Topic: Does anyone else have trouble working out what they are supposed to eat now?
Does anyone else have trouble working out what they are supposed to eat now?
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 03:19PM
celeste
I consider my self a relatively intelligent person (maybe I'm too thick to realise otherwise!). Since dx and treatment I decided it was time for diet changes - although I thought I ate quite healthily. Well I bought Jane Plant's book - quite beyond me - and other 'don't get cancer again' cook books and I confess I give up. I find the receipes take ages, turn out disgusting and even when I think they are good my family look upon it as a kind of penance they have to endure. Does anyone know a ' how not to get etc.....' which offers simple quick and edible receipes, or do I have to make much more effort - purgatory!
Good Website
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 04:09PM
JenniferHulford
wwwdotwhfoodsdotcom
Then look at 'Eating Right For Your Disease'. I found that this site offered some really useful info and makes a worthy attempt to explain some of the controversial issues i.e. soya or not, in laymans terms.
Jennifer
join the queue Celeste
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 04:50PM
JC
I had just got my head round being vegetarian after being one for years and years.... then capow!!!! VEGAN. Virtually impossible to even find vegetarian meals that do not contain skimmed milk powder. Limiting soya is fine - but try and do it whilst still having tasty meals. Lettuce butties get a bit boring after a while!!!
I bought the book (£1) THE L PLATE VEGAN (e mail info(at)beanieshealthfoods.co.uk ) and found it really helpful whilst allowing me to adapt the foods and info in it to some quite good meals, and alter vegetarian recipes to suit my own personal fight against cancer.
Love Joy x
Having the same nightmare!
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 05:03PM
blossom
I went to a workshop for bc patients last week. The nutritional advice they gave was as follows:
- go dairy-free, if you must have dairy make it organic
-limit soya intake too
both the above particularly important for er+ & pr+
- try to have 8-9 portions of fruit and veg a day
- go organic as much as possible
- eat oily fish 2-3 times a week
- limit saturated fats, caffeine, sugar, processed foods etc.
- limit intake of meat and make it organic
I am having a TOTAL nightmare trying to find something to put in my tea that isn't dairy or soya and also tastes ok. I'm sticking to organic cows milk for now. Luckily I like fruit, veg, pulses etc. I'm going to have a consultation with the nutritionist to see if she can suggest anything else - or say which is worse; dairy or soya? So that I can eliminate one or the other. Good grief, it's hard work!
food nightmare!!!
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 05:23PM
celeste
Exactly - serenity - even a cup of tea is now complex. My cupboards are now stocked with things that I have bought for individual receipes that all deemed disgusting and I have absolutely no idea what to with them now. I really think there is a niche market here. The Idiots Guide to cooking quick simple healthy things that won't give you cancer. I find this much more complicated than understanding my path results!
I saw a book
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 06:35PM
JenniferHulford
in Tesco the other day, I think it was called 'Cooking Without...' and was for vegetarians. Seemed to be mainly aimed at removing dairy from diet as most veggie recipes rely heavily on cheese etc. The recipes did not look exciting to me so did not buy it, but you may want to have a look.
Tesco also do oat milk and almond milk for those who feel that way inclined. I have given up builders tea in favour of Green Tea - 'sposed to be beneficial too.
Jennifer.
I recommend
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:30PM
jp
"The Breast Cancer Prevention & Recovery Diet". The author is a nutritionist who had breast cancer (so you can probably forget the "prevention" bit in the title!) but it is packed with helpful nutritional information and also contains easy useful recipes.
I recommend
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:33PM
jp
"The Breast Cancer Prevention & Recovery Diet" by Suzannah Olivier. The author is a nutritionist and has had breast cancer, so you can probably forget the "prevention" part of the title (!) but it is packed with helpful nutritional informaton and also contains useful easy recipes.
Not only that
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:38PM
nj
but which vitamin supplements are safe, which toiletries to use (parabens v. ineffective), etc.etc.
I loathe the taste of green tea, but health food shops sell tablets containing the beneficial bits!
I have the Suzannah Olivier book and think it's quite sensible (unlike Jane Plant).
My philosophy on food
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 11:07PM
JaneRA
Women have very problematic relationships with food..all our lives we are conditioned to eat this and that..try this diet, detox here, deny there..not to mention rustling up tasty little recipes from life enhancing food. Then when we get breast cancer there's another game to play on denial, and eating to beat cancer and eating your broccoli and balancing or eliminating your soy and your dairy.
A healthy diet as we all probably know is rich in fruit and veg, nicely balanced, organic meat if we must, oily fish, and then there is a little bit of real evidence for those of us er- and pr- that a, low fat diet is a jolly good thing and might make a couple of percentage points difference.
Luckily if you're middle calss and/or reasonably well off as I am, you can indulge the organic stuff, and the fruit from the farmer's market and feel slightly superior as you turn down the chocolate cake and the Burger King.
At the end of the day I see no evidence that once you've got breast acncer your diet makes any differnece to survival, though it can maybe make you feel well or not so well.
So I carry on enjoying good food, eating in nice restaurnats, indulging my catholic tastes and surprising people I bump into at breast cancer conferences that yes I actually like peppermint tea and chick peas..along with the haagen dasa and the rump steak (organic of course.)
Eat well..enjoy food while you can....it is one of life's great pleasures along with sex and good conversation.
