After Breast Cancer, How Do You Select The Right Diet?

When people are first diagnosed with breast cancer, many look for ways to change their diet to improve their chances of survival and reduce the risk of the cancer recurring. Given how much information is available from clinics, books and the internet, it's easy to get swamped. So how do you get started picking the best diet for you?

A good place could be the nature of your cancer, with the first question - was your cancer hormonally responsive? The prime culprit is often oestrogen. If you're not sure if your cancer was hormonally responsive, then check with your doctor. They should already have tested you for this, and if you are on drugs like Arimidex, Tamoxifen, and other Aromatase inhibitors, then oestrogen is probably a key factor.

This means that any diet you choose should help you eat to beat the oestrogen. Excessive oestrogen is linked to cancers in men and women from melanomas to ovarian, from prostate to colon. And of course breast cancer.

How does your diet help to control oestrogen? Well, the following habits will all increase oestrogen...

Eating high fat and protein

Being overweight caused by eating excessive calories

High sugar content diets

BUT - certain foods can reduce aggressive oestrogen levels, converting it to less aggressive forms;

Eating natural compounds and sleeping well; eating certain foods can block the action of some oestrogens; and having healthy intestinal bacterial flora can also be a factor.

If you have an oestrogen triggered cancer, then any diet you pick should include phyto-estrogens as means of oestrogen control.

Professor Trevor Powles, former head of the breast cancer unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital is quite clear on the benefits of phyto-oestrogens and calls them the 'anti-oestrogens'. Phyto-estrogens, which are found in pulses, are weaker than oestrogen and compete with it to help control the level and effect of oestrogen. Alarmingly, today only 2 per cent of our diet in the UK contains pulses. Let's contrast this with 30 per cent back in 1900.

The following three breast cancer diets are probably the most well known:

Dr Johanna Budwig Diet (flaxseed and cottage cheese basically

Gerson's Diet

The Rainbow Diet by Chris Woollams

The Rainbow diet is available on Amazon and you can find details on the others on the internet, or our blog, Sian Scribbles.

One last point, in my personal experience, there are more benefits from being relaxed about diet and lifestyle, than from fretting over getting it all perfect according to some book or diet guru.

Perhaps the best breast cancer diet the one where you relax and eat what makes you feel physically and mentally fantastic.

After Breast Cancer, How Do You Select The Right Diet?

When people are first diagnosed with breast cancer, many look for ways to change their diet to improve their chances of survival and reduce the risk of the cancer recurring. Given how much information is available from clinics, books and the internet, it's easy to get swamped. So how do you get started picking the best diet for you?

A good place could be the nature of your cancer, with the first question - was your cancer hormonally responsive? The prime culprit is often oestrogen. If you're not sure if your cancer was hormonally responsive, then check with your doctor. They should already have tested you for this, and if you are on drugs like Arimidex, Tamoxifen, and other Aromatase inhibitors, then oestrogen is probably a key factor.

This means that any diet you choose should help you eat to beat the oestrogen. Excessive oestrogen is linked to cancers in men and women from melanomas to ovarian, from prostate to colon. And of course breast cancer.

How does your diet help to control oestrogen? Well, the following habits will all increase oestrogen...

Eating high fat and protein

Being overweight caused by eating excessive calories

High sugar content diets

BUT - certain foods can reduce aggressive oestrogen levels, converting it to less aggressive forms;

Eating natural compounds and sleeping well; eating certain foods can block the action of some oestrogens; and having healthy intestinal bacterial flora can also be a factor.

If you have an oestrogen triggered cancer, then any diet you pick should include phyto-estrogens as means of oestrogen control.

Professor Trevor Powles, former head of the breast cancer unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital is quite clear on the benefits of phyto-oestrogens and calls them the 'anti-oestrogens'. Phyto-estrogens, which are found in pulses, are weaker than oestrogen and compete with it to help control the level and effect of oestrogen. Alarmingly, today only 2 per cent of our diet in the UK contains pulses. Let's contrast this with 30 per cent back in 1900.

The following three breast cancer diets are probably the most well known:

Dr Johanna Budwig Diet (flaxseed and cottage cheese basically

Gerson's Diet

The Rainbow Diet by Chris Woollams

The Rainbow diet is available on Amazon and you can find details on the others on the internet, or our blog, Sian Scribbles.

One last point, in my personal experience, there are more benefits from being relaxed about diet and lifestyle, than from fretting over getting it all perfect according to some book or diet guru.

Perhaps the best breast cancer diet the one where you relax and eat what makes you feel physically and mentally fantastic.

Can Breast Cancer Really Be Prevented?

Breast cancer can be caused by many things, such as heredity and genetic factors that give a person a predisposition for it. Though more common in women, it is still present in men and can be something that affects both people certainly. There is no definitive way to prevent breast cancer, as it is a disease that will occur, but there are ways to avoid its fatal effects and to avoid letting it get out of hand.

The best prevention is precaution, and that means having biannual exams with a doctor to make sure that everything is running smoothly. Specifically, biannual mammograms should be sought, once a woman is in her twenties. A doctor will take a biopsy and check to see if there are any abnormalities in the breast. Sometimes there can be something strange, like a lump or some other anomaly, but a biopsy shows that it is benign. Most times, the lumps that are found are benign but occasionally they can be malignant and indications of the cancer. The only way to catch it early is to continuously perform mammograms and tests, such as self breast exams, where you feel across your breasts to check for lumps.

In fact, sometimes you might have stage one of the cancer and no symptoms will present themselves at all. In these cases, just making it part of your daily routine to have a breast exam performed is what is necessary and essential to ensuring your good health and preventing the cancer from getting to a more dangerous stage. The more progressed it gets, the more aggressive the treatment needs to be and the greater your chance of a fatality. But, catching it early can result in a beating the disease before it gains any momentum to do any real damage.

