CANCER: I HAVE CANCER...WHAT SHOULD I EAT? by CATE MONDON

The Many Rants, Raves, and Rambles of Catherine

The reproductive issue diet.

Many people have started to ask me and be curious about my "cancer diet." My cancer diet is something I actually stumbled upon before my diagnosis, when I was getting 6-8 ovarian cysts per month and battling endometriosis.

Basically I refer to it as "the endo diet" as its the most simple way I've learned to describe what it is. I did a ton of research online and in books and this is basically my comprehensive diet guide now that has helped a ton with my pain that accompanies my chronic reproductive issues. I don't claim this as my diet guide in the least, as all my knowledge is from outside sources that I've combined over the last 2 years. Now, this diet is NOT easy, not in the least. It takes a lot of planning and discipline, but the results are amazing.

Let me break this down for you... Basically you avoid any food that increases inflammation in your body (for those lovely chronic illnesses such as PCOS and endometriosis) and you avoid any food that naturally has a high hormone content in it or has added hormones in it. According to the book I read you're also supposed to be removing any preservatives as well, but I found that nearly impossible with all the other restrictions.

So what do you avoid?

Meat:
Red meat has a tendency to cause inflammation in your body, which can cause those pesky chronic conditions to flare up. Red meat (beef and pork) also contain toxins uric acid and toxins that make your digestive system have a hard time breaking down food, and releases those toxins into your blood stream, messing with your immune system, causing more issues in your reproductive system. Also, there are antibiotics and hormones found in these meats that mess with your immune system and endocrinology system, which also leads to flaring up of those chronic conditions. Chicken, and most meats have some hormones occurring in them naturally... So which ones are the very worst you might ask? Basically any "processed" meat. Ham, balogna, bacon, honey turkey, hamburger, hot dogs, ribs, and pastrami. What does that leave? Don't worry, I'll make sure to include in detail what foods you can eat after listing the ones to avoid.

Gluten:
In the 80's scientists decided that they were going to take on the glorious mission of ending world hunger, their solution was to genetically modify wheat to have a larger output. It increased it's germination cycle and productivity. Unfortunatly, they didn't study the long term effects of this GMO wheat. Do you ever wonder why conditions such as obesity, celiac, and gluten intolerance all the sudden became a thing over the last few years? After about 10 years, many peoples bodies cannot process the GMO wheat properly, causing inflamation and nutrient deficeit.
For those of us with chronic illnesses that cause us pain regularly, the last thing you want is a compound being rejected by your body, causing more pain and inflammation.
They also contain Alkylresorcinols, which act as a toxin in our blood that causes death to red blood cells and can harm/kill kidney and liver cells.

SOY
There's a reason this one is all in caps. Soy mimics estrogen in your body, causing your hormone levels to be heavily impacted by consuming soy. I'm going to go off on a tiny ovarian cyst tangent here... basically here's what happens on your ovary. You have estrogen, estrogen triggers your ovary to create a follicle. Normally, when you have a natural estrogen level (uninfluenced my mimickers) your ovary will create one follicle for ovulation. Too much estrogen can create multiple follicles. Normally, progesterone will be released later on, sealing the follicle off and releasing it. If you have too much estrogen though, the follicle cannot seal off correctly, causing a cyst or multiples. With soy being an estrogen mimicker, it basically messes with your entire ovulation process. It's also proven to contribute to causing low thyroid, and low thyroid messes with fertility and your weight.

Dairy:
Dairy is a mess... A normal dairy cow is injected with multiple hormone impacting compounds (estradiol, estriol, progesterone, testosterone to name a few...), additional hormones to your fragile hormone system can throw everything off. Organic milk helps some with these issues, but since these products are a gestational product, they do contain some hormones in and of themselves.

Now... You're probably thinking, "then what the hell can I actually eat?!" I'll first list alternatives for some of the categories above, and then I'll list a bunch of foods you CAN eat with no remorse.

Meat:
Now, most meats have hormones in them naturally, at least a small amounts.
For beef: get organic, grass fed beef. Grain fed beef often have hormone fillers in their food which causes their meat to have a higher level of those extra, unwanted hormones that can wreak havoc on your reproductive system
Chicken: whats everyones favorite part of a chicken to eat? The chicken breast. Wanna know how they plump those breasts up most of the time? Pump em full of hormones. If you're going to get chicken, get organic, grass fed chicken (grassfed for the same reasons as above)
Turkey: As long as the turkey isn't processed (ground turkey, turkey lunch meat, etc.) you can eat as much turkey as you want.
Fish: For now, all fish is safe and sound. But make sure to keep an eye out over the next while as the FDA just approved the GMO of salmon, and we try to avoid new GMO foods so we can observe and see if there's going to be any bad side effects.
Pork: I'm sorry to tell you this... But basically pork is a no go. You can indulge in it maybe 2-3 times monthly, but since most pork products are highly processed, these are things we avoid all together.

Grains:
I know when I said gluten free I probably scared a lot of you, luckily we do live in an age with lots of fabulous gluten free products. You can also eat rice, quinoa, gluten free oats... basically anything you can get in a gluten free (I personally love rice and rice noodles.)

Dairy:
If you just CANT give your dairy up... (I really believe that since they're gestational products with hormones occuring naturally within them, they should be avoided all together) but I know not everyone can do that. Get your milk organic. Also, do research on the producer of your milk, and make sure their cows are grass fed, because what they eat highly impacts the milk content. The talenti gellato is my go-to for ice cream if I have to cheat because their dairy is super high quality, and all the other ingredients are basic and processed easily in your body. I also love almond milk as an alternative to normal milk. It tastes good and is creamy like normal milk. Also, whey protein is fine as long as its soy free.

Things you can go crazy on:
ANY veggie, ANY fruit, eggs, rice, fish, organic chicken and beef. Basically, your options are huge.

If you want to look for good recipes that 100% follow this diet, I suggest going on pinterest and typing in gluten free vegan food. This diet is 100% safe for my "endo diet" I've been following.

If you have any questions/concerns, or would like to be directed to any sources to learn more, please let me know and I'll be more than happy to try and help you out.

This diet is hard, but it's SO worth it. I noticed a difference in bloating, pain level, and how often my pain occurred after 2 weeks of following the diet. Good luck to those who decide to try this out. Please let me know if it works. Thank you - Cate