Sunshine is the best medicine

Hi All

AN all too brief long weekend in the sun but boy has it lifted my spirits! I've been reading a bit about the physical benefits of the resultant Vitamin D boost and am sure this is spot on.

I am now looking at improving my diet by reducing refined carbs, sugars and upping lean protein, veg, good oils etc. Obviously will need to keep an eye on my weight though it is nowhere near critical at 11 stone 11 pounds stripped!! I am still concerned about whether cancer cells really do feed on glucose.

Anyone got any thoughts on diets as there seem to be so many cranky topics on the interweb!

Love and Peace

Mike

Hiya Mike,

So nice to hear you've got your chipperiness back a bit! As for diet I do have some tips. I happen to sit next to a triathelete hard as nails scotsman and after I'd got over being scared of the man (turns out he's amusingly dour, not scary) he's shared some of his uber nutrition tips. I asked for easy things to try and substitute into normal days.

Easy things to try;

1. Goats Milk - Aparently whole, unpasturised goats milk is fab. We don't digest the good nutrition in cows milk easily as fat molecules are too large for good absorption (inhereted knowledge not my research). Apparently Mum's on a goats milk delivery rounte - whod've known!

2. Any organic fruit/veg picked and ate raw or whizzed for smoothies/juice (can hide some spinach or other uber good stuff along with sweeter stuff and not notice!) especially if drunk straight away while all the good stuff is active as poss. He recommended a mascerating juicer - pricy, but best and easy to clean. Whizzer can make fruit froth more than juice sometimes.

3. Algae extracts - He enthusiastically recommended these as super foods/antioxidants and there's some stuff out there to support that - can get pill form or add exract to food (pasta sauce / smoothies / soups).

More generally I've seen lots about alkaline diets. Fairly well established that tumours love an acidic environment, but that's a product of the cancer and not, according to medical opinion, something that causes or promotes cancer. It's also been widely debunked that diet can defeat the body's natural PH regulation activity to produce more than a transient effect on systemic alkalinity. I'll leave you to make your own mind up about that and wikipedia has a fairly balanced write up.

Have obviously, like many others, seen supposed benefits of occasionally medically prescribed, but otherwise illegal herbage in oil, tincture or natural form. Not for the happy side, but for pain, nausea and for the cannabidols that work like equivalents naturally occuring in our bodies on cannabidol receptors to have a reportedly positive effect on tumour control. Proper research is sparse and I DO NOT advocate this unless medically agreed and prescribed.

More generally and mainstreamly may be worth getting your bloods done to check for any vitamin or mineral deficiencies. Poor vitamin A, D, K absorption can be side effect of pancreatic enzyme shortage and if, like us, you've never been offered a chat with a dietician and had suggestions that vitamin supplements are needed waved off by oncologists, it's probably worth finding an enlighted GP to help.

As always, not claiming expertise in any of this, but this is some of the stuff my research has turned up so far.

Take care m'dear and looking forward to hearing more of the great vibes you so generously share.

Sarah

Hey Mike

So pleased you enjoyed your weekend away...ah sunshine...whats that again???

The only advice I can give you with regards to mom was when she had stomach pain episodes we found acidic foods and fatty foods caused a lot of issues. I tried looking again for you as I did for mom when she was first diagnosed and there really isnt a great deal of advice on what is best to eat/avoid on the internet is there?

Sarah gave some great advice there tho wish I'd had that advice a while back.

Just been off to my sisters for a bit so I did manage to have a lil break myself but although it was by the sea it was darn cold lol.

As always you sound like your spirits are high .. talking of spirits .. I see a bottle of rose with my name on it .... hehe .... always thinking of you Mike

Hugz n love

to you and yours

Marie xx

Pleased to hear that you found some sunshine.

An interesting point you mentioned was cancer feeds on glucose.

I had an email recently and the person said in it twice - cancer feeds on sugar.

I dismissed it but could there be any truth in this.

Anyway glad that you are feeling refreshed.

Arlene. x

Thanks All

I did have a little wobble when my comfort blanket of being on the clinical trial was removed but am now totally relaxed and confident that the excellent level of care at xx will continue. In fact yesterday the senior oncology nurse went out of her way to find me during my now routine chemo session. We had a good chat which I really appreciated as Wednesday is an incredibly busy day for her department.

I am investigating the dietary information but do have to agree that the dieticians I've seen in the NHS have promoted a weight gain diet as I guess that is the commonest problem for which cancer patients are referred. I think in real life this would mean all the junk food you would normally try to avoid. I'm really trying to sort out the trendy rubbish from the facts but not finding it easy but refined sugar, carbs and transfats seem to be best avoided as sources of glucose on which cancer cells may be able to feed. Hey Ho it's keeping me out of mischief for now though I've got my cycling club Christmas Lunch today so diet out of the window!!

Love and Peace

Mike xx

awesome eat all the yummies Mike hehe ...

Felt like I had a productive day today, went round all my local doctors and got permission to put Pancreatic Poster common misdiagnosis posters up today .. AND .. handed the modules in so the GPS could educated themselves ... hope it helps someone .. even one person ....

