Pink Colander

I’m a resident of Denver, CO who loves to read cookbooks, grow her own food, and be outside. I recently moved to the suburbs and suddenly have space for a real kitchen garden, and then some! So now I am an aspiring “suburban homesteader,” obsessed with growing her own food – the possibilities are endless.

This is my blog about breast cancer, preventing breast cancer, activism (especially for young women at high risk – we need to get informed and get busy advocating for choices, information and cures!) – and of course, food and how it can be your best weapon in the fight to prevent, cure or survive cancer.

I’ve not found a good source online about cancer diets; there are a lot of proprietary sites (buy our $200 juicer and it will save your life!), medical sites with generic advice (eat your veggies and take vitamins!) but not much in the way of real discussion, evaluation of theories, and recipes, for a proactive food-based approach to an anti-cancer lifestyle. I’m hoping to help fill that void, in part because I am fascinated with food and in part because I am very much hoping that my food choices can and will keep me from being another scary statistic.

I have had 3 close relatives with breast cancer, including both parents, and another with ovarian cancer. According to every doctor I’ve seen, that’s pretty alarming. In November of 2007, my gynecologist found two lumps in my breasts. So began a journey, beyond distant speculation about my possible risk and deeper into knowledge. 

I’ve been learning volumes about this disease, what it has done to women (and men) in this country and what it could do to me. The books, magazines and articles I’ve accumulated amount to a small library. I’m sharing some of this information here because I believe knowledge is power, and we all need a little more power and control in a situation like this. I don’t have cancer. I’m one of the lucky ones, not only because I’m healthy – so far – but because I am informed, and because I have access. Access to information, to experts, to good advice and lots of medical technology.

But underneath all of that, I believe that our first line of defense is within ourselves. The Western world did not used to be plagued with degenerative diseases and cancers. Something’s gone wrong along the way. It could be chemical – pesticides, preservatives, dyes, who knows. It could be environmental – radiation, pollution, toxic waste, living downstream from a nuclear test site, light pollution. It could be the Standard American Diet – meat, white bread, genetically modified foods, McDonalds.

There’s no way to avoid it all. You could drive yourself insane thinking about that, and never dare to leave the house or consume anything besides a bit of organic grass here and there. You have to live; the real key, I think, is to live well. Don’t eat crap that will make you sick. I’ve read and read and asked and asked, and come up with what I believe is probably the safest and healthiest anti-cancer diet possible. (I’ll post about it soon.) Food is your daily fuel. More than that, it can mitigate the effects of all those other evils; it can detoxify your body, ease your mind, strengthen your immune system and nourish your blood and bones so you will live long and beat disease in spite of the random toxins spewing forth in your general direction. Your house, garden and body are your temple. Keep them clean and you will thrive. This is my way of taking back some control. I hope you’ll join me on this journey of a lifetime.