The Truth Behind Pink

It is almost October. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is approaching and the stores are lined with products stamped with the pink ribbon. Magazine articles are filled with stories of hope of women who have been "cured." Granted most people do believe that breast cancer if is caught early is curable, BECAUSE of the Pink Ribbon and HOW AWARE WE ARE.

I have begun to despise Pink-tober, because society assumes  that by painting everything pink - we can make breast cancer pretty and we can make people think that this disease is full of women who have wonderful stories of hope. While that might be true, it is not always the case. In the last two months, I have seen the other side. I was diagnosed with Stage 4, which is a story with pain, little hope, and no pink ribbons or magazine articles for us.

The Reality of the Pink Ribbon
People have asked me - "How come you do not like the Pink Ribbon?" It is not that I do not like Pink, I actually love the color pink. Ribbons are cool too. Where the Pink Ribbon originated came from a good idea - awareness, which has suddenly become a marketing tool. The ribbon no longer stands for "donate money to research, " but now has become "hey, buy our product we support breast cancer." The meaning of the Pink Ribbon has lost its effectiveness & most organizations either cap how much they donate, barely donate anything or do not donate anything at all. Its shocking and most people do not want to believe it, but it is true.

People buy Pink Ribbons because Pink is pretty, its for a good cause & it gives people some sense of control over something that they feel they cannot do much to help. If you want to help I would suggest donating to organizations that actually help Breast Cancer (Metavivor, Bright Pink, and the Pink Daisy Project are some good ones). Pink Ribbons dress up breast cancer, make it feminine and make seem to be the "most acceptable" type of cancer. No cancer is acceptable. Breast cancer most of all steals us of that femininity and no pink ribbon can replace that.

What really makes me ticked about this ribbon is that it is on products that have ingredients that have been shown to correlate with cancer. It has been spattered on GMO Products, Paraben Filled Beauty Products, and toxins.  I think what kills me the most is seeing KFC buckets with the pink ribbon. KFC is far from cancer safe & is probably the worst thing anyone could ever eat next to Spam.

Stage 4 Cancer is NOT Pretty
Many of my Young Survivor Friends have been in magazines this month from Fitness, Self, Vogue, O, and Glamour. These are the first articles I have seen that did not make Breast Cancer pretty or pink (granted my friends are beautiful in these magazines). This articles were my first glimmers of hope that the realities of cancer are getting put out in the media. I am happy magazines are finally putting the awareness out there that women under 40 get cancer. Similar to women under 40, Stage 4 patients are a minority. I just wish that there was a way to get Stage 4 women's voices get heard also. Just like women under 40, Stage 4 women need awareness too.

Deep down I wish a magazine or an Awareness campaign would also look at us women who got cancer "caught early" and then got the blessing of having it recur again. I highly doubt this will ever get advertised as the general public wants to think that CANCER is treatable if caught before stage 4 & that it WON'T come back. Reality is 2% of research goes to Stage 4 Breast Cancer & 30% of the women who were "caught early" have cancer come back despite having standard treatment. There is no reason why cancer comes back. Treatments work for some & not for others. The main problem is that there is no cure & very little awareness of what happens behind that pink ribbon.

I asked women in a Stage 4 group what they wish was included in Breast Cancer Awareness month. I think the general consensus was to make the public aware of what we go through. That Cancer is not pretty, it is not pink, its not always filled with hope, and it is not feminine. These are our realities:

• Cancer related fatigue & physical pain despite looking healthy or OK
• There is no end in treatment, you will always be on treatment
• There is no cure, you have a better chance at death than being cured
• The FEAR of leaving husbands, significant others, family & children behind
• Being single & fearing dating due to having a Chronic, Life Threatening Disease
• Feeling like an outcast in some support groups & that when other survivors find out you are stage 4, YOU ARE THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE
• Dealing with thoughts of death every day
• Protecting loved ones from our impending deaths
• Employment issues, financial, & insurance struggles
• People telling stories about how their friend tried really hard with her battle and beat it cause she's a survivor
• Doctors losing interest because of the attitude that there's nothing they can do
• Loss of fertility & inability to have a family
• Body changes due to surgery & treatments
• Hair loss for the second time (which is traumatizing and might be permanent until the end) 

For Stage 4 cancer patients, we relive these traumatic cancer related side-effects not once, but twice and most likely on every new treatment. There is no guarantee that a treatment will work. We hope one will work & when it doesn't we go onto a new one, with sometimes worse side effects. We continue to get exposed to thoughts of death, watching our friends die, and having to live day to day with side effects we hoped would have gone away with our first "go around with cancer."  

