Eating Organic and Non Acidic

Hi Rita&Charles: To do our part to help Keytruda do its thing & make my husband's body as hostile to his melanoma as possible, we are eating a diet of alkaline foods as much as possible, ie, organic, leafy greens, seaweed, select fruits, lemons, limes, limited grains, selected legumes, some root vegetables, no acidic, pro inflammatory stuff.  Dropped the sugar, white flour, wine, beer, corn, white potatoes, processed foods and such.  Our protein is mainly wild caught seafood, organic tofu, chicken, turkey, red meat very occasionally that is only grass fed, organic eggs — the older they get the more alkaline they are.  It wasn't a huge change for us but the cookies & ice cream had to go. Alas, we are not supporting our local pastry chef altho' we'd like to.

Good wishes as you gather up the forces to do battle.  A.L.

Maybe you should steer clear of citrus fruits as there is a study just come out that links citrus consumption with increased risk of melanoma.

I was advised by naturopath a couple of years ago to steer clear of citrus and it seems like it was good advice.

Maybe you should steer clear of citrus fruits as there is a study just come out that links citrus consumption with increased risk of melanoma.

I was advised by naturopath a couple of years ago to steer clear of citrus and it seems like it was good advice.

Maybe you should steer clear of citrus fruits as there is a study just come out that links citrus consumption with increased risk of melanoma.

I was advised by naturopath a couple of years ago to steer clear of citrus and it seems like it was good advice.

Hi Rita – sorry to throw some conflicting information at you, but I am a believer in collecting all available information and then making a decision for myself so with that in mind, I'll share a different diet with you.  My doctor uses nutrition as a part of cancer treatment and claims that people with solid-tumor cancers (pancreatic, breast, prostate, etc.) should follow an alkaline diet (lots of veggies) while people with blood-borne cancers and melanoma should eat more on the acidic side (meat).  He has me eating 50% raw and 50% cooked with some meat, poultry or fish every day (also cruciferous vegetables – cooked) and fresh carrot juice twice a day and a spinach side-salad once a day.  No processed food and no sugar (except raw honey, stevia, maple syrup, molasses or whole fruit).  All food is "clean" (organic, grass-fed, wild-caught, pasture-raised, etc.) and all water is filtered (reverse osmosis).  Many may consider my diet extreme but I am enjoying it (after years of daily 1/4-pounders with cheese).  I can't yet speak to the effect on my cancer, but the rest of me feels much better eating this way.

Best of luck to you on your search for answers

Cheers!

Maggie

Hi Rita – sorry to throw some conflicting information at you, but I am a believer in collecting all available information and then making a decision for myself so with that in mind, I'll share a different diet with you.  My doctor uses nutrition as a part of cancer treatment and claims that people with solid-tumor cancers (pancreatic, breast, prostate, etc.) should follow an alkaline diet (lots of veggies) while people with blood-borne cancers and melanoma should eat more on the acidic side (meat).  He has me eating 50% raw and 50% cooked with some meat, poultry or fish every day (also cruciferous vegetables – cooked) and fresh carrot juice twice a day and a spinach side-salad once a day.  No processed food and no sugar (except raw honey, stevia, maple syrup, molasses or whole fruit).  All food is "clean" (organic, grass-fed, wild-caught, pasture-raised, etc.) and all water is filtered (reverse osmosis).  Many may consider my diet extreme but I am enjoying it (after years of daily 1/4-pounders with cheese).  I can't yet speak to the effect on my cancer, but the rest of me feels much better eating this way.

Best of luck to you on your search for answers

Cheers!