Aren't people great I think some of the nurses are amazing and some actually do get really attached, I think some people you just do get like that with regardless you can;t help it, so nice that nurse went out of her way to find you

Hey BTW Northeast of england taking a right hammering we're getting flood warnings everywhere sea is 3 metres above normal level even before high tide .. hating gateshead/newcastle right now .. hope the weathers better where you guys are, I live very close to the river so have kept me swimming goggles out just in case (hehe)

roll on the spring eh

hugz

marie

xx

also Mike,

Mom and I got so much conflicting advice it did our head in, our cancer specialist basically said, whatever was bad for you before (because of her diabetes) is now good for you eat high fats as often as you can...then I started doing that ... and one of our macmillan nurses said NOOOOOOOOOooooooo she has diabetes ... then we went back to the original guy who contradicted her again .. in the end I just thought screw it ... 'mom eat what you want'

I think tho original guy was correct in reality a healthy diet is great and you can still have that but you just gotta fill it with high fats to get that weight kept on and keep on taking the creon (possible even higher doses) if you're going to increase your fat content..

am probably teaching my granny to suck eggs .. lol

cept I think you're younger than me .. and .. er ... you're deffo male...

soz just trying to make you smile (you've had so much woe is me stuff from me lol)

hugz

'again'

Marie

xx

Marie

Loved my brief stay on Tyneside in the early 70s though we lived in the executive transit camp Darras Hall out at Ponteland. Great city!!

I will sort out the wheat from the chaff in the dietary debate but yesterday enjoyed my Belly Pork, fat and all followed by pear crumble and custard!! No booze though as I've decided that is what gives me the "trots"!!

"Teaching your granny" indeed - well I am 69 and my kids are 40 and 30!! It's my 4 year old granddaughter' s school play today so looking forward to that and yet another lunch with daughter and my friend from Lanzarote - more diet denial!!

Keep up your excellent campaigning - as you say it may help save just one life and that would make it all so worthwhile.

Love and Peace

Mike xx

As someone whose Mum has recently been diagnosed with inoperable pc I have no experience of diets which would help, however I have done a lot of reading over the past 2-3 years about nutrition and sincerely believe that cutting as much processed foods, sugar and wheat out of your diet can only be for the good.

I gave up wheat 3 years ago and now no longer suffer from crippling arthritis in my hands. I try to eat mainly good meat, fish and vegetables and very little in the way of carbs unless it's from veg like carrots, parsnips etc. I have cut out rice, bread, pasta and potatoes and do not miss them.

Good fats like coconut oil, butter and olive oil are essential for your body and brain function too. For too long fat has been demonised and it's quite likely that many health problems have been caused by low fat diets etc in the past.

We need to eat like our ancestors - 3 meals a day with a good amount of protein & fat. I agree with Vit D intake too - especially in the UK where we get little natural Vit D3 from sunlight during the year.

Best wishes

Ruth

By the way I am 61!

Hey Mike and Ruth ...

OOOh Mike you come across as someone WAY younger (that positive attitude of yours).. so I'm the baby 47 ... I used to work in Ponteland at the Police Headquarters but have never been to darras hall ... ANY excuse to have lovely food am up for it hehe BUT I totally agree with you Ruth about processed food I absolutely refused to give my mom anything processed and I went to my sisters for a meal a coupla days ago and she gave me processed 'chicken' ... I felt like I had poisoned my body as I didn't want to offend her. I do like rice though and I have a rice cooker and eat it everyday I practically live off the stuff .. my daughters boyfriend is chinese and he is introducing us to some amazing food, their country has some of the healthiest people going so am taking his advice on food options as theres only so much I can do with rice lol.

hugz

Marie

xx

Hi all,

Thanks for the interesting conversation on 'diet'. We must agree this can be area of 'conflicting advice'. In general, it is important to give the 'patient' food that they want to eat and enjoy eating, as you may know, the taste buds do change and appetite and desires will change along with that during this diagnosis, this can be exacerbated by chemotherapy and other medications. I know it was mentioned that 'you eat all the things you have been told not to eat previously' and the reason behind this is that many patients with pancreatic cancer lose so much weight, this is the only avenue they have of trying to regain weight. As you have mentioned Marie, this all then goes out the window if you are diabetic.

Trying to find the right balance is difficult, really it needs to be 'desirable' for the patient, and in the early stages especially important that it is easy to digest and does not cause gas and discomfort. Also as we all know the role of Creon is important in digesting the high protein, high carbohydrate and also the fats in our diet. For those patients who are struggling and also diabetic, your diabetic nurse may be really knowledgeable and helpful in this area if you are finding it too difficult to be in contact with a dietician.

Certainly juices are a wonderful source of vitamins, however important to be aware that if the patient is not accustomed to drinking these juices in the first instance, it may take some time to adapt, and also some of the juices can be a little 'strong' for want of a better word if the patient has a sore mouth (ie from oral thrush or stomatitis), as sometimes can occur with chemotherapy. Otherwise they are great. Also if you are able to add some ginger, this may help with any nausea.

Dianne

Support Team

Hi Dianne,

Your advice on the change in tastebuds, you are so right. Mom in the last 4 mths nothing tasted nice to her, her tea all the food she normally ate, this was a particularly trying time to get mom to eat or drink anything, she ended up on orange sugar free ice-cubes I made she loved those..but all the supplements mom hated the taste of them all.

Some nurses said fizzy pop was great for the gas build up that came with moms partial (turned to full) obstruction others said it would make her worse, my advice with that one is at least try it once ... it did actually help my mom bring gas up.

Acidic fruits caused mom lots of digestion problems .. fibre caused lots of problems... when she was having sickness bouts fatty foods added to the problem.

I totally agree with the ginger, I introduced this later on and mom had a lot of ginger and it really helped.

A small piece of ginger cake with some low sugar custard she loved that.

My mom was sneaky tho and would eat sweets when I was out of the room...naughty mommy lol.

I certainly do not envy anyone going through the diet problems but if anyone I know does find out anymore invaluable advice I will certainly pass that info on .. speaking of which I was just browsing and found this site .. has some really good tips on there..

http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_diet_cancer_prevention.htm

hugz

Marie