Reduce BC Recurrence Risk Through Fasting
I just read a really interesting book that I thought I would share as it has relevance to BC. Like many middle aged women, perhaps especially those of us on tamoxifen, I have been working really hard to not gain weight. I've even been nursing the so far vain hope that I might lose a couple of kilos. So far despite being pretty careful about my food, exercising at least 4 times a week and just about giving up alcohol, I have gained a kilo.
So I was interested to read recently about the 5-2 intermittant fasting diet in a weekend newspaper. I saw a documentary on it a few months back by doctor/tv presenter Michael Mosley which intrigued me. But it is only this week that I read the book.
What the book proposes is a diet in which you fast (hardly eat anything) for two non-consecutive days a week and eat whatever you feel like on the other 5. You are actually allowed to consume 500 calories worth of food on the fast days so it's not a total fast but still requires a lot of self discipline (asI am finding today).
While I'm keen to lose about 4kg - and hopefully keep it off - an added motivation is that this intermittant fasting, according to Mosley, confers a range of very significant health benefits over and above what you would normally expect as a result of losing weight.
It reduces bad cholesterol, improves your body's ability to regulate insulin and most exciting of all as far as I'm concerned, reduces your risk of cancer. It also appears to minimise the risk of dementia. All of his claims are backed up by scientific research. Have a look at the Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention Centre website if you want to read about research on this diet and breast cancer patients.
Obviously this is not going to be easy to do but according to Mosely and his co-author it is not as hard as you might first imagine and you do get used to it. The book certainly made a very compelling case for it.
So I just thought I would mention it. The book is called The Fast Diet by Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer. I really like the idea that you only diet/fast two days a week and most of the time you can eat what you feel like. Losing some weight is very appealing but reducing the risk of BC coming back definitely makes it worth a try as far as I'm concerned.
