Rog T's Cancer Blog - Is it possible to reverse ageing simply by lifestyle changes?

Rog T blogging on Monday

For those of you who are regular readers and have read the previous posts on Cancer, you can skip this first paragraph.This is the latest installment in my occasional series about how I'm adjusting to living with a big C in my life.  For those of you who aren't, here's a quick summary. I'm 50 years old and I last year had a prostate biopsy following two "slightly high" PSA tests - 2.8 & 4.1. The biopsy took ten tissue samples and one of these showed a "low grade cancer" which gives me a 3+3 on the Gleason scale. I'm now on a program of active monitoring.  In early February, I got the results of the latest PSA test - down to 3.5 and an MRI scan which found absolutely nothing. My latest PSA test in August was not quite so promising, back up to 3.9, in other words the downward trend has stopped. I've no symptoms and sadly for a few people, if I'm gonna die soon, it won't be from Prostate cancer. Got the picture? 


OK, before I start, lets get down to the serious business. I had a PSA test two weeks ago. I got the results yesterday. The news is, well its the news. My PSA was 4.0. This is higher by 0.1 than last time, but still lower than it was when I embarked on my change of lifestyle. For two years, I've been lower than the level when I had the prostate biopsy which confirmed my cancer status.That has to be some sort of result. On the 14th September, I have a follow up biopsy and to be completely honest I am dreading it. The first one was horrible and the side effects last for weeks and are extremely unpleasant. The upside is that allows me to take charge of my life and make proactive decisions. They may not be nice ones, but they can be made based on evidence.

So that is the news. No onto the discussion. Many friends and family read this blog. Many think I am on deaths door and being very brave (slight exaggeration but the big C is not to be messed with). Recently there has been a recurrent theme when I bump into friends and family. They comment on how well I am looking. In fact a few have said I look better than I have done for years. How can this be? Most people diagnosed with Cancer are meant to get worse and age quickly? Well two years ago, when I was given my diagnosis, I realised that I needed to make some serious lifestyle changes. I am 6'1" and my weight was over 17 stone. Although I thought I was eating a healthy diet, a little research soon demonstrated I was completely wrong.

I started to research foods which had been demonstrated as being related to low cancer rates and cancer fighting properties. I took a conscious decision to avoid suppliments and dodgy claims of snake oil salesmen, but to see what scientifically backed evidence there was for various foods, diets and lifestyles. I soon realised that much of what we believe is completely wrong. For example, we think we need to eat five potions of fruit and veg a day. This nonsense, the actual evidence says that we should have nine portions and avoid processed foods.

Then there is the arguments to "eat organic". I never really got this, but research shows links between pesticide residues and cancer. Then there are the Omega oils. I was vaguely aware that these were "good for you". This is true for Omega 3 oils, but the opposite is true for Omega six oils.

Then there was tea. I'd heard that tea had antoxidant properties and was helpful in preventing cancer. I drunk buckets of it. Again what I didn't realise was that milk in tea counteracts this and that green tea contains them in far greater quantities. The processing of tea to make black tea removes much of the usefulness.

The list could go on. I am not a scientist or a doctor, but my reading convinced me that a diet based on foods which have properties which retard the growth of cancer and tumours and boost the bodies immune system are likely to give you a body where cancer spreads at a far slower rate. I am not advocating diet as a cure, the graveyards are full of foolish people who turned their back on modern, scientific medicine in favour of quackary and died for their trouble. I see it as a complimentary approach. It makes me feel as though I am actively taking control of my life and my body.

The changes in diet have resulted in a loss of nearly three stone. There have been other, more surprising side effects. I had my eyes checked and the optician said that my eyes had improved. He noted that degeneration of eyesight was often a product of blood flow. Could it be that my diet had improved the blood flow around my body?

Another interesting side effect was my reaction to alcohol (perhaps my greatest vice). I do not drink every day or to excess that regularly, but when I do I have suffered awful hangovers. In the last two years, despite some extremely heavy sessions, I don't really get hangovers any more. Could my liver be coping better, with less fat in my diet?

