Eating plan: Keto OR Vegan OR Well-Balanced??

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4us4
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2019 2:58 pm
Location: Oregon USA

Eating plan: Keto OR Vegan OR Well-Balanced??

Postby 4us4 » Thu Jan 30, 2020 4:56 pm

I just finished my last "scheduled" chemo and plan to do a 5-day detox.......Then I want to jump on to a more solid nutrition/eating plan. Honestly, chemo was way too hard to also ADD IN eating restrictions.... but I'm ready now.

I feel like the top two "keep cancer away" theories are Keto OR plant-based Vegan..... two completely opposite ideas. Most of my doctors have just said well balanced. My naturopath said balanced but go 100% organic.

What are you survivors eating?

Thanks!
-Kelsi
DX@39yo in April19: Stage 4 Sigmoid Mets to peritoneum, ovaries, spleen
June-Oct 2019: FOLFOX, Avastin, 5FU (9 infusions)
Nov19: Cytoreductive+HiPEC at UCSD, PCI score= 8
Jan20: FOLFOX, Avastin, 5FU (3 infusions)
April,June,Aug2020: watching several small growing lung nodules

Married w/ two sons (5,1). Oregon coast-USA. Solid in my faith & firmly believe WHATEVER the future holds, God is with us & THAT is enough...while praying my socks for full recovery & chance to raise my kids to adulthood.

benben
Posts: 324
Joined: Fri Apr 28, 2017 3:18 pm
Location: Washington State

Re: Eating plan: Keto OR Vegan OR Well-Balanced??

Postby benben » Fri Jan 31, 2020 12:13 pm

Hi Kelsi, congratulations on your Chemo Completion.

Myself I started a Ketogenic diet about 2 months after treatment ended.
It was very difficult to begin, the keto flu seemed more difficult to me post treatment. Energy, etc were not quite back to snuff.
After a couple weeks things faired much better and I felt quite good following a keto plan. I stuck to a heavy nut, low glycemic vegie/fruit, fish and chicken diet.
I ate red meat about 2 times a month as my platelets were still hovering on the low side of normal post treatment. I stuck with it for about 6 months.
During that time my blood counts were stellar and I had the lowest CEA results to date. Then I started cheating a bit and noticed my workouts intensifying and muscle growth increasing with some carb intake.
So I ate balanced for a few months, but then had some CEA creep up to high normal range and decided to go back on. So another 4 or 5 months on Keto and was fairing well until a recent trip to Iceland and I splurged.
For 2 months was back on balanced diet and just last Friday had a syncope episode with convulsions.

Tuesday I had a followup with my PCP. He told me to go back on KETO immediately. He said everyone should be doing KETO, especially those who have had cancer, inflammation and autonomic issues.
His ex wife and daughter are both cancer survivors. At any rate he mentioned some longer term studies have been ongoing and all the data has not been released, but that the evidence seems clear that Keto is the healthiest diet.
He also said studies are ongoing with cancer patients showing Ketogenic diet reduces tumor size more effectively than Chemo, enhances efficacy of chemo, and significantly reduces chances of recurrence.

I was quite shocked by his zealous belief in the Keto diet. Most physicians I had spoke with in the past were unsure and hesitant about carbohydrate restriction diets.
From my previous experience with Keto, I knew I had some positive effects of GERD elimination. I also had rectal bleeding since the age of 29 (told to young for cancer), but when I did Keto for a few weeks the bleeding stopped completely.
Coincidence? I dunno.

I had also read reports of Keto increasing odds of colon cancer, and so was a bit hesitant to continue on with it. My PCP said the studies were flawed regarding those statistics.

Whatever you decide, best of luck to you. That's just my 2 cents, experience, observations.
----------------------
3/29/17 diagnosed CRC - 44 y/o Male
4/17/17 ULAR - Straight anastomosis - no ostomy.
Path: low grade T3n1m0 - moderate diff.
KRAS - NO, MLH1/PMS2/MSH6/MSH2 - Normal.
5/3 med port install
5/22 folfox - first treatment.
3rd treat, delayed - low ANC - reduced to 90% OXI
zarxio all treats
Treat 7 - 75% OXI
Treats 8-12 - NO OXI, Luke & 5FU
10/20/17 CT- NED
3/18 Scope - Clean
11/8 PORT OUT!
7/22 CT - NED (5 years!)

