Whether you were just diagnosed, years out from treatment, or even just worried about being diagnosed with cancer - this is for you! Read on.
You received support and guidance throughout your cancer treatment, but when you finish treatment - you aren’t given any guidance on how to help prevent a cancer recurrence. You are just left to figure it out on your own. For cancer survivors, this is often really hard to believe.
This is the reason many women share when they come to me for support in the Cancer Freedom Program.
You are grateful to be cancer free but how do you make sure that this doesn’t happen to you again?
But no one on your oncology team gives you the answer to that. So let's answer it now.
You get really vague information like, "Just eat healthy and exercise,” or “Just rest and give yourself time to recover.”
And these strategies - don't work.
Before cancer, I’m sure you were already trying to eat healthy and exercise. So what can you do differently now? There must be something! And there is.
This is exactly why I’m giving you my 9 steps to complete cancer healing.
If you have spent any time researching cancer online, you know there is a lot of information out there. And worse yet - most of it is conflicting.
The other problem with online advice is that it is very rarely evidence based. A lot of advice that cancer influencers give is based off of one person's experience.
But, just because it worked for one person,
does not make it true.
It is also unlikely that it is going to work for YOU.
Instead, I am going to show you what works for thousands of people.
What is proven to to lower the risk of cancer for you. Because we know it has worked for thousands of people before you.
As a cancer survivor myself, after I finished treatment, I felt completely foreign in my body and mind. I had gained weight during treatment, my body ached, and I was exhausted. I was anxious about food and I was terrified of a cancer recurrence. It was a horrible place to be in.
You were diagnosed with cancer and you deserve to feel amazing. You deserve to truly live your life confidently after your diagnosis.
But the unfortunate truth is that hardly anyone's going to help you with a plan to lower your risk of cancer.
You need to help yourself. You need to take action - now.
Let's get into the 9 steps to help YOU heal from cancer.
Step 1 - Lean Protein
Without a doubt, how you fuel your body matters. From weight gain to joint pain to hot flashes, what you eat makes a difference. Unfortunately, there's a lot of misinformation about how to eat after cancer. Some people will say to do the keto diet or to eat vegetarian. Other people say to avoid sugar or avoid soy.
But what's the actual truth?
There's a few key aspects that are critical to help lower your risk of cancer. The first - You need to focus on lean protein.
Most cancer survivors are not eating enough protein. It’s really not your fault. Comfort foods are often not high in protein. Things like crackers or toast. These are all carbohydrates. Not protein. But your body needs protein to heal and recover. It needs protein to maintain your weight and fuel your metabolism. To be free of the long chemo side effects and help you stay cancer free - you need more lean protein.
As a cancer survivor you can still eat meat. You do not need to become vegetarian or vegan. You can still include lean protein like chicken, turkey, seafood, and occasionally red meat.
Now if you choose to eat vegetarian or vegan for ethical or personal reasons, then I love that. Let’s support you in getting lean protein through plant sources.
But you don't have to give up animal protein as a cancer survivor. There's a really clear reason why. White meat like chicken, turkey, or fish has never been linked to increasing your risk of a cancer recurrence. As humans, we are also much better at absorbing animal protein versus plant protein.
It’s true because of our evolution and genetics, that's just the nature of how our body works. Not to say you can't get all the adequate vitamins and nutrients that you need as a vegetarian, but it definitely requires more work. Eating vegetarian might be the right strategy for you personally but it’s not necessary to recover from cancer or to help prevent a cancer recurrence.
So - include white meat, seafood, or plant- based protein, and occasionally red meat.
Now of course, the amount of lean protein to target needs to be individualized to you. It’s really important to get guidance on finding your own unique protein target after cancer. Because it needs to be customized to you - we can’t determine your target right now, but we can assume that you likely need to start eating more. So start here.
Start increasing the amount of lean protein you eat with each meal. You should be aiming for 30g of protein at each meal - breakfast, lunch and supper. These are foods like eggs or egg whites, cottage cheese, chicken, fish, and black beans.
Step 2 - Eat Plant Forward
Now let’s clear this up because eating plant forward can and may still include eating animal-based protein. Eating plant forward means that most of your foods are from plant sources.
Building your plate like a cancer thriver is what is going to fuel your recovery.
Half of your plate needs to be vegetables. Yes - half! I know that's a lot.
But there's a reason for this. Veggies are packed with antioxidants and fiber, and that's exactly what you need as a cancer survivor to recover from treatment and stay in remission. Fiber has been shown to reduce your risk of a cancer recurrence, and antioxidants will help you restore your immune system after treatment and help lower your risk of cancer recurrence. Fiber and antioxidants are mostly found in fruits and vegetables.
So start by building half of your plate with vegetables at each meal, breakfast, lunch and supper.
Breakfast is going to be the most challenging - but start with an egg white omelette with spinach or greens. You are eating lean protein AND eating plant forward.
Step 3 - Targeted Cardio Exercise
You need to be strategic about your exercise or movement. This is one of the steps that makes the biggest impact in lowering your risk of a cancer recurrence.
When you use targeted cardio in combination with
targeted strength training, you can lower your risk of a cancer recurrence by 59%.
A lot of cancer survivors mistakenly think that they just need to rest and recover after cancer to reclaim their energy and to feel like themself. This is 100% inaccurate. You need to be strategic about using your exercise.
Here's how you're going to do that: start with low intensity cardio. I want you to start with gentle exercise - walking.
