Receuperating from tongue and lymph gland cancer page

[elsberg1]

Dear mark and Group,

I am recovering from a complicated case of tongue and lymph gland cancer and am interested in weight and muscle gain. I was a very lean 6' 1" 165-170 lb 63 year old and now weigh 122 lbs.

I do not take anything by mouth as my jaw only opens less then the tip of my skinny index finger and my swallowing mechanism is gone for the time being. I have a feeding tube and take all food, liquid, supplements and meds through the tube. I live on a blenderized diet using a Vita-Mix and eat mostly raw because it seems counter productive to cook anything that does not need to be. I do have an affinity to healthy chicken soup and other soups and like cooked cabbage with potatoes cooked and carrots and celery both raw and cooked.

I have been consuming raw lean cuts of buffalo and grass fed beef and I am interested in incorporating tongue, heart, brains, and sweet breads and want to know about eating organ meats raw and blenderized. I have not been putting on weight other than very slowly if at all. My energy levels make it very hard to even consider exercising at the moment. I am hoping the organ meats may help. What is the wisdom in raw vs cooked and what is the most advisable preparation method for blenderized?

I am looking for any other suggestions for optimal diet for recovery and regaining energy, strength and muscle mass. My goal is vibrant ecstatic health. I have a lot of rebuilding to do and I want to know the optimal way to get started and complete the process. Thank you for taking time to respond with your feedback. I am grateful to receive the wisdom of those who can help me put an effective program together.

Bill

[Tara tootie]

I know the general consensus here is that cooking your veg makes all the nutrients MORE available, as well as making the food more digestible. As for the low-fatness... forget about it! When I switched to PB I went full-on and my energy was sky high!!!

1. Eat a lot of fatty fat fat: beef, pork, tallow, lard, chicken skin, coconut oil, avocado oil, butter, yolks, omega 3s (I do kippers and sardines... if you bypass your taste buds it should be no big deal but the idea of blenderizing kippers... well, lol).
2. Skip the potatoes, grains, sugars, fruits... all carby stuff.
3. Get in good protein (this wraps back to #1).
4. Weights. No cardio. I do not know your fitness level but based on what you have said I would say its best to start slow. I started taking walks and just goofing around. Honestly there are others out there who are way better at the working out advice than I am. Hopefully they will chime in.

As an anecdotal summary of my tendencies: I cook offal, I will eat raw beef steaks (grassfed and from a local farmer!). I eat raw veg sometimes because I like them, but it seems wholly unnecessary for most veggies. Cooked mostly. I eat (on an ideal day) about 65-70% fat, 20-25% protein and <10% carbs. See example meal plan below.

Will you be able to masticate and swallow in the future?

Good luck and I am sure the awesome PBers will help out with more suggestions.

B: 4 egg whites (I cant eat yolks due to digestive issues but if I could I WOULD!!!) cooked in tallow or butter. Sauteed onions and a little cheese. 1/2 avocado. Tea with heavy cream and 1/2 packet stevia. Tmw I will be having bone marow for breakfast!
L: usually leftovers, but sometimes a nice big salad with MEAT. Tmw I will probably have a tin of kippers and some kale with bacon sauteed in lard.
D: have some lamb stew made (recipe in my journal) and I will be making chicken heart stew Tue while I am at school. There is something in chicken hearts that helps with recovery time and function from stessors, physical amd mental!
Dessert: honestly in the summer I like a nice "milkshake" after dinner: coconut milk, 1/4 banana, berries or chocolate or [soaked] almond butter, ice, heavy cream.

Good luck! <3

[Tara tootie]

bump...?

[cillakat]

Hey Bill,

Optimal serum levels of vitamin D will play a major role in your recovery, your energy levels, your health overall and in insuring that there is never a recurrence.

Here's some D info:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AV...A0d3BjMw&hl=en
Vitamin D Dosing and Levels

nmoL - units used to measure D most places in the world
ng/mL - units used in the US
** Please be sure to pay attention to the units given on your lab report.
** Quest Labs -problems remain. See the end of the paper for citations.



What should my vitamin D level be?
see below for information on various vitamin D levels........

❍ 32 ng/mL (80 nmol/L) is the bottom of the current reference range. Still
leaves us in a state of substrate starvation which isn't good. And if Quest** did
your test - see note above - you need to divide by 1.3

❍ 40 ng/mL (100 nmol/L) the minimum recommended by currently by
any major D researcher (see grassrootshealth.net).

❍ 50 ng/mL (125 nmol/L) is the point at which we have sufficient substrate
for managing calcium levels and have additional to use for other necessary
physiological functions - including gene expression (300+ other functions in our bodies)

❍ 60-65 ng/mL (150-162.5 nmol/L) is reasonable number for which to aim.
It's the 'middle of the current reference range for the major US labs. European
and canadian labs are behind the times on this one and are still generally using
a much lower range.

