ER+/PR+/HER- Diet changes

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Tigerlily318
Tigerlily318 Member Posts: 129
edited August 2018 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

Hi all, I was just diagnosed with ER+/PR+/HER- IDC via a mammogram and have my lumpectomy tomorrow. I generally eat pretty well but am not perfect.

At home, we shop at Whole Foods and local farmers markets and have a garden in the summer. I travel a good deal for work, though have increasingly moved to eating vegetarian on the road. We also are microwave free, rarely eat processed foods (see salami comment below), and I have switched the vast majority of our house hold cleaning, beauty, skin, hair, and sunscreen products over the past 5 years or so to those that are natural and without chemicals (i.e., Drunk Elephant, BeautyCounter, Pureology, etc.). That said, I tend to eat what I want and while I consistently take Vitamin D, I don't take other vitamins, occasionally would stop at McDonald's in a pinch, organic or not eat more salami than I should, and eat too many baked goods.

Since diagnosis I've pledged to or have: increase fruit/veggie consumption, stop any processed foods except maybe the occasional organic item, got rid of "Shakeology" which I was using because of the added sugar and replaced with pea protein in my smoothies, add back the plant based multi vitamin post surgery and ensure I take the Vitamin D, and stop the baked goods. 

I've got a bunch of books to read to figure out more - but I'm not giving up my double shot of espresso a day or wine. 

What are you all doing and what do I need to consider? I know that my treatment course will dictate it, but would love to get a discussion going. I searched the forum before posting, but it appeared that the "diet" discussions had grown stale. 

Thank you and good luck to you all. 

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  • grainne
    grainne Member Posts: 245
    edited July 2018

    Hi, Tiger lily, and welcome. I am in awe of your current eating habits, let alone your plans for the future! My only suggestion is regular exercise. It cuts recurrence rates, is good for your heart, general health and mental health and helps with side effects from medication. I do take vitamin d every day and also a baby aspirin. Like you, I have no intention of giving up coffee or wine ..I have no intention of making my life a penance. I'm 2 1/2 years since diagnosis and I can truthfully say my life is back to normal. The very best of luck to you x

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  • moth
    moth Member Posts: 4,800
    edited July 2018

    You might want to join the Diet & Lifestyle thread where we talk about just that, in terms of recurrence prevention. Ignore the first few posts - this is a second version of a thread that had the same topic & was deleted so we had to restart it up again. Lots of good info on the following pages .


    https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/79/topics...


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  • Runrcrb
    Runrcrb Member Posts: 577
    edited July 2018

    Tigerlilly318 - kudos to healthy eating. I second the call for exercise if you don't already. I know that physical fitness and continued exercise helped me through and recover from each surgery and treatment. I am improving some of my food choices, which weren't terrible to begin with, but like Graine, choose not to forgo coffee or wine (or dark chocolate). Less processed food is on my list; I've found that limiting bread and pasta has led to a reduction in hot flashes. I still have 2-3 most days, complete with total body sweat but it was 4-6+ a month ago despite effexor. I just weened off effexor with no increase in hot flashes so I'll stick to minimizing the blood sugar spikes.


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  • odat4me
    odat4me Member Posts: 66
    edited August 2018

    Tigerlily318 I feel like I could have wrote the same post. I am starting to obsess a little bit about diet. I do want to cut out sweets, add more colorful vegetables. I feel like I can go a little nuts after reading the research about diet and cancer. I am going to take it one day at a time like my user name ODAT. Reading Breasts, an owners guide and How not to die. Lots of tips on what to focus on. Hugs to everyone. (Had my lumpectomy today! So happy

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  • Tigerlily318
    Tigerlily318 Member Posts: 129
    edited August 2018

    Thank you all for the comments so far. I have been lax on the exercise over the past year besides yoga a few times a month and dog walks, but have exercised regularly in the past and am going back. I have been going to Yin Yoga and walking my Australian Shepherd since my surgery and hope to get the all clear tomorrow at my follow up. Need to add  more intensive aerobic exercise. I have also been looking at supplements. I had an interesting experience with multivitamins; I took Rainbow light women's multi in the past and researched every ingredient and started taking them again. Then saw in another forum that they contain "dong quai" but the ingredient is not listed on the bottle. However, it is listed on their website. Dong quai is not recommend for women with estrogen positive breast cancer. I reported them to Whole Foods where I got the vitamins and sent an email to the company and learned a valuable lesson. You cannot be too careful. So for now I am taking Vitamin D, Fish Oil, and Vitamin C as I previously was before my diagnosis. I have added Chaga Mushroom Extract, Cherry Extract, a probiotic, Tumeric/Black Pepper, and CoQ10. I'm still waiting on my Oncotype score and will see what the doctors say I should do regarding supplements during the future treatments.

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