Introduction to food guide for breast cancer survivors

food guide for breast cancer survivors

Introduction

Few things are more devastating to a person’s peace of mind than a cancer
diagnosis. It brings up fears not only for our own health but also for the well-being
of our families, friends, and loved ones. For this reason and because it takes the
lives of thousands of Americans every day, cancer has been the subject of intense
scrutiny for half a century and has been studied for more than one hundred years.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that cancer is a chronic disease of the
genome that can appear in anyone at any time, triggered by genetic predisposition
and a confluence of interactions with the environment. Yet not everyone with the
breast cancer gene develops the disease. Whether a woman avoids developing breast
cancer, genetics notwithstanding, has everything to do with a myriad of other
factors, including exposure to environmental factors, diet, lifestyle, stress, and
more.

Once a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer, an inevitable fear permeates her
body and mind, and her friends and family are affected as well. Alarming questions
emerge: Why did this happen to me? Why now? How serious is this illness? What
treatment will be suggested? What can I do to improve my chances of having a happy
and healthy life after treatment? If this cancer goes away, how can I minimize the
risk of recurrence? Too often, some of these important questions go unanswered.
Despite doctors’ best intentions and high level of skill at diagnosing and treating
cancer, there is still a great deal that we don’t know about this most frightening of
diseases. Fortunately, there is a new movement within medicine that addresses the
health of the whole person, not just the presence of cancer. This movement,
integrative oncology, draws on traditional and contemporary natural health and
wellness philosophies in addition to conventional cancer treatment modalities,
resulting in a multifaceted approach to supporting the well-being of women with
breast cancer.

Prominent among the wellness factors that a woman can proactively address
every day of her life is nutrition. Good nutrition is the very foundation of cancer
resistance, a vital, life-enhancing component of lifelong tissue growth as well as
tissue damage, repair, and recovery. Emphasizing certain foods while avoiding
others is a powerful self-care practice, and the healthy food choices presented in this
book for that purpose are delicious and satisfying to boot.
For the woman whose life has been turned upside down by a cancer diagnosis
and treatment, optimal nutrition is key. This book offers an Eating for Health
approach, which supports a healthy liver; digestive, immune, and hormone balance; nutrient sufficiency; and positive genetic expression. We explain the mechanisms of
cancer, provide evidence-based information on how to prevent or delay its onset or
recurrence, and offer suggestions for supporting sustained recovery. Dr. Bernie
Siegel, who, along with his wife, Bobbie, founded the Exceptional Cancer Patients
(ECaP) center in New Haven, Connecticut, articulates the whole-person approach we
share. In working with people who have cancer, he writes (quoted in Hughes and
Hughes 2006):

…your actions depend on your attitude. If you listen to a doctor who tells
you, “You have two months to live,” you can go home and be dead in a
week. You just turn off everything. But what if you got angry at the doctor
and said, “Who are you to tell me when I’m going to die?” Then you
might go home and start fighting for your life to prove the doctor wrong.
What a difference! So that’s why I began to learn from people who didn’t
die when they were supposed to. They all have stories to tell you. They
were not denying their mortality, but they were using it to truly begin to
experience life and do what felt good before they died. However, once
you’re feeling good, it’s a benefit to your body and the healing process,
and this is why we have spontaneous remission. It’s crazy to me that we
don’t study success. Somebody has an incurable disease but survives, but
we don’t rush to them and say, “How did you manage this?” We just say
it’s a miracle.

Our book aims to give women who are dealing with breast cancer instruction
and support about risk and diagnosis, both before and after treatment. This
information can enable integrative oncologists to share the care of cancer patients
with nutrition consultants, natural chefs, and other healing arts and mental health
professionals. We seek to create a network of health professionals who provide
coordinated nutritional and personal support, elegantly blended with medical
treatment.