AMANDA MORAN: How to live a healthy, happy life as a cancer survivor

“Cancer wasn’t even on our radar, now it is a major focus.” 

Amanda Moran, MA, Ed, EdS, group fitness director for Ascension Genesys Health Club, was a featured guest on The Breast of Everything podcast, sharing not only her own family experience with breast cancer, but also advice on how to live a healthy, happy, active, and truly enjoyable life as a cancer survivor.

Amanda admits she hadn’t gone for a mammogram screening until after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She, her mother, and her five sisters, all led a very active lifestyle and made healthy choices most of their life. Why should they worry about anyone getting cancer? 

Amanda uses her own personal experience when working with Ascension Genesys Health Club members looking for ways to live a more active lifestyle.

For cancer patients – as well as everyone– getting started with an exercise routine is the toughest part. Choose an activity that is fun for you, one that keeps your interest and one you look forward to, she recommends. For some women, it may be Zumba, for others a Spinning class makes them happy. You shouldn’t be saying with an ugh, “I have to work out.” Instead, it should be “I want to work out.” Find an activity that gets you excited and motivated.

After cancer, patients are weak, tired and think it will be too hard to get back into exercise or begin to add exercise to their life. Take one day at a time, she advises. Start with some simple body weight strengthening exercises. No matter what age you are, you can start strength training. It never is too late to rebuild your body.

Exercise can be a great social outlet; patients have been through so much emotionally and physically, however, now, more than ever, they need to keep their body and mind healthy.

Diet is another concern. What do you like to eat? What do you not like to eat? Take out the bad fat. Cut down on red meat consumption. Add more plant-based foods to your diet and keep it simple. Choose the foods you like that are nutritional. You don’t – and shouldn’t – go on a diet, she advises. Diets do not work. 

Start small, make one tiny change at a time, and little by little you will see the unhealthy habits substituted for healthy ones. This should help you stay on the path of success because it is the path you chose.  

Remember, you can do everything possible to control your risk for cancer, but even vegetarian marathon runners can get cancer. Focus on what you can control, get your regular screenings, stay active, stay healthy, be happy and make it a good life! 

Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:01  
Welcome to the breast of everything podcast your trusted resource for breast health information support and encouragement. Your host today is Dr. Ashley Richardson of comprehensive breast care. Welcome.

Unknown Speaker  0:15  
Welcome to the breast of everything Podcast. I am your host, Dr. Ashley Richardson of comprehensive breast care. And tonight I am super excited to have our guest Amanda Moran, who was a group fitness director for Ascension Genesis health club. She is going to join us on our podcast today to discuss exercise and healthy diet habits for breast cancer patients and survivors. She has more than 30 years of experience in executive sports and fitness administration in the field of education, health and wellness. She also has a Master's of Arts degree in teaching with an emphasis in physical education and health promotion, as well as a Master's specialist degree in education, leadership and administration. She has a passion for Fitness, Health and Wellness education, and has also traveled all around the world sharing her vision of health in healthy lifestyle. Thank you so much for joining us.

Unknown Speaker  1:03  
Thank you for having me. I am very appreciative that the fact that you've asked me to be on here tonight.

