Dear Tamara,
I had it five years ago. Had a full mastectomy, 9 mos chemotherapy and took tamox for almost three years. I quit taking it because I had such bad side effects, one of which was weight gain and depression. I am not normally a depressed person, so I knew it must be the drug. I also had no energy. Doctors are wonderful when you need them, but they can't help you all the time. They could only give me the drug and hope for the best. I also had eye problems on the drug.

I don't think that my diet replaces tamoxifin. I just don't consider it a factor anymore. I am interested in keeping my blood sugar stable, my weight down, energy up.

You will find that there are SO MANY so-called anti cancer diets. It can be confusing. Truth is, people get well on all kinds of diets.

I have been gaining in strength over the years. The first three years were tough, complicated by the tamoxifin, and probably the toxicity of the chemotherapy I had received.

Now, if I am eating right, drinking enough water and getting a little exercise every day (which I don't always do!), I can go through a whole day with plenty of energy. Now that I am past menopause (artificially induced by the chemo), I am sleeping great and no longer have any significant hot flashes.

I highly recommend Dr. Batman (as he is affectionately called) and his water cure books. He also recommends the use of seasalt in the diet, which runs contrary to what you hear these days. Everything is LOW fat, LOW salt, LOW calorie, low energy!!

As for the low carb diet, I do follow a version, which could be like a maintenence Atkins, or something like that. Basically, I eat no sugar, and limit carbs, and eat good fat and high quality protein.

I don't fry foods, drink carbonated beverages, don't cook my meat well done. I use supplements as well, especially minerals and a few antioxidants.

All I can say is that you must work your diet out for yourself. If I start to feel tired in the day, it ususally means I have low blood sugar, which could be from having eaten a few extra carbs. Or, in my case, not eating at regular intervals. That helps keep the BS stable. Just a small amount of something every 3 hours helps---a hard boiled egg with seasalt and pepper, a slice of turkey, a few nuts...

Your doctor will probably tell you it's not a good diet. They worry about fat. So did I, for years. I would never eat the skin of a chicken. But that is where all the good EFA's are! No wonder low-cal dieters are so pasty looking!!

Keep your sense of humor.....

Suzie