Thursday, June 17, 2010

Yes You Can Handle It and Help Yourself In the Process

(pictured: raw spring rolls)

This post is for all the people that write to me marveling at my ability to function and remain fairly upbeat in spite of cancer. I have had so many people tell me that if they were me they would ball up in the corner and sob and can’t imagine how I function let alone find time to blog. The odd thing is that blogging is one thing that helps keep me sane. But I will get to the specifics on that later on.

Hearing that you or someone you love has cancer is terrifying. It was the worst day of my life and I cried like a baby. But it has been both the worst and best thing that has happened. Yes you read that right cancer has also been positive. Don’t get wrong I wish it hadn’t happened but I have learned so much during the process that it has had many positive side effects. One thing I learned was how much I am capable of and that it is important to make every minute and every decision matter rather than sleepwalking through life.

Were if not for cancer we would not have committed so completely to a healthy lifestyle. Both Dan and I love gourmet food. We used to tell ourselves that we could eat anything we wanted when we went out because our diet was so good at home. Compared to most Americans our diet at home was great, it was vegan and fairly healthy, though it could have been healthier. Eating out tasted great but was not a great plan for our health. What I am trying to say is that we tried moderation and it didn’t work for us in the slightest. I have been reminded of this recently reading Terrence’s blog “My Vegan Quest”. You should check out his blog. I have learned a lot about what it is like to be male and eat vegan in NYC with other macho males. Eating healthy is a much more difficult change for men than I imagined. Terrence has helped me to realize what my hubby goes through when he has to eat out with clients.

How do I cope with cancer? It is easier to deal with traumatic situations than you think it is. My coping mechanism is to think of cancer in the abstract, not in the specific. That way I don’t focus on the details and it seems less personal. Also by sharing what I learn with all of you I feel as though I may be helping others and that brings me quite a lot of comfort. It also helps me to think of all the other traumatic things that have happened in my life that I was able to overcome. This is just another hurdle. A larger hurdle but nothing we can’t handle.

I decided to share what I was learning about cancer and nutrition when I realized how difficult it was to find information on the topic. When your doctor tells you diet isn’t going to make a difference you find out quickly that you need to go out on your own to get the information. Thankfully I have met other doctors that say diet and lifestyle changes do make a huge difference. While many people don’t want to make lifestyle changes others are willing to fight for their health and their lives, those are the ones I am writing for.

I am the first one to admit the change is hard, it is damn hard. Frequently change stinks in fact. I was much happier believing that moderation was enough and that cancer was mostly genetic but neither seems true to me any longer. We had a very tough time changing to a vegan diet. It was more than a shock to our systems. I was quite the brat about the change as well. Since we went from omni to healthy vegan I was not prepared for the dramatic change. I can safely say now that eating a healthy vegan diet is our new normal. We used to “live to eat” but now we “eat to live”. If you had told me that a few years ago I would say that you were crazy. However when your life is threatened it is amazing what changes you are capable of making. I am writing this to let you all know that you can make this change if you want to. It is tough at first, but it does get easier and eventually you don’t even think about it. It just becomes how you live your life. In the past I would have reached for olive oil to sauté veggies and now I use water or veggie stock and don’t think about oil as one small example.

Today has been introspective for me. I was thinking about all the lifestyle changes we have made over the recent years. I suppose this was because I get so many emails from people that are trying to start “Eat to Live” (E2L) and are having problems with it. Believe me I am the first to admit that E2L is tough at first. But if you just stick with it you will reap tremendous health benefits. By flooding your body with vitamins and micronutrients far in excess of the RDA (or DRI) your health can do nothing but improve. But there are also benefits that aren’t specifically health related as well.

My favorite vain benefits from eating a healthy diet are better skin tone and texture, and stronger nails. I have seen my skin color return to the rosy glow I had in my 20’s. Also my skin seems to be more taught and many of the fine lines on my face have been disappearing. Who wouldn’t love those benefits? Now if it can just reverse the gray hair I will be one happy woman, LOL.

If any of you are interested in following a healthy vegan, like E2L, and want me to go back to posting our daily menus let me know. I will try to make that happen. It was a bit of a hassle the last time I did it, but if it will help any of you and I am happy to give it a try again.

