Hippocrates: Let food be thy medicine

I have debated back and forth about whether or not to do this post.  First and foremost, know that I am not looking for anything.  This is only to shed light on where I am coming from.  Second, I will never apologize for things that I have posted, because like it or not, they are true.  What I will apologize for is how things may have come across.  While I may have put things bluntly or been brutally honest, I realize not everyone can handle that.  And at times, my sarcasm may not have come across as such.  However, I will not sugar-coat the truth.  Please understand it was never my intent to hurt feelings or jeopardize friendships.

That being said, here is my story...

In 2005, my grandfather, with whom I was extremely close, was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and given 3-6 months to live.  He chose not to do surgery to remove the tumor, but went ahead with chemo treatments.  Amazingly, he survived until 2009, but not without setbacks and bumps along the way.  Since the tumor was growing on his pancreas, it affected his liver and stomach functions as well as inducing diabetes.  His bile duct had been pinched off by the tumor and he had to have a stent put in, which helped with the jaundice.  At the time, we lived about an hour and forty-five minutes away from them, so with two little kids (age 2 and expecting, in 2005), it was never easy to make the trip.  There were times I went by myself.  There were times I stayed overnight with him in the hospital, and plenty of hours spent waiting on him hand and foot.  It was stressful on my grandmother, and it was stressful on me, with my desire to be in two places at once, and it was stressful on our family, because with no one to watch the kids, my husband had to take time off work for me/us to make trips.

The truth is, in times of need, you do whatever you have to do to be there for your family.  Losing my grandfather was not only life-altering, but I see now that it kind of redefined me in a way.  Seeing someone you love go through chemo, drop a ton of weight, get fragile and eventually bed-ridden, changes you.  Watching them vomit (without warning) the foulest black liquid because of a blockage, time and time again.  Hearing him cry out in pain, or holler at someone for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Having to say goodbye to the most influencial man in my life and knowing I would never hear his lectures or reassurance again.  Then after slipping into a coma, spending four days by his bedside...  Feeling his limbs get cold, his nail beds turn blue, and watching him take his last breath and knowing his heart had finally taken all it could.  It was torture.  Literally Hell on Earth.  And I remember every detail very vividly to this day, and probably will for the rest of my life.

I don't want to go through that again.  And I don't think there's anyone that would willingly choose to do so.  And I certainly wouldn't want to put my family through that either, if I could help it.  Well guess what, I (and you, too) can.  There is a way.  The first part of it is, CHANGING THE FOOD YOU PUT ON YOUR PLATE.  This is straight from the CDC website, regarding cancer,

"A person's cancer risk can be reduced in other ways by receiving regular medical care, avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol use, avoiding excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun and tanning beds, eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, maintaining a healthy weight, and being physically active."

And buried in the cancer.org website, I found this: 

"A substantial proportion of cancers could be prevented. All cancers caused by cigarette smoking and heavy use of alcohol could be prevented completely. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2013 about 174,100 cancer deaths will be caused by tobacco use. The World Cancer Research Fund estimates that about one-quarter to one-third of the new cancer cases expected to occur in the US in 2013 will be related to overweight or obesity, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition, and thus could also be prevented."

I have done a significant amount of reading in my journey to health, books, blogs, documentaries, you name it.  I have learned a lot.  In June of this year, I even saw a genetic counselor to assess my risk for breast cancer (before I had learned very much about it) and dicuss being tested for the BRCA1/2 genes.  We all have cancer cells in our body.  Right now.  You do, I do, all of us.  Cancer is not just something that happens or doesn't happen,  it's not the cancer lottery!  Cancer is a symptom that the body is under-nourished and overloaded with toxins.  Period.  And I don't want to hear the GENE excuse. You may have a predisposition for certain diseases , but your lifestyle choices determine which of those get turned on.  A great analogy from the book I just read, It Starts With Food by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig, really put it into perspective: "Genetics loads the gun, but environment pulls the trigger."  Very powerful words.

