7 minute read

Into the great unknown

Over the last couple of posts, one of the things I talked about was the role that diet played in helping me survive chemotherapy.

Next, I would turn my attention to how I was going to ensure that the food I was eating after my cancer treatment was the ‘right’ food. The problem was, I didn’t know then what the ‘right’ foods were going to be.

There is so much information online that I found it a bit overwhelming at first, and it can actually be quite hard to make changes to your diet. That’s why I would say that whatever you decide it can help to make small changes over a longer period of time.

My advice would be to allow yourself to be flexible and try new things because it probably took me a few months to get to a place where I feel like I understand the relationship between cancer and diet, especially the powerful effect that food and nutrition could have in my fight against this terrible disease.

You will undoubtedly come to your own conclusions, however, one thing that normally stands out over everything else is that eating a diet filled with whole plant-based foods has been shown to have more benefits than any other.

Suddenly, it seems like plant-based foods are everywhere right now, and for good reason. It may not be a new concept, but we do now know that cancer rates are significantly lower among populations consuming mostly plant-based diets. Not only that, but there is also convincing evidence emerging that red and processed meats are a course of some cancers.

That’s why one of the first decisions I made was to eat more plant-based foods and stop eating red and processed meat, although I should say that based on everything I’ve read, it generally seems to be accepted that you can still eat some meat as part of a healthy balanced diet.

I still eat poultry and fish, typically up to 3 times a week (personally, I avoid farmed meats because, other than the level of cruelty involved, these animals tend to be pumped full of all sorts of nasties and can actually be pretty toxic). Contrary to a lot of diet advice, I dont think that you need to eliminate any food or food group. Eating still needs to be enjoyable.

A healthy, balanced diet should contain a variety of foods and now can be a good time to try new things. The key is to eat the right amount of something. Unquestionably, there are good foods and bad foods, and you’re probably going to want to limit the bad foods (red meat, processed food, and foods high in saturated/trans fats and sugar).

Negotiate the non-negotiables

This blog is about living well with cancer, and I believe that you can do this by making some pretty simple and realistic changes in your life. For me, it’s not about non-negotiable diets, nutritional supplements, detoxification regimes, intravenous Vitamin C, glutathione treatments… I put my faith in foods which are:

• High in antioxidants;
• Anti-inflammatory;
• Known to boost immunity; and
• Shown to repair DNA.

None of these things are yet proven to fight cancer, but there are lots of benefits to eating well when you are living with cancer. That’s why I now eat a diet that is:

• High in fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains; and
• Low in meat, fish, eggs, and dairy.

I aim for a diet that is around 85% plant-based, but you should take the time to find what works for you because the best diet is going to be one that you choose (and stick to). It probably doesn’t help that a lot of the plant-based foods that you buy in supermarkets, etc. are pretty awful and ultra-processed. The price can also be an issue!

Personally, I dont understand fake meats, and they can be really unhealthy. I prefer Tofu which was new to me but I find it to be a good substitute to meat and has the advantage of being high in protein and cancer-fighting ‘phytoestrogens’ (naturally occurring plant compounds structurally similar to estrogen).

I buy an (organic) extra firm tofu, which goes well in curries and stif fries (any rice or noodle dish really). I dont always buy organic though, because of the high cost and also because you dont necessarily need to – In the UK, it isn’t always easy to buy organic food, and it’s almost always more expensive (they try and tell us it’s because of the higher costs of producing organic food, but it isn’t the farmers who are profiting).

Organic food is almost always going to be healthier overall. For a start, it’s grown without genetically modified ingredients, artificial colours, or preservatives (which means no synthetic pesticides, fertilisers, hormones, or antibiotics) Some studies have also shown that organic food may have more nutrients and taste nicer.

Send in the dirty dozen

I’m not going to feel bad for not always buying organic though, and neither should you. There are plenty of studies that show non-organic foods have similar levels of vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates, and not all fruit and vegetables are grown the same.

Ues, there are some, like berries and tomatoes, which are known to contain higher levels of pesticide residue whereas others, like sweet potato and avocado, are generally thought of as being ‘cleaner’ – Search online for the organic dirty dozen if, like me, money is an issue.

Some people will tell you that you should only eat organic foods, but I just don’t find this practical. Mind you, some people will tell you that there’s a supplement or superfood that’s going to cure your cancer. To me, it just isn’t believable (and the ‘evidence’ they refer to has often been misunderstood or misused).

These days, I’m wary of ‘evidence’ because I’ve been duped one too many times. It’s really easy to prove almost anything, but these studies rarely stand up to closer inspection. That’s where I come in though, and hopefully by now, you’re starting to think about making changes to your diet.

This is only the beginning of this topic, and I’ll be visiting it in more detail in future posts. With up to 50% of cancers being linked to diet, lifestyle, and environmental factors, though, next, I’ll be asking myself the question: Did I give myself cancer?