I went to a webinar after I was diagnosed re:diet for breast cancer and it talked about a need to consume 8 servings fruits and veggies, but to also consume a high protein diet. I've been doing this. I've been wondering though if it is possible to go into ketosis while eating 8 servings fruits and veg though. Was thinking probably not. Anyway, that's why I always wonder about best diets for breast cancer. Is it better to be in ketosis or to get all the fruits and veggies.  Is 8 servings per day too much glucose? I've read so much about cancer fighting compounds in fruits and veggies. It would be hard at this point for me to cut back on those. I'd have to hear some solid evidence. Momine are you still planning on attending that webinar coming up regarding diet and bc?

Light, I've done a lot of reading and learning about this and from what I've read, it's best not to think of it as a diet so much as a modified fast--a somewhat less miserable one if you will.  As you know, on a fast you don't expect to take in nutrients--just give your body a rest.  For me, it's a way to get my blood sugar down and fast.  My naturopath is completely in favor of it, but when I start to transition out of it I plan to eat more veggies and some berries and then ultimately transition into a Weston A. Price type eating plan with clean meats and raw milk if I can get it.  Otherwise, no dairy.  The great thing is that now I can look at big juicy pieces of cake dripping with icing and feel absolutely no emotion.  I love that feeling.  

Claire - Lugol's is iodine.

I have been unable to lose weight while on aromatase inhibitors with 6 miles of rapid walking and 1200 cals a day, made up of lean protein and fruit/vegs.  I started the Virgin diet (doesn't make you back into a virgin, it is the name of the creator J.J. Virgin) which is a food intolerance diet.  My former boss went on it to try to eliminate arthritis pain in her hands, and it worked for her - this is supposed to help eliminate inflammation in the body.  It eliminates sugar, eggs, soy, corn, peanuts, dairy, gluten.  There are not really any quantity controls but rather a formula of lean protein to low glycemic index fruit/vegs on your plate, and finding the cleanest food sources possible - organic, grass-fed, etc.  You stay on this for 21 days, avoiding the seven items, then add them back in to see if you are sensitive to them.  I am not hungry (or hangry - as my DD calls it - the mixture of hungry and angry, lol!) have no cravings, and have already lost 7 pounds since New Years.  This diet is similar to paleo and low GI diets, but the idea is that processed foods, pesticides, GMOs, etc., have corrupted the food sources and if you are sensitive to them it is difficult to lose weight.  This seems to be working and I am not retaining water or feeling bloated like I was before.  So far, so good.

SpecialK, that is pretty much how I have been eating since my DX (with several months of gradual implementation). I never did the elimination part, but I find that leaving out sugar and sticking to low-GI carbs and lean protein, which translates to a little chicken or fish and a lot of veggies, works really well, both for weight control and for overall well-being. 

By the way, I suspect that the reason you didn't lose weight before was that you were in starvation mode. Even when I was losing weight (not intentional really, but welcome) I was eating about 1500 calories a day and I was not, at that time (chemo), usually walking as much as 6 miles a day. These days I am maintaining my weight. I usually get 1-2 hours of some kind of exercise a day, and I consume somewhere around 2000 calories a day - still low-GI, lean protein etc. Which means that I "get" a whole lot of food for 2000 cals.

Great discussion, thanks for the ideas. So far, I find that high fat, hi-fiber, and exercise promote digestion, and combat inflammation. Each are essential for my overall well-being regardless if I am eating meat or not, I fluctuate on that and consume very little these days. Beans and fish are mainstays. I consume nuts daily. I start missing the fruits and veggies w/n a day if not consuming my quota. I feel they supply a lot of needed nutrition regardless if they are working to fight off the cancer or not. From what I've read though, they are loaded with cancer fighting compounds. Limiting my grains to 1 serving a day seems right for me in terms of maintaining weight, but if weight drops or it gets cold out, I will increase whole grain intake to 2 servings on occasion. Not wheat though as it promotes inflammation, maybe not true for everyone, but is for me. Haven't been diagnosed w/ celiacs though. I stick with whole grain millet, quinoa, oats, barley and occasionally black forbidden rice. No other carbs or sugars outside of the fruits and veggies.

SpecialK, that sounds really difficult and I get the problem. 

What exactly are supposed to be the great evils of GMO food, for the person eating it, I mean?

