I am hoping this will be a place where you will ALL share your tricks and plans, your hopes and goals for trying to be that little bit healthier each day. There is a lot of information available and it is daunting trying to sort through it.I am not only looking for guidelines and links but for your collective practical wisdom - for recipes, for places to source food, for what gets you out of bed and fed in the morning, for what makes you go to sleep at night, and alas the holy grail for what makes you hold it calmly together during the day, while juggling treatments and home and life. Nutritional Science here we come...seriously hoping we can put our heads together and support each other to be that little bit healthier each day.

Hi all - I have scanned the comments over time of this thread and have to wade in. I'm not going to be the peacemaker because as @Afraser says, we are all adults. But I will ask that we reboot the thinking to consider what makes this forum work best and the impact of the words we write.Here I see it's happened again: tone dominating content; misrepresentations and misinterpretations leading some to over reactions and then lashing out. 99% of the time this forum is positive, supportive, caring and a fabulous place for peers to share genuine wisdom through experience. We don't always have to have to last say. We don't always have to be right. We don't always have to agree. That's reality. That's the world we live in. Let's take it down a notch and think about how respectful interactions look and feel like and try to emulate that?Let's think about all the crap we have been forced to endure in this 'journey' and understand that really what unites us is far more amazing and profound than that which divides us!#justsaying :) :) :) :) :* :* :* :* :* :* Nikki

I for one, do not envy our hard working and dedicated moderators. They must sometimes feel as if they are trying to herd cats, or nail jelly to the wall...so difficult. In a group as diverse as ours, our only common ground being this wretched disease, opinions and personalities differ greatly. There has been discussion and difference of opinion on a number of matters, one of which is language. There are a number of us who are not averse to using very ripe language as a stress reducing tool, it is part of our normal vernacular. However, there are some, of a more delicate nature who are deeply offended by this. Balance has to be achieved. There are some who feel that more or less support in the way of separate groups for different demographics should be catered for...but where does it end? A group for younger folks (how about one for the oldies), those who feel there should be one for the childless, as they feel unincluded. One for Christians...how about the Muslims, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Agnostics etc... There has been discussion about costs of tests, treatments and drugs...who gets what at what price. Some rather iffy comments there too. Sometimes a person can get very enthusiastic and keen to share on something in particular, but it can come across as being somewhat zealous, and this can offend. I have, over the years, been doorknocked by groups of very nice, very zealous groups of people of a particular religious persuasion. They are deeply sure that if I would only read what they have to offer, I will gain Eternal Life. They are convinced that they are right and that my ignorance will be a death sentence to me. I make my choice and they make theirs. I feel as a group, we are all probably more informed than Joe Public on various matters relating to breast cancer and all it entails. We can indeed all read, and are (for good and bad), fully able to access all sorts of information via google. I found this group by googling "support groups online...breast cancer..Australia". So, one score in the positive for the Big G. Others have conferred with Dr Google to their detriment. They have looked up side effects of every drug recommended to them by their oncologists, to then go on and cherry pick what they will and won't have. Some have declined treatment and have chosen to eat kale and hop on the treadmill (so to speak). Some are happy with their decision, others have regretted it. There is no 100% right for everybody and no 100% wrong. We are all intelligent beings, and we each have to find our own path through this nightmare. We should feel free to express our individual opinions, but sometimes it's not what is said, but how it is done. and the old adage of "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" can apply. Thank goodness we are all so very different...it makes for a diverse and dynamic group.

Now this is what the Forum in all the time I've been here is about, @tonyaM @Deanne @Romla @Molly001 @Afraser @primek @Zoffiel @iserbrown and everyone else who have added in a very loving way here. I couldnt have said it better the way Marg @Zoffiel just posted and I completely reiterate this...for me I hate seeing people killing themselves believing IF they had just exercised more, ate differently or did things differently they wouldnt be on this bus. The truth is none of that is true...I also get for many it is a sense of control so doing all those things that THEY say to prevent makes them feel much more in control. Experience and not just my own has taught me that its just not true. My point was and still is just do the things that matter to you. All studies are just that minority, thats why there are sooo many things we can't have? or contribute lol. Hmmm Green Tea whoa!!!! I have drank that all my life, so I shouldnt have gotten it once let alone twice??I do share the thoughts of @zoffiel very much, I eat so well and on the days when my compromised body from chemo and meds allows me I will ride my exercise bike or go for a walk. I walk 10,000 everyday in my job. So for a treat last night I had icecream and chocolate woo hoo hahaha!!! because I deserved it and enjoyed it and its about living. Exercise is mandatory in this life for well being period...nothing to do with BC and Professionals will tell you that. Ladies I love a good recipe and have done a heap of things spent with my exercise physiologist for over a year. Ive done it all and Im in a great place....am I naive to think I wont fall 3rd time...hell no...Live the good life, it comes back to self....nurturing and loving who you are however that looks to you. Anyone who knows me here knows my comments come from a heartfelt and honest place. Ive spent many nights offering a kind word to help others through what is an extremely difficult journey...all because I know what those moments feel like. Much love everyone! Melinda xo@Molly001 I just wanted to say, you are an absolute love!! biggest of hugs to you sweet..I hope you are doing OK!

