This article is part of the series “One Moment At A Time” about my family’s journey as we help my mother fight brain cancer. Feel free to subscribe below to receive periodic updates about our journey in your email inbox. Thank you for your continued support during this challenging life moment.
CHOCOHOLIC
For those of you that know my mother, you probably are aware of my mother’s love for chocolate. Who doesn’t love something sugary and sweet every once in a while anyway? Soon after we found the tumor in my mom’s brain, we wanted nothing else for my mom but to be comfortable and happy. And one of the surefire ways of seeing my mom’s eyes light up is to give her something with chocolate in/on/around/through/between/next to it.
Mike’s son, Matt, and Matt’s family have been an incredible help to my mom and to my family over the past month. Soon after the cancer diagnosis, they came over one Sunday afternoon to make a full meal from scratch for us, including a decadent chocolate cake. It was such a fun activity for everyone to be together but also to know that my mom will love the final result.
When Matt’s two tween girls finished making the chocolate frosting, they called my mother into the kitchen to take a taste test before spreading the delightful glaze all over the incredibly moist double layer cake. My mom’s eyes widen as she sat up out of her chair in the living room and joyously walked into the warm kitchen that was engulfed by a sweet, sugary smell from the cakes that were pulled out of the oven only moments earlier.
She turned the corner into the kitchen and we immediately saw her large grin anticipating the tastes that she was about to experience. The girls beamed with excitement about ready to share the yummy goodness with their Nana. My mom walked over to the counter and they handed her a spoon to dip into the freshly whipped creamy, brown frosting.
We all anticipated my mom’s euphoric reaction as she dipped the spoon into the large mixing bowl and placed the filled spoon into her mouth. Her lips closed over the spoon and her eyes closed to take in the full experience.
As she slowly pulled the clean spoon out of her mouth, her eyes popped open wide and her face completely relaxed. “Mmmmm” she moaned as the buttery, chocolate activated all of the taste buds in her mouth.
Seeing my mom’s entire body enter into a deep, satisfactory state warmed my heart. The girls flashed huge smiles and wrapped their loving arms around my mom from both sides. Sounds of enjoyment continued from my mom’s smiling mouth as she savored every taste.
She certainly was able to enjoy the sweets that she always had enjoyed, however now that we have dove in to better understand her condition, I have learned through my research that eating a healthy diet is essential for the body’s response to beat cancer.
STARVING CANCER TO DEATH
It is sort of a myth that sugar by itself makes cancer grow faster. Consuming carbohydrates and sugar increase glucose in the body. In fact, all of the cells in our body require sugar (glucose) for fuel which is vital to each cell’s every day function. So technically it is true that sugar does feed cancer, but sugar is also feeding all of our good cells.
After diving into Google and listening to a very technical podcast featuring Thomas Seyfried, a cancer researcher and professor of biology at Boston College, I have learned that the keto diet is the best nutrition plan for my mother’s type of cancer. The keto diet is very similar to the Atkin’s diet which consists of consuming more healthy fats and greatly reducing carbohydrates.
The keto diet allows the body to burn more fats as fuel due to the limitation of carbohydrates. During this process of calorie restriction, some of this fat is converted into ketones which are used by the healthy cells as fuel, something they require for their natural function. But interestingly, these ketones are not able to be used as fuel by cancer cells since the mutant cells prefer glucose.
But since the keto diet limits glucose, it will limit the ability for the cancer cells to grow. And the opposite also could occur. If you increase the intake of sugar and carbohydrates, glucose and insulin will spike and stimulate cancer cells. So basically, a keto diet will aid in starving the cancer cells and limit its ability to spread.
(MODIFIED) KETO DIET BASICS
Just in case you are interested in understanding more about the keto diet, here are the most important guidelines that we have been following (and some guidelines are modified for my mother):
Foods to Avoid
- Starchy foods like bread, pasta, and rice
- Sugary foods
- Processed foods (including processed cheese)
- Most fruits (only small portions of blueberries and strawberries are acceptable)
- Root vegetables like potatoes and carrots
- Alcohol
Foods to Eat
- Healthy fats like olive oil and avocados
- Lean meats like turkey and chicken (Keto allows lean red meats, however for my mother we are avoiding red meat since that can cause cell inflammation which is not good when fighting cancer cells)
- Fatty fish like salmon
- Leafy green (or other non-starchy) vegetables
Removing carbohydrates altogether can certainly lead to other types of health challenges. After consulting with a registered dietician at the Parkview Cancer Institute, he advised that we don’t want to cause other problems by removing 100% carbohydrates so we have added back a few whole grain carbs like oatmeal in the morning to ensure she is getting enough fiber in her diet. While we have fully transitioned to a keto diet, we are modifying it slightly to adapt to my mother’s body.
My hope is that this information could help other people that are battling cancer. And also, a slightly modified keto diet can significantly help others boost weight loss in a healthy way. However, please make sure you understand the potential harmful effects of restricting calories for your specific body before taking on this type of diet.
One moment at a time.
I plan to continue to write about this new life journey. It is a tough topic to write about but I feel writing will be a great emotional release for me and could help others along the way going through something similar. If you would like to receive a weekly update, feel free to enter your email and sign up below.