Unknown Speaker  1:08  
Well, let's just get right into our topic here. I know one of the big things we want to talk about his exercise. And obviously our focus is breast cancer patients. And we often talk about ladies before treatment after treatment and kind of throughout their survivorship about what they should be doing to live a healthy lifestyle. When it comes to just basic exercise. What do you talk to ladies about basically, when we first speak with women about any type of exercise program, whether it be in concerning cancer treatment, or just day to day living, we try and find out where they are in their exercise program, if they're brand new to it, if they're, if they're avid about it, and then we try and look at what their lifestyle is their diet, it's an all encompassing kind of subject. And we look to see what they are interested in. I want to I want people to experience exercise in a fun way, and not feel like it's a job when they come into the gym or when they exercise anywhere. So what we do is look at what they want to do, what makes them happy, what makes them excited, and we basically go from there. I think that's such a critical point that you bring up about what makes them happy. And what are their interests. You know, sometimes when you bring up fitness and exercise, they immediately go right into CrossFit or heavy lifting and things of that nature. But it's really important to know that there's a broad spectrum of exercises that they could be doing. And also having friends or family members come with them that can make it fun and enjoyable. Exactly. And that is a very important part of it right there. As far as people, you're right, people do look at exercises, oh gosh, I have to go work out instead of I want to go work out because it's going to be a positive thing in my life. And I want to find something that's fun to do. For example, here at our facility. A lot of women love Zuma or love work, which is a hip hop dance. You wouldn't find me in there because it's it's difficult for me. But I love doing a spin class. So I do spend because it makes me happy, I feel good. I want to come to the gym, looking forward to exercising. And we also tell to talk with people about the fact that you don't have to spend hours in here, find something that makes you happy. You know, do it for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and and you're done. It's one of those kind of areas in your life that should not overshadow everything else. Well, I think the hardest part is just getting it started right. So we all know that. The hardest part is just putting on those workout clothes and forcing yourself to get on the peloton or to go to the gym. But then once once you're doing and after you're done, you're like, wow, I could keep going or you're like invigorated from working out. And I think that's the hardest part is just making yourself roll out of bed or put on those snow boots to go to the gym. That's definitely true, especially for me being a southerner. But right, I was just gonna say especially for all those folks in Michigan that report buried under snow right now, right. But the the key point is, once you get going, it's easy to keep going because you feel motivated, you see the changes, you see how your body responds to working out, and especially with our breast cancer patients that are dealing with so much emotionally and physically, it really gives them something to look forward to and to see their that they're in control of their body when oftentimes they are not throughout the treatment. Right. And this is this is most definitely the most important part as far as for me in their treatment because one they've gone through so much mentally and physically and to find something that's going to help them recover and lead even more of a healthy lifestyle afterwards. And it's also going to help with the recovery is going to help with all of the issues that come along with getting going through breast cancer which is the mental aspect you know, the the anxiety, the depression, the body image, you know things depending upon what kind of treatment they go through. It's so vitally important that they have an outlet that's going to help them one still maintain a lot of social contact which is important and they're also going to help their body healed and help

Unknown Speaker  5:00  
Their mind healed as well.

Unknown Speaker  5:02  
And when patients come to you as a fitness instructor, how do you tease out that they may be a breast cancer survivor? Or going through treatment? Or is there a way for them to learn about you to know to come to you for those resources? Basically, because we are such a health oriented facility, because we are linked to the hospital. Most of the people that come to me and I find out their history is when they actually come to class, or they come into the gym, and they walk in and they want information about classes, and they want information about the gym. And I immediately asked them, What was your purpose for coming here? Why are you here? What What do you want out of your experience here? And, and that's when a lot of it comes out that you know, I've gone through this health issue or my family's gone through this health issue, I am at high risk for this. So what can I do to lower my risk or, or help me become healthier? So that if this does happen to me that I can survive it? And that's where the conversation starts. So basically, when we start talking about if it's for them personally, what are they going through? What stage? Are they at that they just have a diagnosis? Have they had treatment? Are they surviving? You know, what level are they at? And then we look at what we can do along with the doctors guidelines as well, you know, what they've had to go through, you know, if they're in, for example, the first diagnosis, okay, what is your treatment going to be? Can you continue to exercise with the treatment, and along with exercise comes the diet aspect as well, the nutrition, you know, maintaining a healthy diet, that's going to allow their body to heal, and also maintaining a healthy weight and getting that, that those factors together. And once you get those factors together, you can kind of put steps in place, and show them maybe a direction they can go into?

Unknown Speaker  6:47  
Well, and obviously you're a super valuable resource when it comes to the fitness and diet and education, but you also bring some personal aspects to the table for ladies with breast cancer. Do you mind touching on your family experience and how you've been affected by breast cancer? Sure. I'm come from a large family. It's a family of six girls. And my mother was diagnosed in 2010. with breast cancer. It's a very slow it was not an aggressive breast cancer. So we were able to catch it quickly. And she had a radical mastectomy. And she had lymph nodes removed, and her left shoulder and our left armpit I should say. And so we went through the treatment, she went through chemo, she went through radiation, and basically was considered a survivor and had no issue with breast cancer for about, I would say, six, seven years, all at once. She started having some pain and some issues and went back and then had returned. She was an advanced age, not advanced age. My mom is always were very active. All my all my sisters were all athletes, our whole lives, very healthy lifestyles, my mom is always active. And then she was around 60 I'm sorry, 70. I was gonna say if you're calling 60 year olds advanced age,

Unknown Speaker  8:08  
we're gonna, we're gonna lose, we're gonna lose some listeners here.