My Reality
I wish I could end this on a good note but I can't do that. In the past I have tried to make light of my reality, but today I want you to become aware. Some people have heard me joke around that my rack will never sag or my body will never distort from having kids. Reality is, I miss my old chest & I wish I could have opted to get implants and not be forced to. Yes, I got fake breasts, but they look nothing like the ones you see on TV. Due to that surgery I have been blessed with permanent lymphadema in my left arm & have had a three year struggle finding clothes that fit. 

I also joke about having the freedom of not having children. I wish I had the choice to not have kids, but that was ripped away from me two months ago. I will watch my friends have kids & it pains me that I cannot even chose to be a parent. If I did have a kid, I do not even know how long I will be here to raise it. Reality as a Stage 4 patient, we live each day as it comes, do our best to stay alive, and hope this treatment is our path to NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE.

If you know me personally and you are reading this, you are probably wondering where this came from. I might seem ok, but reality is I am not all the time. I do a very good job at putting up a front - "I am strong, nothing is wrong and I am doing OK". Most days I do OK, but I have to push myself to that point. I used to be full of boundless energy and positivity, but getting two cancer blows in 3yrs has changed me. I get tired easily. I cannot do too much in one day or my lymphedema will act up. I cannot exercise for longer than 45min or I get lightheaded. I used to workout everyday & getting myself moving 3-4x a week is a struggle. I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I forget where I put things. I get annoyed easily. I get depressed easily. If I do too much in one weekend, my whole week is shot. Have I mentioned that I get hot flashes every 10min or so? The heat is intolerable, I flash or my arm swells. This is not what a normal 29yr old experiences. You can say "Yea me too," but until you walk a day in my shoes, you will never fully understand how hard this is. I just want you to try to understand. 

We all wish that the pink ribbon will give us a cure, but the campaign and Pink-tober is falling short of that. The more people mask the reality of cancer with a pretty ribbon or the color Pink, the less inclined people are to give money for a cure. Pink ribbons are the facade - "everything will be ok." Reality is everything is not always ok & we need a cure before more of us die from this disease.

Cancer & Sugar Connection

I have heard from many people, but no doctors, that cancer cells feed on sugar. It makes sense to me. When I was on chemo, all I wanted was sugar - cancer cells died  & they wanted what they needed to stay strong - sugar. I did not understand the connection three years ago, so I fed my cancer. I ate cakes, ice cream & whatever I could stomach - i.e. sugar and gluten filled treats. I gained weight & of course my cancer came back. I began to rethink this connection before my cancer returned. I really changed my diet 2yrs ago - the weight came off, I cut out sugar, & I felt better. Not one doctor told me to cut out sugar, so I wanted to find evidence that there is a connection with sugar and disease (not just diabetes). Recently, I decided to look around online to see if any big cancer sites could cite the connection, but most places said - "Just eat right." That could mean anything to the average person - eating right to one, might be eating three meals a day versus one. Eating right to me goes deeper than that so I did a little research.

Sugar is NEEDED to Scan for Cancer
Let us look at the PET Scan. PET Scans are use to monitor cancer metastasis in stage 4 patients & also to diagnose the extent of cancer in patients with early stage cancer. PET Scans require you to fast for 12-24hrs, drink a sugar laden drink before your scan & then you are injected with a radioactive tracer. I looked into the nature of this drink & tracer and found that - "At present, however, by far the most commonly used radiotracer in clinical PET scanning is fluorodeoxyglucose (also called FDG or fludeoxyglucose), an analogue of glucose that is labeled with fluorine-18. This radiotracer is used in essentially all scans for oncology and most scans in neurology, and thus makes up the large majority of all of the radiotracer (> 95%) used in PET and PET/CT scanning." It seems like FDG and the sugar drink attach themselves to the cancer cells, so they are lit up in the scan.

