Interesting to read Vit D in the evening. Read elsewhere here that it interrupts some women's sleep. Yogagirl, can you explain the reason for D in the evening

BC - there are good D3 supps. you can take to bring those levels up, independently of calcium/mag. That's what I do, as I need more D than what's in most of the combo supps.

Re: the salad - I, too, think of making it only in the summer. I'll have to re-think it. Glad to know the recipe is so good!

Trvlr - I'm glad I wasn't reading that at work. You cracked me up! Thanks!

Yoga girl and others - thanks for sharing such intriguing links.

Happy Friday from MN - lake of 10,000 frozen lakes!

Hopeful - Yes, I've been taking extra Vitamin D3. I'm currently using the NOW brand.

Yogi_girl - wow, you are packed with info on health and nutrition. My guess is that you live on the west coast? Here in the midwest we are a little behind on all that like everything else. A friend of mine in Florida sees a 'hormone doctor' but I'm not sure it's for nutrition. As for me, I am searching for an internal medicine doc who will help guide me in supplementing my diet as a cancer survivor. Like everything else with this, you really have to hunt. I don't know why they can't offer more for us in this area.

I did see a nutritionist at a cancer clinic when I was first diagnosed. She basically recommended the Mediterranean Diet, the book, "The New American Plate" and recipes from this website:

http://www.aicr.org/new-american-plate/

I signed up for email recipes and started my own cookbook collection of recipes.

Any other favorite sites for recipes? I have a terrible sweet tooth so am always searching for healthy treats to help satisfy the cravings.

Hopeful - No worries.

I'm always on the lookout for any tidbits anywhere I can get it. I'll check out that book. I get a lot of my recipes from pinterest. I really missed it when my computer was down for a couple of weeks.

Oh yes...I always forget about The Splendid Table. Thanks for the reminder!

I know what you mean about pinterest - and being online in general. I need to put myself on a computer diet, lol!

bc101

wishing you all the best in finding answers

Formy: I am glad I made you laugh. I think laughter is really important if you are sick. Unfortunately, I don't get enough of it. But fortunately, I get to go see the comedian I have been trying to see for 4 years now tonight. I am so excited!

Don Friesen. I discovered him on satellite radio. He has a Showtime special about a year ago.

I just want to say a HUGE THANKS to whomever mentioned magnesium for hot flashes. I was unable to do chemo due to allergy (a secret relief since I was onco type 20 and intuitively felt it was not the right course for me), so I went to a new MO who suggested OS plus AI. Last month I had my first Zoladex injection and noticed nothing but the occasional strange feeing headache for the first two weeks. I thought, OK, maybe this won't be so bad. WRONG! Hot flashes started after two weeks and while I was having exchange surgery two weeks ago I was having like 12-15 per day, maybe more, waking me up multiple times at night, at times I thought I had post op fever. I figured I had nothing to lose trying the magnesium and within 48 hours of starting the number of hot flashes has dropped to less than 5 in 24 hours, only one at night usually close to when i get up anyway. This had held for the past few days. Very dramatic change, I am convinced. I take one 500mg tab at night with my vitamin D3.

American Society of Clinical Oncology

Wishing all of you the best in finding answers to your questions.

Kayb--I'm glad too! Tx!

I am so glad to hear about the benefits of magnesium and thanks you, I recommended it to a friend today who told me she was up all night because of hot flashes. I wouldn't have known that one unless I read it here.

Add Olive Oil to your diet.
Research says that Polyphenols (specifically "oleocanthal") in Olive Oil is useful against cancer.
See the forum section "Clinical Trials, Research Studies, News, and Study Results" for more info, or google: oleocanthal and Rutgers University.

Hi,

Nobody mentioned pomegranates? In his 'Anti Cancer' book, Servan-Schreiber quotes studies which show some compound(s) they contain may help against metastatic spread. I buy fresh fruit, take the seeds out and put them in a container, and snack on them at work.

Nobody had cancer in my family so I try to emulate my elders' diet: lots of cabbage, onions, shallots, artichokes, herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley, sage etc.), fish and seafood, little meat, and the occasional fast. According to some studies, one of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet might be the regular religious fasts: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15333159.

