“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”― Hippocrates

I am passionate about people living a life of health and vitality and am saddened when I see those living in pain or less than the optimal life they could be enjoying. For that reason, I have been wanting to do a blog post about the life-changing, and sometimes life-saving role our diets play in our quality of life for quite some time. After binge-watching a few Netflix (links below) with my husband over the last few nights, I couldn’t put off a post like this any longer!

Growing up, my maternal grandmother was one of my favorite people in the world.  I loved spending time with her in the summers listening to her stories, making Christmas ornaments in the winter, and eating chocolate mint ice-cream and Russel Stover chocolates in any season! Sadly, she died at what would be considered young today, her body hunched over and joints crooked with painful arthritis while she dutifully consumed the myriad of prescription drugs prescribed to make her life somehow more pleasant.  I vividly remember sitting at her kitchen table with her one day as she sorted through her many medications, and somehow, even at a young age, I knew there was something very wrong with that picture.  Had I known then what I know now, I would have done my very best to convince her to get rid of the processed foods and lay aside at least some of the Russel Stover to make room for some more fruits and veggies.

I’ll skip many details of my own health journey or this post would be way too long. I will say, however, I was fortunate to be raised by a mother, a nurse by profession, who was  very much in tune to the role of proper nutrition and diet in a healthy lifestyle.

Last winter I had a bit of a health scare, and thankfully it was just a scare, but for the week of uncertainty I spent many hours researching health sights on the web and found this gem:  https://www.chrisbeatcancer.com.  This site is loaded with nutritional information and video testimonials of people who all beat cancer through diet and some also with alternative remedies.

I decided to try this plant-based diet, and my husband also joined in.  The great news for him was that at his next doctors visit six weeks later he had lost 11 pounds, but even better his blood pressure had dropped 40 points…enough to keep his doctor from prescribing blood pressure medicine, yahoo!!  For myself, I noticed that the mysterious leg pain that was so bad it would keep me awake at night disappeared, as well as the sometimes intense hip pain.  I would have considered myself a really healthy eater even before this…organic, non-gmo food, very little processed foods, occasional juicer, but switching to this plant-based, sugar-free diet was the real health ticket for me-no pain, yes please!

One thing I learned in the Chris Beat Cancer series, is that processed dairy raises the risk of breast and prostate cancer, a fact which has been scientifically known since the 70’s.  Immediately what came to my mind were all the cute little pink ribbons found in the dairy aisle…funny, I’ve never seen even one in the fruit and vegetable aisle, hmm.  I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about that one, but my less than noble conclusion was verified in the documentary we watched last night, which I highly recommend, called What the Health.  This video was a real eye-opener, it will make you mad, but that can be a really good thing if it stirs you to action to improve your health.  It is also filled with some very inspiring stories though, so I promise you’ll be smiling at the end!

Two other great documentaries: Forks Over Knives, which has some seriously jaw-dropping studies, and the really inspiring and definitely entertaining one: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.  Both sites have many resources listed, as well as links to the movie, the second can be viewed free on the site for a limited time, so go enjoy!

 Lastly, I highly recommend the incredibly informative video series called The Truth About Cancer which can be found at this site: https://www.cancertutor.com/global-cancer-documentary/  Face it, sadly we all know of people who could benefit from this info. and for so many ailments other than cancer.

In closing, let me just say that I am very thankful I live in an age where we have life-saving  medicines and technology, but the fact remains that there are many, many diseases that can be prevented altogether, and in many cases even reversed with the food choices we make.  The good news is…

God has filled our earth with wonderful, natural medicines just waiting to be consumed, and that my friends, is really, really something beautiful.

Until next time!

∼Jen

So, I think I’m supposed to add a disclaimer here, but very important, nonetheless, Please check with a doctor and be monitored before deciding to decrease or stop any medicines or adding herbal remedies!