healthy eating

Of course doctors can and do recommend a healthy diet. Perhaps some do recommend particular foods. But my personal experience positive3negative has been that other than recommend vitamin D supplements, medical professionals - my oncologist, nurses, a dietician - have all been unwilling to recommend anything more specific in realtion to diet than to eat a balanced diet with lots of vegetables. That's fine as far as it goes.

But it seems to me that certain foods are mentioned time and time again - in books, on websites, in scientific literature - as showing promise in minimising the risk of cancer occuring or recurring. These include cruciferous vegetables in particular, green tea, flaxseeds, carrots, apples, high fibre foods, omega-3 oils, walnuts, pomegranates to name a few. (I certainly don't claim to know everything on this topic.)

I don't think anyone on this feed has suggested that eating any one or any combination of these foods will prevent or cure cancer. In fact I took particular care to avoid making that suggestion in my posts. I agree that scientific literature is difficult for the layperson to interpret and  I understand that what may kill cancer cells in a petri dish doesn't necessarily work in the human body. And I also agree that we should discuss any dietry changes with our oncologists (especially while undergoing chemo).

But my point was that when study after study is suggesting that  a particular food may reduce the risk of cancer, and that food is generally healthy to eat anyway, it would seem reasonable to recommend to cancer patients to include that food in their diet. If doctors were more willing to do this, lay people, like myself and others on this site, wouldn't be forced to trawl through the internet trying to work out for ourselves what sources we should and shouln't trust.

I think you are selling the women on this site short. I've read barely any posts on this network about miracle cures through food or other means. I doubt that any of us after what we've been through expect to achieve total control over our health. However, i think all of us want to do whatever we can to safeguard our health as far as that is possible. And I for one would appreciate a little more information from the medical professionials about what the latest research is indicating in regard to food, information that may help tip the balance a little way in our favor. 

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