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Business Insider
5 days ago
- Health
- Business Insider
The taboo colon cancer symptom millennials are afraid to tell their doctors about
When Sarah Beran started noticing blood in her poop, she didn't know how to bring it up to her doctor. "I felt like I went in there with my tail between my legs, and not only was I talking about poop, but I was talking about my butt and blood and it's just all these things you don't want to talk about," Beran, 39, told Business Insider. Beran, who was later diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer at age 34, went on to talk about bowel movements a lot: she co-founded Worldclass, an apparel brand that donates proceeds to fund colonoscopies for people who are underinsured. Beran's experience of anal bleeding is not uncommon. It is statistically the most common warning sign of colon cancer in patients under 50. Studies show that many patients, like Beran, feel embarrassed to talk about it with anyone, including their doctors. More young people are being diagnosed with colon cancer. Part of why it's so difficult to diagnose is that early symptoms like diarrhea and bloating can be caused by everything from hemorrhoids to a gluten allergy. The other hurdle is stigma: people just don't want to talk about seeing blood in the toilet or in their pencil-thin stools. "Unfortunately, it's something that I see quite frequently," Dr. Fola May, a gastroenterologist and an associate professor of Medicine at UCLA, told BI. She said it's common for people to ignore and they may avoid sharing their symptoms out of embarrassment. "They delay bringing it up until it gets more and more severe, and they actually can't function or have a normal workday," May added. By then, their cancer is likely to have progressed to later stages. Anal bleeding is common with younger patients Early colon cancer symptoms are easy to miss. Abdominal pain or constipation can be linked to many different conditions, like celiac disease or IBS. That's why rectal bleeding is important to flag. Joshua Demb, a researcher who studies early-onset colon cancer and an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, led a 2024 study on the most common symptoms of colon cancer in young people. Demb's study found rectal bleeding was the most common sign of colon cancer — more than altered bowel movements or abdominal pain — because it was more specific and harder to explain with lifestyle changes. It can be hard to know how seriously to take some symptoms. Anal bleeding is often caused by non-life threatening conditions like hemorrhoids. Some patients who are otherwise young, healthy, and who have no family history can be dismissed by doctors, partly because colonoscopies are more involved procedures and can cost a few thousand dollars without insurance. The difficult work is making sure a symptom is "attributed to the correct condition," Demb said, without preemptively scaring people or overlooking the early signs of colorectal cancer. Millennials are afraid to talk about stool Poop has a long history of being taboo, regarded as unsanitary and embarrassing. As societies like Victorian-era England developed indoor plumbing and individual latrines to replace communal ones, defecation became more private — and consequently more shameful to talk about in public. The stigma has never really gone away. From interviewing colon cancer patients, Demb learned many young people are afraid to broach the topic of poop and rectal bleeding with their doctor, even though that conversation could be life-saving. "Part of that apprehension comes from probably not having had to discuss this ever before in their care," he said. As people enter their 50s and colonoscopies become standard care, talking about bowel movements becomes slightly more normalized. When Naiké Vorbe started cycling through diarrhea and constipation, she didn't know how to talk about it, and hesitated at first. "You don't really speak about gastrointestinal issues," Vorbe, who grew up in Haiti, told BI. Vorbe was diagnosed with stage 3B colon cancer at 31. By then, her cancer had spread so much that she needed to have parts of her colon and liver removed. Chris Rodriguez, who was otherwise fit and healthy when he was diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer at 35, remembers feeling embarrassed about sharing his digestive agony with friends, relatives, and even doctors. He feels from personal experience that younger people are averse to talking about cancer because they feel they're "not supposed to" be worrying about it yet. "I know that people are too afraid to talk about these things with their doctor, too afraid to talk about these things with anybody around them," Rodriguez, now 37, told BI. "That's pretty scary for me." Vorbe and Rodriguez both had late-stage cancer and rectal bleeding as a symptom. It makes the symptom all the more important to flag: sometimes, blood in the stool won't show up until the cancer has progressed. The push to make rectal bleeding less taboo Brooks Bell, one of the Worldclass co-founders, remembers struggling to share how she was feeling with her husband — they weren't the types to use the bathroom with the door open, for instance. "Every relationship is different," Bell, 44, said. "Our relationship did not have those features, and so it can be so awkward." Now, she and Beran are trying to help younger people feel emboldened to talk about colon cancer symptoms and taboo body parts. Their brand, Worldclass, sells merch that says "Ass" and "Colonoscopy Enthusiast." Bell also founded Lead From Behind, a campaign backed by the Colorectal Cancer Alliance that involved Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney getting colonoscopies on camera to normalize the procedure. But ultimately, the biggest change might have to start in the doctor's office. Even though she's a GI doctor, May said she still gets patients who blush when they talk about their bowel movements. May says she tries to shift that dynamic by being intentional about her language. "When I'm in public, I say words like 'rectum' and 'poop' and 'stool,'" she said, adding that she wants her peers to do the same. Talking about blood in poop should be as normalized as talking about spotting breast cancer lumps, May said. "Until we make them normal in public," she continued, "people will feel uncomfortable producing those words from their mouths." How to know if you have a colon cancer symptom, or if it's something else Because early colon cancer symptoms can be so ambiguous, Demb said the more important thing to look out for is deviation from your lifestyle. For example, if you normally have very consistent bowel movements and suddenly have persistent diarrhea, see a GI. If you have ongoing rectal bleeding for the first time in your life or unusual stomach pain that won't go away, consider booking a colonoscopy. May also suggested getting a colonoscopy sooner if you have any family history of the cancer. She recommended getting screened at age 40 instead of the standard 45, and for primary care physicians to start bringing up the potential of screening before age 45 in general. Because colonoscopies can be expensive and inaccessible to people under 45, the best anyone can do is be vigilant, Demb said of symptoms like anal bleeding. Rodriguez, who is now cancer-free, believes it's important to investigate any warning signs. "You're not being silly by thinking about them," he said. "You're not overreacting by thinking it could be cancer." Additional reporting by Kim Schewitz and Mia de Graaf.
Los Angeles Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
One of L.A.'s best French restaurants is closing, plans to reopen with a new look and menu
At bistro Pasjoli, chef Dave Beran crammed a duck carcass into a gleaming, bell-shaped, medieval-looking contraption, and table-side dining in Los Angeles was never the same. When Beran opened the restaurant in Santa Monica in the fall of 2019, he ushered in a new wave of French dining in L.A. He reimagined French classics like the whole pressed duck, caramelized onion tart and foie de poulet à la Strasbourgeoise (brioche stuffed with chicken liver that mimics the velvety texture and offal funk of foie gras), sending food obsessives into a butter-fueled tizzy. Then COVID-19 hit, and ever since, the restaurant has undergone a series of changes to its menu and format, ever striving to embody the spirit of the neighborhood French bistro in Beran's mind. 