Dark Chocolate is fine! I eat Ghirardelli 86% dark. Plus I use sweeteners like stevia, erythritol and have started baking things like low carb cheesecake. I didn't for about the first year...but, it is nice to have a guilt free snack.

cancer compass keto info link

Thanks Fall leaves. Wish someone would just give me a diet plan menu that I could follow blindly

I am still undergoing taxol and taking steroid  decadron . I think glucose levels may elevate on steroids. Also it's not a fasting blood test. Just concerned that my glucose level wasn't lower ( its 94 ). I eat fruits but no sugar or processed foods. Ideally when should I start the kerogenic diet? Do I start right after I am done with my taxol?

momine - the danger of GMO is inherent in its purpose - genetically modified crops are bred (with genetic manipulation) to allow them to survive an otherwise deadly dose of pesticide which is applied to the agricultural area to kill opportunistic weeds.  Another way the same goal is accomplished is to insert a gene that secretes insect killing toxin into the plants themselves.  Both methods mean that we are ingesting far more pesticide.  The crops affected are soy, corn, canola, cotton, sugar beets and alfalfa - and significant percentages of these crops are GMO in the U.S.  There are links to allergies, auto-immune disease, gastro-intestinal difficulties, endocrine disruption and reproductive issues, cancer, livestock death.

I want to comment n the no carbs diet & the recipes posted here recently in a link.  :  I see why coffee rather than green or black etc teas is recommended.  need the coffee to pass some of that excess protein. 

yes.  all the protein will also impact your kydneys in a bad way.  & the processed meats?  last time I ate any of that was in 1967 in a trip to times square & a nathans famous hot dogs.  sausage?  probably a year or two before that.  my diet changed when michip kusho came to ny with macrobiotics.  way too much salt but whole grains was good.  gary said recently that cheese was particularly bad, will clog you up bigtime.I've not eaten any for going on 7 years except for a few weeks when I found some irish cheddar presumably no hormones in it as europe doesn't allow them in dairy. I remember years ago I'd break a fast with a big bit of cheese:  it would go right through me along with a lot of bleeding.I don't think I could ever eat animals again except for fish, & in the market here is only salt cod & farm raised fish.  I've heard not good things about what they feed farm raised animals. this is a moral choice more than a health one. seems like that diet is the done of a few years ago:  atkins as I recall & he died of a heart attack after a bit on it

informative re atkins'good to starve the bad cells but not if you need to use stuff that may have caused them in the first place.  possible with vegetables, difficult as you say.  gary is vegan, uses lots of his powders, I use only turmeric, my spice mix, blackraspberry powder, for the essiac acid.  the thing on my chest continues to grow, it is true that I've now outlived my 3 score & 10 now by nearly 7 years 'll have to take a look about atkins.  I try to avoid sugar, the brain does run on it, not refined sugar probably or not well.  I use yoghurt but organic whole milk plain.  no butter for years, coconut oil works well as a spread & isn't stinky.  havn't used salted butter since my 20ies.  difficult to do without white pasta though.  & bread.  right about whole wheat mostly, I'm trying to find a good choice, we have a limited selection here, & my teeth are an issue. & I've never been over weight so that too is an issue 

Thank you fallleaves 

Here is another one you might be interested in...

Article on sugar and cancer.

cancer and sugar; strategy for selective starvation of cancer

zogo - thanks for the article link.  It makes you wonder diet wise why / how so many cancers may have increased from diet and manipulated foods.  I'm guessing since the 70-80's was when so many foods had corn syrup added, hormones, more - - well before product labels were required.  Does anyone remember the scam when they were introducing fiber to bread as a wood pulp!  Now we are swinging in the other direction trying to purchase organic and avoid processed / packaged foods.  My nutritionist is more interested in HBA1c and fasting glucose values over moderately raised cholesterol.

abgail48 - in regards to coffee, many have chicory added which has that laxative effect. 

that's MANUKA honey.   & I noticed thoughonly skimmed the 7 day suggestionsfor meals, no mention of mushrooms.  that was the first surprise suggestion when I joined here 2 and a half years ago.  seems to me whether helpful or not, & it's said they are, theyre certainly sugar free.  & unlike red meat for instance, palatable without salt.  I've been making lots of mushroom soup:  portobello caps softened a bit in evoo & coconut oil, onions, organic canned beans, spices, mashed, springwater added celer y l eaves, sometimes some tomato