❍ 80 ng/mL (200 nmol/L) is a target number for some researchers and is still
within the range of a physiological range of what we could achieve from sun -
ie a physiologically appropriate level.

❍ 100 ng/mL (250 nmol/L) is a typical serum level of 25(OH)D obtained by lifeguards,
in South Florida, from sun only, implying that this is a very physiologically normal -
possibly optimal? - number for which to aim.

❍ 200 ng/mL (500 nmol/L) is the lowest blood level of 25(OH)D at which there
has been documented D toxicity. There has never been a case reported at levels
lower than that.


☑ 1000 IU (25 mcg) per 25 lbs body weight per day is a very reasonable dose of
D3 for someone who
→ works indoors midday
→ wears clothes midday
→ avoids sun midday
→ wears any sunscreen midday

☑ 10,000 IU-50,000 IU vitamin D3 is produced in the skin upon full body exposure
to sunlight......with the average of the studies being about 20,000 IU. However,
do not take more than 1000 IU per 25 lbs body weight per day without periodic
testing of 25(OH)D levels.

☑ Don't be afraid to take as much D3 as is required to raise your serum 25(OH)D to
50-100 ng/mL (125 nmol/L to 250 nmol/L) There is a 25-50% variation in serum
vitamin d levels at 'x' amount of supplementation rate due to genetic variations
in vitamin d binding protein.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19302999
Clin Biochem. 2009 Jul;42(10-11):1174-7. Epub 2009 Mar 18.Common genetic variants of the
vitamin D binding protein (DBP) predict differences in response of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin
D [25(OH)D] to vitamin D supplementation.Fu L, Yun F, Oczak M, Wong BY, Vieth R, Cole DE.
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5G 1L5.

☑Testing: use LabCorp or ZRT
→consider joining the D Action study, they use ZRT's home test
details at grassrootshealth.org
→or order ZRT's test from vitamindcouncil.org
ZRT donates $10 to that worthy organzation when you order it through them
→you can also order it directly through ZRT
→Quest/LabCorp testing project. Test on the same day using Quest and LabCorp -
get reimursed for up to $100 of your cost:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/proje...-project.shtml

☑ Early AM and later afternoon sun exposure on face, hands and arms is not sufficient
to raise vitamin D levels or maintain optimal vitamin D levels.

☑ Fall, Winter and Spring sun exposure is not generally sufficient to raise viamin D levels
or to maintain optimal D levels.

☑ A tan does not necessarily indicate sufficient vitamin D levels. It's easy to tan from UVA
without getting sufficient UVB to raise D levels.

☑ A person (tan or not) who's been getting
→midday
→unprotected
→summer exposure
→on most body skin
to the point just before a burn occurs, may have optimal D levels during the summer.

☑ The Vitamin D Council (vitamindcouncil.org) has all of the D research, reference cites
and links to peer reviewed journal articles that you'd ever want to read, plus several thousand extra

☑ Grassrootshealth.org has a tremendous amount of good information as well.

☑ Stanford and other major D research centers have podcasts in iTunes that are excellent resources.

☑Quest's test: What's the problem?
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsl...008-july.shtml
excerpted from The Vitamin D Council's July '08 newsletter. Written by John Cannell, MD
"The two most common are mass spectrometry and a chemiluminescence method, Liaison. The first, mass spectrometry, is highly accurate in the hands of experienced technicians given enough time to do the test properly. However, in the hands of a normally trained technician at a commercial reference lab overwhelmed with 25(OH)D tests, it may give falsely elevated readings, that is, it tells you are ok when in fact you are vitamin D deficient. The second method, Liaison, was recently developed and is the most accurate of the screening, high throughput, methods; LabCorp uses it. Quest Diagnostics reference lab uses mass spec. Again, both Quest and LabCorp are overwhelmed by 25(OH)D requests. The problem is that the faster the technicians do the mass spec test, the more inaccurate it is likely to be. If your 25(OH)D blood test says "Quest Diagnostics" on the top, do not believe you have an adequate level (> 50 ng/ml). You may or may not; the test may be falsely elevated. Let me give you an example. A doctor at my hospital had Quest Diagnostics do a 25(OH)D. It came back as 99 ng/ml of ergocalciferol. He is not taking ergocalciferol (D2), he has never taken ergocalciferol, only cholecalciferol (D3), and he is not taking enough to get a level of 99 ng/ml, 50 ng/ml at the most. His email to Dr. Brett Holmquist at Quest about why Quest Diagnostics identified a substance he was not taking went unanswered other than to say "any friend of Dr. Cannell's is a friend of ours."