Some symptoms that you might feel are tenderness of your breasts, strange lumps and formations that you did not feel before, and painful, itchy or dry skin around the nipples. Performing self exams daily, maybe while you are in the shower or before going to bed, will help you know when anything abnormal forms. And if you are pregnant or nursing, you might easily mistake lumps for milk ducts, as that is common during pregnancy. Even if that is what it is, it is important to still get checked, because missing it in the early stage will cause you grief later when you find that it has advanced and what you thought was nothing to worry about has turned into a dangerous and potentially life threatening cancer.

Both men and women need to have tests done, especially women, as breast cancer is becoming far more common in women all over the world than in men. Also, it is important to see your doctor if you feel any of the symptoms or if you have a history of breast cancer in your family. Even if you do not have a history and do not feel any symptoms it cannot hurt to have check ups where you have the mammograms performed so that you can be sure you are on the right track. And as women age, their chance of getting it increases, so make sure that you increase the number of doctor appointments you make as your age increases.

Becoming More Aware of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a form of cancer that more and more people are becoming aware of, and for just cause. There are more and more people who are getting inflicted with this type of cancer nowadays. In fact, there is an entire month of each year devoted to breast cancer awareness. This helps women to understand the importance of having annual mammograms. There are many other reasons that you should have this scan done annually. As more women are becoming aware, the risk is dropping dramatically.

With the advancements in technology that we have compared to what they had years ago, there is no reason that women should not safely detect if they have cancer or not. There are really not many symptoms out there for breast cancer, therefore taking the time to have screenings done once a year and also doing self exams each month is vital. Breast cancer can be very life threatening. It can also cause you to have to have your breasts removed.

Never forget that it is very important for you to stay abreast of the situation when it comes to making sure that you or a loved one does not have breast cancer. It is not something that anyone wants to have to go through in their life. You need to remember that if it is something that you have to deal with that it is something that you or your loved one will be able to live through and end up being one of the breast cancer survivors in the world. The only way to do that is to stay on top of things and to make sure that you are able to take care of yourself and make sure that you find out early if you have cancerous cells in your breast tissue. Early detection is one of the best ways to make sure that you do not suffer a lot of loss or damage to your body from this harmful disease.

What Is Mammosite Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer?

Breast conservation procedures for early stage breast cancer has replaced mastectomy as the treatment of choice in the vast majority of patients. This entails a lumpectomy procedure where the surgeon removes the cancer from the breast with clear margins. This has traditionally been followed by whole breast radiation which prevents the cancer from coming back in that breast. This allows the woman to retain her breast and be free of her breast cancer. These treatments are done by a procedure called Tele-therapy which is done using giant x-ray machines, called LINACS. High energy x-rays are directed to the involved breast over a 6 to 7 week period, given 5 days a week. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to deliver each treatment.

The problems that patients with early stage breast cancer face when undergoing whole breast radiation:

1. Since the whole breast is treated with radiation, surrounding tissues such as lung and heart would also receive some radiation.

2. The several weeks that it takes for the treatments to be completed can be a burden on the patient and the family emotionally.

3. Patients who need chemotherapy, are started on radiation after several months delay from surgery.

4. Accessibility to a radiation center because of distances involved and the financial burden of staying away from their home and family for several weeks in order to complete the prescribed course of radiation.

Do all patients need whole breast irradiation?

This was a question that was asked several years ago and the concept of Partial Breast Irradiation caught on. Several studies showing that selected patients with early stage breast cancer would do just as well with a shorter course of treatment done in 5 days. Unlike external beam radiation ( Teletherapy), this was done through internal radiation, also called brachy-therapy. One of the pioneering methods of performing this procedure was by using a device called Mammosite balloon catheter.

What is Mammosite radiation therapy?

The surgeon places the inflated balloon of the Mammosite catheter into the cavity that is created by removing the tumor at the time of the lumpectomy. The patient subsequently comes over to the Radiation Oncology center where the Mammosite catheter is attached to a High dose rate radiation machine which is a device that has a small radioactive source called Iridium 192. This radioactive seed is driven by motors into the middle of the Mammosite balloon through the catheter for a calculated amount of time, generally a few minutes. This allows for the radiation from the source to kill cancer cells in the immediate area around the lumpectomy cavity. These treatments are done twice a day for five days. Since the radiation is given from within the balloon located within the lumpectomy cavity, there is very little radiation that is given to the heart and lung tissues.

Which breast cancer patients get benefit from Mammosite treatments?

There are strict criteria that need to be met before a decision is made to proceed with this short 5 day course of radiation treatment.

1. Age more than 45 years.

2. Size of the tumor less than 3 cm.

3. Margins of resection of the cancer in the lumpectomy should be clear.

4. Lymph nodes should not have any evidence of breast cancer spread.

Advantages of Mammosite breast cancer treatment:

1. Radiation part of treatment is completed soon after surgery and the patient can go on for chemotherapy etc without any issues.

2. Procedure is well tolerated and minimal side effects.

3. Convenient and cost savings to insurance companies and patients compared to 7 week of external radiation.

If Mammosite is so convenient for patients, how come more cancer centers do not discuss this with their patients?

1. The Radiation centers and / or departments may not be equipped with the high dose rate radiation machine to perform this procedure.

2. The Radiation doctors may not have any training in this procedure.

3. The surgeons may not have any training in this procedure.

Dr. Kumar is a board certified Radiation Oncologist who is co-founder of a private practice group called Coastal Cyberknife and Radiation Oncology in Saint Lucie County, Florida. He has over 17 years experience dealing with breast cancer patients including several members in his own family who have been afflicted by this disease.