It's been a tough week. I've been trying to stay positive, but honestly it's been hard to do.
There are so many things I'm supposed to do on my list of daily goals that the naturopath gave me that I had to make myself a spread sheet because I couldn't remember if I had done such and such three times a day or just two. And he emphasized that these were just goals, not to stress about any of them. In fact, one of the scriptures he gave me to memorize starts with Philippians 4:6 --- Be anxious for nothing!
I thought about the Coneheads yesterday as I was preparing "mass quantities" of fruits and vegetables (pictured above) to consume for my daily allotment of juice. Roger thought that was funny and was going to photoshop a picture of me as a conehead consuming my juice for this blog! Guess you can just use your imagination for that one!
And for those of you who think I'm so amazing and missed the correction of my last blog...please note I have great difficulty converting ounces, quarts, pints and gallons. All those fruits and vegetables you see pictured above will equal a day's goal of 96 ounces in fresh juice. That is not three gallons as I stated in my last blog. It just seems like three gallons!
People keep asking me why juice...why not just eat those things...don't you need the fiber too?
As I understand it, juicing is THE most effective way to get all the nutrients, enzymes and minerals these foods have to offer. When the juice enters my body, the body is not required to break anything down - it's already broken down - so my internal enzymes don't have to work and can save their energy for doing other things in my body, like cleaning house and getting rid of cancer cells. And, I think I would die if I had to look at that pile and sit down to eat it all!
So what am I eating? That's another point of confusion with a lot of people. I am not just eating fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds; I am eating all those things RAW - i.e. not cooked. I would kill for a plain ole baked potato right now. Raw is hard. There aren't too many places you can go out and join your friends for a meal of raw organic fruits and vegetables. And frankly, I'm tired of just eating salads. It's been about eight weeks on this diet, and I'm bored with it.
Why is raw important? Because any time we heat our food above 105 degrees or so we start killing the enzymes and other nutrients. I need my enzymes! Our cells are living things and they need living nutrients especially when we are fighting disease.
Obviously, what I am choosing to do as my option for healing is not for everybody. And I once again want to salute all the people who go the route of conventional medicine for treating cancer - chemo, radiation and surgery. That isn't easy either. The best thing we can all do is learn to take better care of ourselves.
That's one of the reasons I wanted to share my journey through this blog. The National Cancer Institute says that one in every two men and one in every three women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life! It's the second leading cause of death in the U.S. Heart disease is number one yet people don't seem to be so afraid of it. I think it's because there appears to be a lot that can be done for people with heart disease - stents, bypass surgeries, pacemakers, medicines, etc. Lots of things that are apparently saving lives. With cancer, the prognosis is a lot less sure.
Because of my disease, I'm having to make a lot of radical lifestyle changes all at the same time. That's what is so hard for me. I can't just eat MORE raw fruits and vegetables, I have to eat ONLY raw fruits and vegetables. Maybe, you can just start taking better care of yourself by making one change. Choose to eat more raw fruits and vegetables. Choose to eliminate processed foods or sugar or dairy or white flour from your diet. Choose to exercise more. Choose to quit smoking. Choose to eliminate some of the stress in your life. Choose to go organic. I encourage you to do something to take control of your health. Don't wait until you have to make all the choices at the same time because your body is diseased.
Once again, I appreciate all your prayers. It is amazing to me when people tell me they are remembering me every morning in prayer. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. Without your support, I would be in the pits! And I am forever thanking God for you and for His strength which has girded me for this journey!
"I love you, O Lord, my strength."
As I sit here updating my blog concerning my cancer journey, I'm drinking a delicious glass of Alabama Zinger! It's made with a beet, a lime, a piece of ginger and 12 apples. Delish!
Alabama you ask?
Yep! Roger and I made a trip to Florence, Alabama yesterday to visit a naturopath who has had a lot of success helping people heal from cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and many other diseases by doing a computer analysis of the electricity flowing through their bodies and "prescribing" herbs, supplements, foods and lifestyle changes - all natural healing things - to help their bodies re-connect. (Yes, that is my rendition of what he told us in laymen's terms!)
I loved that the whole time he spent with us he quoted scripture and talked about our bodies being "fearfully and wonderfully" made which we totally concur with. And he spent about an hour-and-a-half with us which is much longer than the 10 minutes the oncologist gave me. Aside from a handshake, she never touched me or questioned me. This guy examined my skin, my nails, my hair, my eyes, the bottoms of my feet, my breathing, my oxygen level, etc. He talked to me about my diet and asked about my work and what other stresses might have triggered this event in my body. Then he designed a program just for me and my needs. The oncologist gave me the exact same protocol she gives everyone else in my situation. There's just something wrong with that!
To boot, my insurance will reimburse her more than $400 for her office visit, but it won't pay a dime toward his $75 visit or the gas we used to drive two-and-a-half hours to visit him.
So why go all the way to Alabama? Because it is illegal to practice this kind of "healing" in Tennessee. In fact, you have to be real sure that you don't promise or say you can cure people when you're doing this no matter where you practice.
Dr. Rawdon (yes - another great doctor name for someone who wants me to eat 100% raw!) once was a pharmacist in Tennessee. He was diagnosed with a tumor in the late 80s and decided against conventional treatment so he started experimenting on himself.
