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IronSmith's Vegan Diet & Exercise Log to Defeat Cancer


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I finally feel like I have turned a corner. I'm making steady progress on both my cardio (Stationary Recumbent Bike & Walking) and my weightlifting. I'm not going to get overly excited and try and rush anything but I have been encouraged after so many set backs and several false starts. I do see my squats edging up to the 400 mark in the next month or two and everything considered I will be very pleased with that. Temporarily anyways! I will just reassess my progress as objectively as possible and make any further goals at that time. But I need to not get ahead of myself here!

 

I'm just amazed how my vegan diet stalled for awhile but when I was finally able to start exercising steadily once again, how I began to drop some weight. I weighted 301 this morning. That's almost 15 pounds in the past month. I know that will slow down and I'm ready for that. Too much too fast is not good under normal circumstances but especially now with my recovering from cancer.

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I feel great! Rode my bike on Thursday and had a real good squat workout Friday. I've been able to lower my box height down to close to parallel and will be down to just below parallel in the next few weeks if all continues to go well. I did my speed box squats (after my warm ups) with a bar weight of 205 plus 56 pounds (8 sets of 2s with 30 second rest between sets) of chains that unload on the down movement (concentric) and reload on the upward movement (eccentric) of the squat. That is one of the ways to add contrast or accommodating resistant to the squat. We are stronger towards the top portion of the squat. So the reloading of the chain weight adds to more resistance in the top range and gives a more intensive resistance the entire range of the squat instead of just the bottom of the movement with just the bar weight. More bang for your buck! This is part of the training methods developed by Louie Simmons, a good friend of mine in the central Ohio area. Even though I am using much lower weights that his powerlifting champions, the methods still work for me to build up my strength without over training.

 

Saturday morning I weighed 300 pounds. Steadily losing my body weight while also getting slowly stronger. Just doesn't get much better than that! I'm fighting for both my health and my life. Lots at stake!

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I did a 375 pound box squat last evening after my warm ups. I think I could have gone for 400 but I'm still holding back so as not to over do it. Just wearing a belt for support. No where near my old squat days but I'm making more progress at this stage than I though I could considering all the set backs I had. Just goes to show that we should never give up and just keep training intelligently and good things will happen!

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Here are some of the concerns I must take in consideration as I take my Eligard shots.

I have been very fortunate that I have not experienced most of possible side effects. I have had some "hot flashes" which I must keep a sense of humor about. And I have a lower rate of metabolism and weakness from muscle loss. My weight training is to counter act that as best I can! I think the one side effect I am most concerned about is the possibility of developing osteoporosis (condition where bones are thin and more likely to break). With my squats gradually increasing, I monitor any sensations of difficulty with my spine. I also make sure I get an adequate source of calcium and other nutrients by eating lots of dark green vegetables and just a well rounded vegan diet in particular. The following has been copied and pasted from a website about Eligard:

 

Leuprolide injection also comes as a long-acting suspension (Eligard) that is injected subcutaneously (just under the skin) by a doctor or nurse in a medical office or clinic and is usually given every 6 months. Your doctor will tell you how long your treatment with leuprolide injection will last.

 

If you receive leuprolide long-acting suspension (Eligard) as a subcutaneous injection, you may notice a small bump at the place where the injection was given when you first receive the medication. This bump should eventually go away.

 

Leuprolide may cause an increase in certain hormones (Testosterone mostly) in the first few weeks after injection called a "Flare". Your doctor will monitor you carefully for any new or worsening symptoms during this time.

 

Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your family has or has ever had osteoporosis (condition where bones are thin and more likely to break).

 

Plan to avoid unnecessary or prolonged exposure to sunlight and to wear protective clothing, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Leuprolide injection may make your skin sensitive to sunlight.

