[MrPotatohead]

Re: Sugar - have you eliminated it from your diet?

by MrPotatohead on Sat Jun 17, 2017 9:16 am

I'm with you, George.

I read all the blarney on the Internet about sugar, and tried to eliminate it, which was hard (I have a sweet tooth).

When I got around to asking my oncologist about this, he told me that there was no scientific evidence supporting the view that sugar "feeds" cancer.

He also said, "Don't you have enough aggravation from everything else associated with having myeloma without depriving yourself of foods you like?"

That did it for me. I use sugar now without guilt.

[Colin]

Re: Sugar - have you eliminated it from your diet?

by Colin on Sat Jun 17, 2017 2:34 pm

When I was first diagnosed, I was convinced I had to do radical things to my diet and started on a ketogenic diet, eliminating as much sugar as I could. It scared me how quickly I shed weight, and since I wasn't really overweight to begin with, I became uncomfortable losing 25 lbs in just 6 weeks. Most of the loss was in my muscles since, in addition to the diet and the multiple myeloma, I wasn't running anymore. Although I kept up my walking.

Anyway, I spoke with my doctor and he encouraged me not to lose anymore weight before my stem cell transplant as I would need my strength. So I went off the diet after that initial month and a half and returned to my original weight in about 3 weeks. Didn't gain much after that though.

Just had my autologous stem cell transplant yesterday and so far everything has gone swimmingly. The days ahead will be tougher, but I think I am quite well prepared and have learned a lot from so many patients here at the Beacon who have generously shared so much of their stem cell harvest and transplant experiences. both the good and the hard times. Thanks to each and everyone of you.