He discovered the Gerson diet - which has been around for quite some time and is 85% raw with some juicing - and used that for the base for what he developed for himself. He added herbs to what he was doing and eventually cured himself!
After his success, he started helping other people in Tennessee - never promising to cure anyone. He had a lot of success and attracted a following of patients. But he had a client come to him with Stage IV pancreatic cancer after having exhausted all the conventional treatments. Rawdon started him on juicing and some supplements, but it was too late and the man died. His wife sued Dr. Rawdon and the Tennessee Board for Licensing Pharmacists fined him $1,000,000. So, he left Tennessee and who can blame him?
The tests he performed on me showed that aside from the cancer activity, I'm healthy! So my "prescription" includes eating 100% raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, taking several supplements - many designed to boost my immune system and fix the broken communication between some of my cells and others designed to detox my body - plenty of exercise, fresh air and sunshine, jumping on my trampoline for 10 minutes per day, meditating and keeping good thoughts flowing, increasing the good fats I'm eating and drinking three gallons of freshly squeezed juice! THREE GALLONS! That's my goal - but I'm not to get stressed if I don't make it every day.
I've only had one day to let all this sink in so I'm still processing it and trying to figure out my system for taking supplements and making and drinking juice. My Rx includes a gallon of straight carrot juice, a half gallon of apple, a half gallon of Alabama Zinger and a gallon of "Reboot" which is made from a variety of green stuff.
The specific things I am to avoid are: gluten, sugar, milk products, meat, processed soy, MSG, aspartame, BHT and peanuts. Oh, and I get a high protein smoothie made with frozen pineapple, bananas, blueberries, almonds, cashews, avocado, dates, apple juice and hemp protein. Yum!
So if you go looking for me and can't find me I'm either at the store buying produce, in the kitchen juicing or blending or cleaning up, outside jumping and getting fresh air and sunshine or de-toxing!
Oh - and one more thing - Rawdon gave me some homework. Memorizing Joshua 1:8-9 and Philippians 4:6 - 13! They are both to help me have positive thoughts and to not be anxious about anything and to think about the things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy!
"I love you, O Lord, my strength!"
It's day 41 of this new healthy regimen for me (but who's counting, right?!)
In the preface to Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life, he says that 40 days is a spiritually significant time period. Whenever God wanted to prepare someone for His purposes, He took 40 days.
To cite just a few examples:
- Noah - 40 days of rain
- Moses - 40 days on Mt. Sinai
- the spies in the Promised Land - 40 days
- the city of Nineveh - 40 days to change
- Jesus - 40 days in the wilderness
- the disciples - with Jesus for 40 days after His resurrection
These were all days of transformation for the people involved.
So what kind of transformation have I had? Well, I've lost about 12 pounds. I'm more energetic then I have been in a long time. I've increased my stamina for jumping on the trampoline from 7 minutes to 15. I feel great! And I'm thinking all this carrot juice may be making my eyesight better.
Supposedly, this is also an anti-aging diet! (The jury is still out on that one.) And, it's supposed to help my mental clarity. Roger is still waiting for that benefit to kick in!
Except for some Ezekiel bread - which is a bread made from sprouted grains - I have stuck to all raw fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds for my diet --- except for one treat I allowed myself last week. I cooked some organic popcorn in coconut oil - the preferred healthy oil for us today. It smelled so good! But after two handfuls I thought I was going to be sick. : (
Sometimes I wonder if I will have to remain on this diet the rest of my life. Obviously, my body has adjusted or transformed to the change and is responding positively. So for now, I'm sticking with it.
But I have to think back to the Israelites who ate manna for 40 years. I'm pretty sure I would be complaining too. In fact, I already have complained! (To which Roger responded: "Just put some of your dressing on it and eat it.")
I often find myself coming down hard on the Israelites. I don't understand how they could turn their back on God. How could they see a miracle and not give Him credit or not remember what He had done for them? I mean He parted the Red Sea and they crossed over on dry ground! But I do the exact same thing.
I often find myself coming down hard on the Pharisees too. They were always keeping the rules and judging those who weren't. And if I'm not careful, I could easily turn into a Pharisee over this diet and my lifestyle changes. As I learn more and more about how we are poisoning ourselves with what we eat - mainly processed food and genetically modified meats and foods - I just want to scream! I want to tell young mothers to quit giving their kids all that sugar and those carbonated drinks. Cancer is now the number one killer of children in our country --- ahead of accidents! And, it's on its way to being the number one killer of adults because we aren't fueling our bodies appropriately and because our environment is so toxic.
So, please, if I start preaching to you, forgive me. Know that I do it out of love.
I love something that Billy Graham said about this very thing. He said, it's God's job to judge, the Holy Spirit's job to convict and our job to love.
I can try and make up my mind to not judge you and tell myself that I'm going to try harder and not judge people any more - but that is trying to operate in my own strength and I always fail.
I believe the ONLY way to judge less is to love more! And that's my goal because "love covers a multitude of sins."
Thank you all for the outpouring of love through your emails, cards, notes, texts, Facebook comments, gifts, hugs and words. We are so blessed to have such a great group of family (some of whom are pictured above) and lots of friends. I love you all!
"I love you, O Lord, my strength."