 

Leuprolide injection may cause side effects. Tell your doctor if any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away:

 

tiredness

 

hot flashes (a sudden wave of mild or intense body heat), sweating, or clamminess

 

breast tenderness, pain, or change in breast size in both men and women

 

decrease in size of testicles

 

decrease in sexual ability or desire

 

swelling of the hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs

 

pain, burning, or tingling in the hands or feet

 

pain, burning, bruising, or hardening at place where injection was given

 

change in weight

 

muscle or joint pain

 

flu-like symptoms

 

acne

 

depression

 

unable to control emotions and frequent mood changes

 

nervousness

 

general feeling of discomfort or uneasiness

 

difficulty with memory

 

Some side effects can be serious. If you experience any of these symptoms, call your doctor immediately:

 

redness or swelling at place where injection was given

 

itching, rash, or hives

 

difficulty breathing or swallowing

 

pain in the arms, back, chest, neck, or jaw

 

slow or difficult speech

 

dizziness or fainting

 

weakness, numbness, or inability to move an arm or leg

 

bone pain

 

painful, frequent, or difficult urination

 

blood in urine

 

extreme thirst

 

weakness

 

dry mouth

 

nausea

 

vomiting

 

breath that smells fruit

 

decreased consciousness

 

sudden headache

 

blurred vision

 

vision changes

 

difficulty moving eyes

 

drooping eyelids

 

confusion

 

Leuprolide injection may cause a decrease in the density of your bones which can increase the chance of broken bones. Talk to your doctor about the risks of using this medication and to find out what you can do to decrease these risks.

 

Leuprolide injection may cause other side effects. Call your doctor if you have any unusual problems while receiving this medication.

 

. Your blood sugar and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) should be checked regularly.

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I hope I'm not jinking myself by saying this but my training is really coming together. My squats are steady climbing. I did a 400 pound parallel box squat a few days ago and I was not straining to do it. I felt like I could have successfully squatted at least 20-30 pounds more. I'm looking forward to my Monday heavy squat day tomorrow. I may try to see if I can approach 450, but I will play it by ear and see how my warm ups goes before I choose my final attempt. I do know I do not want to hurt myself in any manner by either over training or by straining too hard. But I'm gaining confidence which is very important in making heavy attempts.

 

My cardio is improving also. My recumbent biking is steadily increasing in intensity too. I have move up from a Level Seven to a Level Eleven for twenty minutes. That is going very well.

 

The rest of my weight training is doing OK. Not as good as my squats but better nevertheless. My bench press is up to 200 x 3. I have to tease this slowly upward due to some rotor cuff problems. I do a lot of rehab exercises to help this but I must practice patients so as not to re-injure my shoulder. I also do lots of stretching exercises with bands to put some traction on the shoulder and improve my flexibility. It always feels so much better after I do that. Funny thing about my benches. My teammates always teased me that "IronSmith has a tin foil bench." Unfortunately that is true. But we all must work within our limitation and make the best out of the cards that have been dealt us. I find I do better with decline dumbbell bench presses than I do with a regular barbell bench presses. My shoulders seem much more stable doing them that way. The goal is to rotate between various but similar exercises and work around any injuries. As my dumbbell decline bench presses improve, my regular benches tend to improve too.

 

So things are going well. It is lots more fun training now that I have made some decent progress. I must just keep training intelligently and not over do my capabilities. So as much as I would love to hit a 450 squat tomorrow, I will hold back if it seems the more prudent decision!

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Yea! I'm back on line. Been very busy the past week or so. Exercising, walking (until the day before yesterday), following my vegan diet to the letter. Been exploring a lot of new recipes. I like to browse used book stores and pick up used vegan cook books. I have quite a nice collection and am having fun coming up with great meals.

 

My biking is going great. I ride 20 minutes every other day and have slowly been increasing the intensity levels. My weight training is slowly improving. Been adding a few more exercises and a few more sets. Of course my weights have been increasing. I will outline my current workouts in the next few days to show how things are getting better. I did twist my left knee caring in some grouses the other day. So I have had to back off my walking for awhile. Always something but I just keep picking my self up and restart where ever I need to to keep going. I weighted 297 yesterday. My body weight continues to slowly go down as long as I keep my exercising program in gear!

