I haven’t posted for a long time but wanted to post something that is hopefully positive about nutrition.
I found a lump in January 2019 at the age of 51. It was confirmed as breast cancer and I started chemo in March 19. I was never told the grade or stage but I’m assuming it was grade 3 as the lump was 3cm and 3 out of 20 lymph nodes were affected. I had 6 rounds of chemo first (FEC-T), 2 lots of surgery and finally 3 weeks of radiotherapy finishing in November 19. I always trusted my medical team to worry about the treatment and they were truly amazing. I decided I would focus entirely on the things I could control i.e. nutrition, exercise and I also changed all of my body care products to paraben free.
I’m not a nutritionist but I have always had an interest in nutrition. A friend sent me a link to some articles written by a Dr Wlliam Li – a US Doctor specialising in how nutrition could help support the immune system. I was so interested in his articles, I bought his book “Eat to Beat Disease”. I can honestly say it is one of the most positive and fascinating books I have ever read. It helped me so much going through treatment.
What I love most about his approach is that he doesn’t tell you what foods not to eat. Instead he focuses on foods to include in your diet every day. He lists 200 everyday foods and he recommends you include 5 of them every day. It’s really is very easy to do and a completely natural approach. He covers many diseases in his book including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, MS, Crohns disease and so many more. All of his research is based on scientific studies and evidence.
I’m now drinking green tea, using lots of extra virgin olive oil (including cooking with it), loving granny smith apples, nuts, kiwi fruits, mushrooms, dark chocolate, pomegranates, home-made stir fry sauce using oyster and soy sauce and many more healthy foods. I had never tried soya products before and felt completely confused whether to avoid or include after breast cancer. Now I happily eat soya nuts, edamame beans, soy sauce, soya milk and yoghurt.
I am now 5 months post treatment and I feel healthy, positive and alive. I’m not sure the fear of recurrence will ever go away completely but I feel my body has recovered from 9 months of gruelling treatment. My nails are strong, skin is soft and my hair is finally growing back well. Yes I still have some cording in my arm, get a few pains through my breast and underarm and my joints can ache from the Anastrozole. However it doesn’t stop me doing anything and I love to walk/run every day. I feel so very blessed to have a second chance at life.
I’ve including just a couple of links for anyone who may be interested in finding out a bit more about Dr William Li:
Website - drwilliamli.com/ - look at some of his recent blogs for info on immune boosting foods to help in light of the corona virus.
youtube.com/watch?v=PLQnHmboBzc
youtube.com/watch?v=ZxgTne_U4gI
His book is called “Eat to Beat Disease” and full of fascinating facts and research.
I hope this post may inspire some of you in the same way it has helped me. Take care everyone xx