Help me give quality meals to my little boy with cancer! page

[kmlmgm]

I am desperate to give some quality nutrition to my son. He is 4 years old and was diagnosed two weeks ago with a malignant tumor on his kidney. It is quite large and takes up a lot of space in his tiny abdomen. His appetite is almost non-existent. I had discovered Paleo/Primal living about a month and a half ago, have read all books I could find at the library on paleo, and bought Mark's book too. Becasue I now FIRMLY believe that the fuel we put into our bodies is as important as the air we breathe for proper performance/existence, I can't knowingly feed him junk, even if my family keeps pushing oreos at him. I have a very short window of opportunity to feed him, he only acts hungry briefly during the day, so I feel like I owe it to his body, if I want it to fight the cancer effectively, to give it the right ammuntion to do so. I am so helpless otherwise over the whole situation, I know I can at least do this for him. I also have a weird feeling that the processed foods make the cancer grow faster, and we have no time to waste. Does anyone have good, delicious recipes that are high quality in small quantity? I have a ton of coconut milk and would rather make a smoothie, for example, out of that than give the Dr. recommended Pedia-Sure. Am I off track in trying to fight this thing with nutrition? Am I being too controlling and should I just let the grandparents pump him full of Kraft mac-n-cheese, hot dogs, BBQ potato chips, cheez doodles, etc? Although his appetite is greatly diminished, he is a good boy, quite smart, and knows if I TELL him to eat or drink something it is only to get stronger and he'll do it for me. THANK YOU!!!!

[Emmet Fitz-Hume]

Wow. I can't imagine what you're going through but I think that your intuition is correct. There have been studies that show cancer feeding off of sugars Does Sugar Feed Cancer?.

I would listen to the medical professionals but, me personally, I'd request that others refrain from feeding him the other foods and I'd focus on trying to provide him with better nutrition. Also, while I think fighting this with nutrition is a great approach, I'd also rely upon modern medicine and good medical practices. However, all of this is pure speculation as it is often easier said than done. Good luck and best wishes to your son. No four year old should have to endure that.

[emmie]

First, I offer you my sympathy for what is a difficult and painful situation for both of you. I can't imagine dealing with anything worse than such an illness with my child.

As the other poster mentioned, I've read that cancers feed on sugar, and most oncologists recommend that patients immediately refrain from sugar in all its forms. Since starch also converts quickly to glucose in the body, I assume that would be bad as well.

Your doctor recommended Pedia-sure? My primary doctor also advises that, and he says it has minimal sugar--just enough for the child to accept it. Keep in mind that the priority is that he eat whatever is offered and get the best possible nourishment.

I don't know what to advise, as you know his tastes, but I would certainly not allow well-intentioned relatives to feed him sugary snacks. Not only is the sugar bad but those empty calories will sap his appetite, and he'll refuse nourishing food.

I wish you and your son well with this enormous challenge.

[BlueToad]

You are definitely on the right track to push the nutrition thing. If your son will only eat a small amount, it is so much better to give him something his body can use for sustained energy rather than an oreo or something sugary. There is an organic equivalent to Pediasure called Pediasmart. I've never used either, so I'm not sure if that suits your needs but you can check it out.

It seems like smoothies would be a good idea as well, provided that they are balanced for his nutritional needs. It would be worth it to make sure that he is getting little to no preservatives and added sugar.

He sounds like an amazing kid and is blessed to have a mom who will make sure that he is getting what he needs. Take care of yourself too, so you can stay strong.

[Neckhammer]

It seems like smoothies would be a good idea as well, provided that they are balanced for his nutritional needs. It would be worth it to make sure that he is getting little to no preservatives and added sugar

This. I make a smoothie for my sons (this is kinda their multivitamin meal) out of homemade yogurt, frozen berries/banana, egg yolk, and liver, with a couple spoons of coconut oil in it. The liver and egg yolk really ramp up the nutrition while the berries or banana add a bit of sweetness. Coconut oil is beneficial for a number of reasons.

Best wishes getting your little boy back to good health!

[Gwynn]

+1 on the smoothie idea, and I would add a scoop of this:

Organic Gluten Free Vegan Green Drink Superfood Energy Drink with powerful nutrition for better health, energy, and immune system support!

I wish the best for your son.

[Paleobird]

To the OP, I am so sorry for what you and your whole family are going through. You didn't say if any other treatments such as surgery, chemo, radiation were planned or had already happened. That would make a big difference.

[ChocoTaco369]

I can't begin to express how I feel regarding your situation, and frankly, I won't because I'm sure it's overwhelming enough without constant condolences and reminders. I have next to zero knowledge of this subject, but I would just like to point you in three directions:

1.) A ketogenic diet. Some people feel there is a strong sugar-cancer link. Unfortunately, that also may mean protein. A low protein/very low carbohydrate/high fat diet may be helpful. Think leafy green vegetables, coconut meat, egg yolks, macadamia nuts, olives and other next to zero carb/low protein/super fatty things.

2.) Look into the Vitamin B17 phenomenon. Consider giving your child a few whole apple seeds a day to CHEW. Or even better, look into the medicinal qualities of apricot seeds, particularly these:

Amazon.com: Bitter Raw Apricot Kernels - 1 Lb Bag: Health & Personal Care

Read the reviews carefully and research well. There may be something to this. They're not cheap, but it is compared to therapy. Research dosages and toxicity levels. These do contain an element of natural cyanide called amygdalin. The amygdalin is supposed to be where the health benefits are, but too much can be toxic.