One other thing I've noticed is that my sleep patterns have changed drastically. I don't need anywhere near as much sleep, I often wake up very early and find myself getting up and working. In fact the only time I've felt the urge to sleep in is a couple of times after very long nights and copious amounts of booze. As I said I don't regularly drink to excess, Monday night was an exception. We went out for a Russian meal in Victoria and I had four shots of Vodka, nearly a bottle and a half of red wine, three pints of Guinness and two bottles of Stella when I got home. On Monday, I felt a bit groggy when I woke up, but that was about the extent of the after effects. I didn't drink on Tuesday and had two pints of the weakest bitter at the Adam and Eve last night, during our 3.5 mile evening dog walk. Today I was up at 6am to go to Victoria to do my shift at a homeless daycentre.  No ill effects at all.

I have also been exercising regularly and taking regular saunas at the gym I use. This coupled with drinking large amounts of water in the process, I find myself far fitter than I have been for years. Earlier this year, I ran 10K in a time just over 1 hour. Although this is not a great time for anyone, three years ago, my knees and back were too painful to contemplate running 1 mile, let alone 10K.

Tonight I will play five a side football for an hour and although this isn't a great standard, I can hold my own physically.

Yesterday I was having a chat with Chica, who blogs and tweets about Yoga and is into nutrition. She is a studio customer. We were discussing the benefits of healthy lifestyle. I used to regularly do Yoga, but stopped at the Gym I used closed down. I wrote a blog for the Londonist on the subject http://londonist.com/2011/02/alternative-london-workouts-15-ashtanga-yoga.php,  I was explaining the benefits of the lifestyle and diet changes I've enacted over the last few years. I have always been active and never consciously eaten badly, but by proactively managing what I eat, I have noticed a huge personal benefit.

I have developed a theory about lifestyle and diet, which I wish to share with you. I am not a scientist and I am not advancing any scientific evidence for anything I say here, I am simply sharing my thoughts, based on the research I have done and my own personal experience. For the record, my scientific qualification in this field is limited to an A level in Biology.

Research has shown that cancer is caused by genetic mutation. This occurs naturally all the time in the body. We can speed the process up by exposing ourselves to carcinogens that increase the rate of mutations, leading to a statistically increased chance of cells suffering the mutations required to become cancerous. Cells mutate because carcinogens put them under stress. This affects cell division and the way DNA is replicated, causing errors in the duplication process. As I understand it, this is the scientifically accepted explanation for how cancers start. It has been shown that certain substances have an anti-carcinogenic effect, most notably antoxidants. These reduce the stress on cells. This doesn't mean that they cure cancer, they just reduce the likelyhood of cells mutating into cancerous ones. It has also recently been shown that certain fats etc have a serious effect on the function of liver and kidneys. These are the organs which remove unwanted materials from the body. Certain types of diabetes have been reversed by starvation diets with low fat. reading about these lead me to speculate that if we have a poorly functioning liver and kidneys, it is quite reasonable to assume the cells withing our body will be at greater risk of stress. Presumably this is why alcoholic excess can make you more susceptible to certain forms of cancer. Therefore, it must follow that a healthy liver/kidney function would reduce the risk of dangerous cell mutation. Furthermore, the healthier the liver and kidney function, the easier for the body to heal itself.

Combine this with regular exercise and relaxation and your body has an even greater opportunity to "heal itself". Now does this mean that we can naturally reverse the ageing process? I think everyone would agree that drink, drugs, bad diet and stress can age us. The question I have is whether we can to some extent reverse this process, by changing these things. What I wonder is to what extent we can undo the damage we have done ourselves? In my case, I cannot undo the arthritic problems in my knees or the issues with my back caused by being hit by a car in 1988. I had assumed that my days of running were over. However by careful management of diet, weight loss and sensible exercise, I have managed to get myself to a position where I can run 10k at a fairly relaxed pace with ease. I have found my mental function has also improved. This is harder to quantify, but I notice that I can do maths far more easily in my head than I have ever done before and my dyslexia is less noticable when writing blogs. I also feel that I am looking in better shape than I have done for years. I would guess that I am actually metabolically younger than I was in 2004 when I weighed over 17 stone.

