Did I cause my cancer? I remember the night I stood in the bathroom while I was getting ready for bed. I felt miserable. Too much food and definitely too much sugary stuff. The thought went through my head, rather loudly, that if I don’t stop this foolishness soon I would make myself sick. I heard the voice but didn’t heed its wisdom.
Unhappy and Falling Into the Sugar Trap
I was not happy at the time. We had just moved from Tucson to St Louis and I wasn’t making the adjustment very well. Somehow I found myself falling into the sugar trap, especially chocolate. I started to gain weight, weight that I had worked so hard to lose not that long ago. I knew not to touch sugary foods since my body seems particularly prone to sugar addiction. But there I was, gaining that weight.
Excess Weight Produces Estrogen
Excess weight produces a form of estrogen that is not healthy. It can create gynecological issues for women, particularly breast cancer or endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the uterus). While not all female cancers are brought about by excess estrogen, many are and those most often could have been prevented with proper diet. That’s the hard reality. Could I have caused my own cancer? Well, in a word – yes. Could there have been other factors exacerbating the growth of cancer? Definitely but without the excess weight there was a much better chance that the cancer would not have happened.
Some may look at that reality as something they can use to beat themselves up with. I don’t really see it that way. If I can see how I may have responsibility for something, I then have the power to know what to do to change the situation.
Not long after my diagnosis I remember walking through the food store. We had just emerged from the produce department and were walking past a display of bulk sweets. I looked at them and thought to myself “well, that causes cancer and that one causes cancer” more than just a few times. I somehow never realized that right next to the healthiest food one can find in the food store was the food that could kill you.
It was a very strange experience. I had never walked through the food store before noticing all the “food” that you could buy that could compromise your health.
No Candy, No Ice Cream, No Cake
I’ve not had any kind of candy or ice cream or cake or anything like that since that day. I will admit to a few ginger cookies now and then to help with nausea but I try to limit those.
Now was time to lose some of the weight I gained and I lost 20 pounds after that. There I still have more to lose but since I’m doing chemo now I’ve been told it isn’t a good time to lose weight if one can help it. Is that really true? Who knows but I’m going with it for now knowing I need to keep my nutrition up as much as possible.
Working Toward a Plant Based Diet
I wish I could tell you I’m perfect with how I eat but I’m not. Personally I believe in a plant based diet as being the best route for healing. I know some do well on keto but I’m not one of those people. Either diet can be effective mostly because both of them end up accomplishing the same thing – the balancing and stabilizing of glucose within the body. I personally believe that plant based offers far more efficacy since it offers all sorts of nutrients and cancer fighting substances.
Balancing Glucose
Why is balancing glucose of such importance? It is well known that cancer thrives on sugar. When the glucose levels within the body spike as happens when consuming sugar, cancer cells take it in and use it for their exponential growth. Keeping glucose levels balanced deprives cancer from this source of energy.
What I’ve learned about cancer from my research is how tenacious cancer is about its survival. If you cut off one food source, it will go to another. But depriving cancer of glucose is one of the best things you can do to fight off cancer. It is a huge step in the right direction. Plus you feel better!
This was the real beginning of my personal journey with cancer. I did a lot of research but taking sugar out of my diet was the first big step I took. I don’t like admitting that my dietary habits contributed to my diagnosis of cancer. Of course there were other factors but I really do believe that eating too much sugar (and other processed foods that are metabolized like sugar within the body) was the one thing I could have controlled that would actually have kept the cancer from starting in the first place. But this very knowledge is also what gives me real hope that with the proper changes I can beat this thing.
Keep in mind, with the type of endometrial cancer I had been diagnosed with, it was the excess estrogen that opened up the uterine lining to being a perfect host for cancer. It had a nice source of blood which it needs for its growth, thanks to the estrogen. And once it established itself, it had an ongoing food supply from the sugar I was eating.
Striving To Do Better
I do wish I could have done better in terms of caring for myself but I really did do the best I could under the circumstances. I refuse to berate myself for this. Instead, I find myself looking to bring love to myself and protection, especially during this really stressful time.
I believe learning to take care of myself is my path for my healing. This means finding the best ways for me to nourish myself. It also means understanding, forgiving myself and loving me no matter what I’ve done. Berating myself will never work.
I read once of a person who could eat anything, healthy or not. He was in amazing health in spite of whatever he ate. How could this be? It turns out he blessed whatever food he was about to eat before eating it. So strong was his blessing that even the worst of foods was able to bring him life and health.
I don’t think my blessings are that strong…yet! But I believe food is there to nourish us body and soul. And taking sugar out of my diet surely helps! I’m on my way, not there yet but certainly on the journey.
And still she tries…
