An "Anti-Cancer" Diet

I get asked a lot about my diet. What am I eating? What “can’t” I eat? When I was first diagnosed I was afraid to eat anything…what is it that’s fueling this cancer!? Did some kind of eating behavior trigger it? I mean, intuitively, we are what we eat and the food we put in our body will have a radical impact on our health and wellbeing. Of course The Internet has an abundance of opinions on the matter. My perspective has meandered over the past year and I’ll summarize some thoughts. The disclaimer is that my unique circumstances with advanced colorectal cancer are complicated, and I’m not a nutritionist. So your skepticism is wise. I'll also recommend The Metabolic Approach to Cancer by Dr Winters and Kelley as a deep dive look at how nutrition can be a powerful tool to prevent or heal from cancer.

1. I’ve softened my relationship to food in the past year, and armed with the information I have, try to make healthy and conscientious decisions, but I’m not militant about what I eat. Maybe I should be. But my enjoyment of delicious things in whatever time I have left takes priority over a strict anti-cancer diet that may or may not work for my body. Clearly there are foods to eat more of, and foods to eat less of. I have learned what a remarkably complex primordial soup of chemicals, vitamins, minerals, and biomolecules we are….like a teetering Jenga stack, take something out of the pile, and it can all collapse. So my strategy is to eat a colorful, wide variety of REAL unprocessed food that is anti-inflammatory.

2. My top ten favorite “high value” foods to eat are free range eggs, avocados, nuts (Brazil, walnuts, almonds), Bob’s Red Mill Organic Rolled Oats, Nancy’s Whole Milk Probiotic Yogurt, blueberries, wild caught salmon, broccoli, 80% cocoa dark chocolate, and coconut products. Strand me on a deserted island with this menu and I’ll be set.

3. I’ve completely eliminated alcohol and will for life. There’s absolutely no redeeming benefit. I look suspiciously at my own consumption and relationship with alcohol over the years as having an influence on a body ecosystem in which cancer could thrive. There’s a growing movement toward refreshing alcohol alternatives and I celebrate many of my friends who’ve chosen to be alcohol free.

4. I’m vigilant about avoiding or minimizing processed and added sugar, processed foods, simple and refined carbohydrates, processed and industrial meats, and dairy. Pay close attention and you’ll see that fucking sugar is in everything. As glucose is a primary fuel source for cancer cells, it seems intuitive to reduce sugar and refined carbohydrates (which are quickly converted to glucose in the body) from the diet. When we ponder the staggering exponential rates of cancer in the United States, this is fertile soil. It’s hard to resist food that’s inexpensive, tastes deliciously cozy, and is EVERYWHERE… While I find the Keto diet to be too restrictive for me, I am continuing to find ways to carve sugars and carbohydrates out of my diet.

5. When you make your own meals you know all the ingredients in it. I have neither the time, energy, or inclination to cook for myself all the time. So I often rely on food from a restaurant, a food cart, or the store that’s already made. As a customer I have no idea about many of the ingredients, and unless they explicitly say, I have to assume they are using industrial meat, vegetable and seed oils, non organic produce, added sugars, other processed ingredients…because these are what are cheap. So a “healthy” option on the menu may be an illusion.

6. Every two weeks, I zero-calorie fast for 72 hours, timed around my chemo infusions. There’s some evidence that fasting helps chemotherapy be more potent and targeted on cancer cells, while also mitigating some of the gnarly side effects. What this means for me is every two weeks, I shed 5-7 lbs. For someone who has a BMI of under 20, I’m borderline underweight. So in the 10 days between fasting, I HAVE to gain that weight back…which obviously influences my eating decisions. I need calories, protein, and healthy fats and seek them out with gusto!

7. I’ve never had much tolerance for spicy food. That “mild” Thai dish would make my cheeks sweat. Whatever spice fortitude I did have was decimated like napalm by a year of chemotherapy. That “mild” Thai dish will now have me drowning my mouth in water. To reinforce my own anecdotal nope, a Tai Chi master recently told me to avoid spicy food in service to the cool and water loving preferences of my body. Interestingly, spices such as turmeric and capsaicin have been shown to have some anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory benefits. Oh well.

8. “Minimizing” some foods doesn’t mean I completely avoid them. Banana bread, non-dairy ice cream, tater tots, pizza, all work their way into my diet and when they do, I savor them like there’s no tomorrow. Because I get a lot of joy from food, and this hunger is refined and supercharged by fasting... it’s said that joy is good medicine too, right?