Recently Diagnosed or Relapsed? Stop Looking For a Miracle Cure, and Use Evidence-Based Therapies To Enhance Your Treatment and Prolong Your Remission
Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
Click the orange button to the right to learn more about what you can start doing today.
The truth is, a multiple myeloma diet is straightforward. Conventional oncology is often not prepared to counsel multiple myeloma (MM) survivors about long-term MM survivor issues. Nutrition is just not part of the FDA’s mission. That’s fine.
In many respects, we are on our own when it comes to living life as a multiple myeloma survivor.
Further, I am a long-term MM survivor. My comments below are based on my research and personal mm diet experience. I am not any sort of nutritional professional.
Step 1– Nutrition for the myeloma survivor is not a “myeloma diet.” It is a lifestyle change. Therefore changes you make to your myeloma diet must be sustainable. I will go so far as to say these changes must be easy to be sustainable. I believe the key to changing my diet was to take things step by step. My motto is “progress not perfection.”
My first step was to reduce my consumption of foods that most everyone agrees are unhealthy- processed sugar, animal fat and white flour are my big three. I am assuming you have already quit smoking tobacco if you are a smoker.
Step 2– Add fruits and vegetables to your diet. No big moves meaing the average MM survivor is not going to add brussel sprout to every dinner every night.
As I said above, your nutrition is a lifestyle change not a diet. My wife is a chef and loves to cook. My wife prepared meals for our son, not for me. My job then was simply to reduce or eliminate processed sugar, animal fat (I still have trouble saying no to bacon) and white flour from the meal set in front of me.
Step 3– Once you have become comfortable with your diet of little or no processed sugar, animal fat and white flour and you have added fruits and veggies to every meal I encourage you to take your nutrition to the next level.
What are the main foods of an anti-angiogenic myeloma diet?
An anti-angiogenic diet focuses on consuming foods that inhibit the formation of new blood vessels, which can help in preventing the growth and spread of cancerous tumors, among other health benefits. Here are some main foods typically recommended in an anti-angiogenic diet:
Fruits and Vegetables: Rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, fruits and vegetables are essential components of this diet. Berries (especially blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries), dark leafy greens (such as spinach and kale), tomatoes, broccoli, garlic, onions, and cruciferous vegetables (like cauliflower and Brussels sprouts) are particularly beneficial.
Herbs and Spices: Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and parsley are known for their anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic properties.
Nuts and Seeds: Walnuts, almonds, flaxseeds, and chia seeds contain healthy fats and other compounds that have anti-angiogenic effects.
Beans and Legumes: Beans, lentils, chickpeas, and other legumes are good sources of protein, fiber, and phytochemicals that support anti-angiogenesis.
Healthy Fats: Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines), avocado, and olive oil, can help regulate inflammation and support overall health.
Whole Grains: Whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, barley, and oats provide fiber, vitamins, and minerals while promoting a stable blood sugar level.
Green Tea: Rich in polyphenols, green tea has been shown to possess anti-angiogenic properties.
Dark Chocolate: Dark chocolate, with high cocoa content (70% or higher), contains flavonoids that have anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic effects.
Red Wine: In moderation, red wine contains resveratrol, a compound associated with various health benefits, including anti-angiogenic effects.
Mushrooms: Certain mushrooms, such as reishi, maitake, and shiitake, contain compounds that may inhibit angiogenesis.
Research indicates that most every cancer has specific foods/supplements that fight that specific cancer. There are anti-prostate, breast, colon, etc. foods and supplements that you can slowly build into your day.
In the case of my cancer, multiple myeloma, I add as many anti-angiogenic foods and supplements to my daily diet as possible. This includes supplementing with curcumin, resveratrol, EGCG, others.
I use and recommend a Nutribullet High-speed blender– easy to use, easy to clean, excellent value. If you read between the lines of that last statement I am lazy and cheap. This is why I use a Nutribullet.
To learn more about those foods and supplements that are cytotoxic to your cancer/myeloma please scroll down the page, post a question or comment and I will reply to you ASAP.
“Background: In many countries, there are growing numbers of persons living with a prior diagnosis of cancer/myeloma, due to the aging population and more successful strategies for treatment. There is also growing evidence of the importance of healthful diet and weight management for survivorship, yet many long-term cancer survivors are not successfully following recommendations…
Results: Survivors following a more healthful diet were more likely to be female, have greater socioeconomic resources, more years since diagnosis, normal weight, and no smoking history…
Discussion: Most survivors had received little nutrition counseling as part of their cancer care, highlighting the importance of holistic, household-oriented nutrition education for maintaining health among long-term cancer survivors…”
The answer is a resounding yes! What we eat is enormously impactful when it comes to preventing and defeating cancer.
