Some Thoughts on Diet

Diet was one of the pillars of my life that I could control when I was going through chemotherapy. Along with exercise, it was one way I tried to improve my chances of living a bit longer. I had found myself in a situation over which I had no control: being diagnosed with cancer. Yet I could still choose how I acted in that situation. Cutting out meat, sugar, white carbs (to avoid sugar spikes) and increasing the amount of vegetables and pulses in my diet became important, following the advice of The Anticancer Diet by Dr David Khayat. I became vegetarian, then vegan. It’s also when my love for oatcakes, hummus and cucumber reached new heights.

However, since I have started this cycle ride, the diet I had come to love became more difficult, then impossible, to maintain as the healthy food easily available in western Europe became rarer, and restaurant menus more carnivorous. I still eat a vegetarian diet, yet the only continuity are the oats which start my day. This ride has forced me to confront the difficulties, and opportunities, of leaving my former, fairly rigid, diet behind. 

Being invited to join a family meal with wonderful food and great hospitality

One night in Uzbekistan brought this into sharp clarity. I was staying at an idyllic spot on the outskirts of Bukhara. There was a swimming pool, green vines and a long veranda down one side of the house. The May Weather Resort was also a place local Bukharans come for swimming, sauna and shashlik. An exuberant group of wedding photographers asked me to join their party, and soon the uber-sweet sparkling pear drink and coke were flowing, with chatter and laughter, as I explained my journey in Russian and unsuccessfully tried to follow their jokes.

Then the food came. Shashlik. Meat grilled on skewers over hot coals. Minced and diced lamb, golden brown, almost crispy on the outside yet succulent in the middle. 

How do I know this? 

They gave me some, and I ate. 

Was there protest, doubt, guilt? 

In fact, I’d already made up my mind. If I’m in a situation where I’m enjoying the hospitality of others and there’s no alternative, I’ll eat meat. I try to be pragmatic like that. Further, what’s the point of travelling, if I’m going to insist on the diet I have in my own country? This shashlik was a glorious celebration of all lamb could be, and I enjoyed the moment, eating with relish. 

For me, at this point, my primary reason for being vegetarian (or vegan when in the UK) is to be healthy. This is particularly important for me because of my background with cancer, and hoping this will keep me in remission for as long as possible; but also because I love the feeling of having a “clean” body and the energy that goes with it. 

So it was not with a guilty conscience that I ate the lamb, but with a slight question mark looming over me – will this potentially contribute to the return of my cancer? This might sound ridiculous but it is how I think.

My morning porridge (here with fresh Uzbek cherries) has remained fairly consistent

Remember that for me, the two pillars which I feel helped me not only get through chemotherapy, but also for it to be more effective, were exercise and diet*. They were the two factors that I could control and I decided that by focussing on these I would be putting myself in the best possible position to get through and beyond treatment. It was a big part of my efforts to put myself on the right side of that percentage line – in the minority that lived (longer). And that I’m still here, I put down to, in part, diet and exercise. Therefore, I dread the potential consequence of abandoning something I credit with giving me health and life.

So there’s an uneasy tension between wanting to immerse myself and embrace all that I come across when travelling, and keeping to principles that I believe in and make me feel good. My way of resolving this is to enjoy the meat and cakes which I eat when the situation demands it, and accept that it potentially comes with an increased risk of cancer reoccurrence.  As long as I acknowledge that risk, I know I can be content whatever the outcome. 

Energy Levels

But there’s another aspect to diet that is almost as important to me. Your diet can give you the energy to do the things you want. 

I’ve been reminded during my journey through Central Asia is how much diet affects your energy level. Many of my calories have come from beautiful roundels of white bread and eggs. After this sort of food I just want to sleep. This reminds me of my first two or three years of uni when I would have toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch every day and then spend the following hour lying in a semi-coma on the sofa. I thought this was pretty normal, and indeed educated myself with GCN’s YouTube videos and Louis Theroux. I felt I was doing the student thing rather well.  

It was only after being prompted by a friend, Matt, who voiced his surprise at my diet as we were cycling to Paris (a disgusting number of croissants may have sparked the conversation) that I reconsidered. I had thought my diet to be pretty good as a high-level sportsman, but at Matt’s suggestion I swapped the bread and cheese for couscous, beetroot, nuts, eggs and kale. Filling, slow release, and trendy.

I was amazed at the difference it made to my energy levels – after finishing lunch I was still alert and energised. I didn’t need a sugar kick to get me going (though my caffeine addiction is still going strong). It gave me energy throughout the afternoon and I didn’t get hungry. I understood what slow release and being sated really meant. It was a revelation.

This was when I discovered the secret of eating bulky, “low energy” food: lentils, beans vegetables, flavoured with herbs and spices . Food where you feel full after eating it and  it sustains you for hours. Almost no amount of self-control could have prevented me from eating a pack of cookies or bar of chocolate after a sandwich. But when I eat filling foods I fill my stomach to the brim – and then there’s much less desire to eat chocolate. 

Diet isn’t just about being healthy. It’s about having energy to do the things that matter. It’s also not a test of willpower. Eating the right foods will leave you sated and set you up for success, rather than facing constant cravings. 

I always love the chance to cook ‘Luke stew’ - vegetables, pulses, legumes - at the end of a day’s cycling

Final Thoughts

There are many changes I’ve had to make on this trip but perhaps changes to my diet are the ones I would reverse most quickly. I found in the UK a set of foods that were not only healthy and which I believe would put me in the best position to live for a long time, but also boosted my energy levels and mood. This diet included porridge packed with raisins, banana and peanut butter for breakfast, maybe oatcakes with hummus, tomatoes and cucumber for lunch, and a hearty vegetable, bean and lentil stew in the evening. Wholesome food that it’s difficult to eat too much of and delicious when seasoned with herbs and spices. 

My typical UK shopping basket - spot the oatcakes!

I confess, I look forward to regaining my former diet when I return to the UK, probably with a few adaptations from my journey – including the walnut paste and aubergine rolls from Georgia or the shakshuka from Turkey – but if anything, I now appreciate a little better the amazing diet we have in reach in the UK. Not a diet based on bread, rice and meat and as is true for the Caucasus and Central Asia, but through the abundance in our supermarkets we can buy a whole range of foods, year round. Putting aside the air miles, the choice we have is stupendous.

But for the time being, I’m in this for the adventure and to try different national cuisines, even when it feels like “lamb in five slightly different ways”. 

I’ll keep to my vegetarian diet when I can, delight in oatcakes when I have them, but also enjoy the shashlik when it’s put in front of me.

*I say this mostly on an anecdotal basis, and from informal discussions with my doctors and other patients. Whilst there is an increasing amount of research that shows that diet (particularly fasting, calorie restriction and ketogenic diets) and exercise can make chemotherapy more effective, evidence is currently limited. I personally expect that as more studies are done, a stronger and clearer link between diet, exercise and efficacy of treatment will be shown. It’s a big research gap (partly because there’s very little money to be made by prescribing exercise or diet, so fewer studies are funded compared with chemo drugs, which are supported by big pharma). This is an area I want to dive into much more deeply in future; this blog is hopefully the beginning.