Changes

So many of you have asked about the changes we have made since my diagnosis.

I want to preface that: 1. a lot of people may disagree that any of this makes a difference and that's ok.  This is something that Sean and I feel does make a difference and it's something that we can control (since getting diagnosed with cancer makes you feel completely out of control) 2. I am not a Dr. or a nutritionist so don't take my word for it. Do your own research and ask your Dr. any specific questions.

Diet
We have done a complete 180 in this department.  We've always eaten relatively healthy...... salads, veggies, oatmeal, etc., but we also had a lot of sugar, processed foods, foods with GMO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_organism), non organic foods and many other things in our home.  I think that unless you live in a bubble it's impossible to do this100% of the time but my goal is to keep our home and diet at home as clean as possible.  I do the best I can when I'm out and about.  We threw away all of the food with sugar in it. Including Sugar, Splenda, etc.  No more brownie mixes. NOTHING with high fructose corn syrup.  We threw away anything processed.  Goldfish, instant mac n cheese, frozen dinners, etc.  I will be the first to say this has been hard to get used to. No quick meals around here anymore. We are having to cook most things from scratch, but we are getting used to it.  We buy all organic fruits and veggies. Period. We buy only grassfed, organic beef, chicken and our eggs are free range, organic, totally happy eggs:) No more pork, shellfish or processed meats. Only wild caught fish (no farm raised)  Organic milk, organic yogurt, organic and raw almond butter.  The only sugar in the food is natural sugar, like from an apple or beet and if a food has sugar in it- like a pasta we try to only eat gluten free or some other super-duper healthy grain.  We are making our beans from dry beans, not canned, organic coffee too.  The only sweetener we use is Nu-Stevia.  We eat as much raw veggies as possible.

 As for me specifically, I cut out all sugar, no more coffee :(, no alcohol :(, no beef and limited poultry.  And no dairy.  I'm headed towards vegan + eggs and fish.  I am still reintroducing foods since my surgery so it's trial and error. There hasn't been anything that I just couldn't handle.  I guess we'll see how I do with Kale ;)  I'm also drinking tea.  Specifically organic green teas.

Our new favorite restaurants are Boca (on platt street), Rollin Oats, Nature's food patch (in clearwater) whole foods and hopefully this list continues to grow.

Supplements
I am taking a lot of supplements.  In my opinion the most important one for me is a probiotic.  I'm not going to list everyone of them, but a good multivitamin, different immune supports and fish oil.  They are all the cleanest brands and have been recommended by my nutritionist.

Household and Personal Products
This was eye opening.  I'll keep it as short and sweet as I can.  We threw away all clorox products. No more windex, no more fabulouso.  No Dial soap. If smells strong, it has tons of chemicals in it and it just isn't healthy for you to breath that nonsense in. We have switched to meyers products, ecover, better life, and seventh generation.  Next step was cotton products.  This I'm sure many people will disagree with, but to each is own. We switched to organic toilet paper and I have switched to organic tampons.  We still use regular paper towels because that isn't really getting near your body.  We use all organic soaps, body washes, shampoo, conditioner, etc. I have found some great brands of organic/all natural make up and facial cleansers and lotions. We use ECO laundry detergent and seventh generation fabric softener dryer sheets.  And we switched dry cleaners.  Dry cleaners use so many chemicals that are harmful  The only green dry cleaner I could find is on N. Dale Mabry. It's called Martinizing Dry cleaners.  They did a really good job!! No more deoderant with aluminum.  This has been a hard change.  (and a stinky one) I have found two brands that are organic, all natural, etc. They do not work as well as Secret or Degree but I'm taking all extremes.  We switched to this organic tooth paste.  It's sort of gross but it is keeping my teeth clean and it doesn't have any ingredients that I can't pronounce.  Also, don't forget vinegar is a great cleaning product too.

I'm figuring this out as I go. I have a great support system, with lots of knowledgeable people nearby.

One of my favorite books is by Kris Carr.  She has a few but my favorite is Crazy Sexy Kitchen. It has lots of recipes and some basics to eating healthy.  Her other book Crazy Sexy Diet is good too.