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Dieting Experiences with Prostate Cancer

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Posted 11/26/2011 3:22 AM (GMT -5)
Hi everyone, my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer in October 2010.

Just wondering if anyone has had any particular experiences with these certain diets and therapies and it would be great if you could share your story!

We would just like to see which is the rough way to go (I know it's always a cloudy situation and it's different for everyone but would still like to know).

1) The Johana Budwick diet
2) Macrobiotic diet
3) CAAT (Controlled Amino Acid Therapy)

thanks!

Confuzzled :-)
_______________


My dad's background:

He was 55 years old at the time.

Original diagnosis: Gleason 8 with stage T2B BEFORE the operation.
PSA prior to the operation: 4.5

He had a FULL RADICAL PROSTATECTOMY including the removal of lymph nodes and seminal nerves.

AFTER PROSTATECTOMY staging was T3A with cancer being micrometasticised on one side.

Post operative biopsies revealed that MARGINS AND LYMPH NODES WERE CLEAR.

PSA after the operation: 0.14 (it was steady in this range and has been since 3 weeks after the operation and is still in this region after 11 weeks after the operation).

He had radiotherapy (7 weeks of the whole prostate bed) and is currently on hormone therapy and his PSA now is 0 (has been on hormone therapy for 9 months now and is planning to stop).
Posted 11/26/2011 6:25 AM (GMT -5)
I'm not familiar with any of those.... But generally speaking - A "Heart Healthy" diet is hard to beat any day of the week... And you can't exercise too much...
Posted 11/26/2011 7:50 AM (GMT -5)
Sorry confuzzled

I do know anything about those diets.

A big part of any diet is what will you Dad actually adhere too. We have two really smart daughters (35 & 28) they both said vegetarian diet. Older one actually made and we went to a appointment with Jen Riley (Cancer Survivors Guide) . Right - Yup - well no way am I going to do that.

Instead I am gradually migrated to a Mediterranean diet. That I can do

Bud
Posted 11/26/2011 8:11 AM (GMT -5)
I don't know anything about those diets, and I am not the one with cancer, but I lost 100 pounds by walking daily and eating LOTS of fruits and vegetables. I agree with Steve, eat healthy, and exercise is your best bet!!! Good luck

Susan
Posted 11/26/2011 9:45 AM (GMT -5)
I follow a combination of the diets recommended by Dean Ornish and Michael Milken. Basically vegan with fish. Lot's of soy products, cruciferous vegetables, dark colored vegetables and fruit (blueberries, spinach, red peppers, strawberries, etc.) and seeds and nuts. To make it interesting I use a lot of spices, many of which are also purported to be beneficial against cancer - garlic, onions, ginger, curry, saffron, black pepper and hot peppers. I try to drink a fair amount of green tea and coffee which are both thought to have protective properties against prostate cancer. Perhaps once a month, I cheat and eat a little skinless poultry. I take a little turmeric (half a teaspoon) with black pepper and a little saffron every day.

I recommend the books "Foods that Fight Cancer" by Richard Beliveau and "The Spectrum" by Dean Ornish, probably available at your library.
Posted 11/26/2011 10:25 AM (GMT -5)
I follow a modified mediteranean diet. I only eat fish and skinless chicken/turkey breast with fruits, nuts, berries, veggies, beans, grains. No daily, egg yolks, and meat. The only oil that I use is olive oil. From what I read vegiterian is probably better, but I won't go there yet. I am very happy with the med. diet. The very low fat diet that Milken follows is just too strict for me, although it has worked for him. Ornish is vegan if I remember correctly. I haven't looked at Budwig. I think it's the one where you eat a lot of cottage cheese.
Posted 11/26/2011 11:40 AM (GMT -5)
Confuzzled,

This is important for everyone, but especially with HT: he should get plenty of calcium in his diet. HT puts men at higher risk for osteoporosis.

Posted 11/26/2011 7:28 PM (GMT -5)
Thank you for all the replies, my dad is currently on the mediterranean diet and he also thanks you all for your replies.

He is now going to look into this Michael Milken and Dean Ornish that a few of you have mentioned.

In reply to member "Southern Comfort", I know he has a higher risk of getting osteoporosis, but my dad has been reading everywhere that calcium is in fact very bad for prostate cancer! So we're not sure how to balance this yet...but treating the cancer is the first priority so I say stay clear of it for now...

thanks everyone! and keep them coming if you have any more experiences!


Confuzzled :)
Posted 11/26/2011 10:40 PM (GMT -5)
I've never seen anything reliable that says calcium promotes prostate cancer. Calcium is a real need for those on HT and just older in general. I had a discussion about that with my GP, going over the list of what I take (calcium is on the list). He observed that if I were bedridden with fragile bones, PCa wouldn't be on the top of my list of concerns. 

(I've not heard of any of the three diets - I try to be "mediterranean" and heart healthy where practical.

Posted 11/26/2011 11:35 PM (GMT -5)
Your dad seems to be doing very well and will have many years of good life left.

One thing that needs to be addressed however, is Quality of Life (QOL).

If your dad in his present good condition were to spend the rest of his years in misery, eating stuff he does not like, what kind of QOL is that?

I would urge you to convince him to take an occasional "vacation" (say, once per month) from whatever diet he chooses and splurge on whatever he really misses.

Just knowing that I have a "vacation" day coming up makes me sometimes pass on it altogether.

Don K.

