Hi All, I’ve been a member here for many years, but haven’t posted much lately. I’m posing my question here, not because I have any scientific articles to refer to, but because I wonder if any of you do.
My husband is heading into his 8th bout with cancer, and his 6th (probable) primary type (biopsy will be next week, so we can’t say for sure till then). This is getting quite tiresome, but it is what it is, and we will deal with it.
I have noticed lately that his taste, particularly for sugar, has changed. He has always had a sweet tooth, and makes mild jokes about my low carb diet (as I do about his affinity for sweet things). But lately it seems that he needs the sweets even more. For instance, we go out for breakfast, and he has lately based his choice of restaurant on whether they offer a good sweet option. For the most part, I am happy that he has an appetite, and is gaining weight (as he lost nearly 50 lbs earlier in this journey), but still, I find it troublesome. Recently I baked a coffee cake, that I used to do fairly often before I learned about low carb; same recipe, same amount of sugar, but I will most likely have to compost most of it because it isn’t sweet enough for him, and I won’t eat it.
I’m just wondering if any of you, who are more into the science part of this, have seen anything about cancer causing cravings like this? I know certain cancers thrive on sugar; is it possible that a “need” for sugar can be instigated through the cancer process?
I don’t think I can do anything about it anyway; it is unlikely to the point of impossible to think that he would change his eating habits no matter what I (or you) say. But I am curious.
Of course, he is also 74 years old, and sweets have been important to him since childhood. It just seems more pronounced now. Or maybe my low carb ways just make it seem so for me. The coffee cake though really brought it to the fore for me.
I thank you for any insight, or comments you might have.

Cancers feed on blood sugar.

I understand your DH not likely to change his food choices. And that's unfortunate. Im currently working on changing my DH diet. My next conversation will be based on" who will takecare of me" when you are gone.....because he knows I need extra help at times do to lingering affects of strokes.

Try to find your DH's why. Try providing low carb treats instead if any others. That is if you bake/ cook.

I gave up on my mother after sharing data. Her doctors didnt know about fasting going into chemo, NIH study published in 2005. She had cancer 4x: melanoma, 2x breast cancer and recently colon cancer. She insists on her daily alcoholic drink, because her doctor said it was fine. ( UK recently changed recommendation to two drinks A WEEK.)I think high vit D3 is important: much evidence for its immunity affects. JEY often lists her blood tests post breast cancer and levels are kept much higher than the 25-50 recommended.

Hope this helps.

Much available on cancer. If its diet driven, its preventable. And fasting is another level of clean up.

Thanks Ms Arielle, I appreciate the advice. I do cook/bake, and he gets LC meals when I can, and he takes D3 supplement. But, quite frankly, he is not going to change his diet drastically, and I won’t try to force him. As I said, this is his 8th episode, one of which was a metastasis. Last week we got the good news that the CT showed that the last lot of chemo eradicated the masses they were targeting. And in the the next breath, the bad news that there is another mass growing, and obviously unaffected by the chemo. (That one is the upcoming biopsy). His “break” between cancers this time round was about 5 seconds. He’s probably riddled with cancer, and knows it. He is feeling his mortality, and wants his “comfort food”. At this point a change in diet wouldn’t likely change his eventual outcome, and he would be miserable.
But I would still be interested in learning if cancer, while feeding on sugar, also somehow heightens a person’s craving for it.

The carnivore community have a vast and growing membership.

The first step is to knock out the sugars and grains. Sugar is a bigger hit than cocaine, per research. Kicking out sugar with low carb options can be a first step.

The info Ive gathered indicates we all experience " cancer". Quality of life isa matter of controlling it.

I saw the effects of chemo brain on my mother. A vibrant brilliant brain dimmed. And a year of no fingernail growth.

Find his" why"... What would tip thescales for him to try a different menu.

Sadly, an elderly neighbor died thissoring, just weeksafterdiagnosis.ots of tests even after family gathering and hospice arranged. A kindly remarkable man, a real gem of humanity. I tried talking ng to him to change his diet for over a year. He was very overweight, struggled with a cane. A shadow of his prime....a lineman.

Your husband is not dead.....he has time to change his diet.

My " why" is my children. To be here to guide them as needed. What is your DH " why? Once a person can latch on to a reason to change, its a gamechanger.

(Ive known my whole life the impact of cancer. Loss of beloved grandmother,6 years later her sister . In my 20's realizing, "when, not if". Then my mother.BUT my mother didnot develop detectable breast cancer until ten years older than her mother. The online youtubers have been my go- to ad dana-farber has no interest in prevention. Good if you have cancer,but no prevention.)

Here's an article from the UK:



Since you've been low carbing, you are probably familiar with the blood sugar roller coaster. That will make us crave sugar. It's an immediate NEED for that quick burning stuff. So yes, it's probably a signal for that reason: until he does maintain ketosis, he's trapped in the cravings.

And I think those sugar cravings we all know do turn into metabolic problems, like the one you and your husband is dealing with now. I'm sorry to hear it has taken such a turn.

Dr. Annette Bosworth wrote a book about her mother's cancer which was a case study in what it can do. It's a fine example of how real ketosis can make for a better-feeling patient. Of course, I understand the difficulty, especially under stress. My sibling and myself eat low carb to stave off familial diabetes. Another sibling just had a stroke because he tried it, it worked, but was "too hard" or something. I'm sick about it, yet I'm convinced it's not too late. His recovery would be only enhanced if he went back onto a better diet, even now.

ANYWAY YOU CAN: Doctor Bosworth Shares Her Mom's Cancer Journey: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO KETONES FOR LIFE

Which is also a wonderful tale about the power of sardines for older women. I'm trying to make them a new habit, as a ceasar salad. Going well so far

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Though I agree they are trying to make it a thing that it's something they have to do because they have cancer.

But no prevention. I guess it just doesn't come up? And how long can that last?

I mean, I get the foot-dragging that is a part of authoritarian medicine It's slowly changing the standards until forty years later, when everyone who embraced the bad science is dead, it's "what they've learned" though the time frame is off.

Most people only pay attention once there is a problem. Prevention is so nebulous to most. And Doordash is here.

Verbena.

Any update you are willing to share??


I keep thinking about fasting. It allows for eating SAD. The fasting is clean up time.

I almost died, bad ER diagnosis, told I had aneurysm. And hospital staff was freaking out. Really scared me . I faced my end. leaving two toddlers.

Fortunately I got to a better hospital with a real diagnosis. Abd survived emergency surgery. And 4 strokes.

My boys were my why.

It could be lots of things, the disease or the treatment, or perhaps even his state of mind and the stress of the situation. But what concerns me most is that many cancers are fed by glucose. Not all of them. It might be a good conversation to have with the oncologist.

Oncologist I delt with told me to eat bananas for potassium. 😣 No clue about glucose.

I think in such a stressful situation one would reach for comfort foods all the more. They are also highly digestible: which is part of the problem, but sometimes such foods are all we can get past a tricky appetite.

There is something known as the "pediatric Davis experiment" where children seemed to exhibit cravings for specific foods that supplied what they had been diagnosed with malnutrition over. Once free of their illness, they would lose their taste for that food, and eat other kinds.

But this only works in situations where healthy foods are the only choices. We must exercise a lot of new habit-making to get past those old habits, and a stressful event like medical treatment makes it even more difficult. Also, the tradition is to urge "treats" because they know appetite is affected.