Since my recent diagnosis I have been doing research into a lot of supporting things that I can do to help my body be the healthiest and fittest that I can possibly make it and a main theme seems to run through it – and that is your diet.
I am reading a fabulous book by Jane McLelland called ‘How to Starve Cancer’ and the clue is in the title!! It is about working alongside conventional medicine with diet, vitamin supplements and other over the counter medicines working together that denies cancer cells the main ingredients and nutrients that they thrive on, slowing down their ability to change and grow.
Also on looking into this further I came across the Alkaline Diet by Ross Bridgeford which has really given me food for thought! It is not a diet in the sense that we know it but it will help you lose weight – it is a change of lifestyle and one that I am excited about. There is so much information out there about this and what fuels cancer cells. I won’t go all technical but give you an overview as to why I am now following an alkaline lifestyle.
The main concept is focusing on the majority of your food and drinks that will have an alkaline forming effect on your body to help support it maintain its delicate pH balance, whilst limiting the acid-forming ones.
The science and technical stuff!! – The body has a natural pH of 7.365 which it has to maintain when it changes due to the things we eat and drink. Our body HAS to and WILL maintain this at all costs.
YOU CANNOT CHANGE YOUR pH – so what is the point of changing? The goal is not to make your body ‘more alkaline’ but to give your body all the tools it needs, so it can effortlessly MAINTAIN your pH balance as 7.365. When your body has to work hard to bring your pH level back from acid to alkaline it causes incredible stress on our bodies which can have far reaching consequences.
So what is an Alkaline diet? – alkaline forming foods are foods like leafy greens, fresh foods, veggies, salad vegetables, healthy oils, nuts, seeds and proper hydration. You need to limit or preferably avoid acid forming foods such as sugar, processed foods, junk food, gluten containing grains, excessive meat and dairy and alcohol. So it is literally a vegetarian/vegan diet but I am also eating salmon and tuna at least once a week for additional protein.
Through out my reading so far sugar features heavily as one of the biggest contributors and should be avoided as much as possible. Cancer cells are always hungry and sugar gives them the energy they need to thrive.
What am I doing? Making it easy –
- Eat lots of green vegetables, lots of salad with every meal and adding things like spinach to salads, soups, curries etc.
- Drink plenty of water – preferably filtered
- Eat healthy fats and oils. I use coconut oil. Healthy fats are essential to our health and energy. This supports your liver, kidneys, brain health, skin and digestive system to mention but a few, to help heal and nourish the important organs.
- Finally limit your fruit intake. Particularly bananas, pineapple and oranges as they have the highest sugar content. Stick to berries, grapefruit and watermelon in moderation. Also something I learned is that is it not a good idea to have fruit in smoothies – why? well fruit contains fructose and when it is made into juice the fibres have been removed and therefore it is delivered to your liver in one quick hit and this is incredibly acid-forming and puts our body under immense stress.
There is so much to learn and understand and whilst this won’t cure cancers, working hand in hand with modern medicine definitely seems to help, even hamper and slow down cell growth and I will try anything to help fuel my body to be in the best possible shape to ensure I continue to fight this disease with everything I can possibly can.
My Journey with Breast Cancer 