Maggie

Hi Rita!  I am so sorry for the delayed response (I don't check in daily).  Yes, the first treatment option is a tough one.  I still haven't made it.  I decided against surgery because I had already had one lobe of my lung removed for the first spot found in 2012.  I then had a recurrence in both lungs in January 2014.  So it was clearly systemic and "spot removal" might buy time but not a cure in my case plus I am rather fond of breathing and couldn't imagine having even more of my lungs removed.  So I decided on systemic treatment. I told my oncologist I would like to start with least-toxic/most effective and if/when I progress, then move to more toxic.  This was prior to approval of Keytruda/Opdivo but he had access to one of them.  We discussed a path of:  Keytruda first, if it didn't work or stopped working, then Yervoy, if that didn't work, then the BRAF inhibitors and after that whatever the most promising trial was.  I was comfortable with this approach but I was very unhealthy and I asked if it would be ok to work on my overall health before starting treatment.  He had no problem with that based on my history and agreed to monitor me.  During the next 9 months my disease remained mostly stable (total of 2mm growth in 2 out of 5 spots).  Unfortunately for me during this time, Keytruda was FDA approved but as 3rd line treatment.  In January of 2015 there was evidence of more rapid growth in 3 spots plus the emergence of a new spot (all in the lungs still).  But now, he could no longer offer me Keytruda to start and I was to start on Yervoy.  I was not happy with this.  I decided to jump in with both feet to the Alternative world.  Beginning in March I started seeing an MD who uses a combination of nutrition/supplements/detox strategies to address cancer.  I do not know yet if it is having an impact on the cancer.  In the meantime I continue to watch this board to learn about the progress being made with the existing and new therapies.  If I decided to jump to medical treatment tomorrow, I would still choose Keytruda/Opdivo first.  They seem to have the hightest possibility for long-term results (and fewer adverse effects than Yervoy).  Plus I would still have the BRAFi in my back pocket which I know would work at least for a time.  Unfortunately, Keytruda/Opdivo continue to not be offered as a first-line treatment in most cases (though I am reading of some exceptions which look promising).   I do not understand why doctors are not permitted to use their own professional judgement when choosing the sequence of treatment.

Good luck to you and Charles!  Please do continue to post with updates.

Best wishes – Maggie

Hi Rita!  I am so sorry for the delayed response (I don't check in daily).  Yes, the first treatment option is a tough one.  I still haven't made it.  I decided against surgery because I had already had one lobe of my lung removed for the first spot found in 2012.  I then had a recurrence in both lungs in January 2014.  So it was clearly systemic and "spot removal" might buy time but not a cure in my case plus I am rather fond of breathing and couldn't imagine having even more of my lungs removed.  So I decided on systemic treatment. I told my oncologist I would like to start with least-toxic/most effective and if/when I progress, then move to more toxic.  This was prior to approval of Keytruda/Opdivo but he had access to one of them.  We discussed a path of:  Keytruda first, if it didn't work or stopped working, then Yervoy, if that didn't work, then the BRAF inhibitors and after that whatever the most promising trial was.  I was comfortable with this approach but I was very unhealthy and I asked if it would be ok to work on my overall health before starting treatment.  He had no problem with that based on my history and agreed to monitor me.  During the next 9 months my disease remained mostly stable (total of 2mm growth in 2 out of 5 spots).  Unfortunately for me during this time, Keytruda was FDA approved but as 3rd line treatment.  In January of 2015 there was evidence of more rapid growth in 3 spots plus the emergence of a new spot (all in the lungs still).  But now, he could no longer offer me Keytruda to start and I was to start on Yervoy.  I was not happy with this.  I decided to jump in with both feet to the Alternative world.  Beginning in March I started seeing an MD who uses a combination of nutrition/supplements/detox strategies to address cancer.  I do not know yet if it is having an impact on the cancer.  In the meantime I continue to watch this board to learn about the progress being made with the existing and new therapies.  If I decided to jump to medical treatment tomorrow, I would still choose Keytruda/Opdivo first.  They seem to have the hightest possibility for long-term results (and fewer adverse effects than Yervoy).  Plus I would still have the BRAFi in my back pocket which I know would work at least for a time.  Unfortunately, Keytruda/Opdivo continue to not be offered as a first-line treatment in most cases (though I am reading of some exceptions which look promising).   I do not understand why doctors are not permitted to use their own professional judgement when choosing the sequence of treatment.

Good luck to you and Charles!  Please do continue to post with updates.

Best wishes – Maggie

Hi Rita!  I am so sorry for the delayed response (I don't check in daily).  Yes, the first treatment option is a tough one.  I still haven't made it.  I decided against surgery because I had already had one lobe of my lung removed for the first spot found in 2012.  I then had a recurrence in both lungs in January 2014.  So it was clearly systemic and "spot removal" might buy time but not a cure in my case plus I am rather fond of breathing and couldn't imagine having even more of my lungs removed.  So I decided on systemic treatment. I told my oncologist I would like to start with least-toxic/most effective and if/when I progress, then move to more toxic.  This was prior to approval of Keytruda/Opdivo but he had access to one of them.  We discussed a path of:  Keytruda first, if it didn't work or stopped working, then Yervoy, if that didn't work, then the BRAF inhibitors and after that whatever the most promising trial was.  I was comfortable with this approach but I was very unhealthy and I asked if it would be ok to work on my overall health before starting treatment.  He had no problem with that based on my history and agreed to monitor me.  During the next 9 months my disease remained mostly stable (total of 2mm growth in 2 out of 5 spots).  Unfortunately for me during this time, Keytruda was FDA approved but as 3rd line treatment.  In January of 2015 there was evidence of more rapid growth in 3 spots plus the emergence of a new spot (all in the lungs still).  But now, he could no longer offer me Keytruda to start and I was to start on Yervoy.  I was not happy with this.  I decided to jump in with both feet to the Alternative world.  Beginning in March I started seeing an MD who uses a combination of nutrition/supplements/detox strategies to address cancer.  I do not know yet if it is having an impact on the cancer.  In the meantime I continue to watch this board to learn about the progress being made with the existing and new therapies.  If I decided to jump to medical treatment tomorrow, I would still choose Keytruda/Opdivo first.  They seem to have the hightest possibility for long-term results (and fewer adverse effects than Yervoy).  Plus I would still have the BRAFi in my back pocket which I know would work at least for a time.  Unfortunately, Keytruda/Opdivo continue to not be offered as a first-line treatment in most cases (though I am reading of some exceptions which look promising).   I do not understand why doctors are not permitted to use their own professional judgement when choosing the sequence of treatment.