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Good couple days of training. Biking is going very well. Feel my metabolism is slowly increasing to a more normal level from the biking plus the weight training. I've gain back some muscle has that helps too. Strength is far from what it used to be but lot better than just two or three months ago. Even though I have little or not testosterone in my system presently due to my hormone depletion therapy to reduce the size of my prostate, I think that some of my current strength gains is due to "muscle memory", that is, it is easier to regain strength and muscle if you have had it before. Not sure this is what is happening but is my best guess! Also I'm a very experienced strength athlete so I do have good form and know how to select exercises and patterns to training/programing. I know how best to get gains from my training even at my current physical limitations. I go back to my Urologist on April 23 to get my next Eligard shot. And also have my PSA level checked. I'm praying it is well below the 4.0 level once again. In February it was at 14.12 up from .2 last Fall. If it goes back down then I can contribute the spike to be the results of my bad fall in early December that shook me up so much. The results of all the symptoms from my concussion have for the most part completely disappeared. I really am hoping for the best!

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I hit the wall today. Low energy, feeling depressed, upset stomach, etc. It was bound to happen sooner that later with all the progress I was making. I'm a slow learner. I should have known to pull back this past week instead of pushing through. Well, I don't think I'm too bad off. I think just backing off a few days will let me rebound once again. Anyways I know I need to train in cycles with some down days once in a while to keep from over doing it.

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Thank goodness I'm feeling a lot better than I did a few days ago. I just needed to rest and pull back from training a little bit. Also made sure I drank my green smoothies every day. That always seems to perk me up! Went to have my nutritional I.V. treatment yesterday. That helps too! My twisted knee also seems to have healed up very well. So I will restart my training program with medium intensity for the coming week and then rev up to a more intense training cycle next week depending on how I feel.

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Darn, I'm feeling so good today I'm going out to do some cross training! Gardening that is! My son in law tilled a big patch of land behind his house that we are going to share for a family garden. I sent for all heirloom vegetable seeds and plan a total organic garden. Exercise and great organic vegetables. Can't multitask better than that!

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I have really enjoyed the time I spent working on my garden yesterday and this morning. Being in the sun, breathing fresh air, working the dirt, with hopes of wonderful fresh organic vegetables to share with my family and friends. I'm feeling alive and hopeful. I go for my check up with my Urologist on the 23rd. I'm going in to have my blood test for my PSA on Monday so the results will be ready by my Doctors appointment. I'm praying it will be below 4.0. If so I will be the happiest guy in the world! Eating my vegan diet, taking my nutritional supplements, keeping active, doing my stress reduction exercises, and trying to keep a positive attitude. And celebrating life everyday. Rita and I have a brand new granddaughter born two weeks ago. Life is so precious!

 

Tomorrow I will be referring all day at the NASA Ohio Regionals Powerlifting Meet. Trying to give back to the sport I have loved from my late teens. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of my old friends and maybe meeting some news ones just coming into the sport. Old IronSmith just wants to keep hammering!

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Even though I have switched to a vegan whole plant based diet over a year ago I have still been taking the purest and high quality fish oil supplements I could find. I have changed my mind and have quit that exception to my vegan diet as of now. I will now get my Omega-3 essential fatty acid, ALA, etc. through vegetarian sources only. I would love to hear from others what they would recommend! Thanks!

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Very big weekend! I really enjoyed refereeing the Ohio NASA Regional Powerlifting Meet on Saturday. It was a great meet and there were some great drug free lifters there. Young and old. There was an 80 year old bench presser who weighted 220 and benched 225. I'll be happy if I can brush my own teeth when I'm 80. There were a few young guys in the Youth Division who are not judged on how much they can lift, but on their form. It's just to be sure they are lifting correctly and no maximum lifts are attempted. Safety is the goal. There was also a 23 year old 335 pound Junior Lifter who squatted 904, benched over 600, and deadlifted about 750 pounds. He ended up with about a 2,255 pound total drug free in single ply lifting gear. Amazing! One of the strongest young men I have ever personally referred in a meet. But as great as he was, I think the 80 year old man impressed me the most. He inspired me to continue to keep training and never give up!

