Embracing My New Life

Prov. 16:24 “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”

Embracing My New Life

First, let me just say that I have some of the most amazing friends! When I’m in a venting mood they sense me knowing me so well and knowing I’m doing my best and being so strong in this illness, they surround me to lift me up and give me strength! THAT’s what friends are for! Thank you! You’re precious to me!

I think I touched a nerve in my post about what I eat and how I miss food. Don’t misunderstand me. I never really ate that much food before my illness and I’ve always really deep down wanted to eat this way but when you have a kid and a hubby who likes unhealthy food, I comply. I think I’m the kind of person that always takes care of everyone else before I take care of myself. As you can see, that is not always the best line of defense.

With this illness, I’ve found friends who already eat this veggie way, or are willing to change their diet to make themselves more healthy. If one person changes the way they look at food and all its ingredients after reading my post, then praise be to God! 

You see, as much as I want this new lifestyle to be about me, this diagnosis has hit my husband and son pretty hard. My son, who is twenty-one fears losing his mother and my husband, who lost his dad to lung cancer, lost a young cousin (thirty-three) to colon cancer and has an aunt in hospice now with cancer, doesn’t know what to make of me and this decision to go alternative. 

Do you see? All of these losses and all chose chemo. The doctors never gave them alternatives or even suggested current clinical studies, they threw them into the chemo chair and now they are deceased. I am not saying chemo didn’t help YOU if you are a current survivor, I’m saying chemo didn’t help members of MY family, too many to list, and I want to see if an alternative treatment works, for my husband, for my son, nieces or nephews. I NEED to see if there are alternative routes. I’m willing to do this instead of becoming another statistic in the family.

I’m trying to be strong for hubby, son and my family and they’re trying to be strong for me. But I hope you realize the thing about me again is, I always think of others before I think of myself. When I post about my food shopping excursions, it's really about me hurting to see hubby digging and digging looking for one thing that isn’t there for me. He is trying so hard and this is his way of dealing with what I’m going through.

My husband is the non-communicative type. He’s so much like my father it is eerie at times. When I ask him if he’s okay with me doing the alternative treatment he says, yeah, and goes on with his day. I thank God every day for giving me more than five senses because I can sense what hubby’s thinking and feeling and I sense that he’s afraid, afraid of losing me.

I know my husband doesn’t have the strong faith and devotion to God that I have but then again, not many people do. I don’t think myself a diamond, many people can find a diamond or pearl, I think myself a rarer gem like the elusive Black Opal. I don’t say that from an ego standpoint, I say it from an observational standpoint. I also think my friends would agree, I’m a rare gem among the crowd. Let me just note, I have many friends who are rare gems also! We are a rare breed slowly going into extinction but we are out here fighting to stay ALIVE! 

As I pray and meditate day and night to heal myself, I have a family back home that I have released; I had to, to heal. A friend had said to make amends but I have nothing to mend back there, I reached out and only my sister and her daughter have reached out to show support. My mother still does not know of my diagnosis, she is not well and still grieving heavily for her husband of sixty years and my sister and I agree, she’s just not well enough to know.

I need to heal! If I stress over what is back home, I won’t heal. Luckily over the past thirteen years, I’ve written so much that has aided in my emotional healing, I believe it was strengthening me for the here and now.

Since my friends are so supportive and understanding, I now have them seeking out recipe’s for me whether from online or their own. They’re the ones going to get me through this! They’re the ones on this journey WITH me and doing everything within their power to help; monetarily or otherwise THEY are here for me! My friends along with my Lord are my strength!

Alkaline Foods I CAN eat: 

ALKALIZING VEGETABLES (preferably organic) 
Alfalfa
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrot
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard Greens
Chlorella
Collard Greens
Cucumber
Eggplant
Fermented Veggies
Garlic
Green Beans
Green Peas
Kale
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Mustard Greens
Nightshade Veggies
Onions
Parsnips (high glycemic)
Peas
Peppers
Pumpkin
Radishes
Sea Veggies (not a fan of kelp, but hey, I’d give it a try)
Spinach, green
Sprouts
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Watercress
Wheat Grass
Wild Greens

So you can see, there is a lot I CAN eat! My list of no eats is on the list of Acidifying side of the list. I cannot have acidifying elements! The cancer cells love toxins and acid is the home of toxins. Recipes with the above ingredients will be greatly appreciated and may even wind up in the book I’m writing, with your permission of course. 