Jane
with Jane.
posted Wed, 30 Nov 2005 11:36PM
belinda
I eat a healthy, varied diet, organic at home but if eating out I go with the flow.
Belinda.xx
Oh Dear, Jane
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 10:59AM
JC
Did you mention the sex word? That's yet another problem with er+ cancers ....... If only broccolli could solve that one too!
Joy xxx
Food
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 11:40AM
Barbiemac
I try to eat a pretty healthy diet and always have done but I'm not prepared to make my life a complete misery by endlessly worrying what I should or shouldn't eat.
That old chestnut - 'Everything in Moderation' comes to mind!!
B x
Food
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 02:48PM
Isadora
I'm relieved to read that lots of us are 'dairy free' etc as I sometimes feel I am going out on a limb with this as some of my non-cancerous friends are somewhat sceptical, and a Doc at my clinic got really cross with me early on when I mentioned 'dairy-free' so I don't talk about it anymore except to my homeopath.
Jane Plant's book 'Your Life in Your Hands' was the main thing that got me out of the depths of grief and despair after dx so I'm a bit of a fan of hers, though I admit some of the recipes are a bit difficult, but I just use some and adapt others. I tend to eat 'Plant' type meals for lunch and breakfast when the rest of the family are elsewhere amd cook 'normal' meals with organic produce where possible in the evenings. I still give the kids dairy products, but only organic these days, especially after reading about the way cows are now kept indoors and kept pregnant 10 months in every 12.
I have a book 'Lactose Free' 'Great Healthy Eating' by Lucy Knox & Sarah Lowman which has some pretty normal recipes in which go down OK with the family as well.
I do actually feel much better for being non-dairy and have lost a lot of niggling complaints I used to have including suspected IBS so I think its worth it, and as with all lifestyle changes after dx they also have the psychological effect of making it seem as though I am doing something for myself and regaining some sense of being a bit more in control.
Yes - moderation in all things though as I found to my cost when I overdosed on shiitake mushrooms and ended up with a ghastly itchy rash!
Am I being absolutely thick here - what did the comment about er+ and sex mean??
Happy eating!!
Isadora
ER+ and SEX
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 02:55PM
celeste
.....how quickly problems with food become overshadowed, by an even greater problem that we might not know about it. So spill the beans JC whats with ER+ and Sex - I would desparately hate to miss out on a symptom!
Am I right Joy?
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 03:18PM
belinda
I was thinking of the hormonal treatments for er+ which often have the menopausal side effects of lack of desire and lubrication!
xx
jane & belinda
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 05:14PM
blossom
I've more or less decided that at home I'm going to try and go organic and dairy/soya free but I do like to eat out, and do so about 2-3 times a month. So if I eat out I'm going to eat what I want, within reason - It's totally unrealistic to expect to follow "the rules" if you're not at home. And, I LOVE good food - we've all had a wake-up call going through bc - life is for living, we may as well enjoy it!
ER+ / sex
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 05:20PM
Isadora
Thank goodness for that - I thought someone had found some research which said that you shouldn't have sex if you were ER+ !!
Roll out the oysters!
Isadora
Food for thought
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 05:23PM
Sharron
This is my take on the whole food thing, I'm a bit over it all to be honest.... I even wrote a little poem and im not a poet!!
Meat free, dairy free, chocolate free and sugar free
This all just confuses me, am I only allowed to drink green tea?
Eat soy don’t eat soy eat more rice, eat more greens
Again it just confuses me, what can I eat just kidney beans?
Read this book, read that book, don’t eat this don’t eat that
What to do what to say, what can I do I’ll just have to pray
Try Vegetarian, Macrobiotic and vegan is another too
Just words to me, again confusing with all of them I just need the loo!
Does it work, who’s to say
Where’s the proof at the end of the day
If you feel good then eat away
Live life for now, ‘cause we’re here to stay!
Thank you, I’m off to have a piece of organic chocolate cake... yum!
(from someone who tried a strictly macrobiotic diet for 3 months and ended up very ill in hospital for 2 weeks, very skinny, very weak and very sick. Not recommended, all in moderation!)
re sex
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 05:32PM
JC
Yes. Belinda is right. Don't panic!!! On some of the other threads there are quite a few of us with er+ tumours who are now having problems in the bedroom area as the medication takes away oestrogen and so the libido disappears and a cup of tea is preferable!!!!
Arimidex is a killer for this. The problem is too that all the potions supposed to help the sex drive or the herbs (black cohosh, red clover, clarey sage, etc.) contain oestrogen so we cannot take them....... We are all still searching on other threads for a magic ingredient but so far the only solutions are not to do with our DIET.
Love Joy xxx
libido - where did it go?
posted Thu, 01 Dec 2005 06:28PM
celeste
I am not on hormone treatment - but deeply menopausal in all areas. I've found I've either turned into a nymphomaniac - which isn't quite so attractive as it used to be - or more likely - in fact much more likely - well lets just say tumbleweed in the desert. Does this improve after the menopause ir is this it now. I clearly should have been reading books about the menopause rather than blessed BC. Coupled with the fact that I did notice this year on holiday that all the men noticed my teenage daughters and even the oldest ugliest most lecherous were not even casting a glance at me. Is this the end have I gone beyond being a lust object and will I ever feel lust again!