'It was starting to become this thing that maybe wasn't the restaurant that I was trying to shape it into,' he says. 'In my head, I'd always had a vision for it. Over time, the neighborhood evolved one way, I evolved one way and the restaurant evolved one way. And the visions weren't really aligned.' On May 31, Beran will close Pasjoli, with plans to reopen with a revamped dining room and an entirely new menu two weeks later. 'We're essentially treating it as a reopening,' he says. 'A new restaurant, but not a new restaurant.' The reopening could be seen as the third iteration of Pasjoli. When Beran, the former executive chef at Next in Chicago, first moved to Los Angeles in 2016, he had planned to open Fleur Jolie, a dual restaurant that included a a tasting-menu service on one side and a casual French bistro on the other. Instead, he opened Dialogue, an 18-seat, genre-bending, tasting menu restaurant in 2017. Pasjoli followed in 2019 with a name that playfully translated to 'not pretty' in French. There was the initial a la carte menu that included the table-side duck presentation. During the pandemic, there was takeout and decadent grilled cheese sandwiches. The dining room reopened, but without the table-side duck. New items like duck wings were added to an expanding bar menu. The restaurant switched to a prix-fixe model. Like with countless restaurants across the city, Pasjoli's financial health was a month-to-month roller coaster. 'Some months it loses, some months it makes a little bit,' he says. 'I wouldn't deem it as a failure, but definitely wouldn't deem it as a success financially. We were bobbing away in the water.' But Beran says the refresh is something expected for a restaurant that's been operating for half a decade. 'After five or so years, restaurants need refreshes,' he says. 'They look worn out, beat up. With all that, we sat down and said maybe it's time to really rethink what this is for ourselves and for the neighborhood.' That refresh will include lighting, plants, rearranging of furniture, paintings and artwork as well as a complete overhaul of the back patio. The bar and lounge area, a focal point of the restaurant, will expand with seating in the front window that looks out onto Main Street. Beran is also looking at how he can rearrange labor. 'We want to make sure there are hints of the Pasjoli we know, but that it clearly looks like it has evolved in some way,' says Ann Hsing, chief executive and chief operating officer of Beran's restaurants. 'We don't want it to go away completely.' Beran and his staff have already started reworking the menu, but plan to keep a few of Pasjoli's signature dishes. The pressed duck will remain in limited quantities, with a return to the table-side presentation on rolling carts. Currently, the duck press presentation is relegated to one an evening, at a counter in front of the open kitchen. The burger, the chicken cordon bleu wings and a version of the grilled cheese will be available, along with a broadened spirits and cocktail program. When Pasjoli opened, it exclusively featured French spirits. 'As we were looking at the food, there's a difference between the really photogenic and thought-out, meticulous dish and that just kind of trashy, devious plate that you want to take a nap in,' says Beran. 'We captured that with the grilled cheese, whereas I think some of our food, even though I think it's cool and intelligent, I don't think it's as craveable.' To hear Beran, the hyper-ambitious chef who just last winter opened another cerebral, high-end tasting-menu restaurant named Seline, talk of 'trashy food' of any kind, is as jarring as it is exciting. For the new Pasjoli, he's thinking about mini versions of French onion soup ('souplettes') and French onion fondue, duck poutine and table-side cocktails. The goal is to be more approachable, more interactive and a lot more fun. And at Seline, he can continue to flex his fine-dining muscles. 'I do wonder if personally, my own kind of drive to create kept pushing Pasjoli fancier than it was ever supposed to be,' he says. 'I don't really know, but it helps that I have the creative outlet at Seline as well.' The new Pasjoli is slated to open June 12. 'There are a lot of ideas being thrown around,' he says. 'Throw out a bunch of absurd ideas and one of them is bound to be good.'