If PET Scans need sugar to show where cancer lives, it would make sense to conclude that Cancer Cells are attracted to sugar. Knowing this drove me to do more research. I found that in 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine, German Otto Warburg, Ph.D., first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. The crux of his Nobel thesis was that malignant tumors frequently exhibit an increase in anaerobic glycolysis -- a process whereby glucose is used as a fuel by cancer cells with lactic acid as an anaerobic byproduct -- compared to normal tissues. It has been almost 80 years since this conclusion has been made & the only thing standard medicine has used it for is PET Scans.

My next question is why don't traditional cancer therapies incorporate better, more in depth nutritional guidance by teaching us regulating blood-glucose levels via diet, supplements & finding more nutrient rich foods for patients who lose their appetites versus advising people to eat ice cream or milkshakes to keep on the weight. Over the last three years, I learned that most patients need professional guidance and education to understand it is not just standard treatment that will keep their cancer at bay, it is what we put into our bodies. The quest is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates from the diet but rather to control blood glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer and bolster immune function. This would just mean a simple education on the glycemic food index & also educating people about healthy, complex carbs/sugars versus simple/processed sugars.

Types of Sugar

• Dextrose, fructose, and glucose are all monosaccharides, known as simple sugars. The primary difference between them is how your body metabolizes them. Glucose and dextrose are essentially the same sugar. However, food manufacturers usually use the term "dextrose" in their ingredient list. 
• The simple sugars can combine to form more complex sugars, like the disaccharide sucrose (table sugar), which is half glucose and half fructose. 
• High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. 
• Ethanol (drinking alcohol) is not a sugar, although beer and wine contain residual sugars and starches, in addition to alcohol. 
• Sugar alcohols like xylitol, glycerol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, and erythritol are neither sugars nor alcohols but are becoming increasingly popular as sweeteners. They are incompletely absorbed from your small intestine, for the most part, so they provide fewer calories than sugar but often cause problems with bloating, diarrhea, and flatulence.
• Sucralose (Splenda) is NOT a sugar, despite its sugar-like name and deceptive marketing slogan, "made from sugar." It's a chlorinated artificial sweetener in line with aspartame and saccharin, with detrimental health effects to match.  
• Agave Syrup- falsely advertised as "natural," is typically HIGHLY processed and is usually 80 percent fructose. The end product does not even remotely resemble the original agave plant.
• Honey is about 53 percent fructose², but is completely natural in its raw form and has many health benefits when used in moderation, including as many antioxidants as spinach. 
• Stevia is a highly sweet herb derived from the leaf of the South American stevia plant, which is completely safe (in its natural form). Lo han (or luohanguo) is another natural sweetener, but derived from a fruit. 

If you had to pick a sugar - stick with Cane Sugar, Stevia or Honey. 
 
The Glycemic Index
Average people do not care about this. Most people thing of sugar as table sugar, but it is everywhere. We need to become more informed about what we put into our bodies by reading labels or steering towards whole foods. I have found it is just easy to steer myself towards natural, whole foods with lower sugar, but I also looked into various Glycemic Index Charts online. I found two that are helpful. A general rule of thumb - if it is white sugar, white bread, came in a package, comes in a syrup, has corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, did not originally come in that form, has ingredients that you cannot understand/are not real foods, or has more than 5 ingredients, it is NOT HEALTHY . We can assume that vegetables, fruits, and most whole grains/beans are of lower glycemic index, because no sugar is added & it is easier for us to digest.

The glycemic index of fruits can also be dangerous, some fruits are higher than others and its good to know what fruits to eat in moderation due to the fructose content.

Sugar a Culprit to Disease

The single largest source of calories for Americans comes from sugar—specifically high fructose corn syrup.

• In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
• In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
• In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
• In 2009, more than 50 percent of all Americans consume one-half pound of sugar PER DAY—translating to a whopping 180 pounds of sugar per year!

Sugar is loaded into your soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and hidden in almost all processed foods—from bologna to pretzels to Worcestershire sauce to cheese spread. And now most infant formula has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, so babies are being metabolically poisoned from day one of taking formula.

The increase in sugar has led to an increase in diseases in young & old. The incidents of Type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression, hypertension, cancer, and other inflammatory diseases have increased significantly over the last 300yrs & have become more prominent in young people. In the past, these were diseases that were for the old or were so rare they were not considered to be an epidemic. In 2013, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cancer, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, and mental health issues have become an epidemic. I found that most of these diseases are due to our changes in lifestyles and the fact that we have become dependent on sugar. There are at least 72 diseases that are connected to excessive sugar consumption. This website kindly lists everything sugar consumption can lead to: 141 Sugar Related Diseases.


