Our Diet

Since finding out Allen has CANcer (we loved the way they spelled it at MD Anderson), we have revisited the way we eat.  While we have eaten healthy for quite a while--ever since watching Food Inc. about four years ago, we have really kicked it up now.  That means that while we haven't eaten meat for the last four years (although we do eaten chicken on occasion), we are now cutting out dairy as well.  Yes, we are now vegan--and yes that does mean NO cheese.  Neither of us thought we could live without cheese; however, after doing a lot of research with the help of Auntie Jenna, (Brookelyn's Godmother) cutting out ALL animal products seems to be the right choice for us.  There are PLENTY of ways for us to get all the nutrients we need from sources other than animals, so don't worry about Allen's nutrition slipping! We have also decided to go all organic.  The research we read has led us to feel eliminating pesticides from our food, as well as GMOs (genetically modified organisms) is the best choice for our family.
Now, with that said, we are also realists.  We cannot feasibly eat all vegan--all organic--all the time.  But, what we can do is the best we can.  The other night we went out to pizza.  Instead of ordering it the way we would have a few weeks ago, we ordered it with gluten free crust, without cheese, and topped with veggies.  And, we are happy to report that we LOVED it! It was totally delicious! Ozark Natural Foods and The Fresh Market have also been amazing! It is certainly a learning curve, but slowly we have been able to recreate most of the meals we love using organic products from those stores.  It can be tricky because we have also eliminated refined sugar, and SO many products have sugar!! But, again we are slowly getting the hang of things.  Allen also got a juicer for his birthday, which has been great! Fresh squeezed organic orange juice (yes, we bought a case--39lbs of organic oranges last weekend) is like dessert! And, of course the kids love helping Daddy make juice! This brings us to the topic of drinks.  In our house it is now water, water with lemon, or fresh juice.  NO MORE SODA! Interestingly enough, the night Allen was preliminarily diagnosed in the ER with Hodgkins he started having night sweats (a symptom of Hodgkins).  He also gave up soda that night, and we immediately started changing the way we ate.  Allen mentioned the night sweats to The Cancer Ninja, and he explained that after the treatment started they would go away within a couple of weeks.  However, the night sweats DISAPPEARED only a week after they started! They shouldn't have gone away until weeks after treatment, but his were gone almost two weeks BEFORE treatment started.  He went from soaked at night, not being able to sleep, to sleeping perfectly.  We have to believe that the drastic improvement was caused by his diet choices! That is more than enough to prove to us that the changes we have made are working and an important part of his path to CURE!
On the topic of food, we wanted to say a special THANK YOU to everyone who has brought us and/or the kids dinner and signed up to bring us dinner! It is so sweet of you all to think of our family! With that said, we also know bringing dinner with so many diet restrictions can be scary--heck, I still feel stressed out at dinnertime, and I should be used to cooking this way by now! We have had so many emails, calls, and texts, asking for ways people can help.  Leah's mom has set up a maid service to come clean the house from top to bottom several times a month.  This service will help us to make sure that we are as germ-free as possible, which is obviously important to keeping Allen healthy! If you would like to help out with the cost of the maid services, there is a button on the sidebar of the blog (remember you have to click on the "View Web Version" button at the bottom of the page) where you can do this.
It has been a great two days post chemo.  Allen is feeling great--he even asked me if I was SURE he got the chemo drugs! His morning runs have been empowering and left him feeling strong! All of your amazing thoughts and prayers are working!!