What should men eat ??? Prostate cancer
Posted , 4 users are following.
For years my wife and I avoided eggs due to their bad rep of raising cholesterol. We were so happy when eggs were exonerated last year of the bad rep so we embarked on 'an egg a day program'. We love eggs because they taste good, easy to prepare, and are full of nutrients. We were even happier when our blood test results this year showed that our bad LDL cholesterol and triglycerides went down and our good HDL cholesterol went up significantly. What a vindication. Then darn it, I ran across an article associating egg consumption with prostate cancer.
As I continued my search of wisdom, articles after articles mentioning that not just eggs, chicken (our daily consumption), turkey, red meat (of course, no surprise here), and even fish (OMG), and what else ... increase risk of prostate cancer.
I feel a sense of profound unfairness here. What can men eat then? We men practically can not eat anything other than a vegetarian diet. Just because of an organ that some of us may not even want ? 
What should we do ? Ignore the warnings and eat what we want, knowing that we all eventually get prostate cancer anyway ? Or avoid all organ foods and go on a more costly vegetarian diet, risking some possible nutrient deficiencies ? Or just go ahead and remove the prostate ? Or the testicles ? Would the removal guarantee no future prostate cancer ?
Also, should we believe the accuracies of those studies ? Anyone with a personal story that would confirm or disavow them ? Would this thread change what you eat ?
Hank
0 likes, 48 replies
jimjames hank1953
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Dairy has been mentioned several times, and in fact "The China Study" outlines basically a vegan, non dairy diet. This diet here has been adopted by Dr. Dr esselstyn, for his heart disease reversal diet which is Vegan.
But is it the dairy or is the culprit the fat in dairy? Nathan Pritkin, a real pioneer in diet, allows a couple of servings of non fat dairy a day. So does the Dash diet.
I've studied and been on many different types of diet, mostly for reasons of preventing coronary disease. Currently on a diet somewhere between Prikiin and Dash.
I will say this, if there's one field where more contradictory information exists, I never encountered it.
Jim
hank1953 jimjames
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hank1953 jimjames
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jimjames hank1953
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My numbers (cholesterol and bp) were the best on the original Pritikin diet from the late 70's. It has been modified quite a bit since then to I suppose make it more palatable. Also did OK on the Zone diet and even better on "Phase 1" of the South Beach Diet. All these diets contradict each other somewhat signficantly. But probably not fair to compare how my body reacted thirty years ago to a diet to how it does today. Wel'll see how my new revised plan goes. The good thing about my new diet -- unlimited complex carbs -- is that I can make my own chips, but hold the salt!!!
Speaking of diets, another interesting Robert Haas's "Eat to Win" also I think from the 70's. If I can't find the book, I'll try and find a used copy online.
Jim
jimjames hank1953
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Milk, fat, sugar and bread (white bread?) are generally not a great eating pyramid plan. Hard to say how it effects your prostate but can't help. Did I mention the book "The China Study". Dr. Essensytn based his vegan heart disease regression diet partly on that book. I tried the diet but gave up when my numbers (chol and bp) didn't fall as far as I thought they should. But again, maybe at my age, my body will not react as well as it did 30 years ago. But it does seem to be reacting well in terms of a bp drop but I'm more sensitive to sodium than most.
Jim
paul96555 hank1953
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hank1953 paul96555
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jimjames hank1953
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Let me plug the good starches like peas, corn, beans, whole grains and baked potato. Well, baked potato maybe not as good as chips, but that's the closest I've come lately!
Jim
hank1953 paul96555
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This is the title of one article. I can not give you the link cause the post will be blocked. Hank
"High intake of omega-3 fats linked to increased prostate cancer risk"
jimjames hank1953
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"High intake of omega-3 fats linked to increased prostate cancer risk"
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Whoops. Just ordered a dozen cans of sardines from Amazon!
Jim
hank1953 jimjames
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hank1953 jimjames
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jimjames hank1953
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Sardines packed in water, no salt added. 82mg sodium per serving. "Season" brand.
jimjames hank1953
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How many chips in that 180 mg of sodium serving? And that's a lot of fat!
BTW now on a low sodium, very low fat (fat calories less than 10% of total calories), low protein diet, and have slept through the night all week! And do I miss the chips? Yes!
Well, off to eat my second baked potato today (0 mg sodium, 0 mg fat).
