Diet
- Organic food where possible, but that I know that can get expensive
- No caffeine (black tea or coffee) but as much green or white tea as you can drink in a day (I have around 3 cups usually)
- Lots of water
- No milk, I've switched to soy milk, but butter and other dairy is ok
- Eggs are ok
- No margarine
- No alcohol – for now!
- Unprocessed wheat (no white bread, pasta or rice, you want the heavy stuff – if it feels like a brick it's probably perfect) You can easily get this kind of bread at the supermarket, eg proper rye bread
- Protein (lean meat, fish, tofu etc) x 2 day
- As many veggies and fruits as you can eat – try to eat as many different coloured ones as you can (my naturopath said try and eat a rainbow each day) If you have or can get a juicer they are great for getting massive quantities of fruits/veggies in one hit
- Whole grains, nuts
- Berries
- Bananas are very high in potassium (muesli with a tablespoon of LSA powder from the health food store, a chopped banana and sultanas sprinkled on top is a very good breakfast under this regime and my boys are even eating it voluntarily!)
- Natural oils (eg olive etc)
- Use 'wet' cooking (steaming, poaching) where possible and avoid charcoal
- We're only human and everyone needs a sugar fix every now and then. Really dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa content) actually has some medicinal properties. Look for recipes with cocoa instead of chocolate.
From what I've read, this is basically a low GI diet, but with a few differences, eg all fruit and veggies are great. I stuck to this absolutely religiously for a year during my treatment – I never let myself even consider 'cheating' and I can honestly say it enabled my body to cope - with chemo in particular. It still made me feel totally crap and the nausea was horrendous on the chemo days, but I was pretty ok in between which I put down to my supplements and diet.
The longer I've been off my intensive treatment, and the better I feel in body and mind I find I no longer need some of these supplements - and have definitely lapsed diet wise in a few areas! I do try and maintain a healthy lifestyle though with everything in moderation. In terms of supplements, as a maintenance schedule I take a multivitamin, Omega 3 and spirulina.