If anyone is reading this and is battling cancer please know there is a lot you can do to improve your health. There are two books in my library that I find extremely useful. The first book is “Anticancer” and was written by an MD that battled brain cancer twice. This book gets lent out quite often.  It is written in a very easy to read style but has wonderful information about what you can do to make your body inhospitable to cancer. The second book is more technical but is my oncology bible “Life Over Cancer.” This book was also written by an MD but this doc has been running a cancer treatment facility since the 80’s. It is a tougher read but covers almost every question you may have from diagnosis, through treatment and remission. Both books are uplifting and encouraging because they give you tools you can use to help yourself.

What I hope you are getting from this post is that change is possible and that you can do a lot to impact your health and the health of your family. Wives and mothers have the biggest influence on the health of their family. I used to give in to my husband when he wanted to go out to eat or have dessert so that I wasn’t being “mean”. It took me a lot of years to realize that I was saving him from himself and now my hubby is completely on board with our healthy food. Exercise is another issue, but I am still working on him. Wish me luck. ;-)

The other thing I have learned during all my nutrition research is that the same diet that is beneficial for cancer patients is wonderful for overall better health. There is no such thing as a diet that is good for one disease or another, though diet book writers want to tell us otherwise. So if you are concerned about heart disease, diabetes or weight loss the same healthy vegan diet will result in improvement in all areas of your health. Every study or scholarly article I read indicates the healthiest diet is high in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds and low in animal products (meat and dairy), refined grains and sugar. You can’t get lower in meat and dairy than none, and what you are left with is our diet.

Please know you can eat tasty food that is also good for you. I hope this gives some of you hope that you can improve your health and much more quickly than you think possible. We saw measurable benefits in blood work in 30 days.

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday. Talk to you all later.

28 comments:

  1. Alicia - this was a great post. Thank you for sharing. Just reading your posts, it's often easy to forget that you most definitely have down days, tough days. I love your attitude though. You have taken a very trying situation and found something positive, like the improved healthy lifestyle. I think you have learned to love and appreciate life and every single moment so much more. That's something we all should do. Hugs to you!

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  2. Heather,

    Thanks, that means more than you know! :-) I would say we all have down days but I try to be as positive as possible.

    I have been a fighter as long as I can remember. As soon as someone tells me something is impossible I am going to prove them wrong, LOL.

    big hugs to you too and thanks for being my daily exercise motivation,
    Ali

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  3. Wonderful post ... I love your attitude as well and wish you the very best in your life and health :)

    I've noticed that as I changed my diet to vegan and then to mostly raw vegan that I'm all rosy and pink too ... I used to look almost gray

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  4. Lisa,

    Thanks! I really appreciate the sentiment. :-)

    It is amazing to me what a difference a healthy diet makes in terms of all aspects of our health. Thanks for letting me know the skin changes aren't just wishful thinking. ;-)

    Ali

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  5. You are such a beautiful, positive person. Thank you for this post.

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  6. Krystina,

    Thank you! I am so glad I wrote something that touched you. :-)

    Ali

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  7. beautiful, thanks for all your help transitioning to E2L.

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  8. Michelle,

    You are welcome! :-) Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

    hugs,
    Ali

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  9. Like you, one of the first things we learned was to make the most of each and every moment. Another was that all the small stuff that used to seem so important is just nonsense that's not worth getting worked up over, (don't sweat the small stuff cuz it really is small stuff.)

    "you can't get lower in meat and dairy than none",-I really like that.

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  10. Janet,

    I couldn't agree more on don't sweat the small stuff. Things that used to upset me are now completely off my radar. I wish I could have learned that lesson an easier way.

    Glad you liked my reduce your meat and dairy comment. It made me giggle when I wrote it. ;-)

    hugs,
    Ali

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  11. Thank you for sharing this Alicia. You are an inspiration!

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  12. Aimee,

    Thank you very much! That is very nice of you to say. :-)

    Ali

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  13. The only thing I can ever think of to say to you, Ali is "Thank You." For your inspiration, your information, your support and your food!
    All blessings to you and your husband! (and your beautiful cats!)
    Hugs-
    Meg

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  14. Meg,

    What a very sweet thing to say. Thank you so much for thinking of us. :-)

    hugs to you too,
    Ali

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  15. Great post, Ali. Thank you so much for sharing. You are an inspiration to us all.

    xoxo,
    LJ

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  16. LJ,

    It is very sweet of you to say so.

    hugs,
    Ali

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  17. You have such an awesome energy about you Alicia! From across the country and in a different country, I send you a huge hug. Your writing has been informative, inspiring, entertaining and has brought some very tasty foods into our lives :)
    To borrow from one of my favourite fictional characters: Live long and prosper ;)

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  18. Possum,

    Thanks! :-) What a nice thing to read first thing in the morning. Loved the Spock reference. ;-)

    big hugs to you too!
    Ali

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  19. Thanks for taking the time from your busy day to write such a motivational post. Lately I've learned so much about food and health, thanks in big part to you. I wish that my family and friends were as interested, but I won't let their lack of interest stop me from becoming the healthiest I can...or from guiding my husband in that direction. Your posts on your newest lifestyle changes and goal setting are also very interesting. You're quite a woman!

