You are what you eat!

I believe in clean, healthy eating and it really almost sounds cliche to say that "You are what you eat," but it's really true.

I'm not a medical doctor, so the advice and testimonials I share are from my own personal experiences in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

I have been a vegetarian/pescatarian for over twenty years now and although I changed my eating habits years ago to improve my own personal health, I never dreamed or even imagined that what I ate would literally contribute to saving my life on day!

Eight years ago I was blindsided with the news that I had breast cancer. Receiving this news was a complete shock, because I'll admit, I never really did "self-breast exams," outside of my normal annual screenings. However, I faithfully kept appointments and I never missed a screening.

But the one year that I missed my annual mammogram appointment was absolutely the most crucial, because the very next screening I had, just a few months later, showed a positive breast cancer diagnosis. I cannot tell you the devastation!!!

I think I walked around in a fog for the first few days. My younger son was five years old at the time. My thoughts overwhelmed me as I looked at my husband and children. I couldn't help but to wonder if I would be around to grow old with my husband and see my sons grow up and develop into men, having their own families.

Although I'd already had excellent, healthy eating habits, I almost immediately had friends who gave me advice on what I should eat, now that I had active cancer cells in my body. STAY AWAY FROM SUGAR!!! That was a recurring statement I heard over and over again! You need to eat fruits and vegetables. Well, I already did!

Amazingly enough, two months before I was diagnosed, I craved sauteed mushrooms and onions drizzled with light olive oil. It was my go to snack. I literally felt like I had to have it, every single day, with or without a meal. Well, little did I know at the time that mushrooms are huge cancer fighters. I didn't know that but my body knew!

You see, the moment those cancer cells became active in my body, it triggered a signal, an alert, to let me know that something harmful had invaded my body and I was literally craving a natural remedy to combat a disease, I didn't even know I had. Although I had no idea what was taking place inside of me, my body knew what was going on and it knew what to crave in order to fight against the active cancer cells to keep them from metastasizing and spreading at an enormous rate.

Had I not already been eating what God placed here on Earth, the natural unprocessed foods, I'm convinced that the outcome for me, would have been quite different and the cancer would have been much harder to combat, taking a greater toll on my body. I believe that it would have been extremely difficult for me to fight cancer, had I not been giving my body what it needed to help heal itself, if all I was eating were foods which were good to me instead of foods that were good for me.

Yes, I have always tried to take care of myself, but even with me doing my part, I still needed God to intervene and He did! I am so grateful and truly thankful, because it was Him who healed me and even if He hadn't, well, I kind of look at it this way, how could I expect God to take care of my temple if I'm not going to take care of my temple? After all, He lives there too.