My mission is to serve as a trusted nutrition resource for the hormone-driven breast cancer community.

I consider it my professional and ethical duty to call out potentially harmful nutrition information (miracle nutrition) targeting the vulnerable among us.  

Scientific literature confirms the role of nutrition in breast cancer care, healing and survivorship as beneficial and supportive of optimal outcomes, as well as potentially reducing risk of recurrence. (1)

What it’s not been shown to do is REPLACE conventional treatment. To “miraculously” allow the body to cure or conquer its cancer.

While it’s true there are individual recounts of “remission” (the newer term is NED – No Evidence of Disease) without conventional treatment, when conventional treatment fails, or through a combination of conventional and complementary treatments. . .that’s NOT THE NORM.  

I truly wish it were.

Regardless, that doesn’t stop unscrupulous people from peddling questionable nutrition practices, foods and supplements to desperate folks. In this post, I’ll share just how pervasive that potential harm can be.

I Used to be a Holistic Nutritionist

I belong to several private Facebook groups for dietitians.

A number of years ago someone shared this article highlighting the area and practice of HOLISTIC NUTRITION. As I read the piece, I found it refreshing to witness transparency and truth about a pseudo-professional title left open to interpretation. 

The author (no longer a “holistic nutritionist”) called out the one-sided philosophy of the organization spearheading and perpetuating this 10-month course. Not only that, she highlighted the shallow level of preparedness required to earn the privilege of going forth to “help” people, armed only with limited education and previous experience.

Dietetics Profession History Lesson

The history of dietetics has origins dating as far back as ancient Greece (think Hippocrates “Let food be thy medicine. . .”). Since then, thanks to advances in chemistry made in the 19th century and continuing to now, “registered dietitian” has become a respected profession. (2)

Even with all of that, I’m often asked to explain the difference between a registered dietitian (RD) and nutritionist – ANY kind of nutritionist – be it holistic, spiritual (yes, there is such a thing), or otherwise.

We earn the privilege of calling ourselves RD’s after obtaining a 4-year undergraduate nutrition (or other health-related) degree. We complete a 1,200 hour, highly competitive dietetics internship lasting anywhere from 8-24 months. Follow that with successfully passing a 4.5 hour exam and maintaining our professional credentials with 75 hours of continuing education every 5 years.

Remember, it took the author of the article a mere 10 MONTHS to earn the right (by way of a mere CERTIFICATE!) to begin working one-on-one with clients and share nutritional guidance; no internship or clinical hours required.

I Can Help You By Using Sound Waves Across State Lines

I’m not making this up.

Someone I know had a friend diagnosed with ovarian cancer. While her friend didn’t survive, she tried like hell to do so.

Desperately seeking lifestyle information as part of her treatment plan (it wasn’t offered at her cancer center), she researched on her own to cobble together guidelines for food, nutrition and fitness.

Even with dogged determination to shift the course of her outcome, the cancer progressed. It was then she connected with and agreed to pay someone in a state adjoining Illinois for HEALING SOUND WAVES.

I don’t know how much she paid. I don’t know any details about how it was supposed to work.

I share this with you via the memory of someone else, so there may be parts of the story that are inaccurate.

Regardless, whether it was sound waves, sonic booms or lightning strikes doesn’t matter. What matters is that bullsh#t like this happens at all. 

I believe there’s a special place in hell for people who take such shameless advantage of another human being.

Cancer Patients Who Choose Alternative Medicine Are Richer, Smarter and More Likely to Die.

This attention-grabbing headline belongs to an article shared with me by one of my oncology dietitian colleagues.

It’s a piece covering a study that found patients who chose alternative medicine (AM) IN PLACE of conventional cancer treatment (CCT) for common, curable cancers like breast cancer, had an increased risk of death. (3)

My own breast surgeon relayed a story to me about her consult with a prospective patient who announced her plan to treat her breast cancer with broccoli.

Just broccoli.

Broccoli certainly has a place in a breast cancer diet, and I may be the most fervent broccoli fan on the planet, yet I assure you. . .

Broccoli is 100% ineffective as a solitary breast cancer treatment.

According to the research, the number of patients who go this route are rare. However, women diagnosed with breast cancer who used AM as initial treatment without CCT had more than a fivefold increased risk of death – the largest magnitude of difference when comparing breast, colorectal, lung and prostate cancers.

In this study, the researchers identified 281 cancer patients who chose AM, defined as unproven cancer treatments administered by non-medical personnel. Patients in this group were more likely to be younger, female, have breast cancer at a more advanced cancer stage, have a higher income and education, and reside in the intermountain West or Pacific regions.

As with many studies, this one had its own self-reported limitations. Yet if you consider there were 281 people in this study (not all of them breast cancer patients), that’s 281 people at risk for not moving into survivorship.

Take-Home Message on Miracle Nutrition

A breast cancer cancer diagnosis has a way of twisting your brain into a configuration hell-bent on seeking safer, less invasive, less terrifying treatment options then what’s known as the “poison, burn and cut” approach.

Out of curiosity before my own treatment, I even researched some of those options.

And promptly dismissed them.

While I 100% encourage using nutrition alongside your conventional cancer treatment, I offer a word of caution.

Tweaking your food and diet sounds innocent enough, but here are few real side effects of that practice:

• food/drug interactions
• malnutrition’s ability to weaken the immune system
• dietary supplements that decrease effectiveness of chemo and/or radiation 

I encourage you to work with a dietitian to craft a customized plan that works alongside your conventional treatment plan. Check with you cancer center to see if there are oncology dietitians available; if not, comment below. . .I’ll help you get the help you’re looking for!

And finally, if you’re unsure about the differences between unconventional types of treatment, here’s a quick overview:

Alternative Medicine: Treatments used INSTEAD of standard medical treatments. An example is using a special diet to treat cancer instead of anticancer drugs prescribed by an oncologist.

Complementary Medicine: Treatments used ALONG WITH standard medical treatments, but are not considered to be standard treatments. An example is using acupuncture to help lessen cancer treatment side effects.

Integrative Medicine: A total approach to medical care that COMBINES standard medicine with CAM practices that have been shown to be safe and effective. They treat mind, body, and spirit. (4)

Now, tell me in the comments below, what CAM, alternative or integrative nutrition approaches did you use (or are using) during and/or after your treatment? What was/is your experience like; positive, negative, a combination?

Sources

1. Nutrition in Cancer Care.
2. Dietetic Practice: The Past and The Future
3. Cancer Patients Who Choose Alternative Medicine are Richer, Smarter, and More Likely to Die.
4. Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

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This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your dietitian or doctor for guidance specific to your needs. 

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