I had progressively switched to a mostly Paleo diet about 1 year prior to diagnosis, but am still not 100% compliant: I eat about 275g carbs a day (a lot on a Paleo diet even if you do sports) and only about 100g protein. I have cheese once a month or so, and as I live in Europe, I do not eat insects, which I strongly believe made up a good part of our ancestors' 'meat' intake, and which are still commonly eaten in Asia and Africa. I seldom can afford organic, but am looking into buying grass-fed meat once in a while, directly from a farm. I avoid chicken as in the UK about 70% of supermarket chickens are contaminated with campylobacter. I lost about 1 stone in 1 month after diagnosis (probably stress cutting my appetite + starting to drink 3 cups of green tea a day), so tried to regain the weight by eating grain again. I put a bit of tummy fat on (I had lost from the thighs!) but grain really does not agree with me (stubborn cold + blocked sinuses; tiredness; joint pain; acne; digestive problems) so I am going back to Paleo.

I now drink a mix of green tea (Sencha) and Jasmine: according to this study, the synergy between the two results in a more potent 'anti angionesis' effect than if you drink either of them on its own: https://www.ted.com/talks/william_li?language=en

I have replaced my tupperwares (for lunch at work) with Pyrex and my aluminium slow cooker with a ceramic one. I was already using stainless steel pans & ceramic/pyrex dishes for cooking. Also switching to 'cleaner' shampoos and soap: I was already doing without cosmetics as I really do not have the time to moisturise etc.!

My GP is very anti supplements, except for vitamin D, which I have been very deficient in for years. I also take Mg taurate and malate, especially before my periods: it is great against PMS and helps to control the 'munchies' too.

I have a sweet tooth, so sometimes treat myself to paleo pancakes with berries (various recipes on the web, some with nut butter, some with buckwheat flour, coconut flour, almond flour, rice flour), Dr Perlmutter's chocolate desserts (on his website), Gwyneth Paltrow's avocado/chocolate recipe (which can be made into ice cream) and the Bulletproof 'coconut ice cream' recipe. Today I made granola in my slow cooker, using ground nuts instead of oats: OKish. In my experience, most 'Paleo friendly' cakes and breads are disasters.

I found Momine's and Yogamama's posts really interesting. Like them, I was eating relatively healthily, and was a low BMI (under 20) when diagnosed. I am not built like the Williams sisters though, and have longish limbs, so 18-20 BMI is my 'normal' range and I still manage 38-40% muscle mass. A couple of years ago, I was eating lots of biscuits, pasta, bread, breakfast cereals and dairy, and not sleeping much (around 4 hours a night due to juggling work + studying), and my BMI was nearly 22. I looked most unhealthy (skinny fat - almost like a Cushing's syndrome), constantly got 'sugar crashes' and was probably becoming insulin insensitive: my HbA1c and triglycerides were still in the normal range, but they were creeping up. I got two cancer scares (not the breast yet) and my three doctors and my physio all insisted I needed to lose fat and gain muscle, so change my diet and exercise more, which is when I progressively switched to paleo. I actually started with the sport (running), then introduced intermittent fasting (not pleasant to run on a full stomach), and only then changed my diet: I guess the physical activity and the fasting made me more insulin sensitive, so I didn't crave sugar and grains so much. I know at least 2 ladies who managed to get PCOS while being a normal BMI: both of them were vegetarians at the time, and ate a lot of carbs (pasta etc.). I think there's too much focus on BMI and not enough on body composition and bloodwork, and not enough acceptance that there is a lot of variation among humans: some are skinny, some are muscular, some have more of the bulky 'explosive' muscle fibres, some have more of the type II fibres (good for endurance running), some are short and compact, some are willowy and long-limbed. As a result, people like me who are naturally skinny allow themselves to become skinny fat, and are even encouraged to do so ('have some biscuits, it's not as if you had a weight problem!'), and before we know it, we have a health problem.

Penzance, I so agree about too much focus on BMI, to the exclusion of other evidence. I now know I was insulin resistant before my DX, and probably for a long time. I had symptoms that bothered me, but every time I tried to interest a doctor in this, the doc would dismiss any notion of a glucose problem because I was "thin," as they always said. I had a 22-23 BMI, but like you I am of a scrawny build, so although it is totally normal it is not really low for my frame. Besides, thin people can also develop diabetes. In my case I think it started during the pregnancy with my daughter. I was borderline diabetic several times and she was a huge baby.