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Original poster

Can eating extremely healthily go some way to reversing the effects of cancer?

80 replies

BaconAndAvocado · 21/03/2022 08:55

A friend has a very rare bowel cancer which isn’t centred on a lump/tumour.
The surgery she has been offered would result in life-changing consequences re mobility as well as a stoma. She is a very selfless person and has told me that she would be relying on people too much post-surgery. She also thinks it would drastically alter or end her relationship with her DH.
She has refused this surgery and is trying to stop it spreading by eating a no sugar, organic, free range diet. She has also started yoga, Pilates etc.

Will her approach work?

I’m extremely worried about her whilst trying to support her and understand her decision.

I can understand how this approach might help prevent a cancer diagnosis but to stop it?

OP posts:
Original poster
BaconAndAvocado · 21/03/2022 09:26

MaChienEstUnDick
I have expressed my thoughts to her but ultimately, it’s her decision.
I’ve always been extremely cynical of her approach.

I’m so sorry about your DBro.

OP posts:
GreenLunchBox · 21/03/2022 09:27

Didn't Steve Jobs die because he tried to do this?

Original poster
BaconAndAvocado · 21/03/2022 09:28

I’ve told her that when my FIL was diagnosed with leukaemia his consultant said that making dietary changes would make no difference at all.

I guess I wrote this post looking for some hope or a new approach that I’d not heard of.

OP posts:
MaChienEstUnDick · 21/03/2022 09:29

@BaconAndAvocado

MaChienEstUnDick I have expressed my thoughts to her but ultimately, it’s her decision. I’ve always been extremely cynical of her approach.

I’m so sorry about your DBro.

Thank you for being so gracious and I'm sorry for your friend. And for jumping down your throat. It's all so raw.
Fluffycloudland77 · 21/03/2022 09:29

Eating healthily is the bare minimum we should all be doing.

She’s on a well trodden path. The surgeons offering surgery to help her, surgery is always the last resort treatment.

Ambushedbycakeinmydreams · 21/03/2022 09:30

I had a friend who went through this exactly same situation. She kept to a really strict diet, driven also by her husband who does a lot of reading on this stuff but is not medically qualified

However she did have all the treatment offered so was not a refusnik in any way. However the diet was bloody harsh and she lost a lot of weight ... I don't know if losing all that weight is helpful in "fighting" an illness but what do I know?

Long and short of it, she died.

Clymene · 21/03/2022 09:31

She is facing a horrible stark choice. She either has the treatment or she's going to die. I have watched friends do what your friend is planning on doing. They're dead. Cancer needs aggressive treatment because it's an aggressive disease.

It can't be cured with yoga and kale.

AndStand · 21/03/2022 09:32

@kylie127 then you've heard utter rubbish. What you've said there is 100% not true and you ought to be very careful what you go around saying.
Shame on you. It's statements like that that condemn the desperate to a painful death.

Mumdiva99 · 21/03/2022 09:32

I actually think there are some few things here.....but please remember she needs to be in control. Don't belittle her choice because it isn't one you would make. Her age and other lifestyle/health factor may also play into her choices. For example I would make different choices at 40 with 3 young kids than I might at 75....

Original poster
BaconAndAvocado · 21/03/2022 09:33

MaChienEstUnDick
Not at all and ma chien est un dick too 🙂

OP posts:
Original poster
BaconAndAvocado · 21/03/2022 09:36

Mumdiva99 you’re 100% right.

I would never belittle her choice and although I have voiced my huge concerns when she first made this decision it’s not something I rant about.
She knows.

OP posts:
PurpleDaisies · 21/03/2022 09:40

There’s a difference between supporting her right to make a decision and supporting the decision that she’s made, especially in this case. I wouldn’t be affirming that she’s doing the right thing and I’d be encouraging her to seek proper medical advice from sensible sources when that was appropriate but in this situation I’d be trying to avoid the subject as much as possible to preserve the friendship.

You’re in a really tough position and I feel for you. Flowers

PurpleDaisies · 21/03/2022 09:44

@GreenLunchBox

Didn't Steve Jobs die because he tried to do this?
Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer which I had a terrible prognosis, even with everything that conventional medicine can throw at it.
StooOrangeyForCrows · 21/03/2022 09:44

I can't understand why she wouldn't have the surgery? She is being offered a lifeline. My friend has a stoma. He calls it Arty. His life quality is amazing and he is back to mountaineering and potholing.