When I learned all of this, many emotions came flooding through me.  I felt upset, outraged, I felt betrayed and disappointed.  Could my grandfather, who really was more of a father to me, have prevented this and everything we all went through with him?  Could he still be here today if he had??  If only.  If only I had had this knowledge eight years ago.  Then I had to come to my own realizations.  I cannot change the past, but I can shape my future.  I can learn and do better for myself and my kids.  Would I love to help other people, ie: extended family and friends, sure!  But will they be open minded and accepting of the things I have learned? I have found out that no, they are not.  Which is very sad for me, because even though it came from a place of love, it was looked at as an attack or judgement of them.  So I am back to the stance that I never should have left, I can only change myself and do better for my family.  I cannot change others and trying to will only leave me feeling stressed and frustrated.  So I urge you to READ.  Don't take my word for it, read!!  There are so many books and websites out there, all of which will reiterate what I have said.  It is true.  You can prevent (and often cure) diseases, and yes, even cancer, with nutrition.  All you have to do is make better choices.  Instead of the nutrient-void products in the center isles of the grocery store, (you know what I'm talking about, the fake foods with the expiration date in the next century), opt for produce!  And even better than that, grow your own!!  Support a farmer, educate yourself, know why you want to make changes in your life.  And email us or comment below if you have any other questions!!!

And, my apologies to anyone that may have been offended by something I said or posted, by taking it in a manner other than intended, which is and always has been, to help.  If you've never experienced a loved one's ordeal with cancer/treatments, you are lucky, as I wouldn't wish it upon anyone.  And if you could prevent that for yourself or your loved ones to have to live through, would you?  I know I'm sure going to try.  REAL food is powerful medicine!

Whole 30

I recently read It Starts With Food, by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig.  I first decided to borrow it from the library, but after reading it, purchased my very own copy that I am still in the process of highlighting.  Awesome, awesome book!  It is basically paleo-in-a-nutshell and scrapes the surface of all the important topics and the science behind them.  They promote their Whole30 program, which basically is one month straight, clean eating, full-paleo, ZERO cheating.  This means: lots of vegetables, grass fed/pastured meats and eggs, some fruit, some nuts, and plenty of healthy fats.  Absolutely NO: grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, sweeteners (artificial or otherwise).  I also threw in for myself, no dark chocolate and no coffee.  I wanted to break the caffeine addiction, but not only that, I cannot drink my coffee black, which means the inclusion of dairy, a no-no.  They go into the reasons why these things are not healthy for you, so if you are interested, I highly recommend the book or doing your own research, as this post is not about the specifics.  :)

Ryan and I decided to do a Whole 30 for the month of October!  We already eat VERY clean, but had become a little too dependent on coffee, wine, and cheese.  We did very well at only having one glass of wine once per week before, but had somehow gradually increased to 3-4 glasses per week.  And our once considered occasional cheat, cheese, had become way to mainstream in our diet.  Who can have wine without cheese?!  But then we found ourselves having hunks of it here and there without the wine.

Coffee.  That warm, delicious, temptress in the chilly waking hours.  Eek.  Clearly I have a problem.  Dallas and Melissa hit on why addictions are so unhealthy for us, with regard to altering our state of mind and making us crave more.  Caffeine is a drug and it is addictive.  As was our wine and cheese habit.  The more we had, it seemed the more we wanted.  Very unhealthy.  So our goal is to get back to a place where wine/cheese is a special occasion treat and not a weekly Costco size bottle and brick that we devour.  Because let's face it, we are human (and we can fully admit that it won't make us healthier but that it tastes good and we deserve a treat every now and again).  I got some sage advice from my uncle (which now I wish I had taken), who weaned himself off his coffee habit very gradually and suffered no ill effects.  What did I do?  Well,  instead of my two cups in the morning, I decided to have 3-4 in the days leading up to our Whole30.  I wasn't going to have coffee for a whole month and I would miss it, of course!  Boy, did I regret that decision.  On the first day, I was so tired, crabby and my head pounded for 24hrs straight.  It literally hurt to laugh.  The second day was better in the morning and I thought I was home free, but the headache returned that afternoon.  Third day was the same as the second.  On the fourth day I was home free.  Whew!  I am still missing it (obviously), but I am unsure if it is the ritual or the caffeine hit that I was addicted to more.  Perhaps both.  And I am not unrealistic, I know I will have coffee again, but I would like to take a different approach.  Whatever it takes to not be addicted, so I will have to do some experimenting with frequency of days per week, amount, etc.  And whenever I find myself desiring to increasing that amount, I will do another Whole30.

