Paleo Pals - Health, Weight Loss & Support

Thanks Vamps! Glad she’s fine and it’s just being busy with life. Whew!

To keep us all distracted until Egads posts again, here are pictures of freshly groomed adorable pups.

And here is my first try at a vegetable quiche with cauliflower crust (of which the freshly groomed adorable pups got plenty of bites of).

hi, I'm not sure where to post this question. I recently met with Ernie Bodhi, a nationally known breast cancer surgeon who created the first breast cancer stamp. He is no longer doing surgery but went back and became licensed as a medical oncology preventative specialist. Or something like that. We met for 2 hrs. He told me everything he recommended has been proven to help prevent recurrence. His suggestions were veganism. No dairy, no eggs. I love cheese! Also no processed foods. Diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, whole grains nuts and seeds. No sugar. He was very anti dairy. And a list of supplements. This is a hard diet to follow. I'm trying my hardest. Do you have any research that proves that the Paleo diet reduced the chance of breast cancerrecurrence? He had lots of studies to back him up and has recently published an article in a medical journal. I apologize I can't remember which one. I'd appreciate any info you have.

So glad to see you here! And so sorry for your husband, and so glad it was his heel and not his head!

So happy to have you back Egads! I was worried that you ate some of that food on the hospital cart while waiting for your scan and it did you in!

That is a steep drop - 10 feet - yikes. I hope hubby heals quickly.

No rush to get back to us. It sounds like you have your hands (and his feet) full!

Well! I am happy you are ok, Egads, and very sorry about your cave dude. Echoeing everybody’s sentiments, thank God it’s just his heal, although it’s also not fun at all. Take good care of him, we’ll wait for you! Or maybe we will just take a collective trip to Vegas, since you are not here to motivate us. Just kidding! 🤪😉🙃.

Egads - thank you for chiming in and SOooo sorry to hear about Cavedude... at the same time, a silver lining that it was not more serious. Your priorities are absolutely spot on! Take care of that Cavedude of yours! Now that we (your paleo tribe) know you are A-OK, we will be fine and entertain ourselves until your next chime-in.

Krose53 - Ultimately you have to find the right diet for you, and different things work for different people. My husband told me of a study (I will have to dig it up now) where they gave 1,000 people the exact same food and tested their blood levels and response on hormones, sugar and other things, and the exact same plate had different impacts for different people! This is why you might hear of the women who cured her thyroid cancer eating only pineapples, but Steve Jobs went totally vegan and it didn't work for him, and so on.

There is a great site I found that references whether foods are good or bad for breast cancer BASED ON THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND STUDIES behind it. It's https://foodforbreastcancer.com/ - and yes, according to this, fish and chicken are recommended for breast cancer. I used this and other research to guide my own plan... for me, I've cut dairy, cut red meat (for now, may introduce grass-fed meat back in the future), cut processed foods which I think has had the greatest positive impact, and added much more fruits and vegetables to my diet. And yes I've cut sugar and dairy. However, sugar in the form of honey and dark chocolate is fine, in fact beneficial for breast cancer (check out the site!) so I get my sweet tooth cravings from that.

This is also a good study that compares the nutritional qualities of different types of diets: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC39671...

And I just finished reading the book Anticancer Living: Transform Your Life and Health with the Mix of Six by Lorenzo Cohen and Alison Jefferies, and in that book they cite a study that compared all the diets out there and found the Mediterranean diet to be the healthiest (fruits, veggies, nuts, fish and healthy oils mostly).

I'm sure when Egads is back, she can respond with a slew of studies for you! In the meantime, I can share that little bit, and also on why I personally decided NOT to go vegan (my PCP highly recommends vegan too FYI) but keep fish and chicken in my diet:

1. I'm taking tamoxifen (hormone therapy) as part of my treatment plan, and that comes with a risk of blood clots. And eating fish with omega-3's helps to prevent blood clots.

2. I listened to the stories of a lot of people who went vegan to beat cancer and guess what they all said? That they became anemic and therefore decided to add some meat back into their diet.

3. 100% Vegan comes with a risk of vitamin D deficiency, iron deficiency (weakens your bones) and other things. Usually vegans take supplements to overcome these deficiencies. With all the treatment we have to do to fight breast cancer, I prefer to not have to add even MORE supplements to my regime. I'd like to be as natural as possible and get the nutrition I need by eating food, not by taking a bunch of pills.

4. Meat is delicious.

5. The study citing the best diets for the healthiest populations being the Mediterranean Diet and certain areas in Japan, both of which include meat, mostly fish.

I hope this is helpful! On this diet I’ve lost 30 lbs in a healthy way, so it works for me. You will have to find what works for you.

I cut bread for awhile and then my husband baked me this healthy homemade loaf of bread with wheat flour and no added butter, oils or sugar! It’s badically wheat flour, almond milk and yeast to rise.