Start with tracking how many steps you are taking in a day. Do that for 7 days. Just make a note each day of how many steps you took. Once that is done - figure out your average number of daily steps. For the upcoming week, I want you to add 500 steps a day. That is your new goal.
You are going to repeat this process until you hit 10,000 steps per day. Don’t worry if it takes you a bit of time to get to 10,000 steps. This is not a race. You are still reducing your cancer risk over time.
Your ultimate goal is to get 150 to 300 minutes of low intensity cardio each week.
But I also do not want you to dive into high intensity exercise. This can also make your long chemo side effects worse - like joint pain and hot flashes. It’s also not the best approach to dropping weight after cancer either. I want you to start slow and steady and start with walking. This gentle approach will help you reclaim your body in the fastest way possible WHILE lowering your risk of cancer.
Step 4 - Targeted Strength Training
You need to use strength training in combination with low intensity cardio.
It’s the combination of the two together that has been shown to lower your risk by 59%. Lots of women are keen to jump into the cardio part. Makes sense. We all know how to walk. We feel comfortable doing that.
But strength training - that can be intimidating.
But it doesn’t have to be.
Strength training can be done with just your body weight. That is it. Starting with your body weight alone is a perfect place to start.
Strength training should be done 2 to 3 times per week and each session should focus on your entire body.
There are some people who want to train a leg day or an arm day, but that should not be the approach here. You need to focus on full body strength training each session.
Discover the exact steps to eliminate side effects & stay cancer free for life.
Step 5 - Cancer Prevention Supplements
Now this step is not what you think.
There are lots of cancer survivors who search for a magical supplement that can help lower their risk of a cancer recurrence. Some pill or powder they can take to stop cancer.
But without addressing your nutrition and the rest of these steps, supplements will not make a significant impact.
They are called supplements for a reason. They were designed to supplement your nutrition.
So we need to make sure you're actually fueling your body correctly before we dive into which supplements are best for you. Do not spend time or energy here unless you are confident the rest of these steps are maximized.
Step 6 - Eat Beans or Legumes 5 Times Per Week
This is a commonly overlooked aspect of cancer recovery and remission - Eat more beans and legumes.
Beans and legumes have consistently been shown to lower your risk of cancer or cancer recurrence, and hardly anyone is eating them.
They're inexpensive and they're easy to make. Start by including them more in your nutrition.
This might look like adding black beans to a salad or eating hummus. Maybe toss lentils into a soup.
Start adding them in more often.
Step 7 - Avoid These 2 Foods
There is a lot of babble online about foods to avoid after cancer. Sugar, dairy, meat, the list goes on and on. It’s exhausting. It’s also largely untrue. There are however two foods you should seriously consider limiting or avoiding.
It’s not sugar - sugar has never been linked to increasing the risk of cancer or fueling cancer. There has never been any scientific proof of that. Now of course, a high sugar diet is not healthy for anyone. But if you are fueling your body with healthy whole foods, you do not have to completely avoid sugar. Enjoy a treat once and awhile if you want to.
But, the foods that have been consistently linked to increasing your risk of cancer are:
Processed meats and alcohol.
First - PROCESSED MEATS
Processed meats are meats that have had anything done to them to change the shelf life, color, or taste. These are things like cured ham, hot dogs, bacon, or deli meat. These have been shown to increase the risk of cancer or cancer recurrence. It is unclear at this time if it is the nitrates in the processed meat, or if it is something else. So to be safe, it is best to avoid all processed meats (nitrate-free or not).
Second - ALCOHOL
Alcohol has been shown to raise the risk of cancer. Let me give you specific numbers:
We know that a woman who drinks 6 drinks per week (or less than 1 drink per day) increases her risk of cancer by about 9%. A woman who drinks less than 4 drinks per week (or less than half a drink per day) increases her risk by about 4%.
So if you want to occasionally enjoy a drink or a glass of wine with friends - then go for it. But the more you can cut back, the lower your risk.
Step 8 - Maintain a Healthy Body Weight
Women who maintain a healthy body weight lower their risk of cancer.
And look - speaking from personal experience, this is not easy. As a cancer survivor, I struggled with weight gain from steroids, surgery restrictions, emotional eating, and forced menopause. It was really rough.
If you have gained weight, I understand. It is not your fault.
But it is going to contribute to increasing your risk of a cancer recurrence. The good news is that there are clear strategies on how to get you to drop the weight. Even in forced menopause, after chemo, or on drugs like tamoxifen, letrozole, and anastrozole.
Step 9 - Develop a Cancer Remission Mindset
Mindset work is a key part of your cancer healing plan, but hardly anyone includes it.
Your mind is powerful.
Now, I’m not saying you can just will your way out of cancer - but it does make a significant impact.
There is literature to show that people who watched a comedy show and laughed before their cancer treatment, actually had more immune cells. You can actually increase the activity of your immune system just by laughing! That’s the power that your mind has.
You need to start challenging your mindset.
If you feel like it’s inevitable that cancer will come back, that you are doomed - then you mindset needs to be challenged.
If you struggle with anxiety and fear that your cancer will come back, then we need to focus on mindset.
A good place to start is by reading this book: Mindset by Carol S. Dweck.
And that is it! Now that you have these 9 steps to healing from cancer you are starting in a very good place. But look - you probably already know that you are likely going to need more support than these simple steps. That's why I'm including the button below on the Cancer Freedom Program. This is your step by step plan to eliminate side effects and stay cancer free for life!
