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MBHPJ
Member
4 years ago

Fasting and Sugar free diet to prevent return of cancer.

Can anyone point me in the direction of reliable research concerning fasting and sugar free diets preventing cancer reoccurance. I am in the middle of treatment for an aggressive type of cancer triple positive Grade 3, so want to give my body its best chance.
Thank you
  • @MBHPJ Soon after I finished my treatment, I was invited by the Cancer Council, to participate in a programme called "Healthy Living After Cancer". It was run by the University of Queensland. It took 6 months & was done over the phone. It consisted of many parts, one being Healthy Eating. It went into depth about the foods you should be eating & those you should avoid. I remember asking the very question "What foods should I eat to prevent recurrence?" to which the reply was "There is none!" As mentioned above, they told me just eat a healthy diet & get regular exercise. It was a wonderful programme & I learnt a lot from it even though I have always been a healthy person. Good luck xx
  • Hi I read lots of stuff in the early days until one of my friends who is a retired nurse said to me “ the internet is a library with no librarian”.
    I have seen a nutritionist who specialises in cancer patients and she said the important thing is to eat a balanced diet with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and adequate protein ( fish is great) and to eliminate or cut drastically alcohol.
    I don’t believe there is a scientific conclusion that eliminating sugar can prevent cancer recurrence and as others have said there is sugar in many natural foods like fruit which are good for you.
    Eliminating or drastically cutting down on processed foods that contain sugar ( like cakes and biscuits) is a win win as it will help your healthy heart.
  • MBHPJ said:
    Totally agree with the healthy eating which I am trying to do!!!! Have had a single mascectomy and have one last AC to go next Friday then on to weekly Taxol. How about you?
    @MBHPJ Yes, me too, although in giving up drinking since my diagnosis I must admit I have found comfort in after dinner chocolate 😬...have also upped intake of fruit and veges though...I’ve had a triple lumpectomy on left boob, and have just started letrozole. Just waiting on genetic testing to confirm whether to have mastectomies or radiation.

    I tend to agree with @afraser about the sugar...seems sensible to cut down or cut out added refined sugar and processed foods ...but sugars/carbs are in fruit and veg and whole grains too and I can’t believe it would be healthy to eliminate them.
  • I am not sure that there is a reliable (ie scientifically credible) about the benefits of a sugar free diet, assuming you could achieve that, as distinct from a low sugar diet, which is more achievable. Glucose (the form of sugar used most in the body) feeds every cell in the body, and is so important to the function of your brain that the body has several back up strategies to keep blood sugar levels normal. Even without any carbohydrate in the diet, your body will make sugar from other sources, including protein and fat. The notion that sugar ‘feeds’ cancer cells is nowhere near as clear as it sounds! There is some support for limited fasting, which in combination with a good, balanced diet (vegetables, fibre protein) may be the best bet for any of us in keeping healthy. Remember too that, if you are having chemo, your taste buds can be affected, another challenge for healthy eating, but at least a finite one. Best wishes
  • Totally agree with the healthy eating which I am trying to do!!!! Have had a single mascectomy and have one last AC to go next Friday then on to weekly Taxol. How about you?
  • https://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/can-fasting-reduce-recurrence-risk

    This is something I’m interested in too, although I read one study that suggested breast cancer cells might actually thrive on you fasting 🤷🏼‍♀️.

    It seems universally accepted that healthy eating is a good idea though, right? and a good diet and exercise pattern that helps you maintain a healthy weight. 

    I listened to this podcast today. He points out that it is important to get enough nutrition during active treatment for best healing.