Principles for a good life

I became aware of the principles of nutrition many years ago, after the birth of my two children. It was long before I got cancer. My body was weak and thin, I had no energy and I am sure I was lacking vitamins. I ate irregular meals, raised two small children, I did not sleep well (for two and a half years I did not have one continuous night's sleep...), I worked under stress and I did not exercise. I had all sorts of unpleasant side effects like: constipation, abdominal pain and heavy feeling, lack of energy and fatigue (well, there were really reasons for that, I thought).

 

Then my husband came home from a course where he spoke to someone in the same situation as me. She told him how all these symptoms disappeared after she changed her diet. Also she recommended reading Sarah Hemo's book "The Golden Path for Natural Healing". Even though I did not have cancer, somehow this book spoke to me. I read it, and I started changing my diet accordingly. The nutrition that Sarah is talking about was based on the Kingston Clinic's natural healing method, but over the years I have found similar nutritional principles in a few other "methods".

 

The change was difficult, but I was determined to try as I did not have anything to lose, and everything to gain. I started working by the book, following the diet listed there: fresh fruit for breakfast, a large salad with lots of lettuce, goat cheese and avocado for lunch, and for dinner a vegetable stew (and later also legumes and whole carbs), and eggs or chicken two or three times a week. I had to give up many things I enjoyed, like drinking coffee. I suffered three days of severe headaches and after that I was fine. I have never had another cup of coffee since. I stopped eating sweets and I lowered the salt intake. I also gave up some of the vegetables that caused problems like eggplants, cabbage and more.

To my surprise the results were immediate. All the bad feelings disappeared. No more constipation, no more heavy feeling, and no more abdominal pain. I even got my energy back in spite of the fact that I stopped drinking coffee.

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I wasn't able to apply all of the principles of the method. I could not do exercise with two small children, a full-time job in hitech and sleepless nights. At least those were my excuses then. Today I know how important nutrition is, however it is not enough. Because of that I added more activities to my lifestyle. I signed up for a Pilates class twice a week, I joined “mama net”, a catch-ball game in a league or two, and I took a lot of walks in between.

 

Let's go back to the diet. I managed to stick to this diet for about a year and a half. It was tough, but I made it to the end, with no exceptions. In hindsight I realize this was the main difficulty because as it was quite limited, a bit boring, and sometimes bland. After a while even though I went back to a normal diet, I kept the main principles. I tried to eat fruit for breakfast before anything else, salad for lunch, however in the evening I allowed myself to indulge . I never went back to drinking coffee, but I did go back to eating some of my favorite sugars and carbs in particular. I was never a meat lover, so for me that was not a sacrifice.

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Having three children, which gave me a sore back and other problems made me continue reading books on the subject of natural healing. One of the better books for this topic was "Anticancer - a new way of life" by Dr. David Sarwan-Schreiber which brings studies that prove a link between diet and curing cancer. That too was before I got sick. The diet he recommends is similar but not identical The Kingston Clinic's diet, which is still based on fruits and vegetables, preferably organic. The book shows studies showing which fruits and vegetables contain substances that fight cancer cells. That is scientific proof.

I re-adopted these principles, and for several years I persevered.

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It was not enough though. About two years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time. Despite of the fact that my diet was good and nutritious, I had energy, I felt good, I did a lot of exercise, I never smoked, I felt completely healthy, and yet the cancer managed to develop in my body. This made the discovery of the cancer a complete shock. I did not expect it. In the evening of the discovery I spoke to a good friend who is a naturopath, and right away I started a very auspicious diet. She emphasized that besides the basic food, fruits and vegetables, I also had to focus on antioxidants like concentrated smoothies in the morning, supplements to strengthen the immune system, mushrooms and more. I recovered from the partial surgery quickly, the radiations went through relatively easily, and I believe it's all thanks to the diet. For a year and a half I persevered with the diet, lowering completely white sugars and carbohydrates. I returned to the follow-up tests with a calm heart, as I knew I did everything I could regarding my diet. However this was not enough.

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A year and a half later the same cancer came back again. Probably because there were some remains of cancerous cells that were not  eliminated by the radiation. This time I was already confused. Before I was diagnosed the first time, I was aware of the healthy nutrition value, so I changed my diet completely. Then I took some “short cuts” and I indulged a few “forbidden” foods. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I thought maybe I should have followed the diet completely. And I did so, so why did the cancer come back? Luckily the cancer was not as aggressive, and I caught it in time.

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What is my conclusion? Some people believe that nutrition has no effect on the human body, so they can eat whatever they want. This is the reason why I created this website, so I can share my positive experiences regarding the changes in my lifestyle. I do believe that proper nutrition is very important. I feel it on my body because I feel so much better. And every-time I "fake it", the abdominal pain returns, and my energy is gone. I also believe that because of my new diet and physical activities the cancer was not as aggressive, and the recovery from all the surgeries and radiation was much faster.

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I can not recommend a complete right diet. I believe that nature has provided us with a huge variety, and there is more than one right diet. I do recommend reading these books and more, to be exposed and see how nutrition affects the healing of the body not only in the context of cancer, but many other diseases. Mainly you have to be aware of the intake of quality food, of high nutritional value, free of toxins - because in the end it is our fuel.

 

On the side there are links to recommended sites, book recommendations and more.

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