SUGAR IS A DRUG
Sugar addiction is the term for the relationship between sugar and the various aspects of food addiction including: "bingeing, withdrawal, craving and cross-sensitization". Some scientists assert that consumption of sweets or sugar could have a heroin addiction like effect. I would suggest reading this: Sugar is A DRUG. Sugar has been found to be as dangerous as excessive alcohol, tobacco use, and street drug use. I am sure after reading that article you might start to think that the sugar is "Tricking" you into thinking you need it, because you now are dependent on it. You have become a slave to the sugar and you are now compromising your health just to get your sugar rush.

Sick & Young...

I recently watched this movie - "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead." It was a documentary about a man in his early 40s struggling with Urticaria (an autoimmune disease characterized by hives due to having too many histamines in your body  due to constant exposure to inflammation). This man was on many medications, but for 60days he changed his diet with nutrient rich foods - vegetables & fruits - combined with exercise. Within 60days he was off most of his medications & lost nearly 40lbs. It is amazing the power of natural foods.

I was always sick. I always had ear infections or bronchitis as a kid, which would leave me bed ridden for days. I struggled with acne well into my 20s. I had dysmenhorrea at 16. I struggled with asthma, allergies, and IBS from 22-26. All of these treatments were with medications. Medications that potentially poisoned my body. No one looked at the food I was eating or how I was damaging my body with Accutane, Birth Control, tanning, diet soda, & processed foods. The madness continued and I was diagnosed with anemia at 25, cancer at 26 & Celiacs at 27. Granted, I have always been active and ate "healthy," but I was not perfect and my old "healthy" consisted of low fat, diet soda, processed frozen meals & sometimes whole foods. I was more fixated on a calorie and fat intake than I was about the overall nutritional content of the food. I am sure my cancer was not 100% caused by my food choices, but I am sure that eating an "American diet" for 26yrs played into me being a risk for developing a chronic illness before 40.

Over the last 3yrs, I have really cleaned up my diet. I eat a diet of primarily organic foods, green smoothies, veggies at every meal, no soda, no processed foods, & gluten free. I am no longer anemic & I have healed my colon, so there is proof that changing our diet works.

The reason why I chose to post this picture, because I have met too many young people afflicted with cancers, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, and nutrient deficiencies. Typically you do not see sick young adults, but more & more young people are getting diseases that typically afflict the elderly. These are diseases that have to do with what we eat - wrappers, fast food, and diet/low fat crap fill our cabinets & stomachs. American diets are fixated on quick-fixes, affordable, easy access, and of course weight loss. Time & Time again I hear many excuses.  

The most common excuse is- "Healthy food is too expensive." Processed-diet food is too expensive, but raw fruits & veggies, beans & grains are actually more affordable than diets consumed with meat, processed foods, soda, and snacks. I will spend 50-80 a week at the grocery store pending on if we need cleaning products. I also shop at Whole Foods, so imagine what it would cost if I shopped at a less, high chain store.

Another common excuse is - "I do not know what to do with it." I have learned that with cooking, recipe books, blogs and networking with healthy-minded peers on pinterest have helped me find more vegetable based meals. A lot of my recipes I have found are on my Pinterest Board. I have also learned to sneak vegetables into every meal to help transition my boyfriend (whom was raised on meat & potatoes) to eat beans & veggies at almost every meal. It is not exactly easy for me to prep dinners & lunches. I work two jobs & three days I work 13hr shifts and my boyfriend works in NYC and will sometimes pull 60-70hr work weeks. We will make meals that will enable us to have left overs or meals that can be frozen and thawed to use on nights where we need to cook in a pinch. I also have a few "go to" meals that we eat when I have no time to prep food.

The last excuse is - "I have no time to  exercise." I make time to exercise 3-5x/week. With exercise I aim to get 1.5hrs on my days off from work & if I miss one of those days I will squeeze in 30min before working. This can be walking, weights, running or weight lifting. I have found that either before work at 5am, after work, or only on my days from my 13hr shifts work for me. You just need to look at your week & plan out time. I coordinate this with my boyfriend, so chores get shared & if we did have kids that too would get split, so I can fit in exercise & he can fit in his alone time.

