Tuesday, July 26, 2016

empowering yourself with knowledge about eating clean, nutrition and your type of cancer, and by consulting a dietitian or nutritionist, you could change your life.

‘You are not only the patient but also the customer, you are paying for treatment and if
you are not feeling like you are being heard, if you have questions that are not being
answered or you don’t feel that the treatment is the right option for you, go and get a
second opinion.’ – NATHALIE MAT, DIETITIAN

For many of us, the word ‘cancer’ leaves us with an uneasy feeling. It brings
to mind death; our own or that of a loved. A million thoughts race through
our minds. Diet is unlikely to be one of them. And that is okay. These things
take time.

TAKING YOUR TIME


Dietitian Nathalie Mat explains that often cancer patients, or the parents of
children with cancer, need some time and space before undergoing further
counselling like a nutrition assessment. ‘The diagnosis can be such a shock
that one is too busy trying to process what the diagnosis means to hear
anything else being asked or said. It is very important that the healthcare
providers of cancer patients do not overload the patient with information in a
single session, as there is often too much information to get across in one
sitting,’ she says.

It is a frightening process, and so Mat advises first having your cancer put
into perspective by a health professional and asking as many questions as you
want. Sometimes you just need someone to tell you what to expect or what
treatment will be like. The health professional’s role is not only to help you
make decisions about your treatment, but also to help you with manageable,
realistic and feasible lifestyle changes, like dietary changes, tailored specifically
for you and your type of cancer.

Avoid Googling your type of cancer, however, as the information on the
Internet is often unreliable and incomplete. Rather consult different health
professionals, from your GP to your surgeon and oncologist. Mat
occasionally comes across patients who feel uncomfortable with their current
doctor, but who are afraid to do anything about it because of how serious
cancer can be. ‘At the end of the day, it is your body that is being treated by
doctors and surgeons, so you need to be comfortable with it. That sometimes
means taking a bit more time to understand treatment options and their
consequences, and getting informed so that you feel okay with each step. I
think it is an incredibly personal process.’

Support from loved ones makes a massive difference during treatment and
recovery. Mat advises loved ones to give cancer sufferers a lot of affection and
personal touch, as it can be a very isolating disease.

NUTRITION AS MEDICINE


Over a decade ago, South Africans were already looking at how food-based
dietary guidelines (FBDGs) could play a role in preventing and treating
disease. In 2001, an editorial in the South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition
stated: ‘South African nutritionists have an advocacy role in ensuring that
these FBDGs receive sufficient media and political exposure to be
incorporated into health policy. But they also have an educational role in
ensuring that all professionals in public health understand the potential of the
guidelines to help improve dietary intakes, nutritional status and health, and
in the prevention of diet-related diseases.’81

The concept of diet as a form of treatment is not new. We have all come
across the proverb, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’, at some point in
our lives. Famed inventor Thomas Edison even once famously remarked:
‘The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but
rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.’

As we have seen, many factors contribute to illnesses like cancer, especially
in modern society. However, as knowledge and information around nutrition
becomes more prevalent, especially in the South African context, individuals
have more control and power over their own health and healing. If you are
not enamoured with the idea of going raw, vegetarian or vegan, the South
African FBDGs is a useful and beneficial starting point for adopting a
healthier way of eating:


  • Enjoy a variety of foods.
  • Be active.
  • Drink lots of clean, safe water.
  • Make starchy foods the basis of most meals.
  • Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit every day.
  • Chicken, fish, meat, milk or eggs can be eaten daily.
  • Eat fats sparingly.
  • Use salt sparingly.
  • Use foods and drinks containing sugar sparingly and not between meals.
  • If you drink alcohol, drink sensibly.



By using the tools available to you and empowering yourself with knowledge
about eating clean, nutrition and your type of cancer, and by consulting a
dietitian or nutritionist, you could change your life. As the ancient Greek
physician Hippocrates said, ‘Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be
thy food.’

According to Cancer Research UK, cancer survival rates in the United
Kingdom have doubled in the last forty years. In fact, half of the people
diagnosed with cancer now survive the disease for at least five years.

Furthermore, almost three-quarters of children with cancer are now cured of
the disease, compared with around a quarter in the late 1960s.82
These kinds of statistics are not available for South Africa, but global
trends give a lot of hope. Cancer is no longer a death sentence. The studies
and research being conducted show an abundance of ways to take charge of
your disease and fight it.

Unfortunately, we will never really know why some people die from
cancer and others do not. Carrie Brown was a cancer sufferer who eventually
died, but not before putting up a good fight and making sure she left behind a
legacy in the form of her beautiful young son.

This book is part of her legacy too. My fond memories of Carrie have
given me the strength, hope and motivation to write a book that might
possibly provide some help and guidance to others like her when it comes to
eating well and nurturing the body. By including other people’s stories and a
few ideas about how to incorporate the most nutritional foods into your diet,
I hope that your journey is that much more wholesome – whether you are
aiming to prevent or treat cancer. Carrie believed that we were all put on earth
to serve a purpose. Not only did she serve many beautiful purposes
throughout her life, but she continues to do so in her afterlife.

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