Good luck to you and Charles!  Please do continue to post with updates.

Best wishes – Maggie

I should probably add a caveat.  If my current treatments are having no effect and my tumor burden is increasing and tumors have gotten large, I would then start with BRAFi to knock them down in quantity and size.  But if my tumor burden is low (i.e.:  "room to grow" if the treament proves ineffective) I would start with one of the immune therapies in hopes of a durable response.

I should probably add a caveat.  If my current treatments are having no effect and my tumor burden is increasing and tumors have gotten large, I would then start with BRAFi to knock them down in quantity and size.  But if my tumor burden is low (i.e.:  "room to grow" if the treament proves ineffective) I would start with one of the immune therapies in hopes of a durable response.

I should probably add a caveat.  If my current treatments are having no effect and my tumor burden is increasing and tumors have gotten large, I would then start with BRAFi to knock them down in quantity and size.  But if my tumor burden is low (i.e.:  "room to grow" if the treament proves ineffective) I would start with one of the immune therapies in hopes of a durable response.

Hi Rita – sorry to throw some conflicting information at you, but I am a believer in collecting all available information and then making a decision for myself so with that in mind, I'll share a different diet with you.  My doctor uses nutrition as a part of cancer treatment and claims that people with solid-tumor cancers (pancreatic, breast, prostate, etc.) should follow an alkaline diet (lots of veggies) while people with blood-borne cancers and melanoma should eat more on the acidic side (meat).  He has me eating 50% raw and 50% cooked with some meat, poultry or fish every day (also cruciferous vegetables – cooked) and fresh carrot juice twice a day and a spinach side-salad once a day.  No processed food and no sugar (except raw honey, stevia, maple syrup, molasses or whole fruit).  All food is "clean" (organic, grass-fed, wild-caught, pasture-raised, etc.) and all water is filtered (reverse osmosis).  Many may consider my diet extreme but I am enjoying it (after years of daily 1/4-pounders with cheese).  I can't yet speak to the effect on my cancer, but the rest of me feels much better eating this way.

Best of luck to you on your search for answers

Cheers!

Maggie

Hi Rita&Charles: To do our part to help Keytruda do its thing & make my husband's body as hostile to his melanoma as possible, we are eating a diet of alkaline foods as much as possible, ie, organic, leafy greens, seaweed, select fruits, lemons, limes, limited grains, selected legumes, some root vegetables, no acidic, pro inflammatory stuff.  Dropped the sugar, white flour, wine, beer, corn, white potatoes, processed foods and such.  Our protein is mainly wild caught seafood, organic tofu, chicken, turkey, red meat very occasionally that is only grass fed, organic eggs — the older they get the more alkaline they are.  It wasn't a huge change for us but the cookies & ice cream had to go. Alas, we are not supporting our local pastry chef altho' we'd like to.

Good wishes as you gather up the forces to do battle.  A.L.

Hi Rita&Charles: To do our part to help Keytruda do its thing & make my husband's body as hostile to his melanoma as possible, we are eating a diet of alkaline foods as much as possible, ie, organic, leafy greens, seaweed, select fruits, lemons, limes, limited grains, selected legumes, some root vegetables, no acidic, pro inflammatory stuff.  Dropped the sugar, white flour, wine, beer, corn, white potatoes, processed foods and such.  Our protein is mainly wild caught seafood, organic tofu, chicken, turkey, red meat very occasionally that is only grass fed, organic eggs — the older they get the more alkaline they are.  It wasn't a huge change for us but the cookies & ice cream had to go. Alas, we are not supporting our local pastry chef altho' we'd like to.

Good wishes as you gather up the forces to do battle.  A.L.