A frequently asked question is what is the best diet for kidney cancer. Unfortunately there is no scientifically proven best kidney cancer diet, though there is a fair amount of research that gives us some pointers as to what we should and should not eat and drink.
The China Study
A while ago I wrote about The China Study which concerns research into the effect of diet on health. Its basic conclusion was that the healthiest diet for a range of diseases, including cancer, is a vegetable based wholefood diet. Wholefood being food as close to its natural state as possible. So vegan “meat” would not cut it – if you look at the ingredients of some of that stuff, you will see why.
Since then I have read interesting articles questioning the conclusions. One rebuttal I read was by Denise Minger who is not a dietician but a statistician. So she has not done any original research on diet, but she has analysed the raw data that were collected as part of The China Study and showed that the conclusions drawn from the study are not entirely justified based on statistical analysis. She links to all her blog posts on the subject HERE.
So where does that leave us? Interestingly most integrative cancer doctors do broadly recommend the same diet as promoted in The China Study, and claim that their patients have benefited by adopting such a diet. Some do not insist on an entirely vegan diet, some do.
Eliminate Dairy?
Where most agree is in the absolute elimination of dairy. T. Colin Campbell, the author of The China Study, did experiments on rats with cancer and found that feeding casein to the animals caused their tumours to grow and that removing the casein stopped tumour growth. Casein is the protein in milk, but as Denise Munger pointed out, this was not the whole of the milk, and so feeding it in isolation might not be realistic. She therefore questioned the validity of these experiments, plus of course that the experiments were on animals.
Because of the near unanimity amongst integrative cancer doctors advising against dairy, I have eliminated it from my diet. However Dr Flavin does “permit” limited amounts of goat and sheep cheese. Her website is HERE.
Animal Protein
When integrative cancer doctors permit animal protein, they are quite restrictive, as in this article by Dr Kevin Conners. I would recommend his website, by the way, because he freely gives out lots of good information, in line with his Christian ethos.
Some cancer doctors say that a certain amount of fish is fine. Not necessarily related to cancer, but in terms of longevity pescatarians do as well as vegans.
Vegetable Based Wholefood Diet
A proponent of the vegetable based wholefood diet is Ocean Robbins whose book Real Superfoods is available through Amazon. His emphasis is on general health and longevity rather than dealing with specific diseases. He wisely makes the point that there are some pitfalls going to a vegetable based diet, including making sure to get sufficient minerals and vitamins, either with food or supplements, and being careful not to elevate blood sugar with too much fruit.
It is of course possible that the authors of The China Study came to the right conclusion, even if some of the data analysis is slightly suspect. It is certainly true that the average Western diet of junk and highly processed foods and snacks is unhealthy and likely responsible for an increase in cancer and heart disease and many of the other things that ail us. The manufacturers make sure it tastes good to keep us addicted. We need to kick the habit.
Wellbeing
What is evident is that we can get away with eating and drinking rubbish for a long time, and then our bodies break down with something like cancer or any of the other diseases plaguing the modern world. Obviously, when this happens we really need to go to great lengths to make ourselves as healthy as we can – mentally, spiritually and physically.
This means we have to place more emphasis on healthy eating, healthy living including exercise and freedom from stress, and our mental and spiritual wellbeing. Mental and spiritual wellbeing is something that doctors rarely touch on and, in my view, is the most important. I have written previous articles which I hope will be helpful. Here are links to them:
Some of these articles show how my faith has been fundamental in coping with cancer. What is amazing is that faith is freely available. All you have to do is open your mind and ask. God listens.
Gratitude: A post about the importance of being grateful, even if we have cancer, to enhance our mental and spiritual health.
Meditation: A proven way of enhancing our physical, mental and spiritual health
Love: The importance of loving ourselves as well as others, and the importance of being loved
More Diet Recommendations
There are diet recommendations on the websites of Cancer Research UK and Kidney Cancer UK. The video on the Kidney Cancer UK website refers to the government Eatwell Guide shown below.
The things that I personally change are the elimination of dairy and the elimination of meat. A common recommendation, if you are going to eat meat, is to drastically reduce or eliminate red meat and processed meat. Bear in mind that the Eatwell Guide is designed for healthy people to stay healthy, not for sick people to get healthy. My belief is that we need to go further to get well.
The Cancer Research UK diet recommendation is a bit different and in my view a bit of an improvement. You can view it on their website HERE.
And the Vegan Society has a vegan version of the Eatwell Guide, for if you decide to go vegan, or nearly so. That is on their website HERE. That is more in line with the way that I am currently eating where I substitute almond milk or oat milk for dairy.
Drink
I absolutely recommend not drinking anything with artificial colouring or flavouring. Neither do I recommend anything with sugar or artificial sweetener. I am naturally wary of any food or drink produced in a factory, preferring natural foods.
Alcohol is generally not recommended either from the point of view of toxicity and potential strain on the liver. That said, I do enjoy a very occasional glass of wine. Making it very occasional, it will do less harm and will be more enjoyable, The only problem with wine is that you need people to share it with because it has limited life once opened.
The other thing is that if we have had a partial or radical nephrectomy, we need to keep the remaining kidney healthy and that does mean drinking enough water. It seems that the recommendation is about 8 glasses of water/tea/coffee per day. I filter my drinking water with a Brita filter: there are many styles of filter available on Amazon and Brita also do a special kitchen tap including a tap for filtered water.
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