Changing my diet changed my life.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates, the father of medicine.

I’m not a nutritionist by any means. I’m just sharing this blog post to simply show how much of an effect a healthy lifestyle can have on our attitudes. When you’re diagnosed with cancer, you hear a lot that “a good attitude is half the battle”. But how do you get a good attitude?  It takes a lot of learning, self-love, and acceptance. All of these things came naturally once I started living a healthy lifestyle, and basically giving my body all the love in the world.  I always thought I was pretty healthy, but there were many things that I had to sacrifice to really show my body I was going to support it 100% throughout this entire process.

I never proactively thought about having a good attitude. I just know that in retrospect, I had a different outlook on things because my body was well equipped with the armor it needed in order to face this battle.

Before I started chemo, I went on a naturopathic diet that really changed my physical and mental wellbeing. The hope was that the holistic approach would cure my cancer and avoid having to go through Chemo. Unfortunately it didn’t work for me, but it has worked for others. But thanks to this healthy lifestyle, I went into chemo with my body and mind ready to fight.

So from mid August through December 25th, my diet evolved throughout the months as it got modified from time to time, but this eventually became my daily Holistic Approach, BEFORE I started chemo:

• Coffee Enema (for detoxing) first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.
• (1) cup of Essaic Tea (for detoxing)
• Beta Glucan (supplement) taken 30 minutes before eating
• Yoga (for meditation) help remove mental and physical stress
• Juicing. When it came to juicing, I was told to not worry about the measurements, but instead focus on making sure that Beets occupied 50% of the juice, and Carrots and Celery 20%.
  • Beets 50% of juice (peeled)
  • Celery 20% of juice
  • Carrots 20% of juice  (peeled)
  • 1 apple
  • 1 or 2 thumb-sized peeled ginger roots
• Breakfast: “The Budwig Protocol”:
  • low fat 1-2% organic cottage cheese and flaxseed oil.
  • Measurements: (6) tablespoons of cottage cheese to (3) tablespoons of flaxseed oil. Mix these ingredients with a hand mixer for about a minute until it looks like curd/yogurt.
  • After the mix, you can then add raspberries, strawberries, almonds, etc..
  • Must be eaten within 15 minutes.
  • This was the only time dairy was allowed for meals.
• Probiotics (supplement)
• Vitamin C (supplement)
• Baking Soda (to alkalinize body)
  • 30 minutes before/after eating.
  • Measurements: 1/2 Tablespoon of baking soda and 2 Tablespoons of lemon. Add 8oz of water once lemon mixture stops fizzing.
• Lunch:
  • see below the “NO’s” and “What to Eat”
• Vitamin C (supplement)
• Green Tea Extract (supplement)
• Vitamin D3 (supplement)
• Probiotics (supplement)
• Iron (supplement)
• Vitamin B12 (supplement)
• Baking Soda (same process as listed above)
• Dinner:
  • see below the “NO’s” and “What to Eat”
• (1) cup of Essaic Tea (for detoxing) so that herbs work throughout the night.

Next day, same thing all over again 😉

The NO’s:

• NO Sugar (in any form)
• NO Processed food (in any form)
• NO Refined foods (like the ones that are refined to increase shelf life, like bread, cake, cookies, pastries, pizza, chips, etc..)
• NO Animal Protein (chicken, red meat, seafood, shellfish , eggs, etc..) Difficult for the body to digest and you are taking 40% of your body’s energy away from fighting the cancer to digest your food.
• NO Dairy (milk, ice cream, cheese, butter, etc…)
• NO Gluten (bread, cereal, pasta, etc…)
• NO Potato and Rice (high in glycemic index, which gets converted into sugar)
• NO Soy products
• NO Microwaved food, no teflon, aluminum cooking or aluminum foil.
• NO White flour
• NO alcohol
• NO caffeine (except for coffee enema)

WHAT TO EAT:

• Raw, whole vegetables 
• Large salads (with a little olive oil and lemon, no salad dressing)
• Veggies/Legumes: dark, green leafy like kale, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, onions, bell peppers, radishes, tomatoes, squash, carrots, leeks, lentils, sprouts of any kind, asparagus, green beans, brussels sprouts, etc..
• Cereals (only if made with millet, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat) and not gluten
• Fruits (try to limit fruit to one piece of whole fruit / day)
• Nuts: all except peanuts

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DIET DURING CHEMO

Because chemo also affects healthy cells that line the digestive tract, my diet has shifted a little bit to accommodate those changes and make it as fluid and easy as possible for my body. The “WHAT TO EAT” from the list above still remains part of my diet.

The NO’s:

• NO Sugar (in any form)
• NO Processed food (in any form)
• NO Refined foods (like the ones that are refined to increase shelf life, like bread, cake, cookies, pastries, pizza, chips, etc..)
• NO red meat  (Even though animal protein it is difficult for the body to digest, I have found that eating organic eggs, chicken and fish has helped me stay healthy and also help fight anemia. I do eat animal protein in moderation)
• NO Dairy (milk, ice cream, cheese, butter, etc…)
• NO Gluten (bread, cereal, pasta, etc…)
• NO Potato and Rice (high in glycemic index, which gets converted into sugar)
• NO Soy products
• NO Microwaved food, no teflon, aluminum cooking or aluminum foil.
• NO White flour
• NO alcohol (to help liver out since chemo is already working really hard + also will help reduce acid reflux)
• NO spicy food (to help reduce acid reflux and help heal mouth sores)
• NO caffeine (sodas, coffee, chocolate, etc… ) to help reduce acid reflux.

Important:

• Drink lots and lots of water!
• Eat lots of fiber
• Exercise, meditate, and get some sun!
• Focus on eating alkaline foods instead of acidic foods
• Avoid acidic foods at night especially because your body tries to digest while lying down.
• Eat smaller meals more frequently.
• Eating raw or undercooked foods is a common cause of food poisoning. So wash vegetables thoroughly!

After each chemo treatment, I wait a week to continue with the coffee enema and supplements, so it does not interfere with chemo.

That’s all folks! 🙂