Cleansing Diet

The 28 Day Cleansing Diet that I have been on for 30 days today is another wonderful structural piece for my healing from breast cancer. I'm eating lots of veggies and whole grains, with beans, nuts, and tempeh for protein. Now I know that sounds like a pretty standard healthy diet recommendation, but I have not been eating sugar, butter, dairy (not even yogurt), or bread made from flour. Every day about 4 o'clock, I make and drink 12 oz of vegetable juice. I also drink about 80 oz. (10 cups) of water per day including one quart with a pinch of sea salt during the first hour that I am awake. For Mothers' Day, I requested and received a special fermenting pot; I've got 10#s of cabbage on hand to make sauerkraut soon.

I just love the recipes and suggestions in this book. One of my favorite new ideas is grain bowls. Put some cooked whole grain, hot or cold, into a bowl. Add other yummy stuff that you have on hand to go with it. Last week we had Mexican grain bowls with brown rice, Cuban black beans, avocado, tomato, salsa, the works! It was so good! So I love the food and I love the way I feel. I'm up and at 'em; blogging, working in the garden, seeing friends. The cooking takes a bit of time, but we're worth it. My husband does a very modified version with all the meat that he wants and is noticing an improvement in less acid reflux. I 'm cooking whole oats and sprouting adzuki beans. All kinds of new tasks and routines for this Virgo rising girl.

Interestingly enough, I strayed from this nourishing, healthy diet last Friday. I was sorely tempted at a birthday party and had chocolate cake and ice cream for lunch. I then came home and worked in the garden for several hours, working past juice time into a virtual stupor. I did not juice or cook the healthy meal I had planned. I scrounged something out of the freezer. The result--I felt crappy all day on Saturday and Sunday until I made my juice. So now I am really a believer!

What am I cleansing? My liver and my kidneys. Chemo is hard on both those organs and this diet provides foods that promote healing. Digestive troubles and skin problems are also often cleared up. For me, a lack of mental clarity and physical sluggishness were symptoms that I needed cleansing.

So what do you think? Is it this way of eating the least bit tempting for you? Do you even think that cancer and diet are connected? Have you had a healing experience connected to food? Let us know with a comment.

Hecate

I hope my soul friend readers will leave some comments. I'd like this to be a conversation.

We have been listening to Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth series with Bill Moyers in the 80's. Last night he mentioned that our society is suffering because of a lack of myths and lack of an initiation rite for boys and girls. He pointed to all the crimes committed by young people as evidence. Maybe a purpose of my blog to bring myths back into consciousness to ease suffering. He also states that myths and dreams both come from the same source, the subconscious. I have been quite vigilant about recording my dreams lately and am looking for a way to work with them.

Sunday, I read about Hecate in Jean Shinoda Bolen's book, Goddesses in Older Women. Hecate is often pictured at the crossroads able to look in 3 directions with her 3 faces. Breast cancer has brought me to such a crossroads in my life. What do I want to do with my one wild and precious life? (Mary Oliver) I took a step over a threshold today by agreeing to help an NVC mentor with a workshop in late May. One insight that rang true to me was that there can be a time of lying fallow before it becomes clear which path to take. Also Hecate represents mid-wives and witches. Some times I feel like a witch with my interest in herbalism and flower essences. And have felt that hesitancy to let on about too much lest I be persecuted as a witch. Scholars estimate that between 100,000 and 8 million women were tortured and killed as witches in the middle ages. Hecate represents the ability to find and face the truth as she did with Demeter when Persephone disappeared. She suggested, "Let's go ask the God of the Sun. He saw it all." Bolen states, "Hecate the witness is there when you pay attention to your dreams, heed you intuitive perceptions, or listen to an inner voice. It's as if she accompanies us, holding up her torches so we can see in the dark."

Isn't this what we do for each other in NVC when we stay in the present and give empathy? Here are some Hecate questions:
What have I learned about life from my own experience? What truth do I need to face?
Do those questions resonate with you?

So far....

I've done it! Started the blog I've been thinking about! My cancer journey started with a diagnosis of Stage 2 HER2 positive breast cancer in September 2008. My surgery and chemotherapy led me through the gates of hell and by the end I felt like I was dead, hanging on a meat hook, just like Inanna the Sumerian goddess. Like Inanna, before my descent, I had all the trappings of a successful life: home, great career, the protection of a man. All the emblems of success in the patriarchy. Each appointment, each surgery, each trip to the hospital for chemotherapy was equivalent to passing through another gate to hell. In addition, the economy did a nosedive and the wealth I had been counting on for retirement was decimated. By the time I got there I was also like her sister Erishkegal, moaning in pain. My friends supplied me with an unbelievable amount of support and empathy, just like the flies in the mythological story. After a time (3 days in the myth) I came back to life and am now on my way up the stairs from hell back to the outer world. Older and much wiser I hope. More soon.