Jim
jimjames
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Actually cheating a little. Using something called "Butter Buds". Has no fat but does have a little sodium.
hank1953 jimjames
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hank1953 jimjames
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hank1953 jimjames
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jimjames hank1953
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Prefer fresh fish, preferably "wild", but I eat tuna, salmon, and sardines from the can. They all are available packed in water without any added sodium, and are "wild" as opposed to farm raised.
Jim
hank1953 jimjames
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jimjames hank1953
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Not all. Like Atlantic Salmon may not be. Sockeye would be wild. The "Seasons Brand" sardines are labled "Wild". Got to check label.
Jim
jimjames
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hank1953 jimjames
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I don't need to check label. I already have you.
Hank
hank1953 jimjames
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Just ordered 68 cans of wild caught tuna with water from walmart. I know, I know, I am a copy cat.
180mg of sodium per can. Not too low but I can handle it.
Question: What Pritikin program are you following ? The 1970s version or the new, improved current version which is more relaxed ? With few minor deviations, I think my diet is also Pritikin and I think it did bring my BP down subsantially. Hank
jimjames hank1953
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What, you don't like sardines
No, that's great, I should have ordered more myself and I will soon reorder.
Excellent question regarding Pritikin. The 1970 version is much stricter than the newer version, probbly to make it more paltable and competitive with other diet programs. The 1970's version eliminated all added oil and nuts, etc. Also, much more strict with protein, so no egg whites and even a limitation on beans which are freely offered on the new Pritkin program.
And I don't believe the old Pritkin diet was favorable on salmon and sardines -- too much fat.
Right now, I'm probably somewhere inbetween the old and the new. My bp has already decreased substantially, but I haven't yet done any lipid tests. And that is the bottom line for me, to drive down ldl cholesterol. I got it down to 130-140 (total cholesterol) thirty years ago on the old Pritikin diet alone (not statins) but not sure my older body will react as well this time, plus I'm not quite as strict. We will see.
Jim
hank1953 jimjames
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jimjames hank1953
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Pritikin talked about that in the 1970's. He was such a visionary. His point was that if total cholesterol (TC) was below (I think 150 or 130) then the HDL component was irrelevant. In other words, the whole modern HDL/LDL thing is only relevant with higher TC numbers. To back it up, he had historical data from I believe New Guinea Natives who had very low TC, very low HDL, yet almost no coronary disease. I remember going to the medical library (remember before Google?) to read some of the full-text studies and it was all there.
Changing gears, I broke diet a little toniht and had sushi with "low sodium" (such an oxymron) soy sauce. That is the asian version of chips. I should sleep through the night and maybe the next day
Jim
hank1953 jimjames
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Wow! From potato chips and sardines to sushi. What a big jump in sophistication! I don't think I can keep up with your nighttime snacks anymore.
The only time I can afford sushi is at a buffet. Hank
jimjames hank1953
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Who said I can afford sushi, I used my credit card
Sushi woul be fine on my diet if it wasn't for the salt and sugar in the rice, and of course the "low sodium" soy sauce which is far from low sodium. And then the ice cold Japanese beer to chase everything down. It's been beer two nights in a row now and not surprisingly up once each night, but the voids were good, 300ml each. Don't think Nathan Pritikin would approve of the beer but probably OK on the new, revised Pritkin diet.
Jim
hank1953 jimjames
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Jim, you are moving too fast. I am just getting used to your "coffee in the afternoon routine", now you are already on beer before bed habit. And I know, you are also paying for the Japanese beer with credit card.
Hank
jimjames hank1953
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Speaking of credit cards I bought a FitBit a few days ago. In addition to tracking your exercise and sleep, you can enter in your food and water intake, but I couldn't find a place to enter my void volumes. Maybe when the senior edition is released
Jim
hank1953 jimjames
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jimjames hank1953
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I got it to help kick start my back to the gym program. Almost returned it after the first day but it's growing on me. I been using heart rate monitors for working out since probably the late 70's. This one has certain limitations over the dedicated monitors, but I like the fact you don't have to wear a chest strap, plus everything gets simultaneouly logged onto both your iphone and your account on the Fitbit website. The sleep function is sort of interesting and logs light, deep and REM sleep. Found out I'm not sleeping as much as I thought. You can also log your weight, food and fluid intake and a bunch of other stuff I probably will never do. Yesterday, I walked 7,093 steps, more than Monday but down from 11,381 on Saturday.
Jim