If you had asked me 15 years ago what I’d do if I got a diagnosis of metastatic cancer, I think my answer would be something like pack up my backpack, hike the Appalachian trail, have a bunch of beers around a campfire and eat steak and fried chicken every night until I died.
Unfortunately there’s not a lot of medical research that a fried chicken, skittles and beer diet will help fight off cancer and I’ve got kids to live for, so we’re on to other options…
There is some decent data that an inflammatory diet can help, and almost every cancer survivor I know have done some form of changing their diet. After all, if it’s not your environment that caused it, what else is your primary input? Inspired mostly from this book my wife has helped switch my diet to basically 100% anti-inflammatory foods.
What foods are anti-inflammatory? On the one hand it’s a lot of stuff I already liked and did eat occasionally: Nuts, seeds, leafy greens, olive oil, green tea, fatty fish. But on the other hand, it’s a lot of food I didn’t eat - berries, cauliflower, yogurt, beans.
Inflammatory foods on the other hand are pretty much everything delicious: Processed meat like bacon, refined carbohydrates like potato chips, fried food, cereal, alcohol and sugar. A good rule is if you can find it at a gas station, it’s probably inflammatory.
I’ve been on this diet for two weeks, and so far don’t notice any huge differences (some people describe more energy, etc…) - it’s a diet I’d aspirationally want pre-cancer - it certainly feels more natural, eating fresh whole foods, and it’s incredibly filling.
The biggest challenge is making sure I don’t lose weight on this diet (since weight loss is the biggest indicator of progressing cancer). I know from past experience if I go low carb I start shedding pounds quick. My wife has been great about preparing three delicious meals per day plus snacks to keep the weight up. Since I don’t normally eat breakfast at all, even adding a third meal makes me incredibly full all the time.
Luckily Asian food (which is my favorite) is also mostly all anti-inflammatory - if it’s in an Indian diet, it’s usually anti-inflammatory, which further supports the theory since India has lower cancer levels in a highly carcinogenous environment.
What are your favorite anti-inflammatory foods and snacks?
For other reasons, I have been on an anti-inflammatory diet for 1 year and as everything, after 30 days, you get used and you even change your food preferences and taste. For example, I used to love pasta and pizza and cheeses, now I don't like pizza any more. I read in a book that the mental model shift is moving from buying products at the supermarket to buy ingredients. Also, I use an app that is called Yuka that helps a lot preventing us from buying products with damaging chemicals (food but also deodorant and other everyday essentials). On food preferences, my favorite ones are the omega-3 fat ones which helps also staying on weight: olive oil, avocado, I also take omega-3 suplement every day. After 1 year I reduced a lot my internal inflamation as measured by the amount of antibodies that I have attaching my thiroides. Green apples, lemon, curcuma and ginger are fantastic. For indian food it is fantastic but for me I need to avoid cow milk. Curry is awesome but better if it is with coconut milk as cow milk can be inflammatory. I hired for some months a nutritionist to help me. One point important as you transition is also making sure you consume the needed amount of proteins. In my case, many mornings I do my own almond-milkshakes with healthy protein powder, almond butter, banana and flax seeds. It is delicious, happy to share more some tips that are working for me
Thank you for sharing what you are learning and trying in this process. We would all do well to eat healthier and not skipping the carbs is something good to do, especially those of us who have Acute Intermittent Porphyria. You are blessed to have a good wife to help you figure all this out!❤️🤔🙏🏻🙏🏻