So here are the four basic guidelines of the Whole30 Program:

1. Eat foods that make you more healthy - meat, seafood and eggs, lots of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of healthy fats.

2. Do NOT consume any added sugar, alcohol, grains, legumes, or dairy.

3. Do NOT attempt to recreate junk foods or desserts by using "approved" ingredients.

4. Do NOT step on the scale for the entirety of your program.

We are currently half way through!  We have been very good and have not fallen off track.  Like I said, we pretty much eat this way every day, so it wasn't that challenging.  We would only have small amounts of raw honey or pure maple syrup once in awhile.  The only real change has been cutting out the cheese (rBST free), wine, and coffee (for me).  And although we have been tempted, neither of us has step foot on the bathroom scale!  Because it's not about the number -- it's about truly eating for health and nourishment and acquiring a better relationship with food.  Another couple of weeks and we will weigh in and post about the end of our Whole30 and how we feel, what we accomplished, and what, if anything, we will add back into our diets.  However, I think I can say with certainty, that I will be enjoying a cup of coffee just as SOON as humanly possible!

Hit by Bus!

This may be the most frustrating, disheartening excuse I hear from people.  It goes something like this: I could eat as healthy as possible and get hit by a bus and killed the following day.  While I agree that, any of us could die in a tragic accident at any time, it's not an excuse to justify eating like shit.  It's not fair to yourself or those around you.  We can't plan for accidents, nor should we gorge on junk food just BECAUSE we may or may not be hit by a bus.  Imagine if I used this excuse on my family in this scenario:  the husband/kids are out of clean underwear.  They come to me asking for clean laundry.  Well, sorry kids, mom might get hit by a bus tomorrow so I didn't want to spend today doing laundry!  Guess they're going to school commando.  While this might work once in a while for choosing to play with my kids over say, running errands or something, sooner or later, chores have to get done.

We spent a lot of time being ignorant about our food choices.  We spent many days scarfing Doritos, Diet Coke and candy.  Quite the example we were setting, eh?  Education was our salvation.  I encourage you to learn. LEARN.  You're never too old to learn something new!!  When you learn why the food you're currently eating is SO bad and what it does inside your body and what it does TO it, it's a lot more difficult to justify eating junk.  For example, did you know that grains and legumes are actually ANTI-nutrients?  They actually prevent your body from absorbing the nutrients it does need.  I was a person that never thought I could even try a low carb diet (when it was all the rage), because I loved bread too much.  Had I ever tried?  No.  Did I know why bread was bad for me?  No.  Did I try to find out?  No!   I am not sure if it's because I am a parent now, or just older and wiser, but I research everything before deciding one way or the other.  I don't just take people's word for it!  We've only got ONE life.  And ONE body.  And we just realized that we need to do everything humanly possible to take care of it.

Real food can and does taste good. We are not depriving ourselves!  Our bodies are getting the nutrition they need to fight illness, prevent disease, and be happy and truly healthy.  We opened up a world of adventure in trying new and different vegetables, even ones us adults had never had before.  Instead of craving greasy fast-food or Twizzlers, now I crave kale and macadamia nuts!!  We are literally walking billboards for a healthy lifestyle.  We walk barefoot in the grass, soak up sunshine for vitamin D, get exercise by playing outside games or bike riding as a family, and enjoy a healthy dinner of vegetables and grass fed meats.  And you know what?  My kids ask for more vegetables EVERY time!  Life is so good!

If you take anything from this post, please let it be to not make excuses.  Because if you eat that nasty KFC thinking you might not be around tomorrow, think instead, what if I am?  Will you regret it?  Let's face it, we are adults, we're not kids anymore and shouldn't act like it all the time.  We choose to make better choices now for ourselves and our kids.  Because you know what -- if I do get hit by that bus tomorrow, at least I will rest easy in my urn knowing I taught my children how to eat REAL food that nourishes their bodies.  And that, THAT is more important to me than anything and is my true legacy.