When my son, Hendrix, was diagnosed with Wilm’s pediatric cancer, my husband and I didn’t know what to do. Even though we were centered on Christ and grounded in our faith, processing that our child has (well, had) cancer required a lot of physical and mental energy for us. As a parent, you want to do everything in your power to help your child. You want to protect them and save them. You will do ANYTHING to see them healthy and thriving. You will do anything for that monster to leave their body PERMANENTLY. I knew I had to do whatever I could to help him fight his battle. God provides the strength and discernment needed to do this. Trust Him.
Before the diagnosis, Hendrix ate like any ‘normal’ 5 year old does. Grandmas and Grandpas spoiled him and his little brother with sweets any chance they could get. They enjoyed Happy Meals every so often. We ate out as a family, and made choices out of convenience and low cost, rather than for our health. We ate the Standard American Diet (SAD) that most busy families do. Did we make unhealthy choices? Sure! But were we horrible enough to get cancer from those choices? I didn’t think so! I was health conscious. I was already the organic, natural, essential oil-loving, holistic remedy, hippie kind of mom, but like I said before, nothing opens up your eyes like your child being diagnosed with cancer. I used this as an opportunity for our warrior and family to get on the right track. We need to glorify God by taking the best care of the temples He blessed us with. We need to be good stewards of our bodies. It was hard at first, but so worth it. And once you get in the lifestyle, it’s better than you could ever imagine, and you will never want to go back to the SAD diet!
Your family will look at you weird. Your friends will judge you. Your co-workers will make snide comments. People will pity you and try to sway you into thinking that these choices and changes are a negative…they are not! Pity them for being ignorant! Stand your ground. Be firm with the grandparents and family members that these changes are necessary and must be implemented for healing! You and your children are not ‘missing out’ because you aren’t putting disease-causing, fake foods into your bodies. I promise.
I want to emphasize that God created foods for the nourishment of our bodies and these foods were called good. God also created our bodies to heal and detox naturally. The foods God designed for us contain the basic nutrients we need for optimal health. This is what we must put into our bodies!
God loves you and wants to see you live in optimal health so you can live the righteous life He destined for you.
For moms, dads, families, feeling overwhelmed with these sort of changes, or just those who simply don’t know and want to live healthier, I’ve compiled steps that I took to take control of our lifestyle and nutrition to ensure our warrior had the BEST fighting chance. I pray these help you to overcome whatever battles you are facing. With so much uncertainty during trials, it helps to remember that these are things you can control (there are not too many of those in this world 😅). Use this as a positive jumping point to be the healthiest version of yourselves – for God, your family, and future.
I’d like to preface that I am not a medical professional and make no claims. I am only sharing our family’s experience and what worked for us to help be nutritionally successful.
Here are some non-food related steps to take that will guide you:
- God first. Lay down this journey at the foot of the cross.
- Educate yourself on what nutrients are important to keep our bodies functioning healthily and maintain homeostasis.
- Do your own research. Read books. Listen to podcasts and videos on health and nutrition. Read researches and articles from reputable sources that aren’t paid from government agencies or in the pockets of large corporations like Big Ag and Big Pharma. They control the food supply and the sick care system!
- Read the ingredients!!! I can’t say this enough. A safe rule is, if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.
- Download apps to help you find and make wiser choices. Apps like EWG and BobbyApproved are awesome!
- Adjust your budget. You either pay now on healthy foods or pay your medical bills later!
- Implement the changes for the entire household.
- Accomplish one small change at a time! Take one step at a time and don’t get discouraged or overwhelmed (easier said than done). It will seem like an uphill battles some days, but stick to it!
Now for the fun part….the nutrition changes!
Again, I am merely sharing our experience and what worked best for our family. After studying various sources on how to help our bodies heal from cancer and researching alternative ways to treat cancer, below is the protocol that I chose for my family to follow.
Here are the no-no’s:
- Cut out ALL sugar until your bodies are free from the processed chains. Absolutely NO refined white sugar, processed sugar, fake sugar, even cane sugar. This is the new norm. Get used to it; it’s bad for you! Sugar causes AND feeds a plethora of health issues. They will cry. You will cry. BUT, once you’re free from the addiction, you won’t have a taste for that yuckiness! It’s in just about everything so read your ingredient labels 😉
- Sugar feeds cancer. Conventional doctors will not admit this (this is a totally separate topic I would love to dive into), but there are tons of studies show that cancer uses sugars as fuel.
