May 15, 2006
the cancer diet
I’m starting a new diet with the goal of healing my body, and recovering quickly from treatment. I’m using Paul Pitchford’s book Healing With Whole Foods as a basis. It’s a kind of bible of nutrition that I’ve had sitting on my shelf for many years, now being put to good use. It has a whole chapter on diet for cancer and other degenerative diseases.
The main goal of my diet is an emphasis on organic whole foods, and avoiding overly refined, manufactured food and toxins.
Specifically eating more:
- whole grains and seeds
- legumes
- veggies
- fruit
and avoiding:
- all refined products (e.g. sugar, refined flour)
- meat
- dairy
- margarine and polyunsaturated fats
- salt
- chemical additives
- caffeine
- alcohol
The cancer diet is kindof a detox, purgative and regenerative diet in one. On the one hand you’re purging a disease from your system, but you also want something that’s regenerative and strength-building when you’re being zapped with chemo and radiation.
So far so good. I bought a centrifual juicer, and I’ve been making organic apple-beet-carrot (ABC) juice daily, and drinking it by itself mid-morning or mid-afternoon.
Every morning I make a yummy pot of oatmeal, with organic rolled oats (way better than quick oats IMO - try em!), raisins, a mashed banana, and ground flax seed (all the other ingredients are added as the oats cook, so that they cook a bit too and the flavours mix). Today I cooked a separate pot of amaranth (it takes longer to cook than the oats), and stirred that in too. Then a splash of soy or rice milk for flavour. I make enough that I only eat half in the morning, and eat the other half some other time in the day.
tags: cancer, diet, food, health, hodgkin’s lymphoma, lymphoma, organic
posted: 11:01 pm
RE: Juices. i did a similar juice thing except i didn’t care for the beets all that much! SO i did celery, carrots, apple & ginger. I’m still having it today 4 years later.
I, too, changed my diet except i kept it meats for proteins and to build up red blood cells (an important issue with chemo). Avoided most raw foods (especially sushi, honey and the like) due to the potential presence of bacteria — not good with a temporarily impaired immune system. Plus I had the worst tunafish cravings — had a sandwich every day.
Good idea to consult the nutritionist at BC Cancer Agency as they have a lot of experience on what works and what doesn’t.
If you really want to have fun before the chemo starts, go to a Chinese herbalist. they have immune system booster teas they can put together for you. Mind you, it was the worst thing I ever willingly put in my mouth.
thanks for the tip on the nutritionist, it would be good to get another perspective.