Unlike many "lifestyle" blogs, I am not trying to sell a book, a course or a food suppliment. I am just sharing my own experience and how I feel about myself. I thought long and hard about writing this blog. My worry is that people may misinterpret what I say as a non scientifically trained person as being proven fact. It is nothing of the sort, it is just an individual sharing their own experience. I have read all manner of books, articles and web pages about cancer. There are only two that I would recommend. These are

Anti Cancer A new way of life by David Servan. The author is medically trained and gives reasoned and scientifically backed up advice on strategies to live longer if you are a member of the Cancer club. It has advice on diet, relaxation and attitude. The diet advice contains scientific background and results of studies
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anticancer-New-Life-David-Servan-Schreiber/dp/0718156846

The second book is called the Emperor of all maladies and it is a history of the medical understanding of cancer, by a well respected oncologist - Siddhartha Mukherjee. It doesn't give health tips, it simply explains how we got to where we are with the medical understanding of cancer and how far we have to go.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography/dp/1439170916

I honestly believe that if you read these two books, you will have all the information you need to start making informed decisions about how to ensure you have the best possible outcome with your prognosis. I would also recommend these books for anyone who doesn't have cancer and doesn't want to get it. The best place to combat the disease is before it starts.

The title of this blog poses the question "Is it possible to reverse ageing simply by lifestyle changes?" I believe the answer is yes, if we are leading a lifestyle that is destructive to our health. We may not be able to get back all of the years we've taken off our lifespan and undo all of the damage, but we can most certainly make ourselves look and feel younger by changing our lifestyle, improving our diet, exercising and relaxing more and by generally taking care of ourselves.

For those of you who are interested, here is a fairly typical couple of days of my life, in terms of diet and exercise. I do eat meat, but restrict it and don't eat it every day. Generally this would be chicken, although I will allow myself a good steak no more than once a week and often much less.
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Tuesday. (Awoke feeling groggy at 9am)

Breakfast.
Glass of Pomegranite juice (high in antoxidants)
Small bowl of fresh fruit
Tomatoes fried in coconut oil (with some onions, garlic, turmeric & pepper)
Cup of  Green Tea

Mid morning
2 cups of Green tea

Lunchtime
Exercise - 30 minutes on cross trainer followed by 15 mins in sauna. 1/2 litre water
Cup of Green tea
Portion of tuna/sald

Afternoon
Cup of Green tea.

Evening
Cup of Green tea
Cod with fresh vegetables.

Night
1 pint of water

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Wednesday (awoke 7am feeling great)

Breakfast.
Glass of Orange juice
Small bowl of fresh fruit
Tomatoes fried in coconut oil (with some onions, garlic, turmeric & pepper) (tomatoes contain chemicals shown to fight cancer. These are more effective after cooking. Garlic & Tumeric have anti inflammatory properties and other health benefits. Coconut oil is also more beneficial than other cooking oils)
Cup of  Green Tea

Mid morning
2 cups of Green tea

Lunchtime

Cup of Green tea
Portion of tuna/sald (tuna is high in Omega 3)

Afternoon
Cup of Green tea.
Apple from garden. 

Evening
Cup of Green tea
.Exercise - Walk to pub with dogs & back 3.5 miles.
2 Pints of IPA
Vegetable Pasta inc Brocolli - high nutritional value ( and a few chips from my daughters leftover dinner (not recommended).

Brunch bar

Night
1 pint of water
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As I say, it works for me. I see so many people who give no thought to their lifestyle, their stress levels and their diet. I needed a wake up call, do you?