So here I am! I haven’t disappeared, not yet! š In these last months I got myself busy with normal life routinesā¦ Getting back to work, long desired Holidays and a whole week spent with family and friends in Italy. Everything felt so normal – beside the Corona situation.
In this article, I will talk about one of my favourite things beside coffeeā¦ of course I am talking about food! š
As you know, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2019 and started the treatments straightaway.
With hindsight, I can say that in June 2019 I had already gained some weight compared to my āstandardā and in addition to this, I gained more than 10 extra kilograms during the treatments.
I think I gained weight for both medications’ side effects (for instance cortison) and a not so healthy relationship with food.
If at the beginning of the therapy I was barely eating, later on, I was having days when I could literally eat whatever I could find. I was eating for example a whole pack of biscuits and a few seconds later a whole pack of chips. This was giving me satisfaction at the moment, but this feeling was only lasting for a few minutesā¦ as the guiltiness was kicking in.
In the last part of my treatment, during radiation therapies, I realized that the situation was getting out of hand and I was lucky enough to find Dr. Monica Antoniucci, who is still following me.
I started my journey in February 2020 and during this time I learnt a lot about food and about myself.
I learnt to recognize whether I am hungry or if I want to eat for other reasons (i.e boredom, sadness etc.), to accept cravings and how to deal with them.
I learnt to eat a bit of everything with moderation. I learnt how to eat properly. And above all I learnt that we can lose weight without starving, eating decent amounts of food with satisfaction and to not give up on any food you love.
How my body values have changed from February to now.
I decided to ask Monica some questions that came into my mind talking about food/cancer/therapy connection, so here you can find my questions and Monicaās replies!
Enjoy the interview š
Nutrition and cancer: red meat in particular has a “bad reputation”, are there any carcinogenic foods? What are the foods to avoid and / or eliminate their consumption?
It is true, red meat is to be avoided, but you can consume a portion a month if grass-fed or from grazing. This is a good quality type of meat that also contains omega 3! This is due to the fact that cattle eat grass instead of cereal-based food, and are raised in a natural way, instead of just fattening from intensive farming.
In general, fruit and vegetables must be washed well to eliminate any residue, even if minimal, of pesticides that are associated with the development of tumors. We can rest assured that the vegetables we see on the market are subjected to rigorous controls for which the presence of pesticides is almost zero, but having an extra precaution is always good.
Beware of cooking oils: if you leave the pan with oil on the stove for too long and see white smoke, that smoke is carcinogenic, so always prefer olive oil as it resists high temperatures. For exceptional occasions, if you want to consume a portion of fried food, it is advisable to use sunflower oil. Keep in mind, however, that fried food is to be considered just as red meat, and as so, it is to be consumed only once a month.
Beware of nitrates in cold cuts, the consumption of which must be reduced to a minimum. San Daniele DOP ham remains the safest cured meat because it is preserved in a natural way.
Finally, alcohol is to be avoided or at least reduced to a minimum, with a glass of good quality red wine, one-off, not in the regularity of meals.
Diet during chemotherapy. During my therapies, especially in the first part, I had problems with gastric reflux, stomach acid and nausea. What are the most suitable foods to mitigate these side effects?
Unfortunately, these are the classic side effects of chemotherapy. My advice is to test which foods cause the most nausea and avoid them during the first period. There is no fixed rule for which foods to avoid, it is very subjective.
The only advice I can give is to consume dry foods, such as biscuits and crackers instead of bread. For acidity, citrus fruits should be reduced, spices such as chilli and pepper, fatty cheeses, vinegar and sweets should be avoided, at least until the acidity of the stomach improves. Herbal teas that can help the stomach are those based on ginger, peppermint and chamomile.
DVegan diet and cancer. Several cancer patients I have known, after diagnosis and treatment of a tumor, have opted for a vegan diet. What do you think about it?
The vegan diet is an option as it excludes the foods mentioned above. However, I shall remind you that the true Mediterranean diet already is veg-like, as it prioritizes cereals, legumes, fruit and vegetables, with fish and eggs a couple times a week.
For those wishing to follow a vegan diet, remember to supplement with vitamin B12 and omega 3, a powerful anti-inflammatory thatās prevalent in fish and eggs.
However, I would like to clarify that a vegan diet does not cure cancer, and that it is always better to be followed by a professional.
During the therapies, the immune defenses and hemoglobin are the blood counts that drop the most, and on which, among other things, the possibility of proceeding or not with subsequent therapies depends on. Are there foods capable of “raising” these values?
Following a well-balanced diet already raises the immune system. There is no single specific food that can improve the values. For this reason it is advisable to have a food plan made by a competent professional who can indicate specific supplements for the case.
General advice for adequate nutrition during therapies?
Avoid diets āof the momentā. Lately, I have been hearing of people who “believe” the alkaline diet prevents or even cures cancer – there are no scientific studies to support this theory.
The ketogenic diet is a frontier approach, currently under study to develop tumor-specific protocols.
The basic idea is that cancer cells have a metabolism that prefers sugars, while normal cells have other metabolic pathways where energy is obtained from fats – as required by ketogenic.
This does not mean that carbohydrates strengthen cancer cells!!!
It means that, ideally, you could do a round of ketogenic diet weeks before chemotherapy, in order to starve the cancer cells, and then take sugars a few hours before chemotherapy, in order to mainly attack the cancer cells, which, being hungry, will be more responsive to sugar.
This is an approach with great potential, but as I said before it still is under study, as there are many different cases with different tumors, and each has its own tolerability to the ketogenic diet, that must be carefully evaluated, and not everyone can do it.
Basically remember, don’t do things by yourselves. Getting informed is not easy, because you read things that tend to contradict each other. This is because there is no standard rule that applies to everyone. It is always best to follow up with a competent professional who has experience in the field.
Finally, although obvious and trivial, it is important to be active and spend less time on the sofa. Naturally, there are phases of chemotherapy that lower the patient’s energy, but when one feels better or is in remission, physical activity is very important to keep the immune system high.
