Hi folks,

I have been warned that several people on this forum may be skeptical of "anti-cancer" nutrition efforts, nonetheless, I brave the skepticism, and post this question searching for others who may be working with anti-cancer nutritionist Jeanne Wallace.

I myself am somewhat of a skeptic, but she came so highly recommended from multiple sources, and she was known by the UCSF Complementary Medical Clinic, so I went ahead and took the plunge. Her packet of info was somewhat overwhelming, since she provided the specific studies and citations to back up every recommendation, and she tailored the treatment plan to my specific blood work and cancer type. So I am impressed, and am starting to follow the regimen she suggested.

I was wondering if anyone else on this forum had worked with her - maybe we can touch base and compare notes?

Thanks,

Rahel

Hi Rahel, I'm in Australia so not familiar with the the nutritionist, but just wanted to say that I firmly believe in anti cancer nutrition efforts. Have you read the book "Anti Cancer: a new way of life" by Dr David Servan-Schreiber? Its very good and fully backed up with evidence from medical and scientific journals. I like to eat healthy anyway so I figure that a diet high in antioxidant-rich food which is mainly fruit and veg, low in processed food and meat, is not only good for you but also good for the environment so no harm in eating an anti cancer diet either way!

Rahel

Proper nutrition is essential for cancer recovery. NCI has a very nice site on this: NCI & nutrition I've been one of the OCF's skeptics on "anti-cancer nutrition" since it does not comport with my personal experience. My wife and I had given up sugar over 20 years ago and ate healthy vegetarian with plenty of exercise. No sodas or artificially sweetened drinks for over two decades. It did not protect me from cancer. Plus most OCF members know family and friends who have atrocious diets and nary a hint of cancer. Don B has posted about the Anti-cancer book before on OCF and it's well written for its genre plus I give the author extra credit for attributing his cancer not to bad prior diet but to chemical exposure as a child. Monica is right that there is no down side to eating healthy foods. It's only when patients forgo radiation or chemo or surgery in favor of "eating their cancer away" that is dangerous. We've had posters here in the past who announced those intentions and they've never come back to say "I told you so"
Charm

My entire adult life was devoted to exercise and nutrition. If a doctor said don't eat this, I didn't. If a doctor said eat plenty of this, I ate plenty of it. I didn't smoke, never drank at home, only at parties, etc. Never was even a tad overweight or underweight for that matter. Had dental checkups 3 times a year, each and every year. Got plenty of sleep, blah, blah, blah.

I still got Stage IV cancer. Of course NO ONE EVER SAID DON'T ENGAGE IN SEX!!! lol

Point is I don't think you can ever guarantee that what you do will prevent all cancers.

I have been thinking about this topic alot since i've been diagnosed. Wondering is this food i'm eating, is it that food i'm eating, is it the microwave etc. I too led a very healthy lifestyle - excercise, eat healthy. In the end it's just too hard to try and figure out what caused it. Too hard to not microwave my food unless i give up my job and stay home and cook fresh meals all the time etc. So i agree with David. I'm going to just enjoy life (not too excessive of course!!) .

Minh

Hey all,

Thanks for the posts. Sounds like no one has worked with her. Oh well!

In response to the comments about eating healthy - I also eat a very healthy diet, minimal sugar, etc. This nutritionist supports healthy food choices in general, but more specifically, based on lab tests, she evaluated specific areas where I could use improvement, based on (western-med) studies about what does and doesn't encourage cancer growth, particularly my kind of cancer. One example for me is I have very low Vit D. She cited multiple studies showing Vit D inhibiting cancer growth, including discussion of strengths/weaknesses of various studies, and their applicability to HNSCC. She also went one step further than my doctor, in that she noticed my cholesterol is very low, which is usually "good" and didn't make the doctor's radar. But since cholesterol is needed as a building block to produce Vit D, I may need to address low cholesterol in order to successfully address low Vit D. She doesn't promise anything as a cure, just looks at what studies are out there, then works to encourage the good things and reduce the bad.

I figure if my body is prone towards cancer, it's going to have less of a chance of recurrence if I get these other things in balance.

Take care,

Rahel

Rahel

While I'm still a skeptic about nutrition therapy, the Vitamin D catch was perceptive of her. I too have very low cholesterol so both my cardiologist and my endocrinologist urged me strongly to take 4000 IU of Vitamin D every day. Neither were impressed by the recent negative study on Vitamin D but felt the ones you referenced were more valid. The results of my blood tests showed a big jump from 25 ng/ml to 44 (optimal levels on lab tests are over 30 up to 100). With just two pills a day, you can have your cake (High Vitamin D) and eat it too (keep that low cholesterol)
Thought you would want some positive reinforcement
Keep the faith
Charm

Thanks, Charm, for the positive perspective!

My doctor suggested (and the nutritionist supported) a once/week dose of 50,000 iu D3, for 3 months. Seemed like a lot to me, but since they both were in favor of the idea, I'm going with it. We'll test me again after 3 months and see where I'm at.

:^) Rahel

Rahel

That prescription based dosage was what my cardio doc wanted at first but it turns out that each and every drugcompany only makes that dosage in softgels. Softgels do not work with a feeding tube (and I really tried, using exacto knifes to slit it etc, but the vitamin D clings to the gel capsules and it all dissolves etc). So I was forced to do find tablets OTC. I'd really prefer the prescription strength as with insurance it was only pennies a dose unlike the OTC tablets. Good luck
Charm