What is the need for a low carbohydrate/high protein diet in cancer patients?!
Question: The major advantage of a low-carbohydrate/high-protein diet is that it eliminates, or at least severely restricts, refined carbohydrates. Refined carbohydrates (such as white bread, white rice, white pasta, most crackers, tonic, sweets, jams and jellies) give you a sugar jolt. By reducing these types of carbohydrates, the blood sugar and insulin levels can be better controlled. In addition, there are other potential health benefits, such as weight loss and reduced blood-triglyceride levels. The down side to the carb-free or very-low-carb is that in eliminating all or most carbohydrates, you do so at the expense of some "healthier" carbs that are found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains (such as brown rice, stoned ground whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, and the like).
This keeps the acidic level down in your system.. the need to alkalize is important to fight cancer. pH should be 7 - 8 to maintain nutrients in your body. Anything below that is like washing dishes in dirty water.
It is much the same as a diabetic program. The idea is to keep your blood sugars regulated in cancer as well as in any healthy diet.
It is likely they want you to flush your system as much as possible before the scan. Yes, it will improve the quality of your images. I've been busy searching on WHY and HOW going on this diet would help the imaging but can't find an answer. I hope someone else will be able to give you a better answer.
Answers: The major advantage of a low-carbohydrate/high-protein diet is that it eliminates, or at least severely restricts, refined carbohydrates. Refined carbohydrates (such as white bread, white rice, white pasta, most crackers, tonic, sweets, jams and jellies) give you a sugar jolt. By reducing these types of carbohydrates, the blood sugar and insulin levels can be better controlled. In addition, there are other potential health benefits, such as weight loss and reduced blood-triglyceride levels. The down side to the carb-free or very-low-carb is that in eliminating all or most carbohydrates, you do so at the expense of some "healthier" carbs that are found in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains (such as brown rice, stoned ground whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, and the like).
This keeps the acidic level down in your system.. the need to alkalize is important to fight cancer. pH should be 7 - 8 to maintain nutrients in your body. Anything below that is like washing dishes in dirty water.
It is much the same as a diabetic program. The idea is to keep your blood sugars regulated in cancer as well as in any healthy diet.
It is likely they want you to flush your system as much as possible before the scan. Yes, it will improve the quality of your images. I've been busy searching on WHY and HOW going on this diet would help the imaging but can't find an answer. I hope someone else will be able to give you a better answer.
I was given no restrictions on carbs for diet recommendations as I go through breast cancer treatments. Pretty much, eat whatever you want. However, they did say to try to get as much protein as possible.
This is because certain chemotherapies kill healthy rapidly-reproducing cells as well as bad tumor cells. The extra protein helps your body replace the healthy cells that are being destroyed. These healthy cells are on your scalp (and other hair follicles), in your mouth, stomach, intestines, nose, and possibly a few other places I'm not remembering.
Hmmm, that is interesting.....in all the times I've been treated, I've never had any diet restrictions, except when doing a stem cell transplant and couldn't eat fresh produce, only canned for a short time. It was pretty much eat whatever you can get down. Sometimes when some counts were low, they suggested eating more of certain things like bananas or OJ, for example.