Unknown Speaker  8:13  
Well, she passed when she was 80. So she was around 77 when the breast cancer returned, and then it metastasized into pancreatic. And so because of the combination, she was, she was a bit overweight, mainly because she had rheumatoid arthritis. She had a lot of health risk issues. Even though she was active, my mom, you couldn't stop her from doing anything. But of course, she had a lot of these other factors that did not help. And so once the pancreatic cancer showed up, it was it was not too long after that, that she passed. Once that happened on my sisters, we all you know, started, you know, going to get tested and found out that I actually have out of my five out of five of my sisters, including myself, four of us have had hysterectomy due to fibroid tumors or the cancer risk. And then three of them were by diagnosed with breast cancer and and two had double mastectomy. So and then one of my sister's daughter has gone and had the brachot test and found out she has the bracket to gene. So we're looking at that. So basically, this was not even on our radar at all growing up and even into our early 20s and 30s until my mom reached the age where she developed breast cancer and then all at once. You know it's now a major focus on our family as far as health risk and trying to watch it and make sure that we all do what we need to do as far as our diet and our exercise and getting our daily you know, screenings and testing. So and because of the harass the hysterectomy is the actual, you know, hormone therapy risk that also goes along with breast cancer. So we are we're kind of, we've got a whole big picture that we look at now.

Unknown Speaker  10:00  
Yeah, absolutely, I mean, when you have that kind of family history and background and just personal experience of what your mom has gone through, and your sisters and your family members, it really kind of brings it all home. So when you meet these other ladies at the gym and are able to help them throughout their health journey as well, throughout treatment, I'm sure it's super impactful for you, it is, and I'm able to before this would have happened, I don't know, if the empathetic side of me would have been as deeply involved with it, but simply because I've always been this health crazy person.

Unknown Speaker  10:33  
But it definitely makes me step back and really try and see what the person is going through both in their personal life and their family life. And, and in their their own experience. And, and just kind of relate to it, and have them know, because a lot of people talk with me, they have a lot of fear. They they don't know it's the unknown. And when I try and tell them my story and my family, what we do, I think it kind of relaxes them a little bit to think that okay, life is changing. But we still have some control over our lives. And I think, in my instance, we felt a little out of control, you know, this this disease came in, took a little bit of control over our future, away from us until we realized, well, no, it doesn't have to. And that's probably the biggest thing I share with people is that you still have control of your life, you still have a lot of things in your life that you can change, and still

Unknown Speaker  11:31  
do defeat this or get through this. You know, you bring up something that I mentioned all the time in the office, and that is the fear of the unknown. And also what can you be in control of and you're absolutely correct. When patients, you know, when they get a new diagnosis, they don't have any control over that. And they don't know how the treatment plan is going to go and how they're going to feel throughout that. And so they just have this sense of no control. And oftentimes I talked to them, what can you can control, you can control your your diet, you can control your exercise pattern, you can control your, for the most part, how you wake up each day, and how you're going to see that day. And so I try and change their mindset and think about not what they can't control what actually what they can control. So when you bring that up a diet and exercise, What tips do you give ladies about diet to kind of talk me through how you would go through that with them? Well, basically with diet? I, what I really do is I ask him, what what are your eating habits? What do you like? What do you not like, let me show you a good regimen to to maybe include in your diet, I'm not going to tell people what to eat, but I give them guidelines from what is healthy. And it's basically you know, foods that are high vitamins, minerals, not high in calories, you want to stay in that dense kind of nutritional value of beans, legumes, peas, nuts, whole grains, because you know, people want the bread. But I basically try and tell them just to take out the fat, the bad fat, stay away from red meat. And when I speak with you about what I tell them, I'm I'm really putting it in very simple terms because one I do value nutrition and, and the information that comes with it. I'm not a registered dietician, so I am not going to pretend that I'm going to tell anybody what they should or should not eat. What I do know is there are certain guidelines with every health profession, both myself being a figure competitor and a coach out through throughout life. And also working in the health and fitness industry, you do look at what are probably great guidelines that can encompass a lot of people. So I do know, I myself, since this whole issue with my sisters and my mom have looked at more of a plant based diet. I it was a very big switch for me, because I used to eat whatever I wanted, I go exercise, it's great. as I've gotten older, and I'm 58 I have realized the benefit of a plant based diet. It's not for everybody. But I do try and show that when you look at the components of the plant based diet, it's it's very healthy. It's extremely healthy, but not to the point where it's restrictive. So you don't feel like you're on a diet. I tell people don't be on a diet diets don't work. What you need to do is you have you need to have a healthy lifestyle of nutrition. You know, you need to base your nutrition about what around what you need for your life. I know this is gonna sound funny, but I don't live to eat, I eat to live. That's been my motto. And I'm the only one that can control what goes in my mouth. And so when I talk with people, I basically put the accountability on them. I can give them all of the advice in the world and I can show them all the studies. But when it really comes to

