Diet and meditation

User

Posted 29 Nov 2016 at 20:20

Yesterday my dad was told he only has a year to live. His prostate cancer metastasized to his lymph nodes and it's grown 85% after being 12% reduced two months ago.

I don't know what any of that means and I'm too afraid to ask in case I upset him.

I'm realistic, I know diet won't make him better and natural cures won't make him better. I know that there are a lot of snake oil salesmen out there happy to make money off people like me who are desperate to make their loved one better.

But I hate feeling helpless. And my dad is awesome. So I would really like my 10-month old little girl to remember him. So I want to at least try help him live a little longer and be comfortable while still here with us.

I heard hemp seed oil can work. Medical cannibis just got legalized in SA so my mom's friend's husband is trying it. No idea if it helps?

Also, I had a hormone imbalance that I managed some years back with diet and exercise. I know diet and exercise won't cure my dad but I wondered if there are prostate-cancer friendly diet and exercise regimes which will help him manage his condition? Links to articles would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

User

Posted 29 Nov 2016 at 22:21

Hi Last daughter,
this is a difficult question to answer as, if you were in the UK, they probably wouldn't have said something like that. We need more information to be able to help you. Your profile suggests that dad has just been diagnosed but in your post you say it had reduced and is now getting bigger. If that is the case, I am guessing that he was diagnosed a wehile ago and has been having some hormone treatment which worked for a little while and then stopped? If you were in the UK they would probably try different hormones, or add a new one to the one that isn't working, or if they didn't work, chemotherapy. Sometimes in other countries they remove the testicles instead of giving hormones.

If you could tell us more?

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 29 Nov 2016 at 22:31

Hello Last daughter,

Sorry you join us with your Dad having advanced PCa.

I wouldn't try to give false hope but a number of men on this forum have been given a very poor prognosis in terms of life expectation but some of them have lived way beyond their predicted demise. There is quite a widely held belief that keeping as active as possible can help. Some also believe reducing the amount of red meat and substituting soya milk can help slow the disease although due to lack of trials this is difficult to establish. It's certainly more healthy.

As regards cannabis, I thought it was more used in a medical application for pain relief so it would be interesting to know if it helps slow PCa. Just a note of caution. We do not know what medication he is on and sometimes non medical remedy's can work against medically prescribed ones so worth discussing with consultant.

Another aspect is how much he is prepared to forgo by way of changing diet and lifestyle in order to add what could be a relatively short number of extra days.

I am sure you will make the most of your time with him. Take plenty of pics/vids so you and your little girl can hear and see him after he does finally leave you.

Edited by member 29 Nov 2016 at 22:33 | Reason: Not specified

Barry

User

Posted 29 Nov 2016 at 22:32

Re your other questions - hemp oil is related to cannabis - there is no reliable research to say that it helps and it would be really important to check with dad's doctors before he takes any kind of supplements because they may interact with other meds.

There is however quite a lot of research about diet and prostate cancer - I don't know if you can order books from Amazon but if so, buy the Prostate Care Cookbook published by the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation - general principles are no or very little dairy, no red meat, lots of garlic/onions/spinach/broccoli, as much cooked or processed tomato as you can manage and plenty of oily fish. If dad is terminally ill then changing his diet dramatically (or forcing him to change when he doesn't really want to) seems a bit cruel - quality of life is sometimes more important than longevity. But if he has advanced cancer that isn't yet terminal then some people believe that the diet really makes a difference.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 09:18

For the last 10 years I have eaten a diet of almost raw cooked Broccoli,and the other ingredients that Lyn mentioned. I make a soup with the veggies with olive oil turmeric etc. I love the taste and eat it every night. I eat oily fish at lunch time.
We call the soup "prostate soup with no prostate in".

It probably made little difference as I still got PCa, but at least I don't beat myself up over my diet.

Who knows it may have saved a Gleason grade, or delayed things.

It doesn't harm and tastes good.

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 11:19

Hi,

Dad doesn't talk about it much so I don't know much but I know he's been on hormone treatment. Then the first round of chemo reduced the growth by 12%. That was two months back.

My dad went back for more tests last week then in Monday he was told the growth had grown to 85% (don't know if the doc meant "by 85%").

He's going for more chemo but I'd like to help him look into dietary methods as well as the chemo.

He also refuses to have the prostate removed.

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 13:05

Hi,

I have been a fan of Dr Jane Plant's dietary advice ever since diagnosis, and I am still here 9 years later.

Rather than bore you with the detail just Google 'Dr Jane Plant' most of her work relates to breast cancer but applies equally to prostate cancer.

While it is fair to say that opinions are divided about the extent to which diet effects cancer development, changing our diet is one of the easy things that we can do, cutting out cream and cheese helps us to lose weight and no one ever came to any harm from a vegan dairy free diet.

Dave

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 13:41

Hello Last daughter. I have messaged you.
Best Wishes
Sandra

We can't control the winds - but we can adjust our sails

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 17:26

Thanks Barry,

This was actually very helpful. Dad's not in a hopeful mindset right now but this sounds like a good point to share with him.

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 17:29

Thanks L,

My dad took a pass on the cookbook but I'm going to buy it for my husband and I. I really believe a good diet can make a huge difference. Thanks for the lead.

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 17:32

Thank you for the soup suggestion -- and the personal experience story. If you can send a recipe for that soup -- I'd def. give it a try. Will try sneak in more veggies in the mean time.

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 17:33

Noted,

About to commence Googling!

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 18:39

L, I think you may have misunderstood the situation re removal. In dad's circumstances with what sounds like advanced cancer and significant mets (spread) serious enough to warrant chemo the operation will not have been offered to him. If he has refused surgery, it may have been the testicles they wanted to remove but not his prostate as it seems it is far too late for that.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 19:12

Prostate soup with no prostate in it.:

I only use a measuring jug.

I make 2L a time.
1 L fresh or frozen broccoli ( chopped into 3cm florets (asda smartprice frozen is already this size) put in pan and cover with water.
Bring to boil only (or just before boiling) and remove from heat this maximizes the production of sulforaphane thought to protect against cancer and reverse that that has developed (I don't think there is good evidence for this yet) .

The rest of the soup I add chopped onion, (lots) garlic, any other veg you like, a stock cube, 1/3 tube tomato puree, peri-peri salt to taste, a good glug of olive oil, about 2 tea spoons of turmeric. This I make up to the 1 L mark on the jug, and add just enough water to cover. transfer to saucepan and boil for 4 minutes.
Transfer the broccoli with its water to a blender with the rest of the soup mix an blend till smooth.
I sometimes add a chili and change the veg I like parsnip, artichokes are also nice but have side effects.
This lasts 3 meals so I put 2 lots in the fridge.

User

Posted 30 Nov 2016 at 20:42

He's very private -- I'm getting all my info. from my mom -- and he won't discuss something like testicle removal with her. But we're getting him to see the same dietician/homeopath who helped me with my hormone imbalance. She's also a qualified Doctor.

It's a step in the right direction.

I think the video suggestion is a good one.

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