New York Post
21-04-2025
- Health
- New York Post
I got stage 4 colorectal cancer at 34 — the symptom I dismissed
Irritable bowel syndrome affects up to 45 million Americans, so when Sara Beran found herself frequently racing to the bathroom, she assumed she was just another case. The otherwise healthy 34-year-old dealt with the issue for more than a year and a half before her life came to a screeching halt with a gut-wrenching diagnosis: stage 4 colorectal cancer. With a husband, two young children and a thriving small business on the line, Beran knew there was only one option: fight. 'I had to beat it,' she told The Post. 'There was no other choice.' Advertisement A rising threat Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer ranks as the third most common cancer in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Once thought to primarily affect older adults, it's now surging among younger populations, with diagnoses in people under 50 expected to double by 2030. Even more alarming, younger adults like Beran are often diagnosed at more advanced stages, when the disease is harder to treat and survival rates plummet. As a result, it's now the deadliest cancer for men under 50 and the second deadliest for women in the same age group. Advertisement Pushing for answers in a pandemic In April 2020, Beran was a busy mom juggling the demands of a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old while working as a stylist. 'I had a super healthy, active lifestyle, but I've always had a bit of stress and anxiety,' she said. While she often felt exhausted, she attributed it to the chaos of family life and the pressures of her career. 'They took my husband and I into a room and told me they had found over 100 polyps on my colon and a mass on my rectum.' Sarah Beran Advertisement When blood started appearing sporadically in her stool, Beran shrugged it off, figuring it was nothing more than IBS or maybe hemorrhoids. 'I had two babies, so that's very common,' she said. Beran also noticed her stool was thinner than usual, but without stomach cramps or other alarming symptoms, she didn't think much of it. But when the blood persisted, Beran decided to visit her primary care doctor. 6 Beran is a mother of two from southern California. Sara Beran Advertisement The doctor assured her it was likely nothing to worry about, but acknowledged that colon cancer was becoming more common in younger people. She referred Beran to a gastroenterologist, who suspected a parasite was behind her symptoms and sent her home with a stool test. The test came back normal, and the specialist put her on probiotics. 'She didn't seem very concerned at all,' Beran said, still uncertain that anything was truly wrong. However, as the bleeding grew worse, so did Beran's fears. 'I'm not a pushy person at all — usually whatever the doctor says is fine,' she said. 'But I got to the point where there was so much blood in my stool that I went back and basically forced them into giving me an appointment because it was Covid and they weren't taking many patients.' 6 Beran's cancer journey began in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Sara Beran This time, Beran showed her doctor a photo of the blood and was immediately referred for a colonoscopy. Even then, colon cancer was far from her mind. Advertisement 'I was always one of those people that thought it would never happen to me or anyone in my family,' she admitted. But when she woke up from the test, her life changed forever. 'They took my husband and I into a room and told me they had found over 100 polyps on my colon and a mass on my rectum,' she said. At that moment, Beran said she was in shock. Advertisement 'We drove home in silence, just thinking about what life was going to look like and how we were going to handle it with our kids and tell our families,' she remembered. 'But then you go into fight mode. You get this strength you didn't know you have.' Chemotherapy, surgery — and more cancer Beran endured six rounds of chemo before undergoing surgery to remove her colon. She also got an ileostomy, in which the end of the small intestine is brought through a small opening in the abdomen, allowing waste to exit the body and be collected in a bag. 'I realized that all that matters to me in life is my family. It taught me how to be more present.' Sarah Beran She lived with the ileostomy bag for five months as she underwent another six rounds of chemo and countless bouts of radiation. Advertisement For some, including Beran, ileostomies are reversible. She had her reversal surgery in December 2020, but the joy of ditching the ileostomy bag was short-lived. Doctors soon told her the cancer had spread to her lungs, and she had to have another surgery to remove it, plus more radiation. 6 Beran had multiple surgeries plus rounds of chemo and radiation to beat colon cancer. Finally cancer free Today, Beran has been cancer-free for three years. Advertisement 'After two years of being cancer free, your chances of it coming back go from 90% to 10%, so when I hit the two year mark, it was a big deal,' she said. Now she only has to get scans every six months, and she'll be down to once a year when she hits the five-year mark. Beyond discovering her strength, Beran said the experience changed her outlook on life. 6 Beran said her cancer battle taught her what matters most in life: family. Sara Baren 'I used to get so wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of the fashion industry and what's next,' she said. 'I realized that all that matters to me in life is my family. It taught me how to be more present. To just enjoy the simple things. The other stuff doesn't matter.' Beran also came to a crucial realization: She could no longer put herself on the back-burner, as so many women do for their families. 'Taking care of myself helps me be a better mom and a better wife,' she said. 'I'm trying to make that more of a priority.' Determined to make a difference, Beran has also become an advocate in the fight against colon cancer. Together with her friend Brooks Bell, who was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer at age 38, Beran co-founded the fashion brand Worldclass. The brand aims to shatter the stigma surrounding colon cancer and promote early screenings. 6 Beran and Brooks Bell founded Worldclass to raise awareness about colon cancer. Worldclass The duo also donates proceeds to fund colonoscopies for those who can't afford them. 'The bottom line is colonoscopies prevent colon cancer,' Bell told The Post, explaining how the procedure helps doctors spot and remove polyps — abnormal growths in the colon lining — before they become cancerous. Beran stressed that the removal of these polyps isn't as painful as many people believe. 'You don't feel it,' she said. 'It's much better getting a colonoscopy and getting those removed than going through cancer treatments.' She encouraged patients to avoid rushing into the first treatment plan presented to them, especially if it doesn't feel right, and to seek a second opinion when necessary. 'If I hadn't done that, I think I probably would still have an ileostomy bag,' Beran said. 'You have to find a doctor that knows the best plan for you and for your life.'
