When I got my second cancer diagnosis in July 2010, I knew I had to do something different with my health. After all, finding out that I had essentially grown cancer from scratch TWICE, I had to take action by doing what I could with what I could control.
Bad food for me
In the years leading up to my second cancer diagnosis, I had been eating Lean Cuisine frozen dinners 3 to 5 nights a week. Plus I drank a lot of wine, probably 4 to 6 glasses a week. And I was stressed out much of the time. Upon reflection, it became obvious to me that I needed to make changes.
The first change I realized I needed to make was to change what I put into my mouth. This required I examine what I was eating and drinking. I was a big dairy consumer. I went through nearly a gallon of milk every 10 days. Plus, I ate a good amount of cheese. And I ate a fair amount of beef and chicken, not always organic. I purchased a few vegan cookbooks and I did a bunch of research. One of the main people I studied was Kris Carr. I’ve written about her movie and books. Basically, Kris is one smart person. She has been living with Stage IV cancer for quite a while, since 2003. The big thing she did was clean up her eating. And she encouraged lowering stress.
That’s what I did. I had recently given up gluten, which was due to the terrible hot flashes I was having. Once I gave up gluten, the hot flashes went away. I then gave up dairy and meat. I increased my vegetable intake. Turns out, cleaning up your eating makes a big difference to your health. In 2010, I got extra serious about my daily meditation practice. I also gave up most alcohol. To this day, I drink about 4 glasses of red wine a year, sometimes less.
A few days ago, I was listening to Minnesota Public Radio and happened upon an Aspen Lecture talk by Dr. Mark Hyman. IT BLEW MY MIND! So much that I have to share it here with all of you.
Here it is.
It takes about 48 minutes to listen to the whole talk. It’s worth the time. Please, listen.
He talks about this idea of functional medicine. It makes total sense to me. It’s why I love going to acupuncture, which I’ve been doing 2 to 3 times a month for almost 30 years. Acupuncture is holistic. Turns out functional medicine considers the body as one connected ecosystem. DUH.
Save the planet, one bite at a time
I eagerly await Dr. Hyman’s new book that will come out in February 2020, “Food Fix: How to Save Our Health, Our Economy, Our Communities, and Our Planet — One Bite at a Time.” I will be signing up to get this book the moment it comes out! What about you, will you be lining up for this book too?
Let me know what you think after you listen to Dr. Hyman’s Aspen Lecture. I’m renewed about eating better. Yes, even I need to renew my efforts to eat well EVERY day!!!
I recently read Mark Hyman’s book Food, what the heck do I eat. What a good read. That’s when I changed my eating. I have mostly cut out refined food, except for the occasional treat. I eat as many veggies as I can in a day. And I am working on getting rid of the Splenda. And feeling good. I have lost 5 pounds too!
Way to go Cathy!!! Good work on the reduction in refined foods. I too mostly never eat those types of “food.” And good job eating as many veggies as you can! I do that too. It’s awesome. And Splenda sure was a trick. I am grateful I basically drink zero soda of any type. I’m a big fan of herbal iced tea and water!!
And awesome that it resulted in a bit of weight loss. I love how that works!! Looks like we are both fans of Mark Hyman!