 

Posted 11/27/2011 12:23 AM (GMT -5)
Prostate cancer risk is strongly tied to diet and exercise.   Those educated in prostate cancer-specific knowledge preach that h ow well a man adheres to diet changes, exercise, and stress reduction predicts how much protection against cancer progression he will experience.   As the song by the Texas Tornados goes, "a little bit is better than nada," but a supportive family is usually about all it takes after a cancer diagnosis to get motivated to become a “ thriver .”   Definition of Thrivership ( Prostate Cancer Foundation ):   -- The diagnosis of prostate cancer can lead you in one of two directions. Some will react to this diagnosis with a sense of resignation and fatalism.   This view can lead to helplessness — waiting for the other shoe of cancer recurrence or progression to drop.  On the other hand, thrivership puts you in the driver’s seat — making you as vital to your care and treatment as any doctor or nurse. You may have had prostate cancer, but now you are in charge of your life, adopting new healthy habits and enjoying each day to its fullest.
Posted 11/27/2011 12:38 AM (GMT -5)
Don, I agree with the sentiments of your last post. One must factor in the QOL side to all of this discussion. And since much of the info that comes out on specific dietary suggestions is subjective at one level, and not conclusive at all levels, its important all of that in when making a major dietary change in life. I go back to the best of the best suggestions from the oncology dieticians that I have personally met and spent time with, and they say: try your best to stay on a good heart healthy diet, and with all eating, no reason to depirve yourself of any particular thing you love or crave, but have such items in moderations.

David in SC
Posted 11/27/2011 8:31 AM (GMT -5)

Casey59 said...


The diagnosis of prostate cancer can lead you in one of two directions. Some will react to this diagnosis with a sense of resignation and fatalism. This view can lead to helplessness — waiting for the other shoe of cancer recurrence or progression to drop. On the other hand, thrivership puts you in the driver’s seat — making you as vital to your care and treatment as any doctor or nurse. You may have had prostate cancer, but now you are in charge of your life, adopting new healthy habits and enjoying each day to its fullest.

I'm going to print that out to put on my bathroom mirror as a reminder every morning. Thanks.
Posted 11/27/2011 9:11 AM (GMT -5)

various said...
I'm not familiar with any of those

I do know anything about those diets.

I don't know anything about those diets,

Hey come on guys and gals .. isn't this supposed to be an Old Farts Club here? Macrobiotics was all the rage in the 70s and into the 80s. You must have heard of it.

Of course even tho it was all the rage then, no one ever actually did the diet. It just sounded like an interesting alternative to a Vegetarian diet but was mostly grains and vegetables and maybe fish or other meat but very restricted. They did tout it as a Cancer Fighting diet too, so Confuzz you must have been googled that way in your search?

This weekend, in honor of Thanksgiving, I am on the Pie For Breakfast diet -- Blueberry this morning. Hey, that is one serving of fruit -- so don't knock it!

J
Posted 11/28/2011 10:20 AM (GMT -5)
Let's see - in the 70's and 80's - I ate rare steak and a baked potato every night with a beer or a Jack & branch. I had a 30 inch waist and weighed 130 wet. Couldn't gain weight if I had wanted to.

I couldn't have cared less about all the fad diets.

 

Posted 11/28/2011 10:48 AM (GMT -5)
142 said... Let's see - in the 70's and 80's - I ate rare steak and a baked potato every night with a beer or a Jack & branch.   I think that we all have our list of stupid lifestyle stuff that we did "back then" that we wish—now that we are older and wiser—we could have back.    Somebody here at HW has got a saying embedded in their signature which says something like, "Youth is wasted on the young."  I don't remember who, but I remember the jist of the saying.  The meaning, as I interpret it, is that young people have everything going for them physically; they are in the best health they will ever be in, their minds are sharp and clear, BUT they lack patience, understanding and wisdom which results in so much wasted effort.  Whereas someone who has lived and learned now knows what do with all that ability of the body but now no longer has those peak abilities.  In other words, "If I could go back to (whatever age you like) and if I knew then what I know now (including that only 10-15% of PC—and most other cancers—is familial and the rest is environmental/lifestyle), life would be... wonderful ."
Posted 11/28/2011 12:26 PM (GMT -5)
I still don't care about fad diets - and I'm not sure that I consider my life at that stage to have included any "stupid lifestyle stuff". I enjoyed it.

I think you missed the part about not being able to gain weight. I was so underweight that a stiff breeze could have been air travel.

I got so much exercise that I suffer from it still. My bone scan post-diagnosis scared the life out of the tech, there are so many breaks. Maybe that would be the change I would make, less exercise.

Posted 11/28/2011 12:52 PM (GMT -5)

142 said...
Maybe that would be the change I would make, less exercise. 

I've also learned to be smarter about my exercise over time.  (Also, hiring a personal trainer was a good move.)  I should have stopped playing pick-up basketball years before I did, but I was having too much fun and enjoying the camaraderie.  Ahh...the ignorance of youth.  If I only knew then what I know now...

Posted 11/28/2011 12:59 PM (GMT -5)
I have to say that I am very glad I did not know then what I know now.

Enough trying to reinvent the past. I don't have magic tricks, so even considering what might have been done differently only takes away from getting what I can out of today.

Worrying about what we did in the past is a waste of the "bonus" days we have.

 

Posted 11/28/2011 1:07 PM (GMT -5)

142 said...

Worrying about what we did in the past is a waste of the "bonus" days we have.

 

Right on...I wouldn't argue with that at all!  In fact, that's perhaps the number one reason for us HW/PC veterans to encourage all of our PC newcomers to adopt healthy lifestyle choices right away and become "thrivers" (see my earlier post in this thread dated 11/26 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation's definition).  Thrivers will stack the odds in their favor for the best possible PC outcomes, and for a longer and higher quality of life.

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