If you are reading this you might think - "This girl has cancer again, so how does she know that diet will help her." My cancer came back, because the damage has already been done when I got the cancer in the first place. Cancer is due to DNA changes & mutations in our cells, which results from inflammation, PH imbalance, exposure to toxins & even genetics. In my case one cancer call could not be killed by traditional chemo & it mutated again. Once a cancer cell forms & cannot be killed, it can stay alive regardless of what choices you make. This is not stopping me from eating right. Now it mutated, I am fighting it again in the best way I know - treating my body right, staying fit, keeping active, and keeping my stress threshold low. What is now different from 2010 at diagnosis to where I am at now, is that over the last 3yrs I have chosen to delve deeper into other dietary issues that lead to disease & inflammation. I have read many books, blogs, watched documentaries and have seen many specialists & I will continue to read & learn.

When I refined my diet, I made a few small changes at first. When you start eating healthy these are some easy ways to start:

• READ LABELS - No Hydrogenated Oils, No High Fructose Corn Syrup; No Canola Oil; No Corn Oil; and make sure your products are not made from GMOS (Genetically Modified Organisms). What is a GMO?

• Remember 1 fruit, 1veggie at every meal & if I snack its either fruit, veggie or bean based. 

• Green smoothies!!! I have a Nutribullet & I swear by blending my fruits, veggies & nuts everyday Green Smoothie Ideas!  

• Remember the DIRTY DOZEN when it comes to buying organic. I prefer all organic fruits & vegetables, because they taste better to me.  

Cornell Consult

I have not posted in while, I needed a break from Cancerland & the internet.

This past Wednesday I went to Cornell to see Dr. Valdhat to have a consult & discuss her Copper Study. I am not eligible for the study at this time. I need to have no evidence of disease, which means no tumor markers - mine are 221 & they need to be under 30. She also said no evidence of the effusion on a scan. Considering I have to wait to be a part of that study, she did give me a good second option.

1. She said that I am on the right medication - Femara, with Lupron. She said that the only thing she would change is having the 1mo Lupron & also getting my hormone levels tested monthly.
2. She was very happy I have been on the Zometa every 6mo & told me to continue that to prevent bone metastasis & osteoporosis
3. She said all my supplements were good & that NOTHING (unlike Tamoxifen) interferes with the effectiveness of Femara.
4. She wants my tumor markers & scans done monthly at first b/c I had no symptoms, so I have to rely on scans & bloodwork.
5. She reported that its RARE for my type of cancer to come back that quick & without symptoms.
6. She was shocked at how much I exercise considering the fluid in my lung, but said to keep doing what I am doing.

All of this she will be emailing to my doctor & it is pretty much the exact same things he wanted to do. I am happy they are both on the same page.

She did recommend something different, which is getting my original tumor (which is currently held in lock down at Sloan Kettering) sent out for testing. She is sending to this place called Foundation One. This place tests for genetic abnormalities beyond getting the usual BRCA1/2 bloodwork. It also tests to see why my tumor was resistant to Tamoxifen & what hormonal or chemos or targeted therapies would help enhance my survival. She said it should be a month before I get those results.

The appointment went well. It is my last cancer related doctor's appointment until Oct 1, when I will get my follow up CT scan. Naturally I needed a break from the blog & cancer for a bit. Over the next week, I will be back to posting about Supplements, Cancer Studys & ways to prevent or enhance your treatments.

Supplement Sunday

Spirulina

What is Spirulina?

Spirulina was the first "strange" supplement I started ingesting when I changed my diet post cancer. It is green. It smells funky. Despite how strange it looks, it can be easily blended into any fruit or vegetable smoothie & has amazing health benefits.

Spirulina is blue green algae & group of organisms found in the ocean and sometimes in fresh water lakes. They are among the most nutritious plant-like organisms known to humans. Spirulina has the highest concentration of digestible vegetable protein with a perfectly balanced combination of essential amino acids. 

What are the Health Benefits of Spirulina?

