A few weeks ago, a friend of mine called me up to tell me a little something that reminded her of me. She was listening to Christian radio and a story of men that we were both very familiar with (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego--three men in the fiery furnace) was being talked about. She went on to tell me they were talking about the diet of these men.
In the book of Daniel, it tells us how the king ordered his chief official to bring in young men who were young, in good physical health, quick to learn, etc., to come and train for three years in order to enter the king's service. Daniel did not want to defile himself with the royal food and wine the king ordered all of his men to eat and drink. So, he asked the chief official if he and the other servants (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) could refrain from eating the royal food and just be given vegetables and water to drink. The chief official was hesitant because he feared the king would have his head if the king saw these men looking worse than the rest of the men. But Daniel persisted by saying, "Please test your servants for 10 days; Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." So....the chief agreed and tested them for 10 days.
At the end of the 10 days, they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
Now you might be reading this wondering, "Why the heck is this chick telling this story?" Well...I'm getting there. Wait for it....waaaaiiiit for it. I didn't remember this story at all. In all the years of my life that I've studied the Bible, it's amazing what you don't remember when you don't continuously study.
I don't know if you remember, but at the very start of this particular journey, diet was the very first thing that I knew I had to change. When I received that diagnosis, one of my first thoughts (well...next to--what the %*#@ and 'is this really happening') was, "I need to change my diet." Enter Dr. Jay.
I knew I wanted to fight this thing full force, head on, with any and everything I could possibly do. That's where my research for more holistic approaches came into play...and I 'met' Dr. Jay. His advice? Eat vegetables. Eat nothing but vegetables--particularly root vegetables. So? That's what I did. I ate and drank nothing but vegetables and water for the entire time leading up to my first chemo treatment--which after all was said and done (meeting 3 oncologists, biopsies, port placement, traveling to Houston to meet another oncologist, etc) was about 3-4 weeks of nothing but veggies and water. I was preparing my body for war.
Once chemo started, I could expand my diet a bit. HALLELUJAH, people! Chicken and eggs never tasted so good. That's when my husband started telling me that my opinions on how something tastes didn't matter any more because everything from here on out would be amazing.
I've cleaned up my diet a TON since this all began. I dropped weight like crazy because of it--but, when you cut out grains, fruit, sugar, alcohol, dairy, processed foods, etc. you're gonna have that.
And guess what? I feel better than I have in a long, looooong time. Funny, huh? Stage 4 cancer diagnosis yet clean up your diet and you feel better than you ever have. Sounds about right (said no one ever ;) ). If you're having health issues and just can't figure out why you're not feeling better, with all the meds you're on and all that fun stuff--I strongly suggest looking at your diet. There is sooooooo much 'crap' in the food we eat--even what we consider to be 'healthy'...if you really take a look...it's not. All of the chemicals, sugar, GMOs, etc---all do such destructive things to our bodies. Now I'm not saying you're for sure going to develop something like cancer because of it--because not everyone will, every body is different. But...you might be surprised at how you feel by changing your diet to a more whole foods/ natural diet.
I have my 9th chemo treatment in a couple hours. My last treatment was pushed back a week due to low white blood cell count...and they also lowered the dosage of the last treatment. That may explain why my 8th treatment was my best treatment yet. I felt pretty great after it, which meant I was able to do more, which in turn meant I kiiiiinda overdid it. But I'm not complaining about that--it was amazing.
After today's treatment, the next step is a scan. That scan will determine where we go from here. If the scan shows that the chemo is still working, more chemo it is. If it shows it stopped working, a surgery consult is next. What does a girl hope for? My only hope is that whatever comes our way, we stay strong & confident. We got this...but more importantly, God's got this.
There's a saying that I think about often when it comes to different areas of my life--my work, my diet, my battle-- "Work like it all depends on you, and pray like it all depends on Him."
Hope & Pray.
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