Lymphedema and Lipedema Nutrition Guide: foods, vitamins, minerals, and supplements

by Chuck Ehrlich, Emily Iker, Karen Louise Herbst

Eat to starve lymphedema and lipedema by having foods that fight these conditions (and cancer) and avoiding foods that contribute to symptoms or related conditions. Learn how food choices affect both conditions and how better nutrition can improve symptoms (including pain) and delay changes associated with progression to more advanced stages. Intended for anyone with, or at risk for, lymphedema or lipedema, caregivers, lymphedema therapists, and other health care providers. Signs of lymphedema and lipedema (painful fat syndrome) include swelling (edema), abnormal fat accumulation, pain, skin changes, and infections (cellulitis, wounds or ulcers) in affected areas. Lymphedema and lipedema are progressive conditions that can be depressing, disfiguring, disabling, and (potentially) deadly, without treatment. This guide explains why nutrition is an essential part of treatment and self-care for these conditions, what to eat, and how to change your eating pattern. It also covers vitamins, minerals, and supplements that may be beneficial. You may be at risk for lymphedema if you have chronic venous insufficiency, other venous disorders, heart disease, obesity, a cancer diagnosis (especially breast cancer, reproductive system cancers, or melanoma), or a family history of lymphedema or swollen legs. Eating wisely and maintaining a healthy body weight can help reduce your risk of developing lymphedema symptoms. This guide includes all the information you need for changing your eating pattern including ways to increase your motivation and build support for changing your eating pattern, meal plans and recipes for recommended foods, a shopping guide, cooking tips, suggestions for eating away from home, and much more. It also includes detailed information on lymphedema and lipedema including risk factors, signs and symptoms, treatment, other health care considerations and over 40 photos showing different stages of each condition. The authors include experts in lymphedema and lipedema treatment, nutrition research, and behavior change. Recommendations are based on published medical research combined with the clinical experience of the authors. In addition to sharing their clinical experience, Emily Iker and Linda-Anne Kahn share their personal insights from living well with lymphedema and lipedema, respectively.

Genres: Health

348 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Cherie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited to find a book written by one of the leading experts on lipedema, but the only chapter I found useful was the practical tips. I was sincerely hoping this book would be more usefull. It's ten years old, so I guess I should have curbed my expectations a good bit. Much of the information is outdated, contradictory to the information my own specialist has provided me, or is unhelpful.

The information that I was looking for, foods I can and can't eat, ended up being fairly useless because this book combined lyphedema and lipedema nutrition without directly specifying what recommendations are for what disease. While there are similarities, they are, and should be treated, differently. The worst case is in the recommended eating patterns and corresponding appendices on shopping list and ingredients to avoid. A number of items are both on the recommended and also on the to-avoid lists. For example, it says edamame is recommended to eat and should also be avoided. I was so utterly confused until I realized that it's probably that it's recommended for one condition, but should be avoided for the other. Which recommendation for which condition, however, is not clearly stated, so I'll never know. The book is riddled with similar confusing contraditictions with no specificity.

The section on recipes is complete waste. I did not expect original recipes, but I did expect some level of effort in having recipes with the recommended ingredients already included and the to-avoid ingredients excluded. Instead, there's a brief section at the beginning of the chapter that tells readers to make the subsitiutions themselves. As if we didn't already have enough to deal with. Personally, I intended to this book as an easy go-to starter guide to set myself up for success while I dive deeper into the niche details of my disease, but no. I got a bunch of copy-pasted recipes and have to find all the substutitions myself. The authors would have been better off referring readers to specific cookbooks than trying to half-ass a recipes chapter.

The sections on meal plans and food preparation are equally wasted. For example, "Vegetable salad or chopped salad makes a good side dish or salad topping." I can't even begin to imagine what was going through the editor's head. Yes, I do imagine that salad would make a good salad. Another example is being provided the two-step instructions on how to peel an orange before consuming it. I do not need to know that I have to peel an orange to eat it. Seriously, who edited this book?

This book was a terrible disappointment. Terrible editing and no consideration for the unique needs of each individual disease as a similar but separate condition to be addressed, causing confusion and frustration for this particular reader. Additionally, the information is just plain outdated. A lot of the nutritional recommendations and research cited is old, and has since been contradicted or found to be not as usefull as newer methods have emerged.

Not recommended.

[Bonnie Meloche · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book to start eating for lipoedema. I do recommend it. I only give it 3 stars because a lot of it is for lymphoedema which although there’s is overlap there are differences.