• Spirulina is protein and contains amino acids including the essential fatty acid gamma linolenic acid (GLA) which has significant anti-inflammatory properties.
• Spirulina contains Omega 3-,6 and 9s and is especially high in Omega-3s.
• Spirulina is extremely high in Chlorophyll, which helps remove toxins from the blood and boost the immune system.
• Spirulina has a very high concentration of bio-available iron and is excellent for those with anemia
•  Spirulina is a great source of other nutrients including: vitamins B-1(thiamine), B-2 (riboflavin), B-3(nicotinamide), B-6 (pyridoxine), B-9 (folic acid), vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin A and vitamin E. It is also a source of potassium, calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium,  manganese, phosphorus,  selenium, sodium and zinc.
• Spirulina is also incredibly high in calcium with over 26 times the calcium in milk.
• Some research has suggested that Spirulina may be helpful in allergies and allergic reactions.
• Emerging evidence suggests that it binds with radioactive isotopes and may be useful for  radiation therapy.
• Spirulina can bind with heavy metals in the body and help remove them.
• Spirulina can increase fat burning during exercise & help maintain muscle composition
• Spirulina also helps purify the blood & works as an anti-cancer agent

How do you take Spirulina?
You can take 1tsp straight in a glass of water, but it tastes like pond scum. If that is for you, I would suggest go for it. I take mine in a daily green smoothie - 1tsp of Spirulina mixed with a cup of leafy greens & frozen bananas and berries with either water or almond milk. I recommend using it in smoothies. You do not have the taste & get all the benefits. I have been doing spirulina for 1yr 9mo & my skin, hair and nails show the effects it has had on my body.

Where can you buy spirulina?
Vitacost or Amazon sell different brands of spirulina. I prefer Nutrex's brand, which is affordable & mixes well.  

 

Our PH Levels are just as important as pool water!

Similar to Inflammation, a pH imbalance in our bodies can lead to health issues. I never even thought about the pH in my body. I always assumed that we just needed to test the pH in our pool water. If our bodies are made up of mostly water, it would make sense that having a balanced pH is important.

What is pH?
pH (potential of hydrogen) is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 14—the lower the pH the more acidic the solution, the higher the pH the more alkaline (or base) the solution. When a solution is neither acid nor alkaline it has a pH of 7 which is neutral.
Water is the most abundant compound in the human body, comprising 70% of the body. The body has an acid-alkaline (or acid-base) ratio called the pH. The body continually strives to balance pH. When this balance is compromised many problems can occur. We are talking about the pH of the body's fluids and tissue. Imbalance of your acid-alkaline ratio and low pH, inflammation occurs, disease occurs and our body's tissues, fluid & organs suffer. 

A diet with too many acidic foods & too low pH can lead to:

• Cardiovascular damage, including the constriction of blood vessels and the reduction of oxygen.
• Weight gain, obesity and diabetes.
• Bladder and kidney conditions, including kidney stones.
• Immune deficiency - Celiac Disease
• Acceleration of free radical damage - I.E. CANCER
• Hormone concern - I.E. HORMONAL CANCERS (BREAST, OVARIAN, PROSTATE)
• Premature aging.
• Osteoporosis; weak, brittle bones, hip fractures and bone spurs.
• Joint pain, aching muscles and lactic acid buildup.
• Low energy and chronic fatigue.
• Slow digestion and elimination.
• Yeast/fungal overgrowth.

As you can see most infections & diseases are due to too much acid. Yes, you can treat these issues with a bandaid medication like a antibiotic, chemo, aspirin etc, but I also say treat the root cause - DIET. I would say aim for a 80-20 ratio of alkaline (80%) and acidic (20%) foods in your diet. 

What foods to Eat?

How do you test your pH?

The same way you would test a pool's pH. You can use pH strips to test your urine (GROSS) or saliva. Easy peasy.

In addition to a correct diet, a good supplement plan helps keep your pH balanced. When I was diagnosed with Celiacs, I started a supplement plan to balance pH & help treat my autoimmune disorder. I also recommend a daily green smoothie to help restore pH levels. I smooth frozen bananas, blueberries & mangos with 1cup of kale, 1cup of unsweetened almond milk & almond butter with spirulina, flax, psylium husk, and peanut butter(acidic).