It has been very interesting reading everyone's posts.There is so much care for others displayed even though most of us are strangers to each other.My husband asked me to mention Kerryn McCann, the dual Commonwealth Games marathon runner who died from breast cancer nearly 10 years ago aged 41. How much more exercise could a person do? How much fitter could you be?

Diet, exercise, lifestyle to decrease the risk of BC recurrence

109 Replies

Wildplaces
Member
8 years ago
HRT

https://canceraustralia.gov.au/publications-and-resources/position-statements/hormone-replacement-therapy-hrt-and-risk-breast-cancer

I did not take HRT ( was premenopausal at diagnosis), but I did take the OC for short burst of time over the years.
Wildplaces
Member
8 years ago
Let's see if my attaching a file as a PDF works - alas it's on Yoga, about which I know very VERY little, but maybe I should learn more:)
Wildplaces
Member
8 years ago
I found this interesting.

https://rd-springer-com.ezproxy.anzca.edu.au/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11912-016-0539-4.pdf
melclarity
Member
8 years ago
I've always been pro exercise, that's never been in question, I think people misconstrue what is being said. For the record after 1st diagnosis as many others I also know, resumed their healthy diets and exercise to still have a recurrence?? So not sure where the risk is less lol clearly in all the populations that didnt have recurrences lol. I'm talking of many many people I know who had recurrences and were fit and healthy before and after.

I absolutely love and recommend exercise you see? but I would hate anyone to be blindsighted thinking by doing all these things it will not happen to them, thats all Im saying. Like everything do the things you enjoy that enhance your life and make you happy...x
Romla
Member
8 years ago
I understand it may not help an individual but according to the research presented at San Antonio in 2016 which presented studies of populations of breast cancer people it is believed to mitigate against recurrence - there are no guarantees but is believed the %risk of recurrence is substantially less if these factors are introduced.On top of which is the benefit these kind of changes make to recovery after treatment psychologically and physically .

Lowering risk of recurrence is also why many of us undertake hormone therapy too.It is not a guarantee.

I would not want to discourage anyone from making these changes if there is a chance they may help on any level.I do understand however some have been disappointed in this regard.
melclarity
Member
8 years ago
@Romla i was fit and healthy and pre menopausal prior to BC so none of it reduced the risk at all and sadly everyone I know were the same.
iserbrown
Member
8 years ago
Lots of unanswered questions for us all!
Romla
Member
8 years ago
I think it’s about reducing the risk not eliminating it sadly.Also if one’s health is good we may have a better chance of fighting this disease mentally , emotionally and physically.

As a post menopausal person I wonder if part of this diet/exercise/lifestyle thing is to reduce the fat in my breasts which is converted to oestrogen which has caused my Er+ disease. ie to reduce BMI by making my body leaner.

One question I am interested in is how many women with breast cancer were treated pre bc with hormone drugs- I was prescribed high dose HRT , many women undoubtedly have used the oral contraceptive pill -to my non medical mind I wonder if there is a link to some types of breast cancer.Not that it changes things for me but it may for my daughter’s generation.
iserbrown
Member
8 years ago
We wish it was that simple! If there are strays cells that the treatment doesn't pick up well the odds are not good! @melclarity I am sure that you and others in this predicament followed a healthy lifestyle leading into, during and after treatment - I agree, it is what it is!

My lifestyle leading into was as healthy as it could be but I still ended up in the BC camp - one of the first things said to me by the surgeon was you are in the typical age group - I was sailing through menopause, no effects and I started to think I must've missed it but wham I got the worse kind of side effect of menopause, BC!

Take care
melclarity
Member
8 years ago
I honestly wish it were all that simple, I'm quite sure Jane McGrath had a healthy exercise regime and she also changed over to a healthy diet that included organic vegetables etc.,

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Diet, exercise, lifestyle to decrease the risk of BC recurrence

109 Replies

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