My reports this week from bone scans, CT scans, and blood work  all show that I’m NED (no evidence of disease). All my reports said ‘normal’.  (It did say ‘evidence of degeneration.’  … Translation:  evidence of aging… My oncologist said everyone over the age of 5 gets that on their report.) Woohoo!! I’m so grateful. Praise God!

I return to my oncologist in 3 months for my next check up with blood work but no scans for 6 months. My doctor told me to eat healthy ( limit refined sugars and stay way from processed foods) and exercise. I want more direction/guidance on what that means for a C survivor. I want to eat those things that will help my body keep C away. I believe that what I eat makes a difference. My doctor agrees but she doesn’t think that my diet caused my cancer. However, I have been given a clean slate through chemo, radiation, and surgery. I want to give my body every chance to stay healthy.

A book by Kelly Turner, PhD called Radical Remission caught my eye. She studied cases where people recovered from seemingly incurable disease, particularly stage 4 cancers, against all odds. She discovered that these people made 9 similar and radical changes in their lives. Lisa Rankin has a blog post about this book here. It’s overwhelming so I decided to concentrate on the first change which is a radical change in diet. I haven’t bought Turner’s book because I’m too busy changing my diet!

With this concentration on nutrition, I was excited when this came across my tweeter feed a couple of weeks ago. I watched it and then had Scott watch with me. This is a medical oncologist from MD Anderson near Philadelphia. His expertise is breast cancer. It’s about an hour but worth every minute. He focuses on nutrition for those who have completed treatments.

Dr. Mehta from MD Anderson speaking at a 2015 Living Beyond Breast Cancer conference. 

In this presentation, he mentions his book, After Cancer Care, that I bought from Amazon the same day I watched this video for the first time. He sees foods as either enhancing tumor growth or suppressing it. He says you can see yourself as still receiving chemotherapy only in the form of the foods you eat. Daily chemo.

Here are some of my notes from this book that I am implementing. His book is filled with the why but I’m only sharing some of the what.

~ eat lots of fruits and vegetables. This is my main source of food. Not vegan or vegetarian, but small amounts of meat. ( my iron levels were good so… Yay!)

~ avoid processed foods. Eat whole foods. (Still learning exactly what that means.)

~ eat organically grown foods

~ avoid fried foods

~ moderate amounts of cold water wild fish, weekly like salmon

~ limit red meat to once or twice a month and eat more as a condiment not a main dish

~ small amount of organic poultry, no more than once a week

~ only pasteurized eggs

~ small amounts of organic dairy

~ eat whole grains

~ limit vegetable oils, use olive oil and coconut oil

~ add turmeric 1-2 T per day

~ ground flaxseed, 1-2 T 4-5 times per week

~ adding quinoa into my diet (recipes welcome)

~ lots of cabbage, kale, broccoli, spinach, onions

~ lots of beans, legumes, nuts

~ 2 Brazil nuts daily

~ red grapes are packed with nutrients so I drink a cup of dark grape juice (no sugar added) 3-5 times a week

~ lots and lots of water. I fill a half gallon pitcher full of water every morning, put it on my kitchen counter, and I drink it before I go to bed.  I try to get most of my water down before noon. I don’t like to have much after supper. You can understand why.

~ I also take vitamin E, vitamin D, and a multivitamin every day. All suggested by my doctors.


In summary, whole foods are the base. Organic when possible, lots of vegetables, fruits, and fish. Stay away from fried, fatty, salty, sweet, over processed. Cook your own food. Do this the majority of the time.

I think this is a good place for me to start.

About exercise, I walk every day and wear a tracker. He recommends at least 5000 steps a day. I shoot for 8000 on most days. 10000 is awesome. It’s a work in progress. 😊

I would love to know what you do to stay as healthy as you can.

I hope you have a great day!

Amy