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How the L.A. Wildfires Pushed the City's Restaurants to the Brink
In 2016, The New York Times signaled its intent to stretch its culinary reach nationwide, with its chief critic Pete Wells looking to evaluate restaurants outside of the five boroughs. His first review took him all the way to the other coast, to Santa Monica, where he gave Bryant Ng and Kim Luu-Ng's Southeast Asian-inspired Cassia a three-star rave. It was yet another feather in the cap of the ascendant L.A. food scene that had become one of the most exciting restaurant cities in the world during the 2010s. But since then, battered by the pandemic, entertainment industry strikes, and January's devastating wildfires, the region's restaurant scene is being pushed to the brink. Cassia has announced it has all been too much to endure; it will shutter this weekend. There may be more closures to come. When the Palisades Fire ignited on January 7, chef Dave Beran was running service at his new restaurant Seline in Santa Monica. That night, an eerie mood hung over the tasting-menu spot as lights flickered from the severe wind and guests checked their phones constantly to see the fire spreading through the neighboring L.A. enclave. The restaurant would shut down for days after, and air quality in Santa Monica remained poor for a week. Seline—which had been open only six weeks when the fires started—along with Beran's more casual Pasjoli nearby, took a big hit when they did reopen. 'At Seline, week five was our busiest week, but for six, total revenue of the whole week was less than the Saturday prior,' Beran says. More from Robb Report A Reimagined Pierre Koenig Home in L.A. Is Up for Grabs at $5.8 Million Inside the Windsor, the Private Terminal at London's Heathrow Airport Star Moves: Selena Gomez and John Legend Pick Up New Digs, Keke Palmer Sheds Her Starter Home A little further north in Santa Monica, where Josiah Citrin's Michelin-star Citrin and two-star Mélisse share a building, the level of business was similarly dire. 'The first three weeks of January with the fires are the worst I've ever seen,' says Citrin, who has operated at the location for 25 years. A.O.C. in the affluent west L.A. enclave of Brentwood was shut down for four days as evacuation warnings edged closer and smoke from the nearby blaze filled the restaurant. But restaurateur Caroline Styne says they also saw a big hit to business in the restaurant's West Hollywood location, too. 'I've been talking to other restaurateurs, and everybody has been going through it,' she says. 'Especially in that first two weeks, we were all really struggling.' Over on the east side of L.A., closer to where the Eaton Fire swept through Altadena claiming lives and homes, the award-winning restaurant Bar Chelou in Pasadena announced it would close. 'We braced ourselves for a drop, knowing we would see a 20 to 30 percent decrease in business,' chef-owner Doug Rankin told Eater LA. 'But in reality, it was closer to 50 percent. I love this city so much and thought we'd be here forever. But you have to read the writing on the wall and cut your losses.' Beran has been hearing the same thing in his conversations. 'I've talked to four or five different friends who were, right after the fires, saying if this doesn't improve in the next four to five weeks, they were talking about the potential of having to close,' he says. While the locals are starting to come back out again, tourism has taken a hit. 'When the world outside sees L.A. on fire, they're not hopping on planes to go here.' Beran says. So the displacement of the neighboring community and the lack of tourists is taking its toll. 'It's a guess, but around 70 percent of our audience is flying in or coming from the Palisades,' he says. Citrin has been able to fill the tables at his intimate tasting-menu spot Mélisse, but with fewer covers than normal as tables of four just sat two. And he's still seeing the lag of tourists. For a Michelin two-star restaurant like his, when he opens bookings, they're usually filled first by people outside of the region who are planning ahead for trips, then get filled closer to the dates by Angelenos. 