What foods are you eating to reduce recurrence?

I saw it under this thread. Way back in the beginning. Someone mentioned trying to stay under 21 BMI. 

Fortunately, I didn't physically attack my internist when he said "I could shave off a few ounces if I really wanted to".  My BMI is ~26 and he is not concerned.  I am fit and muscled, and most importantly, healthy.  What a doll!

My oncologist tells me that she should be doing a LOT more of what I am doing and she is 20 years younger.  I do endurance cycling and x-country skiing events.

My take is fit, not obese, and ready for anything. 

I NEVER was close to 20.  I am BONY at 23-24.  Forget this one. NEXT...... - Claire

BMI depends also on your build. Muscular men can clock in the obese range, even if they are super fit and lean. I have almost no muscle on my upper body. All my docs thought it was downright hilarious. They claimed I had the thinnest abdominal wall they had ever seen. This is not necessarily a good thing, because it is hard for me to swim and my back is bad. But it does also mean that my BMI tends to be on the lower end. At my very, very heaviest (just before DX) BMI was around 24. I lost a lot of weight with TX, so I am now below 20 BMI and holding steady around 19. Again, this is not, I think, typical and has mostly to do with my odd build.

I think the most important thing is to eat a decent diet and get some exercise. Preferably quite a lot of exercise, even if it just walking.

It would seem to make sense to me that if fat makes estrogen that the leaner you are the better.  However I've never seen any study that shows that.  They all talk about weight gain after diagnosis and being between 18 and 24.9 BMI.  I was never over my BMI in my life and I still got breast cancer so if weight will make a difference in me, then it would have to be less overall fat, not just normal BMI.   

flaviarose,

I am insulin resistent also. Could you clarify your new plan for eating? You wrote that you are "not doing time restricted." What do you do? Thanks!!!

I thought it was a typo, too, Momine, but just wanted to be sure. 

My BMI is within the healthy range, but on the higher end. That was one of the many symptoms that did not fit with a typical PCOS person and caused me many years of being undiagnosed and misdiagnosed. 

I really want to lose about 20 pounds but am finding it nearly impossible to lose any right now. I can manage to drop one pound with very careful eating over several days. Then if I have any bad carbs it comes right back in a minute!  I've been juicing the last few weeks. It's making a difference in how I feel, so maybe it will impact the weight eventually, too. 

I was interested in doing intermittent fasting, as I read that it reduces insulin  and IGF-1 levels, but have not managed to do it since I was diagnosed last summer. I actually did a 3 day fast in 2012 and liked how I felt, but now, for the life of me I can not go very long without eating. I think maybe food is my security blanket! I haven't gained any weight, I think because I am exercising a lot, but I wish I could exercise a little more self control.

Interesting article, cp418.

Sorry, dulcigirl - the "not" was a mistake.  I AM doing time-restricted feeding - breakfast between 10 - 10:30, supper between 6 and 6:30 - no food after supper until next breakfast.  Drinking water outside feeding window.  Also black coffee in the a.m.  I will be going for blood work in January and hope to see that my fasting insulin levels are more where they need to be.

Kay, I agree with you: "BTW- I don't think "alkalinity" has anything to do with stopping cancer. It's just that what's called an alkaline diet is almost exactly the same foods one need to eat to keep blood glucose level."

I thought you all might enjoy this article from the NY Times:  Phytonutrients in wild foods vs supermarket foods

It compares items from a typical produce section in the supermarket against their wild forebears and the difference is amazing.  For apples, they measured the total phytonutrients in mg/liter of juice and Ginger Gold has 15 mg/l while Sikkim Crab Apples have over 7000!  Now something tells me those crab apples don't taste nearly as good as even a Red Delicious (my least favorite) but if you were to throw some in with your daily smoothie or juice some into apple cider, you could probably stand it.  If I feel well enough this spring I'm def going to try growing some of these veggies and fruits and as usual I'll be trying to find morel mushrooms in April.  

just read in the time article a few weeks back on google:  if they "solved" cancer it would only add 3 years to the average lifespan & so hardly worth the trouble

the bit of the preview I read sounds correct, except I don't want to lose weight, I want to gain it

yeah & if you don't eat meat.  the only animal fat I use is organic dairy & no cheese:  too much salt

& eggs & occasionally fish

bump...

I wasn't sure if everyone saw this. or if some were interested. It's on Jan. 16.