Supplements to balance pH:

1. Digestive Enzymes - 1 Tablet before each meal
2. Magnesium Complex - Natural Calm Powder 2tsp before bed
3. 1tsp of Spirulina or Chlorella daily in vegetable based smoothie
4. 1tsp Psyllium Husk Powder daily in vegetable based smoothie
5. Vitamin D3
6. Omega 3 - Chia Seed 1tsp & Flax Seed 1tsp
7. Calcium 1,000mg

Inflammation & Cancer

I have always been interested in medical issues. My interest grew after my aunt was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in 2009 & then I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2010. You can imagine how many books I have read, websites I have scanned and blogs I have been reading. The main thing I have learned is that we know that cancer is the abnormal growth of cells. Our cells multiply in two ways hyperplasia (proliferation of cells - i.e. growth of more cells & they duplicate) and hypertrophy (they grow in size). A easy way to remember this is that organs grow by hyperplasia & fat/muscle grow in hypertrophy. When any of these cellular growth patterns are interrupted, inflammation occurs. For cancer, we are primarily concerned with the cellular growth of organs/glands where cells start to grow abnormally. This can & usually is triggered by an antagonist. One of which is inflammation.

One might think that inflammation is a bruise, a broken bone, a pimple, but it is really more than that. Everyday we expose ourselves to chemicals, foods, and environmental factors that cause inflammation. In some people, this is a slow slow development that can lead to more treatable diseases such as - autoimmune diseases, migraines, etc. In people like me, it was a quick development that lead to cancer. I also developed an autoimmune disease due to exposing myself to inflammatory triggers, so I also have Celiac Disease coupled with Breast Cancer. Given that I live each day with both of these diseases, I learned that BOTH are triggered by inflammatory antagonists. If you are never made aware of the triggers for inflammation or understand the connection between inflammation & your ailments, you will continue to eat and expose yourself to these toxins.

Granted if you really think about it, the foods that cause inflammation are a LARGE part of the American diet. Most restaurants DO NOT give a great selection of healthy foods. This would mean that you will have to make your own food. Frozen diet meals, low fat anything, and anything that comes out of a wrapper with more than 4-5 ingredients SHOULD not be consumed. A diet comprised of whole fruits & veggies, unprocessed grains (that means gluten free), and limited dairy consumption is a diet that helps reduce inflammation. Alcohol also is a HUGE factor for inflammation. Limit your consumption to almost NEVER. It has no nutritional value & has empty calories. I save my drinking for special occasions & stick with 1-2 drinks with a TON of water.

Inflammation leads to abnormal cellular growth - i.e. cancer. It has also been connected to Celiacs, Chrons, Thyroid Disorders, Migraines, Obesity, Menstruation Issues, Infertility, Arthritis, Joint Pain, and Rheumatoid Arthritis. If you notice that your diet is mostly on the right side of that image, think about what ailments you complain about. Do you have headaches often? Pain often? Sick often? Allergies? Intestinal Issues? Cancer Scares? Do you find it hard to have enough energy? Do you find it hard to lose weight? All of these issues are linked to WHAT you choose to put in your body. Remove the inflammation causing foods, you might find that your symptoms are getting better & more manageable.

I am not saying that cancer is 100% caused by inflammatory foods, but IT IS A FACTOR. You can say - well I am healthy and I exercise or no one in my family had breast cancer. Here is a reality check - I am and always was physically fit. I have low blood pressure, low cholesterol, and have always had what I assumed was a healthy diet. I rarely got sick & I do not have a cancer gene. It can happen to you, so take a look at what you are consuming and you might find that it is not as healthy as you assumed. This will be the first of many blog posts about different factors that can lead to cancer & different foods to help enhance treatments for disease and cancer.

Remember my diet is not perfect, but I eat 80% vegetarian. I cannot eat complete vegetarian, because I have done it right in the past and ended up with severe vitamin deficiencies (anemic, low vitamin d3, low creatine). That is me, but most people can go full vegetarian or vegan. I eat meat 1x/week and dairy 1x/daily. I make sure that my chicken, steak, eggs & turkey is organic, grass fed. I make sure my milk & cheese are not made from cows given RBH (see my page on food & cancer) and are from grass fed cows. If I eat out or at other people's homes I try my best to stick with the veggies & beans OR I bring my own.

Changing up my blog.

I want to focus my blog also on getting the word out about what I have learned about cancer. I started 3yrs ago with tabs about food & cancer and parabens. I have learned so much more, so keep an eye out & those posts will be coming.