How did you adjust your lifestyle and diet after your diagnosis?

I eliminated sugar and red meat. Sugar was hard because I have a terrible sweet tooth, but after a week or so, the cravings have mostly subsided. I tried low carb for a few weeks but mostly felt weak and low energy. Eating a Meditteranean-ish diet now. Not much definitive info out there (no financial incentives to do a dietary RCT) but I've attached two recent resources.

I've stopped drinking caffeine this week mainly to see if that helps with frequency issues - headaches and general misery the first day but fine after that.

Diagnosed in mid Jan. Since no alcohol , caffeine or obvious sugar. My wife and I have tried to go vegan for the last few weeks. Eat mostly plant based. Have fish on occasion. I’ve lost weight so I’m trying to drink OWYN protein shakes to add calories. Exercising everyday. Treadmill, bike, classes. Most days I additionally walk up to 5miles . I have radical surgery next week 3/26th at NYU. I’m 62 Gleason 9 localized. Doing all I can to increase my chances.

Best if luck to you. How did tou get surgery that quickly? I am scheduled for mud-June with G8.

I've returned to my normal diet, which tends to be healthier but doesn't deprive me of any particular items or nutrients. Some folks decide to cut out sugars, salt, fats or meats, for me the evidence regarding dietary changes (outside obvious dietary changes for general health) were so anecdotal that it didn't warrant a change. I live like I lived before: "anything in moderation".

It’s along story but I had a connection at NYU Langone. Cleveland clinic was very responsive with appointments, scans etc but they wanted me to go on ADT for several months before surgery. Mayo Clinic in Jax was responding but was taking a bit longer to get to a surgeon. I went up to NYU 3/10 and got booked quickly. I didn’t want to wait. I’m Gleason 9 no spread. I want to jump on this. Not sure if all will agree but I felt surgery was my best option so I’m going for it. Great surgeon with 30 years experience. 🤞. Good luck 🍀

Good for you. If I remember correctly, your cancer was relatively favorable.I.e. intermediate risk, few cores involved, no adverse festures

Well, for the first 10 years of PC, I didn’t do anything about my diet. I started abiraterone 5 years ago and still didn’t change my normal diet, and my PSA was only undetectable once in 2.5 years. Then I attended a few seminars about how important diet was with prostate cancer. I also switched to Darolutamide.

I have now cut out almost all red meat, and reduced the amount of sugar and carbs I eat. My wife, however, is a great cook and loves to bake cakes and cookies. I will eat one small piece of those sweets (6-8 small bites) every night, Along with a bunch of strawberries. We have a freezer full of four different types of cakes, two different types of cookies and the only time I eat them is once a night. I also eat a huge salad every day for lunch, big enough for a family of four at dinner. I also used to have a beer or wine at dinner and a margarita when I came home from work. I went on blood thinners, and that limit you to one drink a day. Now I drink a beer or a glass of wine maybe once every three or four days at the most.

Does it work? No one can say for sure but my PSA has now stayed undetectable for 16 months. My last two A1c tests have been 5.4, I get that test every three months. My A1c test definitely shows eating just a little doesn’t hurt my blood sugar.

I have heard from at least one person that had a pretty serious case of PC and he went vegetarian. From that point on his PC didn’t get worse, And actually improved.

I did have perineal invasion and EPE, but yes it was 3 + 4 with ~30% post op pathology and a Decipher of 0.68. So I was high risk based on Decipher + biopsy. I had no adverse effects post-op, but I also was already in good shape and got into even better shape for surgery.

Like @jeffmarc mentions, I don't over indulge in sweets generally. My wife likes to also bake sweets and I'll indulge a bit here and there but generally my treat of choice is super dark chocolate or an occasional cookie.

My take on this is: it doesn't hurt, but whether it helps or not is debatable. It's the same with L Citrulline as a natural supplement for preventing/helping with ED - it may not do any good but it doesn't hurt so there's no harm trying. I still take that every day.

Elimination diets aren't super effective for most people (this from my daughter, who used to work on the eating disorders research team at a hospital). And there's no conclusive research supporting any food change that will prevent prostate cancer from progressing (per Dr Walsh's book).

But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't exercise moderation for foods that are bad for you in general, like processed meats or alcohol. Enjoy your salami sandwich, if that's what you like, but make it a once-a-week thing, not an every-day thing, and maybe have some fresh greens with it. Ditto for alcohol: an occasional glass of wine with friends probably won't hurt you, but maybe don't have it *every* day at dinner. This advice applies even for people who don't have cancer.

Best of luck!

Sounds like a very sensible approach - eating the things you enjoy in moderation. No one seems to get the M word - it has to be a fad, a binge or an exorcism.