On raw food choices and cancer

Posted by pocketina on January 26, 2008 at 10:20am

The most amazing thing about changing my diet to vegetarian/vegan/mostly raw (I'm still transitioning) is how drastic a measure many people think it to be. By people, I mean people I work with, people who know that I've had cancer twice. I guess I'm surprised that people can only see the cancer treatment continuum as a series of things that are done TO you, not things that you do for yourself, to help fight.

Food is a very confusing thing in our society. Advertisers & manufacturers invest us emotionally in bland, oversalted fare that bankrupts our bodies to make us feel satisfied for the moment. Nutrition is the least concern, but oil, sugar, fat, salt and empty overprocessed carbs are cornerstones of this diet, which people can't imagine abandoning for any reason, health or otherwise. The food bears little resemblance to the healing allies we see around us as mindful eaters, and as a result, people often fail to see food as a meaningful link in the chain of response to disease.

Well, here I am, though. Armed with the knowledge that cancer may be on the horizon again someday, I am trying to change my odds, through food. And the body's response has been pretty amazing, just from a superficial level. I've lost almost 20 pounds, since starting in mid-November, and have stopped having problems with lymphedema (a complication from surgery or radiation that causes the lymphatic system to work improperly in an affected area: for me, it was my upper back, my chest around my armpits, my upper arms, and my right arm to the fingers, and arose from the bilateral mastectomy I had last year.) I have a lot more energy, my skin is softer, a toenail fungus that was starting up on my big toe just reversed course and disappeared, and my muscles feel stronger than they have in years. Now granted, some of this is the return to health after almost 2 years of dealing with breast cancer and thyroid cancer. But a lot of how I have changed encompasses the last 4 years' worth of weight gain, fatigue, and low energy.

My co-workers comment on it, and ask how I did it, and when I tell them, I can watch them shrink back, wrinkle their noses, and just look perplexed at why anyone would want to do this. I'll be the first to admit, I used to have a hard time understanding this sort of lifestyle (chiefly, the removal of yeast breads from my diet: I was a total bread addict, and couldn't imagine a day without bread. After a short time on my mostly raw diet, I stopped wanting bread, and started actively avoiding it.) People think I'm some kind of health freak. And, as I write this, I guess I have to conclude I am. If caring about what you put in your body makes you a freak, I'm a freak. A proud, logical freak who hopes to live a long damn cancer-free time.

Comment by Jennifer on January 26, 2008 at 10:36am: Wow, thanks for sharing.

What gets to me is, how can they think you're a freak for wanting to avoid having any more cancer in the future? I've seen it too, even in people who ARE sick--they think its too "extreme" to change their diet so they can maybe live. what is extreme about wanting to live/? Wow, I could really go off about that! I wonder why people can't see that food is what makes up their body, so what they put in matters./?

I'm so proud of you for doing this and deciding you want to live. I hope that I won't have to go through that to be able to commit to it. I haven't so far been able to commit to all raw or even to getting rid of all refined foods. Even 80 % would be ok, if I stopped eating refined food for teh other 20 percent.

anyway, thanks for your blog.

Comment by Reverence Lily on January 26, 2008 at 2:08pm: I'm so glad you decided to make this choice, though - you totally deserve it!

Rock on! :)

Comment by pocketina on January 27, 2008 at 6:27pm: Thanks, Jennifer and Reverence Lily for your comments!

To your point, Jennifer: I think it's the industrialized approach to food that keeps people from thinking of it as essential building blocks of matter. I'm glad that you didn't need the cosmic kick in the butt that I did to get the message about eating healthy! I'm sure it will serve you well.

My mom also had cancer, and lives a pretty healthy lifestyle and was pissed off about getting cancer anyway. Her oncologist told her "Just imagine the cancer you might have had, if you weren't taking care of yourself."

Getting cancer isn't failure. Hell, even dying from cancer isn't a mark of failure, in my book. If either thing happens to me, if there's a next round with cancer, I'll deal with it, and I know for sure I won't regret any of the good food I've eaten, and cry for all the potato chips I might have had. :-)
I definitely feel more alive this way...I wouldn't change a thing!

I guess I'm only worried when people don't want to try anything new, or they deride anything new as being weird or extreme.

Comment by FiddleMama on February 20, 2008 at 6:40pm: Oh...I love this post Pocketina and I love your website. You are doing damn good work.

I've gotten a similar reaction from people and my health concerns aren't even close to the cancer realm. I am continually surprised at the defensive reactions that I get from people for making the daily food choices that I make.

I saw an Ornish quote the other day... let me see if I can find it...yes: "I don't understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol lowering drugs for the rest of their lives." - Dean Ornish, MD

Comment by pocketina on February 20, 2008 at 7:28pm: Yes! Exactly!
I was thinking on the way home that people seem to make their food choices with their emotions & their ideas, not with their tastebuds or with their body's needs: the standard Western diet seems so divorced from biological reality.