Rawsome!

It has been a while since I posted on this blog, and here's why...

I found out (as a result of routine mammogram and subsequent testing) on May 12 this year that I had breast cancer. It wasn’t a huge shock because I have a family history on both sides of breast cancer. My sister had it at age 46 so I felt I dodged the bullet longer than she did.

A year or two ago my daughter told me about making green smoothies and about a blog greensmoothiegirl.com. She and her husband and 3 children have green smoothies at least once a day. [I've mentioned this in earlier posts on this blog]In the past I had shunned “smoothies” because I thought they usually used dairy in them and I have an allergy to dairy. She told me about using carrot juice and such so I gave it a try and liked it, but I had a pretty shallow understanding of the health benefits.

After my cancer diagnosis I started a journey of looking for natural treatment options to augment my fight with cancer. A friend I work with loaned me a copy of a Suzanne Somers book, Knockout which got me pretty worked up about the drug company and conventional medicine approach but it was just a beginning. I started reading The China Study which opened my eyes more to governmental controls on information about diet and cancer and the negative effect of animal protein. Next I reconnected with my “rawsome” friend and college roommate, Lynn, who has been eating 60% raw/whole foods for 25 years and looks and feels fabulous! She inspired me and connected me again with the green smoothie girl and with WISH (Women's International Summit on Health and Raw Divas) calls which has furthered my education and motivated me to start to make changes.

My choice/decision was to combine conventional treatment with natural.
I had lumpectomy surgery May 31 and have been eating more vegetarian and raw and exercising more. I was thrilled when the second oncologist I went to said I didn’t have to have chemo!!! It was an answer to many prayers!

On Monday I begin six and a half weeks of daily (5x/week) radiation therapy. But what I wanted most to share with you and some of you younger followers was something my radiology oncologist said to me when I told him I was combining natural diet and exercise changes to help prevent a recurrence of cancer. After his initial recoil at my statement. He told me that it could help improve my health but it wasn’t going to prevent me getting cancer again. He said that here in the US, if you don’t die of heart disease or an accident, you’ll most likely die of cancer and there is no avoiding it. Now I understand his bias and I may not agree with him but what he also said was that I’d have had to be eating like this (raw/vegetarian) my whole life for it to make a difference. He also said that if I taught my children to eat this way it could make a difference for them. Well, although I think it will still help me at my age, I’m glad he at least validated the teaching of young people how to eat healthy!
If we can spare our children and grandchildren the misery of cancer and prescribed treatments, then LET’S DO IT!

By the way, since I started making changes, and I’m talking baby steps, I’ve lost about 10 pounds and feel more optimistic and healthy. I'm a living testimonial to early detection so be sure to get your mammograms and do self-exams.

Start by adding a green smoothie or 1-2 fresh fruits, veggies and legumes to your diet everyday and cutting back on the amount of animal protein in your diet. Increase your exercise too. We can do it!

Sorry for making this so personal but I wanted to give you some background behind the direction I may be going with this blog.

Eat well and prosper!