Anyone make lifestyle changes?

Now that is what I need . . . an Onc to drink wine with

So far I haven't made any changes, apart from cutting down a little on smoking.
Its funny really, because I always said "if I ever got cancer I'd stop.........." and there was a huge list of what I would give up.

But then faced with the Dx, that went out the window.

I've known way too many 'clean living' people, (non smokers, non drinkers, healthy diets and regular exercisers) suffer from, or die of illness and disease commonly associated with 'unhealthy' lifestyles that I don't hold much faith in what causes what these days.
I remember when I was pregnant with my children, the doctors back then were big advocates on trying to get you to eat liver, (yuk) apparently it was full of iron and very beneficial to the growing fetus. Turns out nowadays, there's an enzyme in it that they believe may be linked to spinabifida.

Now I'm not saying that making healthy lifestyle changes is a bad thing, but it's not something I've personally decided to do.
I plan on enjoying the things I have always enjoyed.
I'd rather be a happy sick person than a miserable 'healthy' one

I tend to do my cooking on the weekend.  There's just my husband and I, so I make full-sized meals that will feed us through the week or that I can freeze for one of those evenings when I don't have time to cook or am too tired to bother.  Save those trays from your frozen dinners for storing and freezing.

I embraced the "whole food" concept a number of years ago.  It was based on the philosophy of "... if your great-grandparents wouldn't recognize it as food, then you probably shouldn't be eating it...  I started to grow some vegetables in my tiny garden and taught myself how to can and dry, simply because I was interested in that kind of eating.  Didn't help prevent cancer, but I get a lot of satisfaction from doing it myself.

I would love to buy more organic; however, in my area (I'm not far from where you live) "organic" is stupidly priced.  For example, regular chicken is expensive enough at nearly $14.00 (if you're lucky) for a whole roasting chicken; an "organic" whole roasting chicken clocks in at over $23.00 for the same poundage.  Ridiculous!!

But, life being what it is, don't beat yourself up if you resort to processed food, on occasion.  Just choose those processed foods that have the least amount of ingredients/chemicals listed on them and watch the sodium levels.  Sometimes a "lower fat" alternative is offered at the expense of jacking up the carbs/sodium for flavour.

When I was first diagnosed it was a week before Xmas in 2012.  For me, the holidays is about indulging, especially when it comes to fatty foods and desserts. My holiday season starts at Thanksgiving and lasts til the end of January.  The month of January includes a couple of birthdays and other celebrations I typically participate in.  Last year, that included the inaguration.  I live in the Washington DC area so my sisters and I attended several parties.  My lumpectomy was scheduled for Feb 7 so I wanted to have a blast before starting treatment.

After the lumpectomy we discovered that I needed chemo because the bc had spread to a couple of nodes.  Bummer.  At that time I started doing research about causes, treatments and prevention.  BC runs in my family.  My mom, 2 of her sisters and one of my sisters had BC.  None of them drank or smoke.  In fact, I don't think that mom or her sisters ever indulged. My sister probably indugled during the 1970's but that was 30 years ago.  I smoked for 35 years and stopped 2 years ago.  I am primarily a social drinker who enjoys wine and "girlie drinks".  I don't think that a change in lifestyle could have prevented my getting bc because of my family history.  

When I started chemo I tried to change diet by increasing veggies and decreasing processed foods.  I did eliminate alcohol durng the 6 months that I was taking chemo.  I did not want my liver to have to work too hard while cleaning chemo out of my system.  I felt that it was a small sacrifice.  However, my diet went to hell because the chemo screwed up my appetite and taste buds. 

I had BMX and DIEP in October.  I could not eat large meals but I focused on lean protein and veggies in order to recover.  When I recovered it was the holdiday season again. I have learned I cannot just stop anything at one time.  I want to eat beter and exercise more to be healthy overall.  We cannot just focus on BC.  I will however still have a slice of birthday cake or an occasional burger. 

Oh Ziggy:  I meant that in the most positive of ways.  I love when doctors act like human beings and I love the moments when I too forget all about bc.