My friends, we can do this! With your support and encouragement, I KNOW I can do this! Onward Christian Soldiers…let’s go to battle! 

God bless each and every one of you! 

You Only Live Once

1 Chron. 29:13 “Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.”

You only live once!

I hear this too often from people justifying their unhealthy eating and drinking habits. “Well, you only live once, so I’m going to eat all I can whenever and whatever I want.” But when you get sick and on your deathbed, you don’t realize what you are putting your loved ones through. Was that toxic double burger, with melted cheddar, fried onions, lettuce and tomato worth putting your family through an emotional hell that they have to live with for the rest of their lives?

What’s so ironic is I was never overweight, never thought I had bad eating habits, but here I sit with an illness that many people wouldn’t have the strength or willpower to fight, nevertheless, have their families fight for them. I’ve never gone on a diet in my life, I never colored my hair, heck, I’ve never even been to the beauty parlor in my life. Mani/Pedi? What are those? (I know what they ARE but you get my meaning, I’ve never had the NEED for them.) FYI: I am a self-maintenance woman!

You see, I’ve always been conscientious of what I put into my body so I could live a nice long life for my family. That is why my battle with drugs/alcohol happened at the ripe age of twenty-one. Now here I am, with an illness that has FORCED me to rethink life, and my unhealthy eating habits. What did I eat that was so unhealthy? Pasta, bread, processed meats, canned food, a Pepsi a day, yeah one! And three cups of coffee. I was never a big sweets and dessert person, which I am so glad because this disease would’ve more than likely hit sooner! All foods that turned out to be the toxins eating me away.

Yup, this disease loves sugar and carbs and I’ve eliminated them too late. Or is it in time? We’ll have to see on that one. I have every bit of faith that God and I will nip this thing in the butt and in the meantime I just want to scream from the rooftops, or from this blogosphere, LIFE IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK, PEOPLE!!!

As my doctor bills mount from what my insurance didn’t cover, I didn’t draw concern because I knew that God in all His Glory assured me that He had this covered, and sure enough, He does!!!! Miracles DO HAPPEN! Every day I wake and praise a Mighty God, trusting Him to carry me through another day and praising Him for waking me to pass through this day. I thank Him every morning I wake up and am grateful to Him for allowing me the opportunity to feel so dadgum good in a world drenched in sickness. I am empowered to be His voice in trying darkened times. 

I’m wondering if you’re all tired of me talking about my unwavering faith and trust in God? Tired of me talking about the toxic lives we live? I can’t help it, friends. The way I see it, some of my words (or links) might provide you with the change you NEED or were looking for but kept putting off because, “Hey, we only live once, I’m going to do what I want and eat what I want and die HAPPY!” Maybe you see me and what I’m going through with vitality and want a bit of what I have. I'll share, I have God, life, energy, and a most humble nature (and the best friends ever.)

Rest assured, I can guarantee if ‘you only live once’ is the way you feel about life, you will NOT die happy. You will be relinquished to a fetal position in some uncaring hospital, allowed to dry up, wither and die, ALONE! But if you have a family, they get to witness your brutal choice of this death scene.

Jam. 5:5 “Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.”

You see, you live for the pleasure of the day. You don’t think of tomorrow, or your children or grandchildren, you live for you and your happiness. You have the theory ingrained in your head that ‘you only live once’ and that scares me as I think of heaven and it not being as full as people ‘who only live once’ will never have the pleasure of seeing. I hold eternity in my pocket!

I think that’s what makes me different among men (and women), I don’t live for earthly pleasures, I live for one day getting the opportunity to kiss heavens gate and to be welcomed in with open arms.

I have plenty to keep me busy these days around the house to ready myself for spring, like Spring cleaning! Yes, I love this time of year, out with the old, in with the new! I am healing, I am well, and I am LIVING! Living for my God! 
May God reach out to each and every one of you and rain blessings upon you!

Pss. 9:1 “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.”

Moving Forward

Matt. 8:7 "And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him."

Moving Forward

Every day I think of posts to write and when I rise from a well rested eight-hour sleep, read my morning devotional, I begin to write, usually not what I had intended but something entirely different. I try to squeeze in what I intended to write and it usually works out pretty good for me and becomes an inspirational read for you. 