However, in a world where claims about what will and won’t increase our risk of developing certain cancers are often conflicting, it’s understandable that many may feel skeptical about the pronouncement that our body’s natural defense systems can be strengthened through the foods we eat.
When our doctors, the health magazines we read, and the websites we follow are all telling us different things; who or what do we trust?
To that question, I would answer science: the science of how we grow cells, how our DNA (our genes) express themselves in our cells, how cells mutate and form clusters, and how those microscopic clusters progress into detectable cancer. When we understand how cells grow, and how different foodscan either inhibit or activate the development of cancer cells, then the importance that nutrition plays in keeping us healthy starts to make a lot more sense.
With that in mind, I’m going to tell you about a physiological process called:
Angiogenesis.
A few years ago, I gave an educational TED Talk on the subject of angiogenesis that posed the question: “Can we eat to starve cancer?” The answer to that question was “yes”, and my scientific explanation of how we can do that has since attracted over 11 million views.
But what is angiogenesis and what does it have to do with starving cancer?
Angiogenesis is the process our bodies use to grow and maintain blood vessels. In ordinary circumstances, blood vessels are supporters of life, delivering oxygen and vital nutrients to all of our organs. But when abnormal blood vessels grow, they can nourish microscopic cancers. A healthy angiogenesis system regulates when and where blood vessels should grow and can prevent tumors from recruiting a private blood supply for the oxygen they need to expand. When the body loses this ability to control blood vessels, a wide range of diseases can occur, including cancer.
As long as the angiogenesis system operates properly, blood vessels grow in the right place at the right time—not too many, not too few, but just the right amount. Keeping this perfect balance in the circulatory system is at the heart of how angiogenesis defends health by keeping us in a state called homeostasis. Homeostasis is defined as maintaining stability in the body for normal function while adjusting to constantly changing conditions. Angiogenesis plays a vital role by creating and maintaining your entire circulatory system and adapting it to various situations over the course of our lives to protect our health.
Because of this powerful health defense system that naturally cuts off the blood supply to tumors, cancer doesn’t have to be a disease…” a myeloma diet is essential.
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13 comments
Brenda holroyd says
a couple of years ago
I found this fascinating will give it a try thank you
Its been 7.5 years since I was dx with myeloma. I’m had 2 auto stem cell transplants, Nov 2014 and Oct 2017, and numerous therapies. I’ve done pretty well, but side effects from treatment are stacking up. My eating is good and I do minimize the 3 you recommended: sugar, white flour and animal fat. Consume mostly plant based foods, but there’s room for improvement.
I would like to learn more about angiogenesis and supplements you recommend. Currently I take curcumin, 750 mg 3x/day; Boswellia, 2x/day; zinc, 50 mg per day; fish oil w vit D3; medical marijuana (indica 1.0 ml at night; sativa 0.5 ml 2x/ day. I believe these have been beneficial in helping with side effects of cancer treatment.
Currently I have good liver and kidney function and have had no bone involvement. I’m very grateful. I am IgA kappa.
My treatment at this time is;
— Darzalex Fastpro, injection every 14 days
— pomalyst, 2 mg, 21 days on, 7 days off in 28 day cycle
— dexamethazone, 20 mg once a week
Other Rx meds I take:
— acyclovir, 800 mg 2x daily, antiviral ( I’ve had shingles several times before MM, once since MM dx)
— Pepsin, once a day or as needed
— aspirin, 81 mg daily
Thank for your work in MM and continual outreach to all of us on our personal and unique MM journeys. I look forward to learning more, incorporating these integrative therapies and reducing conventional treatment. Blessings to you.
Carolynn Richmond
Hi Owen- have you been diagnosed with cancer? What type? Stage? I am a cancer survivor and cancer coach. Professional advice about nutrition is conflicting depending on a person’s nutritional goals. Weight Lifters have different nutrition needs than patients going through chemo, for example.
Yes coming up with a nutritional plan is so frustrating because I KNOW it is the key, but yah can’t find any professional advise that clearly lays it out. Very frustrating for sure.
