Life Over Cancer Blog

Mind Over Cancer: Do Mind-Body Interventions Extend Cancer Survival?

The initial shock of the cancer diagnosis is nothing less than earth-shattering.  As many patients have told me over the years, the diagnosis can impact your whole being with terrifying force, leaving you grief-stricken and traumatized.  About half of all cancer patients experience clinically significant anxiety and depression.  And in many cases, according to some studies, the emotional distress associated with this disease lingers for years, adversely affecting one’s sleep, energy, and mood.

Such research has opened the door for including stress reduction techniques—meditation, mindful breathing, guided imagery, yoga, hypnosis, and other practices—into the cancer treatment setting.  Indeed, numerous studies have demonstrated that these so-called mind-body therapies can improve mood, coping, and quality of life for people with cancer, while also lessening pain and toxicities associated with chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Thanksgiving Favorites: Salmon with Ginger-Cherry Sauce

Each month, we post several delicious and healthy recipes on our facebook page.  This month, our dietitians have shared some of their Thanksgiving favorites including a yummy Pumpkin Hummus and the Salmon dish below.  All of our delicious recipes can be found at our Life Over Cancer facebook page under the "Block Resources" tab and then the "Monthly Recipes" button.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Salmon with Ginger-Cherry Sauce
Serves 8

8 1 tsp 2 tsp 1/2 tsp 1/4 tsp 1/4 cup 2 tsp 2 tsp

3-ounce wild-caught salmon fillets dark sesame oil apple cider vinegar salt freshly ground black pepper tart cherry concentrate low sodium tamari or soy sauce ginger root, grated Canola high-heat cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place salmon filets in marinating pan or large zipper-top plastic bags.
3. Place rest of ingredients in bag with salmon and gently toss together. Marinate for 10 minutes (or overnight if desired) in refrigerator.
4. Spray 9x13 casserole or baking pan with cooking spray.
5. Place salmon fillets in baking pan. Bake salmon for about 10-12 minutes or until salmon is easily flaked with a fork.

Response to CrazySexyLife Vlog

If you haven’t already seen the link on our facebook page, you will likely find Kris Carr’s vlog posting on November 12 well worth a look:

http://crazysexylife.com/2010/vlog-16-exercise-vacation/

I thought it important to take a moment and clarify a few details about my “exercise prescription,” as she calls it; specifically, what I call “recovery aerobics.”

Dealing with Cancer: Defying the Odds - The Mental Perspective

We'd like to share a wonderful letter that a patient, Bob Linden, wrote, with the hope of inspiring others who are also fighting cancer.  It is beautifully written and speaks to the power of courage and the human spirit.  We're grateful that he has shared it with us and you.

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Written by Bob Linden

My father once told me that to succeed, you didn’t need to be the brightest bulb in the box, you only needed to outwork everyone around you.  I believe that those words ring true when faced with life’s greatest challenge.

Can the Fat You Eat Impact Your Survival?

Quantity and quality of fats can influence your long-term outcome.

“Can the amount and type of fat I eat affect how I respond to my treatment and whether I stay in remission?”  I bet I hear this question about the cancer-fighting potential of diet from new patients entering my clinic at least twice a week.  Based on the overall evidence to date, the answer to this question is a resounding “yes!”  It turns out that dietary fat can have a major impact on progression, remission and even treatment.  In other words, what choices you make when it comes to consuming dietary fat can influence cancer growth, cancer regrowth and even how well you tolerate and respond to treatment!

Mom was Right: Eat a Variety of Fruits and Vegetables!

It has been known for some time that eating fruits and vegetables reduces cancer risks.  In fact, when it comes to cancer prevention, health experts have long recommended a diet that is heavy on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and plant-based proteins.  Also, when it comes to fats, the recommendation has been to restrict foods high in saturates and Omega 6 fatty acids such as such as red meats, poultry, corn oil and dairy and processed and refined carbohydrates.

Building on this, a new study took a different approach.  Researchers evaluated what effect, if any, an intake of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables would have on a person’s risk of lung cancer.  The study is timely, since November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and, according to the American Cancer Society, more than 157,300 deaths are expected from lung cancer this year, accounting for 28 percent of all cancer deaths.

Weekly Post Delayed

Hi readers,

We have been posting new content every week on Tuesday, but yesterday we were unable to do so.  We apologize for the unfortunate delay and promise to get a new post up as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Soy Products and Breast Cancer

There has been much written about soy consumption and a possible link to breast cancer.  Recently, a woman posted a comment to our blog from October 6th, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to ask if her consumption of soy drinks had perhaps caused her breast cancer, a hypothesis set forth by her oncologist.  We received another comment to our blog from October 19th asking a similar question.  In fact, we are frequently asked whether soy consumption causes breast cancer, so we thought it was important to address the issue.

The following is our response to the woman's comment from our blog.  You can also find it on the Life Over Cancer website at www.lifeovercancer.com/Resources/Soy_Products.htm.

Improving Your Chances of Remission after Breast Cancer Surgery

In a recent post, I discussed chronomodulated chemotherapy, which is the infusion of drugs at optimal times to improve treatment sensitivity and tolerance.  A broader definition would include the synchronizing of the administration of chemotherapy drugs to a patient’s individual internal clock, or biological rhythm.  Research suggests that doing so can maximize the effectiveness of the drugs, while minimizing their toxicity.  This can not only help manage treatment side effects, but improve response and survival as well.  It turns out there are other "body cycles" that can impact the effectiveness of cancer therapy.  For example, the time of the month, based on one's menstrual cycle, that a woman schedules surgery for breast cancer can impact her long term outcome.