- NO artificial food coloring, artificial dyes, etc. Again, these are in many, many foods so read your labels! These attribute to hormone imbalances, behavior disorders, cellular damage, and cancer.
- NO artificial preservatives or any preservatives for that matter.
- NO highly processed and refined oils. This would your vegetable oils, Pam, canola oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil. The list goes on. These are highly inflammatory which causes and feeds health problems. Basically, if it’s not avocado oil, coconut oil, or extra virgin olive oil don’t put it in your body!
- NO pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, etc. These are KNOWN TO CAUSE CANCER! Why does FDA allow it? Money and greed (this would go along well with my comment on the first bullet point…). The last thing a cancer patient needs is added pesticides and toxins in their bodies.
- NO conventional dairy.
- For a limited time after Hendrix returned from the hospital, we cut out all dairy as it is inflammatory. We are back (a year later) to consuming very limited dairy. This should be from 100% organic grass fed cows (or goats, sheep, etc). Preferably from regenerative farming sources – healthy for all parties involved (yourself, the animal, the farmer and the God’s green earth).
- NO conventional eggs.
- NO conventionally farmed beef, chicken, pork. Stay away from processed meats. Yep! That means your hot dogs, pepperoni, lunch meat, bacon, breakfast sausage and frozen convenience foods. That means chicken nuggets too!
- NO GMO products.
- NO fake foods.
- NO fast food – that’s a given.
- NO white bleached flours.
- NO MSG – this is sneaky and has lots of names!
- NO additives.
- NO fried foods.
- NO tap water.
- NO soda.
- NO juices from a box or concentrates. These are fake, processed, and basically sugar.
- Alternatives would be water, with lemon or lime squeezed in or freshly pressed juices – think juicer type of juicing.
- Very limited sodium.
- Limit canned foods and get the organic low-sodium and no-oil versions.
- Stay away from foods in a box.
Have I stressed you out enough yet!? Take heart, the Lord is with you so you can do this!
Here are the yes-yes’s:
- If God did create it, you don’t wanna ate it. Haha, sorry I had to! But in all seriousness, if our Father didn’t put it on this earth for us, it’s safe to say you shouldn’t consume it. God made = good. Man made = bad.
- Eat whole foods in their natural form.
- Eat organic and high quality foods.
- Aim for products that are minimally processed.
- Very limited meat. Meat 3x a day or every meal, every day is the SAD diet. Aim for high quality meat a few times a week. This needs to follow the same guidelines as above when you choose to eat meat/dairy/animal proteins – 100% organic grass fed cows, organic pasture raised chicken eggs, pork, turkey, etc. Preferably from regenerative farming sources.
- Take high quality supplements with no added sugars or synthetic vitamins.
- Make smoothies…sneak those veggies in!
- If wanting to enjoy sweets after the initial processed sugar detox, use monk fruit, stevia, coconut sugar, or other low-glycemic sources. Dates are awesome, too!
- Alkaline, spring, or distilled water. Limit plastic!
- Eat locally. Find a farmer you are support or go to farmers markets.
Alright, I think I’ve overwhelmed you enough for one post.
If I had to recommend one ‘diet’ over another, I would tell you to get as close to whole food plant based as possible! I know that every body is different and therefore have different needs, but I can say that with my son and our family, we ate whole food plant based during the majority of his treatment and the changes were incredible. These are foods designed by God! It made us feel fantastic and more importantly, it provided the nutrition Hendrix needed (and us too) to combat the toxic side effects of the conventional cancer treatments.
Remember, take one step at a time; one goal at a time. This is a process and you will make mistakes along the way. You won’t be perfect so extend yourself grace and trust in the Lord as your Provider – He will not fail you!
Household products are another area that needs to your attention to which I will discuss on a separate post.
If there are any areas you like me to go into detail on, I’d be happy to! I’ve discovered that holistic nutrition is a passion of mine. The Lord has led me to this path to help and educate. I am now certified holistic nutritionist, helping to families learn healthy choices through God’s provision.
Thank you for joining us on our journey through Chasing the Light of the Son! You are loved!