3.) Look into the pH/cancer link. Consider buying urine pH test strips and experiment feeding your child foods that gets their urine's pH to as close to 7.0-7.1 as possible. I believe you will find most cancer patients have very low body pH (4-5) and some have very high body pH. I've read before cancer cannot survive in a body with a pH around 7.0-7.1. Again, I'm no expert, but research these leads carefully.

Get your child's Vitamin D tested as well.

[zoebird]

I'm so sorry that your little one has to go through this. My little guy turns 4 at the end of August, and what you are facing is beyond my imagining. So, on that level, I hope and pray for the best for you and your whole family.

Foremost, what does your son like? Is he into sweet or savory? Does he prefer starchy foods or lighter foods?

Probably the most nutrition he could possibly get would be from liver-based, bone-broth formula. I do not know how it tastes, but you start with broth, simmer liver into it, puree it all together (it's quite liquid). Though, I have no idea if your son would consume this -- as I might be hard pressed to do so myself (though my son *would* consume it, as he loves liver, bone broth, and all of the oils mentioned on the list).

That being said, here are some more palatable things that he may enjoy:

1 Yogurt-smoothie (if he likes smoothies): raw* milk yogurt (i would use goats milk as it is "gentler" on the stomach); 2 pastured duck eggs (or at least the yolks, and yes raw*); frozen berries; fermented cod liver oil; 2-3 soaked brazil nuts.

* only consume raw from 'known,' clean sources and if not immune compromised (i don't know how his meds are -- you can also hard boil the duck eggs and put the cooked yolks into the smoothie).

2. soup -- my son loves all kinds of blended soups, so go with veggie combinations that your son likes, and don't be afraid to include coconut oil (for example, frying off the onion/garlic/leeks/whatever), or stir in cod liver oil at the end, or what have you -- with home-made bone broth stock (we do ours over 8-10 hours in the crock pot, typically overnight).

3. mini quiches -- it's a great way to get in a lot of nutrition -- we use a cupcake tin. I butter each one liberally with butter, then put in a mix of veggies, meats, and cheeses (when we have cheese, it's expensive here, so cheese is a treat!), and the pour in eggs scrambled with some milk -- and then you just back them. They're really fun and colorful, and DS loves them.

4. fruit kabobs -- DS loves these darn things. I also make raw veggie ones. For fruit I make a nut butter or yogurt dip, for veggies i'll make a savory yogurt dip or a nut pate.

Anyway, I hope this gives you some ideas. A lot of them you can make in advance or it's just putting things together.

Good luck with *everything*.

[Omni]

Like others posted, can't say how much we feel for you.

Another thing I would like to add is bone stock, as base for soups, stews etc.
They are rich in minerals, vitamins and other essential nutrients and easier both eat and digest than solid foods.
Use different bones if available, but preferably organic or pasture raised/free range etc.
For the Chicken one I buy one whole organic chicken, then de bone it, bit fiddly but easy to do, so I end up with one big flat boneless chicken with skin on, this gets marinated & goes into 4-6 portions & real easy to cook on an electric grill press. With the bones I give most of the bones a chop down to 2-4 cm lengths with big knife or cleaver and throw this into a pot with any offcuts, add 2-3l of water, while heating I throw in a whole large onion just pierce a few times with fork, 2-3 stalks of celery, couple of diced carrots, then add salt & pepper to taste as required, simmer 2 or so hours. Usually I do the stock at the same time as getting dinner ready (grilled chicken). I like to let it sit overnight just to develop, then next day I warm it up again simmer for a bit and strain off the clear primary stock, use as base for whatever.
Then I seperate all the vegetables, meaty bits and cartilage from around the bone joints, scrape out any small bits of marrow from the larger bones, I then put the bones (fairly soft now) in a blender with a bit of water, just break them down a bit, simmer this again for a few minutes, then through a fairly fine sieve strain off the bone fragments, which now go to compost. Then I put all the vegi's, meat & cartilage into the blender with the last strained bone stock (cooled down) and give this a good blend till it is fairly smooth and use this to make up a big pot of rich creamy soup add some chunky vegi's, like some mushrooms, green beans, whatever your taste.
This gives us 6 portions of grilled chicken, 2L of clear stock & a big pot of hearty creamy soup that is extremely filling and rich in nutrients and about 1/2 a cup of bone pulp for the compost.
All the nutrients are important, but just want to emphasize the cartilage, it is very high in sulphates & silica, which may be lacking in other foods, I have taken to the idea of full paleo to get all essential nutrients, so try to consume all the fat, meat, skin, cartilage, marrow, tendons, liver etc as each is rich in it's particular elements. I also use the same process for fish stock or prawn stock, but beef & pork bones are too big to blend, so just cut into smaller lengths with a saw and scrape out marrow.

I do a lot of varied reading on the net re disease since my partner was diagnosed with autoimmune disease (thyroid) and think most are dietary related, but this morning I found myself looking at some videos on cancer and was struck with your post.
I was in two frames of mind about posting this, as I imagine you are all over the place reading everything, so I figured you'll probably see it anyway. It is about a guy called Dr Burzyinski, he has a clinic in Texas and has a novel treatment protocol, some peptides called Antineoplastins, he has been doing battle with the FDA for 30 years, the doco is one sided, but it seems he may be onto something, the Jury is still out as to whether he is a snake oil guy or a genuine medical pioneer. I am only posting this link because I felt compelled because of the coincidence factor, it goes for just under 2 hours and can be quite emotive, so try to watch it with a clear head if you decide to:
A Cancer Cure 40 years ago - YouTube
I sincerely hope everything goes well for your son, thoughts, prayers & love to you.