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- This topic has 10 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 1 month ago by
sing123.
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- March 3, 2019 at 4:25 pm
Hello Lucy
Finding a good nutritionist to follow up with can be very helpful.
As a start, you can avoid all non-natural foods including refined sugar, artificial colors, soda, processed meat etc.
Try to depend on natural food including organic fruits, veggies, grass-fed poutlery, etc
There are supplements that can be useful to you, but you will need to check with both your nutritionist and oncologist to determine your personal needs that donot interfer with your treatment.
Excercising, as much as you can, even a walk around the block is extremely beneficial.
Stay Strong 🙂
S.
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- March 4, 2019 at 7:39 am
Listen to Celeste but if may add to absolutely ask your oncologist about supplements. I of course raced out to get the curcumin and was told absolutely no capsule but a sprinkle on food would be ok as it’s hard on the liver. My husband was also told not even to take Tylenol at this point in targeted therapy as his liver enzymes are so elevated and they have stopped his therapy. Wish you the best of health and recovery.
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- March 3, 2019 at 5:11 pm
No particular "diet" has scientific evidence that proves it can prevent, ameliorate or cure melanoma. That said, there's lots of data to demonstrate that a reasonable diet high in fruits and veg, low is fats and junk, as well as other good health habits from reasonable exercise to good dental hygiene benefit us all! As far as melanoma and immunotherapy in particular I have followed, researched and reported the data for years. Here is what I have gleaned:
Vitamin D matters, so you might consider a daily supplement, but you should talk to your doc about it:
The intestinal biome may make a difference in the response to immunotherapy…though it is not absolutely proven. And the things that we can do to improve our intestinal biome relate to adding "good cultures" to our diet through foods like kimchi, yogurt, sauerkraut, kefir, etc. Here's the data: https://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/search?q=cooties&max-results=20&by-date=true
There are plenty of other claims out there. I've covered most of them….from sea urchin goo to beans to coffee to other drugs typically used for other things. Coffee, red wine, curcumin (easily added to your diet through curry and yellow mustard), and NSAID's have been proven, at least in some studies, to have an effect beyond a mouse or a petri dish…as does exercise.
There are many reports on coffee and caffeine. They are included in "everything" below. Though most are looking at the intake patients had before they find themselves with melanoma.
NSAID's. These are drugs like aspirin, advil and tylenol. You will find reports that say adding them to immunotherapy ABSOLUTELY improve response and others that say…"Hold up! Not so much!" But, here you go: https://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/search?q=NSAIDS
While lots of reports on curcumin are interspersed in "everything" (see below) here's some info on curcumin alone: https://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/2013/01/better-in-2013jump-up-jump-aroundand.html
Bottom line. Do your best. Try to utilize good health practices. Talk to your doctor about any particulars…esp meds or alternate therapies you decide to incoorporate into your treatment because:
Hope this helps. Probably more than you ever wanted to know. I wish you my best. Celeste
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- March 3, 2019 at 6:51 pm
Thank you so much for posting all the links Celeste! I found it all very informative!
It’s funny but when my husband was first diagnosed he completely changed his diet….we juiced for him, he ate more greens, veggies and fruits, cut out his unhealthy eating out habits and started focusing more on his gut health.
However once starting Nivo his appetite decreased and he became more concerned about losing too much weight. So he went back to his usual unhealthy diet. I try hard to get him to eat better but he is just consumed with eating whatever sounds good and packs the most calories.
At least I can try to make healthy dinners at home (which is usually a challenge with my kids crazy schedules)! If anyone has some healthy instant pot or quick meal ideas I’d love to hear them!
Sending love + Peace to all,
Tania
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- March 6, 2019 at 12:49 am
Hey Cindy. Looks like I accidentally put up the exercise report twice. You can always use the search bubble on the top left of my blog for whatever you are interested in….but here you go:
Additional articles regarding curcumin are included throughout the "everything" link. Hope that helps. C
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- March 3, 2019 at 8:18 pm
Hi Lucy, funny that you bring up the topic of diet. MD Anderson has been doing some research (early days) on microbiome and correlation with Pd-1 drug respondes. Here is an article published this week that gets into the topic and one thing that I found interesting since everyone has been running out and getting on the probiotic bandwagon and the research is showing that probiotic use is harming responses. I am going to stick to peanut butter (kraft smoothie) and bagles for now!!! https://www.onclive.com/conference-coverage/aacr-2019/diet-may-impact-response-to-immunotherapy-in-patients-with-melanoma
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- March 3, 2019 at 11:22 pm
When I mentioned pro-biotics to my Oncologist, he suggested that the latest studies suggest that pro-biotics might do more harm than good. While a healthy gut biome plays an important role, diversity is most important. It seems that you don’t want to overwhelm your gut biome with a billion or so of just a few strains. One thing you can do to help out your intestinal biome is fiber. Latest research that a high fiber diet is associated with better outcomes, perhaps because the fiber promotes healthy and diverse gut flora.
I try to get as much as I can from food sources and do eat yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi regularly. I also take a multi-vitamin and a curcumin supplement, only because I found it hard to add enough turmeric to the food I eat.
I highly recommend the book Anti-Cancer by David Servan-Schreiber.
Good luck!
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- March 5, 2019 at 9:36 pm
Hi Lucy! I also love the Anti-Cancer book and the nutrition information contained in it led me to the Dr. Weil Anti-inflammatory food pyramid. I am not a fervent follower of it, but it is a good reminder for me of what I need more from in my weekly diet. And I am happy to see dark chocolate on the pyramid!
Best to you!
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