This episode is about cancerversaries, as Kristine just surpassed her 4th cancerversary (it's on her birthday). It's from my perspective as a care partner - what I've learned and hopefully things that are helpful. I'm very fortunate that Kristine has reached this important milestone and hoping for many, many more.

Colorectal cancer (CRC), particularly Stage 4 MSS (Microsatellite Stable) CRC needs more everything. And the executive branch of the United States federal government is trying to take away quite a large chunk of funding from cancer research. (Yes, that comes up in THIS episode - because there can't be cancerversaries without cancer research.) Fortunately, the US Senate Appropriations Committee voted bipartisan (26-3) to give MORE money to NIH than last year. Not the 40% slashing that the executive branch wanted. Hopefully this will include fully staffing the NIH as well.
https://www.fightcancer.org/releases/us-senate-appropriations-committee-shows-strong-bipartisan-support-cancer-research-funding

That doesn't mean we're out of the woods - because it hasn't passed the full Senate and there are still so many questions. Please continue to contact your Senators and Representatives about how important cancer research funding is. Many lives depend on it.

Here is a form from AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) that lets you send a personalized message to your senators and representative.
https://www.aacr.org/professionals/policy-and-advocacy/aacr-legislative-action-center/

You can also directly help to fundraise for individual NCI (National Cancer Institute) centers. For example, Johns Hopkins has a fund where 100% of the money raised goes directly to research. They have specific trials that have been run directly from this fundraising.

• https://secure.jhu.edu/form/ColorectalCancerResearchCenterofExcellence

This episode is the 2nd of a 2 parter!

Listen to S2Ep4 for the 1st part of this 2 part podcast.

Lora Silver, MS, RDN, CSO, CDN, CNSC an oncology dietitian from Yale Smilow Cancer Center joined me in a conversation about why it's important to have a dietitian on your care team. Food is complicated in all cancers, but particularly CRC. And there is a lot of misinformation out there about it.

Join me in learning how dietitians (and care partners!) can help cancer patients eat better, and feed that gut microbiome too.

In this episode, we talk more specifically about foods to eat in Cancerland, including talking about a session out of the ASCO conference about anti-inflammatory foods and colorectal cancer. And how as care partners, we can help our loved ones in a very meaningful way, through food and nutrition.

Show Notes:

• CancerCare provides many free nutrition education resources https://www.cancercare.org/tagged/nutrition
• Yale’s Teaching Kitchen https://www.ynhhs.org/patient-care/teaching-kitchen
• Recipes from The Cancer Fighting Kitchen https://www.rebeccakatz.com/recipe-box/tag/The+Cancer-Fighting+Kitchen
• MSK Recipes for People with Cancer https://www.mskcc.org/experience/patient-support/nutrition-cancer/recipes#sort=relevancy
• ASCO Inflammatory Diet Abstract https://www.asco.org/about-asco/press-center/news-releases/pro-inflammatory-diets-associated-worse-outcomes-patients-stage-III-colon-cancer
  
  

Other resources that Lora wanted to share:

• Livestrong and Maple Tree are good places to start for fitness and physical activity resources that you can access from home and/or in your community https://livestrong.org/resources/ and https://www.mapletreecanceralliance.org/virtual-training/

Editing to add -

• CancerChoices.org: How to Use AI to Navigate Cancer Information: Tips and Considerations - CancerChoices
• Society for Integrative Oncology: https://integrativeonc.org/dont-believe-everything-you-read/

• (01:17) - Gut microbiome
• (02:42) - Fiber!
• (03:21) - How to get more fiber, even if you can't eat fiber
• (04:43) - Food source info
• (07:56) - Spoiler alert: Sugar does not feed cancer
• (09:43) - Inflammatory foods part 1
• (13:00) - ASCO session on inflammatory foods and CRC (and pizza?)
• (18:17) - Pro-inflammatory foods
• (19:58) - Teaching Kitchens and learning how to cook for cancer patients
• (22:19) - How care partners can help through food
• (24:12) - Sometimes you need a little help from your friends (or a carryout)

This episode is a 2 parter!

Lora Silver, MS, RDN, CSO, CDN, CNSC an oncology dietitian from Yale Smilow Cancer Center joined me in a conversation about why it's important to have a dietitian on your care team. Food is complicated in all cancers, but particularly CRC. And there is a lot of misinformation out there about it.

Join me in learning how dietitians (and care partners!) can help cancer patients eat better, and feed that gut microbiome too.

Then, join us for part 2 when we talk more specifically about foods to eat in Cancerland, including talking about a session out of the ASCO conference about anti-inflammatory foods and colorectal cancer.

Show Notes:

• American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) - https://www.aicr.org/ - for trusted info on factual information about food and cancer
• Cook For Your Life - https://www.cookforyourlife.org/ - helpful and searchable recipes where you can filter by helpful categories such as health considerations, prep time, or side effects

Helpful Links that Lora wanted to share:

• Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) offers free nutrition education and consultations to patients and caregivers for all cancer diagnoses https://llsnutrition.org/
• The Cancer Dietitian is a wealth of information and free classes, and I have met her (Julie Lanford) and she is wonderful https://cancerdietitian.com/
• CancerCare provides many free nutrition education resources https://www.cancercare.org/tagged/nutrition
• Livestrong and Maple Tree are good places to start for fitness and physical activity resources that you can access from home and/or in your community https://livestrong.org/resources/ and https://www.mapletreecanceralliance.org/virtual-training/

Thank you to my incredible wife Kristine for helping me to edit these episodes!

• (01:23) - Deciding to become a dietician
• (02:49) - Dietician vs nutritionist - what's the difference? Part 1
• (03:14) - Oncology and diet
• (04:27) - Food and cancer from care partner's perspective
• (05:19) - How can we make it easier to get dieticians on the care team?
• (07:35) - Why is there an extra step? Why not by default?
• (08:59) - Dietician vs nutritionist pt 2
• (11:54) - General nutrition tips for CRC
• (12:33) - Ideally meet with a dietician even before you start treatment
• (13:33) - Diet during cancer treatments
• (14:51) - Good balanced nutrition is so important
• (16:51) - Protein needs during cancer
• (18:21) - Before surgery
• (21:01) - Getting the care partner involved in thinking about diet before surgery
• (22:08) - Survivorship and diet
• (24:32) - Finding trusted sources for diet and cancer info