weight gain while balancing glucose levels

Question
Laurie,
Thank you so much for your time.  I am a 35 year old woman.  I am 5'3 and I weigh 124 pounds.  About 4 years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I have been in remission for several years.  After my diagnosis I read many nutrition information about how tumors feed on sugar.  Because of this I completely changed how I eat.  I stopped drinking sodas (before I was drinking 2 to 3 a day).  I lowered my bread intake  (before I would eat 2 sandwiches now I eat 1 with whole wheat bread).  I cut out potatoes and now eat dessert only once to twice a week.  I weighed 140 before.  Now, my family tell me that I am too skinny and should gain weight.  I would like to gain a little more weight but How can I and not eat foods high in sugar?  What are some foods that are good for gaining weight but not spiking sugar?  What is your opinion on low carb diets for cancer control.  My oncologist never talks about nutrition.  Thank you.

Answer
Hi Tanya,

Your weight right now is perfectly healthy, but you could also gain a few pounds, especially if it would make you feel physically more comfortable.

I'm not a fan of the low carb diets, and I'm also not a cancer specialist.
In general a healthy and balanced diet contains all sorts of foods, even sweets in moderation. It sounds like you've done a good job of moderating those!

There are plenty of foods without excessive sugar that could add calories to your diet.

Milk, cheese, yogurt and cottage cheese are good sources of calcium and vitamins. They do have some of the milk sugar, called lactose, but this is not usually linked to problems as we see with diets high in added sugar, or even diets with high amounts of fruit sugar, fructose.

Whole grains like high fiber cereals or whole wheat bread. It's great that you were able to cut down from two sandwiches to one, but you may be able to add back a little bit of some complex carbohydrates, like brown or wild rice, corn, and beans (almost all beans are great sources of fiber, complex carbs, and protein as well; think kidney beans, chick peas, black beans, etc).

Fats like olive oil, coconut oil and peanut oil. These contain no sugar. You can use them to stir fry or pan fry and also make your own salad dressing. Fats have twice the calories of carbohydrates/sugars so they will go a long way in helping you gain a few pounds.

Finally, you will only need to up your calorie intake by 200-300 per day to slowly gain weight. It may be that you have gotten used to being extremely strict with your diet, and all it will take is being a bit more flexible to get back up to a weight you are comfortable with.

I also have to recommend the American Cancer Society website at www.cancer.org. They have many articles on nutrition and cancer and this is a very reputable source.

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