The After Cancer Diet: How To Live Healthier Than Ever Before

By Suzanne Boothby and Richard Boothby

A health expert “explores ways survivors can live a preventative lifestyle so they can continue to thrive” (Kerry Monaghan, nutrition and wellness coach).
 
For the more than eleven million cancer survivors in the United States, a healthy lifestyle is essential after treatment. Cancer wellness writer Suzanne Boothby aims to provide this invaluable information to cancer survivors in her book, The After Cancer Diet. In it, Suzanne shares what cancer survivors should eat, drink, and do to remain cancer-free for life, including sample recipes, regular exercise routines, detox programs, and overall advice for leading a healthy, happy life full of creativity and joy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Dec 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9780983839552

Book preview

The After Cancer Diet:

How to Live Healthier Than Ever Before

by Suzanne Boothby, H.C. with Richard Boothby, M.D.

Diversion Books

A Division of Diversion Publishing Corp.

80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1101

New York, New York 10011

www.DiversionBooks.com

Copyright © 2011 by Suzanne Boothby

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For more information, email [e-mail].

First Diversion Books edition September 2011

ISBN: 978-0-9838395-5-2 (ebook)

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Table of Contents

Foreword by Richard Boothby, M.D.

Introduction

Chapter 1: Discover Your Diet

Chapter 2: Develop a Healthy Thirst

Chapter 3: Move Your Body

Chapter 4: Get the Toxins Out

Chapter 5: Super Size Your Health

Chapter 6: Free Your Mind

Chapter 7: Create the Rest of Your Life

Bonus:

Recipes

Resources, Websites and Support

About the Authors

This book is dedicated to:

My Nana,

who was the funniest and most magical person I have ever met

The Medical Professionals,

who work with courage and compassion to help their patients

The Alternative Healers

who also work with courage and compassion to help their patients

May we all work together to create a cancer-free world.

Foreword by Richard Boothby, M.D.

I have been caring for cancer patients for the past 26 years. I have seen such a dramatic change in all the treatments and outcome of patients during that time from about the mid 1980s to the present.

Early in my career, I watched most of my patients die from their cancer. Now, most survive. There are now more than 11 million cancer survivors living in the United States, up from about 3 million in 1971. Advances in the ways cancer is diagnosed and treated have increased the number of people who live disease-free for longer periods of time.

While I have become skilled at prescribing the right combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation for patients, I felt a void in my training for what to offer patients after active treatment. I noticed that most patients felt letdown after they finished active treatment because they felt we (and they) weren't doing anything except checking in periodically and waiting for the cancer to return. I knew this needed to change.

I personally became more interested in nutrition as a means to stay healthy and avoid illness. Many doctors spend so many years caring for others, they neglect their own health and well-being. I spent years sleeping too little and surviving on hospital foods that were convenient but not necessarily healthy.

My daughter, Suzanne, introduced me to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York after she had taken the classes and worked there for many years. The school helped me connect the dots with many of my own health issues. I started to experiment with eating new foods and letting go of certain habits that drained me. As my diet became healthier, I felt better, and I knew that my patients could easily do the same to feel better and maintain health during and after treatment. As my year of nutrition study continued, I further discovered how very simple dietary changes could help my patients feel better and use less medicine. This way of living is simple, easy to learn and can be duplicated anywhere on the planet.

As I learn more about integrative medicine, I realize there’s so much more I can offer my patients in addition to surgery and chemotherapy. It’s my hope that this book can further that conversation and become a starting point for new ways to enjoy our health.

Introduction

I’ve never had cancer. But like many people today, my life has been profoundly affected by it.

My dad has worked as a cancer physician (a gynecological oncologist) my whole life, so I’ve known about cancer since I was very young. When I was growing up, my dad rarely talked about his work but I could see when he was having tough days. Sometimes I would ask him why he was so quiet and he would tell me he had lost a patient that day. Most of his patients were older, but as the years went on, many were younger and sometimes the same age as me. They were moms, wives, career women, stay-at-home women, women with big families, single women, you name it. It takes a really special person to work with cancer on a daily basis and my dad is one of those people.

Despite my dad’s day-to-day work, the only time I’ve ever seen him cry was the day my Nana (his mom) died of lung cancer. My Nana was the funniest person I have ever met. We had a secret club where we would make pancakes early on Saturday mornings and throw the ones we didn’t eat on the ceiling. One day I noticed the chess pieces on her set were naked, so she encouraged me to create costumes for them. She kept those costumes on the chess players for as long as I knew her. Nana was an art teacher and a potter. She had a kiln in her garage and would help me glaze and fire up any clay creations I made. She was so encouraging of my creative pursuits. She was also a vegetarian. She used to take me to McDonald’s, order a cheeseburger and ask them to hold the meat. I thought she was crazy, but it was always fun to see what Nana would do next.

She died about a month after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. I was 12 years old at the time. I never knew she smoked. She never smoked in front of me or anyone in the family. It came out later that she used to sneak one cigarette a night the whole time I knew her. She was always full of surprises. She seemed like such a healthy, vibrant person to me. She exercised and ate well (except for the occasional McDonald’s visit).

Losing her to cancer had a huge impact on my life. When most kids were starting to experiment with smoking cigarettes, I stayed out of that scene. I stopped drinking soda around that time, opting for water and juice. I questioned fast food and started eating less and less of it. I eventually dabbled in many different types of diets like macrobiotics; raw food; Ayurveda; high carb, low-fat diets; gluten-free living, and more. One of my first big stories as a journalism student in college was about the cafeteria food choices and I continued my interest in food and health studying at Integrative Nutrition as an adult.

Early in 2011, my aunt (my mom’s sister) was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. She is a healthy, vibrant mother of two amazing girls and not quite menopausal—she seems a very unlikely candidate for cancer. My first instinct was to help with her diet. As a wellness writer and health coach, I knew I could guide her to avoid cancer-causing foods like sugar and increase her body’s ability to fight cancer with enzyme-rich green drinks and more organic food. She was a bit resistant at first to many new foods, but little by little, she came around. She’s maintained an amazing can-do attitude throughout her treatment.

Thankfully for most people diagnosed with cancer today, the trend is survival. Even in the world of elite celebrities, you can find many people who have survived their cancer: Sheryl Crow (breast), Robert De Niro (prostate), Fran Drescher (uterine), Michael Douglas (throat), Olivia Newton-John (breast), Kathy Bates (ovarian).

As a journalist, I’ve been trained to look for trends and report on them. I met a woman in a class that referred to herself as a cancer thriver. Thrive means to prosper or flourish and I know that’s how many cancer survivors want to describe their recovery and life after cancer.

The idea for the book came from conversations with my dad and both of us seeing a gap of information. My original intention was to write a guide for his patients, but as I encountered more and more cancer thrivers, I realized there are so many people who want to create a more healthful life after cancer. I have incorporated some of their stories and ideas throughout this book and offer them many thanks for sharing their lives with me.

Many cancer thrivers describe their journey as a life-changing event. They report a new outlook on life and a better ability to not sweat the small stuff. If you were curious enough to check out this book, then you are ready for more information about how your diet and lifestyle can help you maintain your health or, as I’m calling it, post prevention.

I have a friend who I met at a wedding a few years ago, and I was so struck by her story. She was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was just 28 years old. When she originally went