Unknown Speaker  14:55  
I try and keep it real with people and I tell them straight up this

Unknown Speaker  15:00  
is a good guideline for you look at what you're eating. Now, look at what a good guideline is maybe look at some things you can take out of that, that nutrition plan that you're currently on, that's going to one help you have better sleeping habits, better eating habits, you know, your mental health is going to be a lot better your physical health is going to be a lot better. And then I just basically say, you know, what do you want to do? What do you want out of this? And when they answer their own questions, it basically helps them to stay on the path easier, because they're not doing what I told them to do. They're doing what they know is best for them. Yeah, trying to make them take control of their own life and feel, you know, very powerful and what their decisions are. I also counsel patients frequently that diets are not the way to go. You know, they'll say to me, especially after chemotherapy, if they've gained a couple pounds, well, now I want to go on a diet. And again, I just tried to re instill in them, you know, start just making subtle changes each day, whether it be walking more, or doing some strength training, watching what they're eating, things like that, it can start small. And then once you gain momentum, definitely build up. But you're very, we met with a dietitian, actually in a nutritionist as well on our podcast, and she said the same thing about a plant based diet and really just watching what's going in and what's going out. You know, it's it's very easy to say, and obviously not so easy to do. But do you talk to patients a lot about strength training, or things of that nature, when it comes to breast cancer or post surgical patients? I do, because to me, obviously, I really, I'm a huge proponent of exercise movement. I mean, if you don't move, you lose it. And so people that have gone through this, they tend to be scared to get started back into their life, they've had surgery, or they've had chemo and they're weak, and they're tired, and maybe a little nausea sometime kicks in. And I just tell them, we just start slow in extra strength training is vitally important, especially for women with osteoporosis, and all kinds of health issues that can come about not having that muscular strength, muscular endurance, I mean, you need it in life, and especially to help you recover. Being a survivor means that you've got to rebuild your body back. And one of the things that I have found, and I've and I've tried to show women is that no matter what age you are, you can start a strength training program, and it's beneficial for you. That is one of the big things I definitely talk about, I think it's very important that women

Unknown Speaker  17:27  
get introduced to strength training, because a lot of them are just scared of it. They look out there in the gym, and they see these weights, like what do I do with that, and I tell them, let's just let me show you some things that maybe with that resistance band, or you know, a small dumbbell, or maybe just you know, your body weight, I really start most of the people that I speak with in regards to breast cancer, or any type of survival from an injury is bodyweight because

Unknown Speaker  17:53  
basically, you need to be able to lift your own body weight, and it's very, it's easy for them to do a push up with no, no equipment, and I can give them modifications, and then they can see the improvement. So if I talk to me a lot of women about strength training, and that they've never had a background with it, I usually work with them on body weight exercises to begin with, because they can do those at home. And really anywhere. You don't need equipment to do things like that. Well, yes, I try lifting my own body weight with with a push up. And it's not always very pretty, but but it's true that you know, once you gain it, you lose it so quickly. You know, during COVID it was easy for a lot of us that were kind of maintaining a workout regimen and our routine got really disrupted that I went from being able to lift up children to a struggling going, Wow, sheesh, this like happened really fast. Yeah, but the other thing to keep in mind, like you said is a lot of ladies are afraid of the machines, they're afraid of people watching them, you kind of have to just get over that and realize that you're there for a purpose, you're there to take your health into your own hands. And who cares if people are watching and who cares if it's five pounds or six pounds, like the only person that you're in competition with is yourself, you know, and I mean, I think I'm talking to myself right now.

Unknown Speaker  19:09  
Because oftentimes, I have to say, you know, come on, Ashley, you can do it just you know, two more reps or five more pounds or things of that nature. But again, once you see the changes, and you see the benefits, it's so empowering to think wow, I couldn't do that two weeks ago, or I couldn't do that a month ago, you know. And so I think everything you have to say is just so important. And also on that note, what's your thoughts on alcohol? Well, in one regard, I have one comment I wanted to make concerning the exercise real quick as my mom when she had the lymph nodes removed from her underarm after her surgery and she actually would do a little bit but again, she was kind of heavy, so she didn't do a lot of her physical therapy that she should have and she she actually got a frozen shoulder and so could not move her arm and ended up having to and not that this is going to happen everybody and

Unknown Speaker  20:00  
of having to have a shoulder replacement. And she actually found that through that experience, and she did a physical therapy and she started moving again. So it's something that's very, very important to keep moving. But alcohol Hmm. Okay, so

Unknown Speaker  20:17  
I am not a big drinker, I like to have a glass of wine occasionally.

