

2. Dairy and meat are not of the devil, but there is evidence that high-fat dairy like cheese and cream may be correlated to relapse, so I limit those things. I also limit meat (and eggs), but more because I had a hyster and am on femara, which can raise cholesterol.

3. Personally I am not convinced that going vegan or vegetarian makes any danged difference in terms of cancer, and I also suspect that it is not smart to go very low on protein. So I eat quite a lot of fish.

4. Staying thin may well be advantageous, ditto for keeping blood sugar low and stable. The easiest way for me to do this is to eat a LOT of veggies, go very easy on carbs and getting adequate protein. For the carbs I tend to stick to whole grains and beans. I avoid all processed, white carbs as well as sweets, sugar, honey etc.

5. Most of the fat in my diet is from olive oil, nuts and fish.

6. Exercise is important for physical and mental health. Whereas there is no really clear evidence for one or another dietary approach, there is a lot of evidence that exercise may very well help ward off recurrence. I aim for a minimum of 10 hours of exercise a week. This may sound like a lot, but I am not out there running marathons. I walk the dog 2X a day and in addition I either go to the gym for an hour or take a long walk at a decent clip.

Hi There,

I just passed my 22 year mark, so I'm thinking I fit into your "search" category . Although my sx and tx was back in what I call the "dark ages" of bc tx, I lucked out with a very forward thinking family doc. She advised me years ago to live a balanced life, which to her meant eat healthy, stay active and don't beat yourself up and think you're going to die if you have an ice cream cone or a bowl of potato chips. Just don't have those kind of things on a regular basis. She did strongly advise me to stay away from soy products, which were the "new, best thing" back in the "all things tofu days", as my tumor was ER+. I was on the "thin side of average", and she did not want that to change. They were just starting to seriously look at things like fat consumption and activity in the "big picture" of recurrence. She also felt that there was no "magic" diet that would make any difference in my outcome, but strongly urged a healthy, balanced diet. I have always had a very active metabolism that burns through food quickly, and struggle with low iron if I'm not careful.

So....I am very active both with "intentional exercise" like working out, and with lifestyle things like yoga, hiking, skiing, long walks, etc. I eat lean protein which includes meat, (yes, even red meat), fish and low fat dairy. I eat lots of veggies, not necessarily organic, but as fresh as possible, given where I live, so sometimes that means frozen veggies. I eat carbs like pasta, and whole grain bread, but try to stay away from as much refined carbs as possible. I've never really had a sweet tooth, so the carb thing isn't too hard for me, but I do allow myself a small amount of sugar in my coffee. I have used evaporated cane sugar for that for a number of years. I eat fruit too, again as fresh as possible, which gets pretty boring or expensive in the winter. Fast food, processed, or packaged food is pretty much "rare to never".

I'm old enough to have seen just about everything we eat go through the cycle of "good for you, bad for you, back to good for you - but in different ways". If you google long enough, you'll find the same thing for any diet or lifestyle advice, in my opinion.

So....long story short....I'm now 63 and a 22 year "veteran" of BC with no recurrences. I am on absolutely no prescription meds for the normal "age related things" like high cholesterol, BP, osteo, etc. I had a long history of failed implant recon, so this past April I had a free flap recon, and a few months later was back to hiking the mountains with my usual backpack. I'm 5'6" and weight varies between 125 and 130, depending on how many hikes/skis etc. I've recently been on.

I wish you nothing but health and happiness.

Thanks Momine....I wish the same for you.....

I just came back as I forgot about the "supplements" that I do take, but none are prescription things. I take Vit D, Calcium, Iron, and also a glucosamine powder. Just wanted to share that also.

About eating nuts: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/go-nuts-study-ties-nuts-to-a-lower-risk-of-death-including-from-heart-disease-or-cancer/2013/11/20/94436370-5227-11e3-9ee6-2580086d8254_story.html

I am 4 years out and I follow Anti-Cancer also. I re-read it several times a year. I am vegan, occasionally drink a beer and skip exercise class if I feel like it. I do lots of hot yoga, play lots of tennis and I bought a small infra-red sauna. I keep a happy balance.

It's so nice to see so many thrivers!

Hi warrior....The current theory on soy/ER+, is to avoid the modified soy products, but the natural soy, as in things like edamame is ok....I still just try to avoid it as much as possible, on my own decision.

The supplements I take are based on "non-cancer" reasons. I was found to be anemic, post recon surgery, so was put on iron supplements. They significantly helped my fatigue, during recovery, but hopefully will not be a long term thing. The glucosamine is joint related. I have a therapy background, and a few creaky joints from age and previous injuries. One of the top joint replacement orthopedic surgeons in my area highly recommends the type of glucosamine I take, and I have found I have less joint "complaints" after intense activity.

My goal at this point in life to be as "overall healthy" as I can, so I can enjoy life as much as possible. I no longer find myself making most of my nutritional/lifestyle choices based on cancer, but on general health and wellness. That is one of the "gifts" of being this far out from dx.

