Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
About 11 years ago, my son was just 2 years old and my husband and I had created a tidy life for ourselves in a suburb outside of New York City. I had also just started a new job as a marketing professional. All of that changed when I was diagnosed with breast cancer that summer. Suddenly, I was plunged into a world of doctors, long hospital stays, and too much medication. Because I was young, my oncologist recommended an aggressive treatment course, which included surgery, chemotherapy and targeted radiation therapy. I was also facing the prospect of a lifetime of post cancer drugs, such as tamoxifen, to keep the disease at bay.
I went along with everything my doctors recommended, but ended up in the hospital for a nine-day stay after the chemo took a turn for the worse. When I came home, bald and a lot thinner, my son did not recognize me. One week later, I suffered from a stroke that left the right side of my body weak and paralyzed for a few hours. At that point, I decided that I was going to take my health into my own hands.
After doing some research, I came across numerous articles that touted the benefits of a plant-based macrobiotic diet. I hired a macrobiotic consultant and jumped in head first. The results were amazing. After months of rigorous cancer treatment which had left my body weak and full of chemicals, I finally started to feel energetic again. Not only that, but I now had a new lease on life. Three months into the diet, I had boundless energy and was actually rolling down the hill of my inlaw’s house with my son and nieces on mother’s day. I not only focused on diet, but enrolled in a weekly two-hour yoga class, and ran three to four times a week. Within a year, my cholesterol was normal and I was the thinnest I had ever been at 136 pounds.
But the journey wasn’t easy for me. Yes, I was motivated, but it was difficult for those around me to understand what I was doing. How did I survive without meat or sweets? What do you mean you have to balance the acid and alkaline in your body? You are too thin! Have an M&M – just one, it won’t hurt. These are just some of the comments I would hear from well-meaning co-workers and friends. It was also difficult to balance my strict lifestyle with well, life! When my extended family went out to eat or got together for dinner, they were all hyper conscious of the fact that we had to go to places with food that I could eat. When I travelled for business trips, I had to do some major pre-planning. Every evening was a culinary adventure as I planned my meals for the next day so that I wouldn’t be tempted to purchase my lunch. It was worth it, but not easy by any means. Two years later, during a difficult pregnancy, I began to eat meat again, and with it came the sugar, the caffeine, and everything that had hurt my body in the first place.
Since then, I have tried numerous fad diets, but have not been able to stick to them. A few months ago, I made the commitment to once again start a healthy lifestyle. I am writing this blog as a companion to not only my health journey but life as well. In it, I will share some of the simple lessons learned as I navigate through life’s ups and downs.
I hope you will come with me. And if some of my challenges are yours too, I hope you will share them.
Stepping In 