I have transformed my own health through deep nutrition, and I wish I could go back in time to help my mom through - maybe even prevent - her battle with inflammatory breast cancer. She passed away in 2022, just shy of 2 years after her diagnosis at the age of 60. The conventional cancer treatment process was brutal to watch but my Mom’s diagnosis came early in my nutritional awakening, so I had yet to unlock much of the practical knowledge I now possess. Despite that, even then I knew in my bones that food can have a profound impact on our physical and mental wellbeing.

 

At her first chemotherapy session, one day after her official diagnosis, I asked her oncologist and team of nurses what foods they recommend to to support her through treatment. They stared at me like I was crazy and handed me a trifold pamphlet on foods for diabetics. They said ‘eat whatever sounds good’, that as long as she's eating anything at all, that's very good…And then proceeded to pump her full of Adriamycin, a harsh chemotherapy drug known as the ‘Red Devil’. Side effects of this drug include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, mouth sores, loss of taste, hair and fingernail loss, red urine, and anemia - All of which my mom exhibited. The combined side effects of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, brain radiation, and the mouthfuls of pills every day were debilitating and excruciating to watch.

 

I’ve since learned that her healthcare providers initially screened for her cancer by using sugar. Cancer cells have such a voracious appetite for sugar that radiologists can pinpoint the location of cancerous tumors using a form of radioactive sugar, which shows up as black nodules on PET scans. This procedure is so effective because cancer cells require sugar in order to thrive. Which begs the question, why didn’t any medical professional suggest reducing sugar intake when I asked about diet? Not to mention the fact that sugar is widely accepted to be inflammatory, and my mom was dealing with inflammatory breast cancer. 

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By now I’m no longer surprised, yet continually shocked, at how ignorant our medical system is to the connection between our diet and our health.  Reflecting on my upbringing, I wholeheartedly believe that the Standard American Diet (SAD) my family craved and consumed daily - high in sugar, refined carbs, and seed oils - was the root cause of my mom’s demise. I was fortunate enough in my 20s to to be able to unhitch myself from the foods I was brought up with. Now in my 30s, I feel better than ever, and I often wonder what ailments would have begun to sneak in had I not changed the way I eat.

 

Being handed that dietary pamphlet on diabetes was ground zero for my nutritional awakening and broader awareness of the state of our current healthcare system and nutritional guidelines. It was at that moment that I first began to realize that our medical system is not currently set up to identify and address the root cause of our problems.

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This study shows that diet alone can have a profound effect on diminishing cancer cells, suggesting that a pharmaceutical free route for treating cancer may very well be possible. At the very least, nutrition can greatly enhance the effectiveness of conventional treatment. I can't say with certainty that my mom's fate would have changed if she had transitioned to a Hi Energy diet before developing breast cancer, but I know that she could have at least drastically improved her quality of life during her medical treatment.

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Another pivotal moment in my self-driven nutrition education was devouring Dr. Catherine Shanahan’s book, Deep Nutrition. She unlocked a deeper understanding of what food really is and the profound way in which it interacts with our cells and even our DNA. Deep Nutrition lit a spark in me that has turned into a passion for food science, chemistry, and biology. I have found my calling! With a BFA in fine arts, this is far from how I expected my life to develop. Life never ceases to amaze me!

 

Prior to reading Dr. Shanahan's book, my view of food was rather surface level. Cooking was simply a fun and useful daily hobby. I didn't think too hard about what was going into the meals I was making. Balancing macronutrients felt like a chore. I was truly oblivious to what food is on a molecular level, let alone how our bodies process and absorb what we eat. It’s embarrassing to think about now, but at one point I asked myself “is butter a carb?” That’s how out of touch with my food I was!

 

Dreaming of starting a family of our own, Deep Nutrition also awakened the mama bear in me. I now think critically about what I put into and on my body because I understand that my lifestyle choices now will profoundly impact the health of my future children and grandchildren.

The best part is, my meals are far more rich, tasty, and satisfying than they ever were before! My body is sensing (and loving!) all of the vital nutrients that Hi Energy recipes have to offer. Never in a million years would I have pictured myself craving organ meats, marrow, and bone broth. I used to look at these foods and say “Yuck. No thank you!” Now I say “Yum. Don’t give that to the dogs! What a waste!”