Weightloss for better survival chances
I asked my oncologist what I can do to give myself the best chance to be in the group who are statistically /ess likely teo get a recurrence of breast cancer, and not in the group who will. She told me there were 4 things that they found made a big difference.
1) Low or no alcohol consumption
2) Low-fat diet
3) Good regular exercise eg at least 150min walking each week.
4) Maintain a healthy weight, ie your ideal BMI.
The weight thing is my biggest challenge. My ideal BMI is 62kg. I was 68.8kg when I started chemo, rapidly went up to nearly 76kg when I was put onto to herceptin only on 9th June. I am now down 69.9kg. Having read of Valter Longo at University of Southern California's recommendation that his type of fasting helps make chemo more effective, I am doing a 4day "500 calorie restricted-calorie fast" on the second week of each cycle now to try to get there. I love cabbage salad, and am still able to have coffee and croisant for breakfast, so it is really not to hard. So far anyway!!!
What are others doing to reduce/manage their weight? (any good tips would be gratefully accepted)
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I will add my two bobs worth to this discussion.!I have actually read some Valter Longo stuff,but I thought it was more for tumour management,not for when we have had the cancer removed,and are trying to build our bodies back up again.But I'm probably wrong! I attended a nutrition course at LifeHouse,after my treatment,and it was very much focused on greens,red berries,water,fish,and generally,all the stuff that we already know nourishes our bodies.I was 62 kilos when I started chemo,and I am the same today.I have worked really hard at maintaining my weight,because if I had let it get away on me,it would have been one more thing that I would have to deal with.We were also told about no alcohol,and the HUGE importance of exerciseI have also stopped drinking coffee,because caffeine strips calcium from your body,and this is important for me now with my osteoporosis .So for me,it is about eating only what I know is good for me.I think we have to put good food into our bodies EVERY day,as they have been through so much already.i don't go for the treat thing any more.A treat for me now is fresh fruit and veggies,and cakes,sweets etc.are just not an option any more.I don't know if this helps Jessica.Its not easy is it,and you just have to keep trying .At our course it was suggested to keep a food diary,and I think this is a good way of tracking exactly what you are eating,and let's you see where there are areas that you can improve on.Take care,and I look forward to hearing how you are getting on.Cheers Robyn0
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Interesting point, Tonya,
I had a client whose daughter said "Mum, you stress me out so much fighting with me and criticising me you will give me cancer and it will be all your fault!"
I guess it is really hard for most people to see that reducing stress is partly a matter of making organisational and other choices, and partly a matter of finding what control you personally have to regulate your emotional reaction to something
It is far easier to see your stress as your unavoidable response to something that is done to you, not as something you allow to affect you. .
I have a feeling that confronting this, and identifying what you can do to actively reduce your stress despite everything else means finding a positive way to improve your life and health that you can control in the face of things you have no control over. So you actively choose to find time to do things that de-stress you like walking, meditating, listening to music. And you choose to avoid things that cause stress, like spending time on certain activities or near certain people. And you change what meanings and assumptions and expectations you bxring to previously stressful situations so they no longer stress you. And this whole discovery that you can do this can be one of the valuable personal growth processes of breast cancer awareness.
And it is hardest to do when you are sick, tired, scared etc,
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You make a couple of interesting points Tonya. I remember thinking it seemed strange that the vast majority of BC women I saw at appointments and radiotherapy were not overweight. I must have thought people with 'normal' weight (like myself) wouldn't get it.
I also believe stress is a massive problem and think it may have caused mine. I have made many changes in that regard and am hopeful it will help.
This strikes many healthily women, seems there is no real formula0 -
I am afraid I have learnt to be rather skeptical about "fashionable" diets like the Venus Diet that seem to be mostly hype but don't seem to offer anything new scientifically. So my answer to your question is "No". It is not a matter of vegetarian is more or less healthy than nonvegetarian diets To be healthy, a diet has to be an eating and exercise regime that helps you reach your ideal weight and then maintain it longterm. Which is what Valter Longo's fasting process does. He does recommend a plant-based diet, ie not carb based like most diets, and minimising carbs and keeping fat to a reasonable but lowish level. He includes some chicken, some fish, and a very little other meats if wanted. A big problem is that most diets actually reset your weight set-point higher: When you go onto a diet and then off it after reaching your goal weight, your weight drops down and then yo-yos back up again once you "stop dieting" and often end up weighing more than when you started. Unless you prevent it doing so by making lifestyle changes that allow you to keep the weight-change.
There was a very good study done into diets of cultures where people lived long and healthy lives. The diets varied from Massai diet which is blood, milk and meat, to Icelandic which is seabird's eggs, fish, seaweed and rugged vegetables, to Georgian which is yoghurt, cheese, milk, bread, whole grains, fresh vegetables. What they all had in common was that the things they ate were grown or caught locally (generally by themselves) and seasonally, were eaten fresh, and were not refined ie they ate almost all of it. They were caught in clean water or forests, grown on small lifestyle farms, without the use of the horrible pesticides and herbicides our massive monocultural farms use.
I think these things matter more than specific hyped up fashionable diet plans that may work to lose weight but do nothing to ensure you can keep it off for the next 5 years.
But that is just my view. You are entitled to yours, and whatever works to get you both healthy and a healthy weight that you can maintain should be good for your heart as much as the rest of you.
best wishes
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I am afraid I have learnt to be rather skeptical about "fashionable" diets like the Venus Diet that seem to be mostly hype but don't seem to offer anything new scientifically. So my answer to your question is "No". It is not a matter of vegetarian is more or less healthy than nonvegetarian diets To be healthy, a diet has to be an eating and exercise regime that helps you reach your ideal weight and then maintain it longterm. Which is what Valter Longo's fasting process does. He does recommend a plant-based diet, ie not carb based like most diets, and minimising carbs and keeping fat to a reasonable but lowish level. He includes some chicken, some fish, and a very little other meats if wanted. A big problem is that most diets actually reset your weight set-point higher: When you go onto a diet and then off it after reaching your goal weight, your weight drops down and then yo-yos back up again once you "stop dieting" and often end up weighing more than when you started. Unless you prevent it doing so by making lifestyle changes that allow you to keep the weight-change.
There was a very good study done into diets of cultures where people lived long and healthy lives. The diets varied from Massai diet which is blood, milk and meat, to Icelandic which is seabird's eggs, fish, seaweed and rugged vegetables, to Georgian which is yoghurt, cheese, milk, bread, whole grains, fresh vegetables. What they all had in common was that the things they ate were grown or caught locally (generally by themselves) and seasonally, were eaten fresh, and were not refined ie they ate almost all of it. They were caught in clean water or forests, grown on small lifestyle farms, without the use of the horrible pesticides and herbicides our massive monocultural farms use.
I think these things matter more than specific hyped up fashionable diet plans that may work to lose weight but do nothing to ensure you can keep it off for the next 5 years.
But that is just my view. You are entitled to yours, and whatever works to get you both healthy and a healthy weight that you can maintain should be good for your heart as much as the rest of you.
best wishes
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