I think discussing your diet/choices with your doc is a good thing. Maybe also getting some guidance from a reputable nutritionist, especially given your food sensitivities. I will never claim that making the food/exercises choices I made years ago are the reason I have done so well, but I firmly believe it could not have hurt at all, and has allowed me to fully enjoy being NED for so long.

I hope everyone gets the opportunity to truly enjoy the life we each have fought to "reclaim", for many, many, many years.

I"m not a long term survivor but everything in research points to keeping your weight down for the long term. BMI between 19.5 and 25 is ideal, according to my oncologist.

Claire

Warriorchick, what I and many healthy-minded survivors have figured out is that the nutritionists and integrative specialists -- even those at the most leading-edge institutions -- may not be as forward-thinking as some natural health docs, so may not have all the answers we're after. I was tx'd @ UCLA and got some excellent info' post-tx from their integrative specialist. It was very reassuring at the time, but I eventually found a naturopathic doctor with a specialty in oncology who was exactly what I needed. Here's the organization she suggests others can use to find an ND with similar interests: http://www.oncanp.org/

And here's an interesting article from another integrative oncology group re. a recent study on supplements and breast cancer: http://www.integrativeoncology-essentials.com/2013/11/cocktail-of-6-plant-extracts-kills-cancer-cells/

Also, from my own experience, I think fine tuning our diets is a process. My diet was clean and extremely healthy prior to bc -- no fast food, no junk food or sweets, etc. But I am much more committed to buying organic and non-GMO now, as well as having eliminated (over time) 95% of dairy. I do eat some organic soy, but avoid soy protein isolate (the highly concentrated form of soy), as advised by UCLA. Deanna

Just to note, the British doctor who developed the BMI, was very specific it was for GROUPS only, and not ever to be used as an "individual" measurement.

David Servan-Schreiber's Anti Cancer: A New Way of Life is an excellent book.

Meant to say, Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston MA has a good website, with a special section on Nutrition.

http://www.dana-farber.org/Adult-Care/Treatment-and-Support/Patient-and-Family-Support/Nutrition-Services.aspx

I think Sloan Kettering has a website too.

nihahi, knee uncomfortable? I managed to get thru 5 years of Arimidex, and just about NO knee pain now ( fat, old, osteoarthritis, lazy) from ACUPUNCTURE. My oncologists who were fabulous, sympathetic to the joint pain I was experiencing, suggested Acupuncture - lived too far from the hospital to see the acupuncturist there, so I started to see someone who lives near me.

I swear by it, and massage - I call the two women "the bookends of my well-being" - can't wrap my brain around why acupuncture makes such a difference for me, but know it does help reduce inflammation, and my arthritic knees LOVE it. The effect is cumulative, and I go every 3 weeks. Just in case you haven't thought of it, or haven't yet tried it.

nihahi - about 52 years ago, while sledding, I fell, twisted my right knee, and the sled with several people on it ran over moi add to that now, 5 yrs Arimidex, and osteoarthritis, or what my grandmother's generation called "housemaid's knee" - and the acupuncture, is now the answer for me. I look like I've got a porcupine on each knee during treatment - but the result - TRY IT! Good luck.

WArrior50, I just checked the material my nutritionist gave me and MyPlate is very prominently featured.  I'd think that is chosen as a good starting place for a consult as it helps some of us identify areas where we are way, way out of sync.  That said, the question is how well the standard plate meets the needs of us ER +, or possibly ER- breast cancer patients.  I'm looking at that plate right now, and the icon has no section for fats.  And no garbage bowl for estrogen-rich foods or suspicious additives.  Before BC, my idea of protein was a nice fatty steak, or chicken thighs with the skin on.  Now I'm looking at fish and white meat skinless chicken for protein. I've replaced nice, yummy, globs of butter or mayonnaise with avacado and teeny, tiny measly bits of "real" fat, and lost 25 pounds.

Now, my onc stresses that there are two things that can make a significant difference in avoiding or delaying recurence:  Losing weight (sigh), and walking 30 minutes/day.  I've read all the "Eat Healthy, Live Healthy" stuff for years and years, and hope it delayed my breast cancer, and maybe prevented some other kind, but, search as I might, I can't find any concrete support for specific foods.  Yes, there are lists, many lists, and I'm right out there trying some of them, and reading here in hopes of finding more solutions.

A good part of the reason, by the way, that I've been focusing on losing weight and reducing bad fats in my diet, is that when I look at what I've done "bad" in the past, that might possibly have particularly nourished my cancer, it's bad fats that stand out as not being part of a "good" anti-cancer diet, or a healthy diet in general.  When I look at the articles in myplate.gov, the helpful tips do stress low fat choices. 

Now, that's all the mainstream stuff.  Here's something  I'm kind of tossing around in my own head, and kind of trying out.  I encourage feedback, ladies: Do any of you think keeping protein intake kind of on the low side helps keep cancer from growing?