'I look at the reservations for March, which we opened February 1, and it's not filling up like it usually does,' Citrin says. 'And that's the tourist part.' The predicament L.A. restaurants are in now can't be explained by the fires alone. You have to go back to the Hollywood strikes that still hang over the local economy nearly two years later. The prolonged work stoppages by the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild took, by some estimates, up to a $6 billion bite out of the economy nationwide, with most of the burden shouldered by California. 'In the first quarter of 2023 that's when we felt like diners are going out again, our numbers are up, and we're back to being profitable—and then the writer's strike happens and it bottoms our entire business out,' Styne says. 'And we've been treading water now for almost two years.' There was hope that once the strikes ended, business would bounce right back. But productions have been slow to resume in the L.A. area, meaning that people all up and down the entertainment industry—from actors to editors to gaffers to production assistants—have less discretionary income. And it also means just fewer meetings between power players at local restaurants. 'There's a huge fear it will never come back to what it was,' Styne says. 'I don't think people realize how restaurants were affected as a result of the entertainment strikes,' Beran says. 'Even us trying to raise money for Seline was a huge challenge, because as soon as the strikes happened a lot of people said, 'We don't know how long these will go, so we need to stay liquid and keep cash reserves.'' So in the wake of the fires, restaurants couldn't afford to sit fallow for an extended period of time, because many had exhausted cash reserves. But getting locals to dine has been a delicate dance, as many restaurateurs know regulars who lost their homes in the fires. 'It's difficult to complain about because what we're losing from clientele, that clientele has lost so much more, so you feel guilty about talking about it,' Beran says. That initial shock and trauma in the wake of the fires is why the entertainment industry postponed awards season events and Angelenos felt awkward about going out and having a good time. It almost led to the annual DineLA Restaurant Week to be canceled. But restaurateurs realized they literally couldn't afford lose that revenue driver after such a terrible start to the year. 'We were all trying to be sensitive to the issue,' Citrin says about conversations surrounding the cancellation of DineLA. 'But then we said, 'You can't do that right now, because if you do that, it's going to be the worst bloodbath.' Restaurateurs banded together to push for DineLA to go through starting January 24, with restaurants across the city offering prix-fixe menus while receiving marketing support from the tourism board. The event appears to have tapped into Angelenos' desire to get back out weeks after the fires. 'DineLA was busy, one of the busiest we've seen,' Citrin says. 'Banc of California matched money to donate to fire relief, the tourism board contributed to fire relief and it got people going out.' The DineLA organization reports that it raised $100,000 for fire relief during the event, and the week was so successful that many restaurants were extending their menus and discounts for additional weeks. What comes next for L.A. restaurants, even the most seasoned operators aren't quite sure. Citrin has been part of the L.A. scene for decades and remembers previous shocks to the city that date back to the '90s, including the L.A. Riots and the Northridge Earthquake. 'We've been through a lot here, we're a resilient city,' Citrin says. 'Restaurants will be here, restaurants won't, you just try to fight the fight—that's all I can do and use all of my experience to keep it going.' Best of Robb Report Why a Heritage Turkey Is the Best Thanksgiving Bird—and How to Get One 9 Stellar West Coast Pinot Noirs to Drink Right Now The 10 Best Wines to Pair With Steak, From Cabernet to Malbec Click here to read the full article.
