I was diagnosed with breast cancer on February 13, 2008, the day before Valentine’s Day. I cried for four days. It was my wake-up call. After hiding out in my office, I got myself together. I started to deal with my new reality, methodically, like an athlete in training. Armed with a high school-level knowledge of anatomy and a lot of common sense, I started my research.
I found an unnerving amount of information on cancer and glucose. I immediately cut my sugar intake, starting with my daily hot chocolate (with extra pumps of chocolate in skimmed milk with whipped cream); a pastry; and a Big Grab bag of M&Ms. (Humans are wired to have a sweet tooth, and mine is ridiculous. My brother, David, called me “Cookie Bear.”)
So began a lifelong struggle to give up the sugar.
My chiropractor, Dr. Melanie Six of Six Chiropractic in Alexandria, Virginia, gave me two books to read: It’s Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong and Eat 4 Your Type: Four Battle Plans for Cancer by Peter D’Adamo. The first book inspired me. (I know Lance is now a disgraced doper, but he is also a cancer survivor and founder of Livestrong Foundation. His book helped me have hope and courage.)
I didn’t want to be a passive participant in this medical drama. I didn’t want to simply show up at the doctors’ offices and the labs, and take the drugs. My question to Dr. Six was: “What can I do for myself?” She gave me another book called Eat Right 4 Your Type, which outlines the blood type diet.
The author of Eat Right 4 Your Type is a naturopath physician. He described the immune system of my rare blood type AB+, as “not even having a lock on the door.” My reaction was, “Whoa.” In contrast, the common type O has a “high-tech security system.” Based on that assessment, I accepted that my immune system is probably challenged. If diet mattered, I didn’t want my body to work any harder than it had to in dealing with the treatment.
I adopted the diet the next month.
Pingback: Battling Breast Cancer – From Fear to Courage: The Diagnosis | Rebecca Dru