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I received very upsetting news this morning. My Urologist's nurse called me to tell me my PSA has jumped upward again. It's now 17 up from 14.2 the beginning of February. That is not good at all. I'm going to have to set down and re-evaluate my entire program and my commitment to it. I have to run to Columbus for my nutritional IV treatment in a few minutes but I will be thinking about everything I have done and haven't done this past year. I do know I will not give up. I know I'm going to double down and plug all the leaks in my present program and tighten up my adherence to it. I know nutrition, exercise, weight loss, stress reduction, etc are still my answer to my prostate cancer.

 

The nurse told me that my Urologist is in surgery today but he will be ordering some more testing such as a bone scan and a CT scan. I see him this coming Monday. I can't give up. I have too much to live for. My family and friends mean everything to me. And I have to admit I need to do this for myself. I love life and I will fight for my life as hard as I can!

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As I drove over and back from Columbus, I did a lot of thinking and soul searching. I did a personal inventory about how honest I have been in sticking with my cancer program. I didn't like my answers. In many ways I have been doing very well but in others I have been slacking and fooling myself that what I have been doing was good enough! As far as following my vegan diet I would give myself an A+. But other than that in other areas I have been just half stepping along.

 

While up to a few months ago, my exercise program was almost nonexistent. I was walking and doing some riding of my bike and a little weight lifting, but mostly due to some valid but also invalid reasons, I was not doing enough. I have had several physical barriers such as my big fall and major concussion the first week of December. I had to very inactive for at least 4-5 weeks and then slowly begin again from ground zero. But that being said, I could have been more active before then and better in following my exercise program since I was medically cleared to exercise again the middle of January. In that area I give myself a C+ but rapidly raising.

 

As far as taking all of the supplements that I had pain taking researched that fight cancer, I have not been taking then daily as I should. I give myself a B in that area. I have been going over to Columbus for my nutritional and chelation IV therapy almost every week so I'll give myself an A in that area.

 

I have lost about 65 pounds since this time last year but I have been at a plateau for over three months and I have to begin to lose weight once again. I went up a little and back down but the net results was staying right about 300 pounds body weight. So I will give myself a C+ for weight loss over all.

 

I also have not been drinking my green smoothies daily either. In that area I'll give myself a C. But I have been drinking my green tea with lemon almost daily. I'll give my self an A in that area!

 

All in all there is a lot of room for improvement. Looking in the mirror and taking an honest look at one's self takes a lot of courage and no denial or minimizing at all! So back on it. If I want half assed results then do things half assed. If I want the best results, I need to go full steam! I rededicate myself to taking better care of myself. I have too much to live for! And I have my promises to my late wife, my present wife and the rest of my family and friends. I can't let them or myself down!

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Thanks for the words of support LMNgetfit. While most of the time I'm a very positive and self motivated guy, I must admit its good to receive the occasional words of encouragement. My wife and my two sons are my biggest sources of support and care. Helps to keep putting one foot in front of another!

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I have enjoyed reading your log Ironsmith. I wish you the best.

 

You have mentioned your vegan diet a few times throughout this thread, but you haven't really went into a lot of detail on exactly what you are eating. (unless I missed it).

 

Could you give a little more detail on your typical daily intake? What kinds of vegetables are you mainly eating?

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Lots of fresh green vegs and leafy greens too. I usually make my green smoothies with any leafy green I may have on hand, apples, green power, sprout protein, and some ginger. Also lots of tomatoes, carrots, onions, beets, eggplant, garlic, etc. in stir fries. Loads of asparagus often in my green smoothies !Lots of soy, mostly tofu, soy milk, tempeh. Loads of fresh fruit. Nuts, especially walnuts. Brown rice, beans, grains, etc. Nothing white (that is white rice, potatoes, bread) except for cauliflower. Yams. There really is not a veg that I don't use one time or another. I try to get as many vegs with as varied colors as possible. I stay away from fruit juices to avoid too much sugar. 6-8 glasses of un-sweeten green tea with lemon daily. No soda pop. I'm always looking for used vegan cookbooks at used bookstores to get ideas to keep variety in my diet. I have tried to eat lots of my vegs and fruit raw, at least 50% trying to at time reach 80% but most of the time I don't make it. I'm going to try move that percentage up more. I buy as much as my produce organic as possible. I'm starting my own garden so I have more control of the quality produce I can.