Today I intended to write of my new Healing Diet but when I woke the words Moving Forward kept playing and replaying so let's see how this mind works as we weave the two topics together. 

Today is the day we are forced to move our clocks forward in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. Yes, I say forced because if we don’t oblige we will be out of sync with the rest of the world. We can’t have that now, can we? This is another one of those instances where the government likes to be in CONTROL and the people are left submitting to another of their demands.

But it is also a day I move forward in my Healing Diet and continue to treat my body as this high and mighty temple that God built for me and I’m just here trying to maintain the spirit and the flesh that houses the body.

My birthday is coming in a little less than two weeks and my mother sent me money ‘to buy myself’ something. I never like to buy myself something because there is so much more that is needed but this year I BOUGHT myself something! 

We went to the mall the other day (yes me!) and I browsed and shopped! I dislike shopping on so many levels but this day was a me day. You know what the hardest part of going out into the world to shop is? Seeing all of the billboards with advertisements on liposuction, and others that blare of the new restaurant in the area. Do they want to suck off all the fat that you get from those unhealthy restaurants? 

Driving by the fast food restaurants is hard too as I think of all the bubbling grease coming to life waiting to toxify the unaware customers. I see Buffalo Wild Wings with what I’m almost 100% certain that those chickens are shot up with growth hormones and preservatives. I see the Burger Palaces, Donut shops all enticing people to come in, let us fatten you up so you can be one more day closer to death. 

Yeah, that’s what goes through my mind now. While I miss all of the unhealthy eating myself, I’m sad to think that I was so naïve and easily misled. Why would I think that restaurants, even the most well-intentioned Chinese Food restaurants, would think of my health and me? 

I really look hard to see one sign that says, WE SELL ALL ORGANIC! WE use the best and safest oils, free range meats, and non-toxic foods because WE care about YOU! That’s almost funny because there’d be no money in that, eh? 

As we the people move forward maybe one day there will be MANY restaurants that will go the healthy route over the dollar making industry. I can bet if there was such a franchise the people who could afford the food offered would keep that business alive. Why? Because we are all really seeking to be our healthiest we can be. 

As I move forward in healing, the very first thing I changed was my diet. No carbohydrates, no sugar, no dairy, no meat. Wow! Two weeks and four pounds lighter I had to add something to this all fruit and vegetable health change. I searched and researched, the common bond was change and healthy eating. 

There are many diets out there to fight and HEAL the BigC (I won’t name it, I won’t own it) like the Gerson Diet, The Budwig Plan, and ChrisBeatCancer, just to name a few. Please don't tell me that this one says this and the other says that, I KNOW, and thus the very reason I am working what works for ME! 

The Budwig Plan says: “Toxins are one of the main factors that contribute to various diseases, so controlling them is essential. A regular intake of fruits and vegetables helps you to actively detoxify your body, which is a fundamental part of our diet plan.”

While the Gerson Diet doesn’t allow what the Budwig diet allows and Chris’ diet doesn’t allow stuff either. Dr. Morse was another man I listened to and as you can imagine, as a newly diagnosed patient, this all can be overwhelming. There was one common thread that tied them all together, healthy eating. As I searched and researched, I had to come up with a plan that worked for me and MY body, including the supplements that will carry me through the healing process. 

I’ve decided to write a book titled Beating Cancer on a Budget! But here’s the catch, unlike all of the other places that are marketing their systems, Chris, TTAC, Budwig, Gerson, Dr. Morse. I plan on giving my book away for FREE! (they pay S&H) or in eBook format and I will only take donations if they wish to do so.

I don’t know how all of this is going to be pulled together but I have faith that God will take control and have me help the needy. I’m poor, I’m as poor as they get. I have a roof over my head, food on my plate (healthy food, I might add) and clothes on my back! The very least I can do is pay-it-forward! Then all of your donations will not only be to help me, it will be to help others who are less fortunate as we all move forward to heal one person at a time!

Quote from the movie Zootopia.  
Bunny Judy Hopps: “I thought this city would be a perfect place where everyone got along and anyone could be anything. Turns out, life's a little bit more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Real life is messy. We all have limitations. We all make mistakes. Which means, hey, glass half full, we all have a lot in common. And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be. But we have to try. So no matter what kind of person you are, I implore you: Try. Try to make the world a better place. Look inside yourself and recognize that change starts with you.”

Try Everything! Listen to this song and think of ME! God Bless!