A plant diet can be inflammatory to some people due to the antinutrients in plants. If it was possible with diet to kill cancer, it would be more mainstream. I agree there are cases where it looks this way but to rely on that would be insane, especially if one surgery will have the person no longer having cancer in their body.

The surgeon and his knife is this woman's guardian angle. Let her go all healthy with her food after if she wants to. That would be the best option.

Spudina · 21/03/2022 09:46

As someone pointed out above, it’s important to have sufficient calories for the prevention of infection and to aid wound healing if you are undergoing cancer treatment. So we give high calorie supplements to stop weight loss. So being “too healthy” can actually be detrimental.

Original poster
BaconAndAvocado · 21/03/2022 09:47

PurpleDaisies everything you said is exactly how I am with my friend.

OP posts:
PurpleDaisies · 21/03/2022 09:47

The surgeon and his knife is this woman's guardian angle. Let her go all healthy with her food after if she wants to. That would be the best option.

Obviously, but it’s not the decision she’s made (at the moment). How is the op supposed to change her mind? I’m assuming the friend has had a long discussion with her medical professionals about the consequences of declining surgery.

Original poster
BaconAndAvocado · 21/03/2022 09:47

Sorry, I should have said, exactly how I am when I’m with my friend.

OP posts:
Original poster
BaconAndAvocado · 21/03/2022 09:48

@PurpleDaisies

The surgeon and his knife is this woman's guardian angle. Let her go all healthy with her food after if she wants to. That would be the best option.

Obviously, but it’s not the decision she’s made (at the moment). How is the op supposed to change her mind? I’m assuming the friend has had a long discussion with her medical professionals about the consequences of declining surgery.

Yes she has. She has opted for regular scans to monitor any spread.
OP posts:
StooOrangeyForCrows · 21/03/2022 09:49

@Clymene

She is facing a horrible stark choice. She either has the treatment or she's going to die. I have watched friends do what your friend is planning on doing. They're dead. Cancer needs aggressive treatment because it's an aggressive disease.

It can't be cured with yoga and kale.

This. My niece had breast cancer that she tried to cure with protocols she read about online instead of having surgery. Even when the tumour ulcerated she wouldn't have surgery. It spread to her bones, liver and kidneys and she died.

Alkaline water, apricot kernels and everything on her dining room table that was piled high with vitamins, green smoothie powder and every sort of powdered bark, leaf, root and stem did not prevent the spread of the C. Had she had the surgery while it was confined to her breast tissue, she could have explored the options for preventing return of it however. She was 38.

Original poster
BaconAndAvocado · 21/03/2022 09:49

Spudina she doesn’t count calories. Just avoids sugar, processed foods, salt etc.

OP posts:
midlifecrash · 21/03/2022 09:50

I think PurpleDaisies has it. You support her right to make her own decision. However this means the cancer will kill her. I too knew someone who spent months and months on organic raw foods and juices, which did nothing. She died.

freddiemercury · 21/03/2022 09:52

I was diagnosed with breast cancer about six weeks after someone made headlines saying she had breast cancer and was going to treat with healthy eating...filtered water blah blah. Five years on I am still v much here...I'm a journalist and ended up interviewing the other woman...in her hospice bed. It was so so sad. I took all the conv entional medicine and surgery they offered. I also did eat more healthily...to give my body the best chance of coping with the treatment and to feel a tiny bit more in control of what was happening. Please please try to persuade your friend that diet/exercise/acupuncture etc is good but won't keep you alive.

Tonya345 · 21/03/2022 09:55

Eating a healthier diet won't work against cancer, she needs the surgery.
Wearing a stoma is fairly common after a bowel cancer operation, and it can be done without impacting too much on daily life. Some stomas are only temporary in any case.

LizDoingTheCanCan · 21/03/2022 09:56

Is the surgery she has been offered an exenteration? It is very extreme and I can understand her feelings. Ultimately, as upsetting as it is for all involved, it has to be her choice.