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Tomorrow I'm having a full body bone scan and Friday a contrast CT scan. I hate all of this exposure to more and more radiation. But what can I do out side refusing treatment? I may never take chemo but other than that I have accepted conventional medicine with the addition alternative medicine and nutrition approach. We will see.

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Lots of fresh green vegs and leafy greens too. I usually make my green smoothies with any leafy green I may have on hand, apples, green power, sprout protein, and some ginger. Also lots of tomatoes, carrots, onions, beets, eggplant, garlic, etc. in stir fries. Loads of asparagus often in my green smoothies !Lots of soy, mostly tofu, soy milk, tempeh. Loads of fresh fruit. Nuts, especially walnuts. Brown rice, beans, grains, etc. Nothing white (that is white rice, potatoes, bread) except for cauliflower. Yams. There really is not a veg that I don't use one time or another. I try to get as many vegs with as varied colors as possible. I stay away from fruit juices to avoid too much sugar. 6-8 glasses of un-sweeten green tea with lemon daily. No soda pop. I'm always looking for used vegan cookbooks at used bookstores to get ideas to keep variety in my diet. I have tried to eat lots of my vegs and fruit raw, at least 50% trying to at time reach 80% but most of the time I don't make it. I'm going to try move that percentage up more. I buy as much as my produce organic as possible. I'm starting my own garden so I have more control of the quality produce I can.

 

It sounds like you are eating pretty good.

 

I really like the green smoothies you are doing. They are good for anyone but especially important for someone battling cancer. They give you a very high concentration of phytonutrients to help fight the cancer.

 

And glad you are eating the leafy vegetables so much. All vegetables are important of course but the cruciferous vegetables have been found to be the most important in fighting cancer.

 

I see you are eating onions which is good, it was recently discovered that they help fight cancer too. What about mushrooms, do you eat them? Mushrooms were found to help cancer as well recently.

 

I think you mentioned once your sugar levels were high. Not sure if that continues to be a problem, but regardless do you eat wild(black) rice? Brown rice is good, but wild rice has almost half the glycemic load as brown rice.

 

I garden as well and like you I love it. It is a great release and very relaxing and I would recommend it to everyone. There is just something about planting something as a seed and watching it grow and eventually reaping the benefits of your work. It teaches that work pays off in the end if you are patient. I think more children should be exposed to gardening.

 

Keep up your fight!

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I both juice and blend . I like to have the whole plant(s) but also appreciate the benefits of juicing. Yes I eat lots of mushrooms, domestic and imported from Japan. My pre-diabetes is well controlled by my diet and should improve even more as my exercise program progresses. I also occasionally eat wild rice. Thanks for the suggestions. I am always surfing the web looking for nutritional approaches to fighting cancer. Also have purchased several books on the subject and have a few more on my wish list that I send for as time goes on. I do believe knowledge is power and I'm doing my best to empower myself!

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Have you ever heard of the Gerson Institute?

 

I do not agree with the everything they advocate, such as the coffee enemas.

 

But they are very high on juicing and even suggest 13 specific juices you should use.(i don't know what those 13 are). They also claim the type of juicer you use is important.

 

I do not know anymore about their therapy than what is on their website and can't vouch for it's effectiveness. But most of their suggestions sound reasonable.

 

Here is a link to their site http://gerson.org/gerpress/

 

EDIT-----upon further research apparently Gerson does not recommend eating mushrooms, berries or flax seed, which I would disagree with. I think their recommendations have not changed with the new research.

 

So my main focus on mentioning Gerson is the juicing program really.

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