Hippocrates, the Greek physician, once said “Let food be the medicine and let medicine be the food”.
As soon as I was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer at an age of 33, I knew it was time to radically change my eating habits. We all understand that the cells of our food get broken down and transformed into cells of our bodies. What we eat or drink either makes our body more or less inflamed, either makes the body acidic or alkaline. From someone who used to thrive by the colas, pastries, pizzas and burgers to someone who dint taste sugar for 6 months, the journey for sure was hard but extremely gratifying. Those of you who have read my previous blog on “Beating cancer my way” know my miraculous journey through the dreadful disease. While positivity, hope and innate capability of human mind and body came to my rescue, I cannot undermine the importance of healthy eating to make this impossible — “I am possible”. So here are some tips and tricks which could prove to be immensely helpful during the treatment phase or otherwise to stay healthy.
Basics
70% of our body is comprised of water, so the first change I made was to drink plenty of water and avoid constipation, the persistent problem i had faced for years. I knew constipation havocs the body balance by causing accumulation of toxins. I kept my water alkaline by natural methods of adding cucumbers, lemon and mint in every bottle of water. Alternatively, made it alkaline by adding 8 drops of alkaline booster drops in each litre of water, the drops that are easily available over the counter at most medicine shops.
On recommendation of a famous cancer nutritionist, at my home, we replaced white refined salt with pink Himalayan salt which has many trace minerals and vitamins. White refined sugar was immediately kicked out of kitchen, and replaced with dates, jaggery and honey. While there is a big debate about cancer cells consuming more sugar/glucose than normal cells, I wanted to err on side of caution.
Completely eliminated diary especially milk from my diet because its breast milk of an animal that is constantly injected with hormones to keep it pregnant/lactating. While doctors were keeping my own ovaries and hormones on hold, through Zoladex injections, how could I afford to consume the hormones of animals to get inside my body. With this thought moved to eliminate red meat also from my diet.
Potent anti cancer food materials
Lots of raw turmeric (that looks like ginger) was added to anything and everything I ate, due to its efficient properties of inhibiting growth of cancer cells. I heard from various sources, when Turmeric/curcumin is combined with pepper (black/white) it increases its anti-proliferation properties, so started doing that, as well. Ginger garlic two powerful foods with medicinal properties were used in abundance in my food to avoid acidity and inflammation.
Moving close to a plant based diet became the way of life, My day typically started with consuming Indian basil (Tulsi leaves) and a glass of wheat grass juice, items that are filled with amazing health benefits. I immediately started consuming potent cancer fighters like Lots of cruciferous vegetables (eg. Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower), and berries like blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries etc. Isothiocyanates which have shown anti-tumor properties are abundant in cruciferous vegetables. My breakfast, lunch and dinner plate used to look like a rainbow with lots of capsicum, bell peppers (red and yellow capsicum), tons of carrots, beetroots, apart from regular tomatoes, onions and corianders. Boiled sweet potato with lots of lemon and black pepper sprinkled on it became my everyday evening snack. Daily consumption of one large bowl of soup either spinach/ broccoli/ mushroom/ tomato beetroot. Mushrooms especially shitake are again known for their anti-cancer properties along with green leafy vegetables (like spinach, fenugreek) and are a good addition to the diet of anyone diagnosed with this disease. Each day a glass of carrot, tomato and amla juice was a must for me. For cancer patients, many experts believe 5 servings of colorful fruits and vegetables a day to keep it at bay. Fruits like pineapple are known for their anti-inflammation properties and they say cancer is a highly inflammatory disease. Pineapple helped me both during chemotherapy and surgery phase. Apples, kiwis, grapes, papaya, bananas, melons, I had so many fruit options to choose from. Oranges, limes and amla (Indian gooseberry), are a powerhouse of Vitamin C, which helps build our immunity and I had plenty of them throughout the day.
Green tea is high in antioxidants, and made it a habit to replace it with regular milk tea. Coconut water helped me with hydration during radiation and chemotherapy; refined oils were completely replaced with healthy oils at home. Coconut oil, ghee, groundnut oil, sesame and mustard oil were used in rotation to absorb benefits of all. Extra virgin cold pressed olive oil was used in items like salads and cooking low flame dishes. The thing with Olive oil is that it loses its anti-cancer effect when cooked on high flame, as per many researches.
To up my intake of omega 3 fatty acids, I started consuming two teaspoons of flax seeds each day. To up my nutrition levels further, I started consumption of health super foods like walnuts, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds. Handful of almonds soaked overnight was daily added to my diet schedule. These are delicious nutrient powerhouses, which help regain body strength during chemotherapy. Makhana (fox nut) roasted with desi ghee was another worthy addition to my diet, which are worth a mention.
For me, the most difficult and challenging part was eliminating high glycemic foods like breads, pasta, refined flour and white rice. Naturotherapy experts also believe in eliminating wheat from diet to cure cancer as it contains gluten. However, being a north Indian I could never completely eliminate wheat from my diet, I tried to consume less of it. I tried to eat carbohydrates in their whole forms instead of refined grains; some of whole carbs were brown rice, quinoa, oats, barley, ragi etc.
I also went with powerful supplements to strengthen my body’s immune system, since I genuinely believed to get rid of cancer; I must change the environment it thrived in. I started consuming Indian herbs and supplements like Ashwagandha and moringa. I started consumption of items rich in vitamin D like egg yolk and some curd, since there is strong linkage established between Vitamin D and cancer. I also consumed milk thistle known for its liver detoxifying properties, liver toxification is a common side effect of chemotherapy and my KFT LFT reports started coming better with consumption of milk thistle, resveratrol and melatonin were some other supplements I took.
Other tips
Stale food, food reheating in a microwave, packaged or processed food items were prohibited at my home. We generally undermine the importance of ridding our bodies from toxins, chemicals, pesticides we are exposed to, in today’s world. We started consuming mostly organic food items, even if it meant shelling a bit more from our pocket.
Not during treatment, but fasting for 16–18 hours (also known as intermittent fasting) is a great detoxification process that has been used since ages. It cleanses our entire system, resets the body functions, and strengthens the immune system. I vouched for it and practiced it regularly post the treatment.
On consultation with a naturopathy institute in Coimbatore, I really got to appreciate the importance of eating seasonal, locally grown, water based vegetables to keep my body healthy. To my doctor’s surprise, I dint feel too many side effects of chemotherapy particularly due to these clean eating habits.
Hope you were able to pick a few cues from the above write up above. Stay healthy and happy!