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JJH
Posts: 408
Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2017 7:26 am

Re: Eating plan: Keto OR Vegan OR Well-Balanced??

Postby JJH » Sat Feb 01, 2020 1:20 am

I try to do a balanced, organic diet. I`m now over seven years cancer free.

BTW, here are a couple of Oregon photography websites that might be of interest to you. The first one is from eastern Oregon. The second one is by an 8-year colorectal cancer survivor and is from western Oregon. There is life after chemo !

http://praisephotography.com/
http://www.lensjoy.com/index.htm
"The darkest hour is just before the dawn" - Thomas Fuller (1650)
●●●

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horizon
Posts: 1669
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:10 pm

Re: Eating plan: Keto OR Vegan OR Well-Balanced??

Postby horizon » Sat Feb 01, 2020 10:57 am

Balanced
I'm just a dude who still can't believe he had a resection and went through chemo (currently 13 years NED). Is this real life?

Rock_Robster
Posts: 1027
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2018 5:27 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: Eating plan: Keto OR Vegan OR Well-Balanced??

Postby Rock_Robster » Sat Feb 01, 2020 7:34 pm

Currently I’m doing plant-based plus seafood; with whole foods only. Not bad, although I’m slowly turning into a fish.

I was doing keto before I was diagnosed and would love to go back, however I don’t want to eat meat and dairy again, and a plant-based keto just sounds brutal. Add to that I don’t have a gallbladder anymore and will be recovering from a ULAR reversal, the amount of coconut oil I’d need to drink sounds intolerable. Unless I did it all with exogenous ketones.

Anyone have any experience with a “healthy” keto? Last time I basically lived on red meat and cheese...
41M Australia
2018 Dx RC
G2 EMVI LVI, 4 liver mets
pT3N1aM1a Stage IVa MSS NRAS G13R
CEA 14>2>32>16>19>30>140>70
11/18 FOLFOX
3/19 Liver resection
5/19 Pelvic IMRT
7/19 ULAR
8/19 Liver met
8/19 FOLFOX, FOLFOXIRI, FOLFIRI
12/19 Liver resection
NED 2 years
11/21 Liver met, PALN, lung nodules
3/22 PVE, lymphadenectomy, liver SBRT
10/22 PALN SBRT
11/22 Liver mets, peri nodule. Xeloda+Bev
4/23 XELIRI+Bev
9/23 ATRIUM trial
12/23 Modified FOLFIRI+Bev
3/24 VAXINIA (CF33 + hNIS) trial

AlexandraZ
Posts: 178
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:25 am

Re: Eating plan: Keto OR Vegan OR Well-Balanced??

Postby AlexandraZ » Sun Feb 02, 2020 12:56 pm

Rock_Robster wrote:Currently I’m doing plant-based plus seafood; with whole foods only. Not bad, although I’m slowly turning into a fish.

I was doing keto before I was diagnosed and would love to go back, however I don’t want to eat meat and dairy again, and a plant-based keto just sounds brutal. Add to that I don’t have a gallbladder anymore and will be recovering from a ULAR reversal, the amount of coconut oil I’d need to drink sounds intolerable. Unless I did it all with exogenous ketones.

Anyone have any experience with a “healthy” keto? Last time I basically lived on red meat and cheese...


That's interesting, Rob! Jesper and I have also been trying to figure out the best diet for him. We tried keto a couple times, but it was without dairy and red meat, and he just loses weight too fast without carbs. So we're just doing a balanced organic diet without fast carbs. Brown rice, oatmeal, etc.

I think healthy keto is possible, but it's a lot of work for sure!
Boyfriend 28yo dx February 2019, CEA 70,480
Stage 4 CRC with multiple mets to liver & lungs
KRAS, NRAS, BRAF wild type, MSS
12x FOLFIRI + Vectibix
September 2019 CEA 210, 60% reduction in size, chemo break!


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