Unknown Speaker  20:22  
I try and tell every, with every person I talk to you moderation, everything in moderation, alcohol to a degree will increase your risk. If you go over that moderation for certain types of cancers, certain types of individuals, it, it definitely affects them a lot more than others. So if you keep it in moderation, and understand the benefit as to the risk of alcohol, in regards to if you have a history, or if your family has a history of breast cancer or any other type of cancer, you need to look at every risk factor. And that is a risk factor. So you're going to have to take it upon yourself to understand which is more important. Do you want to have eight glasses of wine a night, which is ridiculous anyway, but you know, having one is fine. But you have to keep it in context as to your overall health, and your overall program that you have for yourself. And looking down the line, especially when it concerns for myself, my family.

Unknown Speaker  21:23  
I, I will take all of those risk factors into consideration because I want to be around my daughter's pregnant right now. It's gonna be my first grandchild, I want to be around for that grandchild. So these are things that I'm going to do to keep my risk factors down as much as I can be,

Unknown Speaker  21:39  
you know, that I can take care of. And so if, again, it's moderation. It's moderation with anything. Yeah, moderation is definitely key. I mean, I talked about that with patients all the time, when they asked me, can I eat sugar? Can I do this? Can I do that? And I say, Listen, if you have eight Twinkies a day, you're gonna die of a heart disease or heart disease or you know, or a heart attack or diabetes before breast cancer. Anyway, so definitely, moderation is key and congrats on a grandbaby, you will definitely be able to lift that one better than I can live my own children.

Unknown Speaker  22:09  
Well, you know, and just kind of going back to your mom, when you talk about her lymphedema, I think myself and my two partners, Dr. Gold and Dr. Brown were really advocates for physical therapy, especially after any type of axillary surgery. And we try and get them to physical therapy quickly to prevent lymphedema and increase that range of motion. And unfortunately, back in the day, there was not as much known about that. And people did get long term quality from that. And we're pretty aggressive on making sure that we get them to physical therapy quickly, so glad your mom was able to get better after surgery. But like she did have a she did have issues with lymphedema, though she had the swelling in your legs, and you know, in her arm, her left arm especially and that was one of the reasons for the frozen shoulder, she did cheat, it just got so heavy, that yeah, Want to lift it and it just kind of snowballed from there. So and we would go with her and I would sit there and hold her arm and make her do things. But you know, people will do what they want to do so. But it is very important as far as that goes. Because especially with the issues that can come with lymphedema, that can be one in my mind. Something that is not necessarily can be totally removed, but can definitely be helped. For sure. Well, you've just shared some amazing information tonight, is there anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners regarding either diet or exercise or any personal experience? Basically, for me and the listeners, what I would say is that whether there's a history in your family or not, you know, it's always good to have your annual, you know, screenings and checkups. It's always, it's always a good thing. Whether we're talking about cancer or heart disease or anything is it's just to maintain a healthy weight. Get out there and be active, especially now it's more important than ever to be active and watching your diet and, and just make sure that you look at the risk factors of anything in your life and just make it a good life. They'll be healthy, be happy, especially in this day and age and just enjoy life. And just understand that even if something like this were to happen, that it's not the end of the world that if you look at it with a positive mental attitude, you know, anything can happen as far as getting over getting through it and continue to live.

Unknown Speaker  24:24  
Well, I think you've been in the office with me because you say a lot of what I often say and, you know, I think the moral of this podcast is make it a good life. You know, like you said, You only get one life to live and you got to make it a good one. So well thank you, Amanda, so much for sharing your personal story as well as your words of advice and encouragement about exercise and eating and diet.

Unknown Speaker  24:46  
To all of our listeners. Thank you so much for listening to the breast of everything Podcast. I am Dr. Ashley Richardson with comprehensive breast care. And as always, we want to hear from you. If you have a topic that you'd like to talk to us about. Please we welcome your suggestions. You can always send them to us.

Unknown Speaker  25:00  
On breast care com, that's compvreastce.com Thank you.

Unknown Speaker  25:08  
You've been listening to the breast of everything podcast with your host and board certified breast surgeon, Dr. Ashley Richardson of comprehensive breast care. If you have a subject you would like the surgeons to discuss, please email your suggestions online at comp breast care. com. That's co mp breastcare.com. The doctors want to hear from you. The views thoughts and opinions shared in this podcast are intended for general education and informational purposes only and should not be substituted for medical advice, treatment or care from your physician or healthcare provider. Always consult your healthcare provider first.