Long story short: if your lab report says "LabCorp" on the top, it is probably accurate; if it says Quest Diagnostics, it may be falsely elevated. While LabCorp has also been overwhelmed with 25(OH)D requests, the Liaison method they use is relatively easy to do and does not rely on technician skill as much as the mass spec methods do. I'm not saying this because I'm a consultant for DiaSorin, who makes Liaison, I'm saying it because it is true. If you don't believe me, get Quest to make me an offer to be their consultant at 10 times what DiaSorin is supposed to be paying me and see how fast I turn Quest down. If Quest fixes their test, I'd love to consult. The ironic thing: I've made both Quest and LabCorp lots of money via this newsletter, the website, and by repeatedly telling the press that people need to know their 25(OH)D level, which has contributed to the skyrocketing sales of 25(OH)D blood tests.


note that the end, Cannell did not exercise his contract with LabCorp:

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsl...-disease.shtml

"In the spirit of full disclosure, I used to be a paid consultant for DiaSorin but have decided not to exercise my contract."


http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsl...-answers.shtml
excerpted from The Vitamin D Council's July '08 newsletter. Answer written by John Cannell, MD
Q: "I thought you got Quest to fix their Vitamin D test. On 3/12/09 my vitamin D,25 hydroxy test at Quest Labs came out as 62 ng/mL Whereas on 3/29 at Lab Corps the same test showed 44.2 ng/mL. What's up? Nancy, Rhode Island"

Cannell answers "Remember, to compare the technique Quest uses to the technique Lab Corp uses you must divide Quest's result by 1.3. So your Quest result was really 48 ng/mL, which is close to Lab Corp's results."

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsl...-disease.shtml

"One only has to look at the Wake Forest group's methods section. Unlike the Washington study, which used the gold standard to measure vitamin D (DiaSorin RIA), Wake Forest decided to send their samples out to, you guessed it, Quest Diagnostics. [Katherine's note: literally every research group studying vitamin D uses LabCorp's DiaSorin to test D - Wake Forest seriously missed the boat on this one. Huge misstep. ] For new readers, this newsletter was the first to report Quest's 25(OH)D results were suspicious, in a July 2008 newsletter. [see link and cite above] The New York Times picked up on the story six months later."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/bu...08labtest.html
"Dr. Binkley said that a few years ago he sent a sample of his blood to six laboratories and got results that ranged from 14 nanograms a milliliter, which would be a deficient level, to 41 nanograms — a level three times as high and considered adequate. While the tests’ consistency has improved since then, there can still be substantial variability, he said."

"Quest’s problems with the vitamin D analysis arose after it shifted in 2006 and 2007 to a new test of its own design, replacing an older F.D.A.-approved test. The new test promised to be more accurate and offer more detailed information, Quest executives said. But the test relied on a sophisticated instrument called a mass spectrometer, which can be tricky to use, especially for high-volume testing."

[cillakat]

and here's the cliff's notes version that someone asked for yesterday:
Take 1000 IU vitamin D3 per 25 lbs body weight (ie 400 IU per 10 lbs body weigh) on days that you can't get all of the following
1)midday
2)summer
3)full body
4)unprotected sun exposure
5)to the point just before a burn would occur

Summer at 33º lat is 16 weeks: mid may-mid sept.
Summer at 45º lat is 12 weeks: may, june, july
Summer at 55º or above is irrelevant for most....take the D no matter what

Remember that it's midday AND fullbody AND summer sun. If you're getting a lot of incidental summer exposure (ie am/pm exercise, midday sun but in clothes) then take 1/2 doses during the summer.

Ideally, test vitamin D levels ever 3-4 months for a couple of years to get a feel for the amount of supplementation you need. ZRT is a reliable, accurate, precise home test for assessing D levels.

Serum D levels between 40-60 ng/mL would likely reduce breast and colon cancer deaths by 75%. And optimal is a minimum of 50 ng/mL so we could expect to see further reductions. This likely translates to all other cancers as well.

[SerialSinner]

elsberg1, I second TT on increasing your fat consumption. There is evidence that a ketogenic diet impairs tumor development (mitochondria in cancer cells seem to need more sugar than healthy cells in order to develop), so maybe you should consider going VLC. Consuming Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT) appears to induce ketosis, so that might also be an option. The more antinutrients you avoid and the more Primal you get, the faster you would in theory recover. Supplementing with D-3 and pre/pro-biotics should also help. Best of lucks.

[elsberg1]

Didn't get the significance of bump. Enlighten me if you will.

[elsberg1]

What is VLC?

[cillakat]

each answer the post gets, keeps it higher in the queue of posts so that people will see it. Someone 'bumped' your post - though they didn't have anything to add - they thought someone else might and wanted to keep it visible so folks would see it.


K

[cillakat]

What is VLC?

Very low carb.

Best
K