As I've worked on my recovery since being discharged from the hospital, it's been challenging for me to know what information I should follow. Being the analytical person I am, I like to look and evaluate the data, synthesize it and choose a clear path of action. With my liver issues, one of the things I've really tried to focus on is my nutrition and eat in a way that doesn't stress my liver. The problem is with that is the diet that helps my liver the most (plant based, low fat, low protein) is not the type of diet that will help me gain weight. So, I've been overwhelmed trying to figure out what I should eat.
In early June, I called the company that did our landscape redesign to come out and look at a tree that wasn't doing well. The president of the company, John, who did our design, stopped by to check on the tree. He and I developed a very collegial relationship during our time of working together about 5 years ago and would chat whenever our paths crossed. I saw in one of our local magazines after he did our design that he had used a nutritional approach to beat stage 4 liver cancer. Sooooo, when he came in and saw my thin frame and hairless head, we spent more time talking nutrition than landscaping.
He talked to me about the importance of drinking fresh juice made from carrots, celery and other fruits and veggies everyday. He also told me about the Budwig Protocol, developed in the 1950s by a German biochemist Johanna Budwig. The diet is very plant based, no animal fat, no dairy except cottage cheese and some cheese, no soy products, no preservatives, no processed foods. One key of the part of the diet is a mixture of cottage cheese and flaxseed. This combination helps get the flaxseed oil into the cells allowing them heal. He also consulted an Amish faith healer named Solomon Wickey who also recommended a very similar diet. John credits this to beating cancer that his doctors told him was terminal.
I tried to follow the diet for about 10 days but found it impossible to get enough calories. Between my picky tastes, the reduced volume of my stomach and my general disinterest in eating, I was not gaining weight. I was so torn in what to do and felt that I had no clear path which really stresses me out. I wondered if God had sent John to me to show me His plan for my recovery. If I ignored John's advice, would I get to a point in the future when my health was declining and regret not following John's advice. Would God look at me and say, "I sent you someone to point the way and you ignored him." Would it be the Kathy version of the story "God Will Save Me."
Or, was following John's strict dietary advice making God too small, in essence saying, my recovery is in my hands and it will be totally dependent on what I do and not what God can do? The whole situation had me really stressed about how to use food to enable my recovery. I really wanted to do what God would have me do....I just didn't know what that was.
So, after some prayer time and discussions with family members and close friends, I've decided to focus first on gaining weight. Unless I gain weight and get stronger, my long-term recovery will be delayed. I am drinking juice that I've juiced every morning and eating the cottage cheese/flaxseed oil mix every day...almost.
After I'm closer to my target weight, which right now is 20 pounds off, then I can re-evaluate my long-term diet to protect my liver and use better nutrition to fight my disease. I'm now moving confidently with this plan which I pray will be the plan that will contribute most to my health.
In early June, I called the company that did our landscape redesign to come out and look at a tree that wasn't doing well. The president of the company, John, who did our design, stopped by to check on the tree. He and I developed a very collegial relationship during our time of working together about 5 years ago and would chat whenever our paths crossed. I saw in one of our local magazines after he did our design that he had used a nutritional approach to beat stage 4 liver cancer. Sooooo, when he came in and saw my thin frame and hairless head, we spent more time talking nutrition than landscaping.
He talked to me about the importance of drinking fresh juice made from carrots, celery and other fruits and veggies everyday. He also told me about the Budwig Protocol, developed in the 1950s by a German biochemist Johanna Budwig. The diet is very plant based, no animal fat, no dairy except cottage cheese and some cheese, no soy products, no preservatives, no processed foods. One key of the part of the diet is a mixture of cottage cheese and flaxseed. This combination helps get the flaxseed oil into the cells allowing them heal. He also consulted an Amish faith healer named Solomon Wickey who also recommended a very similar diet. John credits this to beating cancer that his doctors told him was terminal.
I tried to follow the diet for about 10 days but found it impossible to get enough calories. Between my picky tastes, the reduced volume of my stomach and my general disinterest in eating, I was not gaining weight. I was so torn in what to do and felt that I had no clear path which really stresses me out. I wondered if God had sent John to me to show me His plan for my recovery. If I ignored John's advice, would I get to a point in the future when my health was declining and regret not following John's advice. Would God look at me and say, "I sent you someone to point the way and you ignored him." Would it be the Kathy version of the story "God Will Save Me."
Or, was following John's strict dietary advice making God too small, in essence saying, my recovery is in my hands and it will be totally dependent on what I do and not what God can do? The whole situation had me really stressed about how to use food to enable my recovery. I really wanted to do what God would have me do....I just didn't know what that was.
So, after some prayer time and discussions with family members and close friends, I've decided to focus first on gaining weight. Unless I gain weight and get stronger, my long-term recovery will be delayed. I am drinking juice that I've juiced every morning and eating the cottage cheese/flaxseed oil mix every day...almost.
After I'm closer to my target weight, which right now is 20 pounds off, then I can re-evaluate my long-term diet to protect my liver and use better nutrition to fight my disease. I'm now moving confidently with this plan which I pray will be the plan that will contribute most to my health.
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