How I Changed My Lifestyle with These Few Items

Many people have been curious as to how I look so healthy after chemotherapy and radiation. This past year I have worked so hard to change my lifestyle routine by changing my food choices and adding fitness into my daily routine. I am no where near being a fitness guru nor a nutritionist, but I have learned enough to change my habits.


Some of the images below show some of my favorite go-to products that I use often.

**Pictured from Left to Right**

(Organic Peanut Butter (Trader Joe's),

Organic Black Beans (Whole Foods),

Unsweetened Almond Beverage (Trader Joe's),

Old Fashioned Organic Oats (Trader Joe's),

Organic Chia Seeds (Trader Joe's),

Plant Based Vega Protein & Greens (BJ'S),

Organic Ginger Turmeric Herbal Tea (Trader Joe's),

Yogi Ginger Tea (Whole Foods or Trader Joe's),

Ginger Root (Farmers Market)) 

Before I was diagnosed with cancer I did not really care much about what I ate. It wasn't that I did not care, nutrition was something I just did not think about on the daily. After battling cancer, I was curious as to why cancer becomes active in some people. After reading a number of research studies I learned that food has a big part in our health. Yes, duh, I know this is obvious. But I started to learn more about the effects processed foods and sugar have on the human body. Since I was diagnosed with breast cancer I focused my research on what contributes to breast cancer. To my surprise, I learned that consuming dairy products, as well as, red meat can increase the chances of developing breast cancer at some point in life. Hmmm, it started to make some sense. I was a girl who loved to drink milk literally every single day. A bowl of cereal with extra nesquik was a must in my life! Red meat was also a favorite food choice. 

After battling cancer, a fear grew deep inside me. I was afraid to literally eat anything. I thought everything was going to give me cancer. I went through a point where all I would consume was salad and fruits. No worries, I quickly snapped out of this obsession. I began to trust God more and understood that with proper nutrition I would be healthy once again. Despite relying on eating healthy I began to workout five days a week for an hour. Since I was 13 years old I was a steady 95 pounds throughout college. I quickly began to gain weight because of the chemotherapy and steroids I was on. It was difficult to see because the weight gain happened in a matter of two weeks. I went from 95 pounds to 115 pounds. Haha, this is NOT MUCH, but for someone who had been 95 pounds for 9 years gaining so much weight in two weeks was a drastic change.  

I was pretty much unhappy because I had lost all of my hair and then I had to handle the unexpected weight gain. With all the medication I was on and I am currently still taking I thought I was only going to get more swollen, heavier, and would never be able to go back to my body type. Since I finished chemotherapy in December 2016, I have been exercising daily and eating healthy. (**If you are a cancer patient or just someone who is interested I would be more than happy to share some of my daily meals with you.) 

Since then, dairy has been cut off from my diet and I no longer eat cereal nor drink whole milk. Instead I have decided to substitute and drink Unsweetened Almond Milk. I try to stay away from as much refined sugar as I can because cancer loves to feed on sugar!! Do not get me wrong if I want a slice of pizza I will have one, but I choose not to intake dairy like I used too.

I have also said goodbye completely to red meat, pork, and deli meats. It has been a year already and I feel so great! If you are considering doing this, I think its an awesome choice. Many people have laughed at me and just think I am crazy for eliminating these foods from my life, but its something I preferred to do. Yes, I am happy! It's funny because people don't think I am happy with my lifestyle change, but I do not mind it at all. After everything I have been through changing my diet and lifestyle is a piece of cake. 

One way I get my daily protein is from Vega Plant Based Protein and Greens. I tend to blend these Oats with the protein and Almond Beverage every single day. Since I workout I try to consume this twice a day and have about three healthy meals with snacks in between. It took awhile to get used to the Almond Beverage, but now I love it. 

Apparently, ginger is ten times more lethal to cancer cells than chemotherapy. So, I love to drink ginger tea or ginger turmeric tea every single night before bed or in the morning before I eat anything. * And I do not add any sugar to my tea! I prefer to make ginger tea fresh from the ginger root. I simply chop up some ginger, add it to water, and let it come to a boil. I try to let the ginger sit in the water for awhile so that it gets super spicy. These are two of my favorite teas! 

Before I knew I had Thyroid Cancer I began to lose so much weight that I went down to 90 pounds and I could not understand why. I assumed it was my diet change, but I was still eating the same amount of food as always. But, it all made sense after I was diagnosed and my thyroids were removed because I started to gain more weight! My drastic weight loss became clearer. Since then I have been able to gain 15 pounds. Changing my lifestyle was a choice I made to better myself after chemotherapy and radiation. Now that I am on maintenance treatment I am happy to say that the worries of inflammation are long gone. I have been able to get back into shape and even better shape than I have ever been in my life. I am not sure if my diet change has had any effect on my health, but I do feel great, energized, and happy.

There is much more to my routine, but these are the most important aspects of my lifestyle change. I know that I have received a lot of questions on how I was able to get my body back into shape and how my skin looks so healthy after chemotherapy. I hope this post helps a bit and will help inspire anyone battling cancer or any other illness to keep working hard. It has taken me a year to feel great, but I have put so much work into feeling this way. 

xoxo,

Kristin.