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  20. Laura,

    Like you I didn't have a serious interest in food and nutrition until I was older. But I am still amazed when I learn new things. Why aren't they teaching this is school to everyone? *sigh*

    Good luck with your hubby, I know I had my hands full with getting mine to change. ;-)

    thanks again,
    Ali

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  21. You are certainly on the right track! God made our bodies to heal themselves. We have poisoned and over burdened them by eating processed foods, meat, dairy, toxic environment etc. Why do we thibnk we can undo a life time of abuse overnight? I know we are into instant gratification.

    I know first hand that a change in lifestyle, detoxing and energy work can and does cure cancer! My husband is healed of Stage IV Sarcoma and Emphyzma. I have severe RA and am doing much better. We changed to strict vegan the same day we got the diagnosis. A saying at the natural clinic my husband went to was "nothing tastes so good as being cancer free". It helped getting over the "I want that" syndrome:-)

    I have started telling our story at http://CancerSuccessForYou.com and adding recipes but it will take a bit of time. We are sponsoring a wellness cruise in Feb. with 2 doctors with proven success and speaking to a couple others now. Please check out Bill Henderson's book "Cancer Free" if you haven't already. It's the one that put the pieces together for us.

    Another important thing he does is the "Budwig Protocol". i have a link on my site. It a nutshell it's cottage cheese mixed with flax oil. I know it's dairy, but it's not LOL. Read Joanna Budwigs small book on
    cancer...When emulsified together it makes the oil water soluble and usable by the cells. I think everyone should do this. Instead of the morning smoothie I have this with fruit and a bit of Agave. My husband uses vanilla stevia.

    Hope this helps, heck I haven't even written this much yet on my own site! But I ready your story and wanted to share that we went through the same thing. Even after cancer is gone you have to maintain the lifestyle.

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  22. Joyce,

    Sounds like we need to chat. If you are so inclined please send me an email at veganepicurean@gmail.com so we can connect.

    I have heard about the Budwig protocol but the dairy aspect worried me. Cottage cheese must have casein so I am a little confused. Is it working for your husband?

    I hope you are both doing well,
    Alicia

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  23. Alicia, what a wonderful post. Your generosity with your time and resources through this blog undoubtedly helps many many people. Keep on inspiring!!

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  24. Sarah,

    What a sweet thing to say. Thank you very much! I really appreciate your kindness. :-)

    talk to you soon,
    Ali

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  25. I emailed you. We believe the Budwig protocol definitely helped. If you read the book by Joanna Budwig "Flax oil etc" it explains a lot.

    He also had dental work done to remove metals and toxic root canals.

    Wishing you great success on your journey

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  26. Joyce,

    I did buy the book after your first comment and have read it once. I have to say it still doesn't make sense to me, but I don't have a science background so that may be the issue. Quite a few of my friends are science geeks so I was going to run it by them. I am definitely one of those "need to understand" people.

    Thanks for the email. I have been off line today. I will go read it now.

    Alicia

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  27. Thank you for this post, which last week became 100% relevant. My 23-year-old son was told today that what we thought was a small cyst on his back - removed 2 weeks ago - was actually some kind of sarcoma that contained cancer cells. He went for an MRI, another tiny cyst/tumor was found and removed immediately via outpatient surgery. My son offered few details about the visit and what the doctor/s told him, and I have no clue whether the doctor/s discussed a pathology report or whether the sarcoma was typed/staged. How much can a worried mom pry? Anyway, I did a search of your blog (been reading for quite some time) and found this entry -- just what I wanted! Heading to the library to grab copies of the books you mention.

    Thank you for your willingness to address such things!

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  28. Tracie,

    I am so sorry to hear about your son. I was the same age as he is now when I had breast cancer and that was 25 years ago. Please know he can have a long life even after the cancer.

    If you need to talk feel free to send me an email. veganepicurean@gmail.com

    hugs,
    Ali

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