Hi Krose. When I recurred almost 6 years ago I read up a lot on diet, exercise etc. I didn’t find any research that favored a vegetarian or vegan diet. If you find the doc’s research I would love to read it. The main reason I went Paleo is reading a Gary’s Taubes book and realizing that primitive people who ate their native diet did not get cancer, and this is even in the last 150 years. When they start eating a western diet, the same people get cancer and heart disease. So we’ve dont have to argue what caveman ate. We have modern evidence. Any diet with unprocessed food is going to be better, so do your research and if you think vegan is the way to go, then go for it. I believe in eating a lot of veg and fruit but I feel it is probably unnecessary to eliminate meat.

Egads, OMG your DH is lucky to have just a battered heal. That is very scary.

Pebbles you temptress with the bread. It looks delish.

I am on the “try to eat Paleo with what is left in the fridge” diet today due to the polar vortex. Yes windchill of -48 is very cold and not going out.

JKL I hope you had some good Mexican food with those margaritas. It is vacation.

LunchBrunch? and Dinner.

I will chime in too. I really like foodforbreastcancer.com because it is research based. That said, there is still a need for more research into nutrition and I agree that each individual reacts differently to certain diets.

My diet was reasonably healthy before BC but since my diagnosis, I have made many changes. Double the veg and fruit, more legumes, half the meat, half the carbs, half the wine, little dairy or sugar and no snacks except a small handful of nuts or an apple. I eat dinner earlier and breakfast later so I have 13 hours of fasting to cleanse my system every day. There is research on this too.

I used the Daily Dozen app to help me change habits and it works for me.

It isn't a Paleo diet but it is a conscious way of eating that I like. As a side effect, I lost 20 pounds and am glad not to have excess body fat to make estrogen. That alone will reduce the chance of recurrence.

None of this is a guarantee of course but I am more tuned into my body and feel as if I am doing everything I can to stay healthy. I don't feel deprived or hungry at all.

Krose, there is lots more info on the Diet and Lifestyle thread with research links and recipes:

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/79/topics/865076?page=26#idx_774

❤️ to Egads and her cavedude!

Wow congrats ksusan! That’s excellent!

Good job KSuze! Do they show you photos of places along the way or just this map? It would be cool if they show you the scenery as you go.

Monday check in while we wait for the return of our fearless leader Egads... here is a very simple scrambled eggs with cauliflower, mushroom, garlic, cilantro, onions and turmeric, curry powder, garlic powder, pepper and sea salt for the spices.

And here are two very interested pups waiting to sample whatever their paw mommy is cooking up this time!

Dee - it all looks delicious!! The apple strudel has apples so I’m going to call that one healthy lol.

** SQUEEK **

Happy Be-Lated Valentine's Day everyone!

Very quiet in here with Egads off taking care of her cavedude. How is everyone doing? I am off for yet another CT scan, this one on my adominal/pelvic region. Oh cancer the gift that keeps on giving. I know, and I am, very grateful they are being thorough, but a girl can get sick of doctors appointments and scans, right?! Next month I get to have the wonderful endometrial cancer procedure done - oh joy - sooo not looking forward to that pain!

Anyone using CBD, Hemp or THC oil for pain? I was on Gabapentin, thought it was causing me nausea and stopped it, honestly I don't think it was helping. Started back on the THC oil at bedtime and my pain has lessened significantly. Is is a coincidence? A combination of the oil, PT, diet change and lack of working, now before the oil I was still in all that pain and doing everything else. I searched for information and there is tons on the oil, but really couldn't get an answer to my question. My friend thinks that the oil took care of the inflammation and that is why it's not as bad right now. I went off the oil for a few days to test the theory, the pain did not change, it was still better than before the oil. Don't get me wrong I am happy that the pain is better, more localized to just the neck now instead of my back and arm, just wondering, do I need to stock up on the oil? haha

Have a great day Cavechicks!

Thank you for the link Pebbles!

For my sweet tooth I make Almond Butter Cookies with natural sugar; I make avocado pudding, homemade ice cream with honey to sweeten it and cheesecakes. So far this has been keeping the twins happy and on track of eating healthy. They even turned down junk that was offered to them at school for Valentine's Day - so proud of my cavecubs!

The pups are adorable in their rain gear, just need rain boots to finish it off.

Vamp I hope all is well with the scans. I am so sick of being carefully watched but is the alternative better? After my fall hospitalization, my blood work has still not returned to normal although improved every time so they keep watching me for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Now I don’t believe for a second that I have that, so I almost want to stop all these lab draws. Almost. Anyway, almost 8 years of this disease and I have been tested for endometrial cancer, breast cancer in node on opposite side, and now CLL. I feel like it never ends.

I have some hemp oil yet I have no idea what it is exactly so I haven't tried it until I research it. But if it’s helping pain, that’s a plus.

To my 90 percent Paleo Primal eating I have been trying to add some “Parisian Lifestyle” factors, the primary changes being more daily walking instead of heavy weekend exercise, no snacking, and cooking at home more. I lost a couple more pounds doing this, although a meal out, a margarita and a slice of red velvet cake for Valentine’s day has me back up a lb. I am resuming the healthier way today again. It is interestingly because I effortlessly lost weight and I didn’t feel I ate less food or calories, and I didn’t cook at home as much as I planned either. I think it could be the no snacking that gave me the most bang for the buck, so thought I would share if anyone is trying to lose weight.