Does anyone else remember the thrill of going to Blockbuster and browsing the new releases? Mitch and I had a conversation not that long ago that our girls will never walk through a video store to pick out a movie. Ahhh, we.are.old (and awesome).
Anyway, there is a point to this title and it does link back to me and my "cancer journey" (I really hate that term but I'm not sure what else I would call it at this point). I've talked in previous blogs about the 5 year stretch and how, if I can make it cancer-free for 5 years, I'm pretty much in the clear. That is one benefit to being handed the mother of all cancers, at least my risk of recurrence drops off dramatically once I reach that milestone.
Unlike other types of breast cancer, however, there is really nothing I can take to help prevent the cancer from returning. ER+ ladies have Tamoxifen and other medications. HER2+ ladies have Herceptin, for at least a year. Us triple negative ladies, we just have our good looks.
So now that I am in full blown survivor mode, I started looking for anything I can do to prevent round 2 of this awful disease. We already know that I have a higher risk than most, due to my genetics, so I already feel a little doomed from the start. But instead of crawling into bed with a pint of ice cream to drown my sorrows, I'm using it as a kick in the @$$ to get my life together. Which brings us to Netflix...
I discovered the documentary genre when I was on maternity leave with Evelyn and was awake nursing her through the night (Netflix app on phone plus a solid pair of earbuds was heavenly during those late night feeds). I had watched a few health documentaries then, but never really took their message to heart.
Now with a different perspective, I have found a lot of good (and not so good) information in these documentaries that have given me that motivation I need to make a real change in our lifestyle. So if you have a Netflix account and haven't seen these, I highly recommend:
In Defense of Food (2015)- Michael Pollan is a fantastic writer and the brains behind this documentary. He bases it off of a book he wrote with the same title (which is pretty dry, in my honest opinion, but his first book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" was fantastic) and the documentary looks at how our diet impacts our health. Then he offers practical advice on how to improve your diet to improve your health. And it is simple to remember:
IF your great grandmother wouldn't recognize it as food, don't eat it!
My other top pick is:
The C Word (2015)- This is the second film in my top two. This takes a short departure from the topic of food and diet and looks at all lifestyle factors, particularly focused on how they relate to the growth of cancer cells. The documentary is based on the book "Anticancer: A new way of life" that examines 4 major pillars in the fight against cancer:
1. Diet
2. Exercise
3. Environmental toxins
4. Stress reduction
While I will have so much more to say about this in future posts, I want to say right now that this movie/book changed my mindset. Yes I know I should exercise. And yes, I could eat better. But it was this documentary that convinced me that I need to do those things NOW. It gave me hope that maybe there is something I can do to fight this, instead of waiting around for it to come back a second time. It gave me a sense of control. Of power. Of passion. And while I can't say I've followed these pillars every day, or every week for that matter, I have started to make smarter choice about what I expose my body to on a daily basis.
I am reading the book that accompanies this film to really dive into the science behind this lifestyle. I hope to post more about this in the future once I finish the book, not only to give myself some accountability to its philosophy, but also to share that knowledge with all of you. Because even though most of you reading this haven't had cancer, or don't have broken DNA like I do, EVERYONE can benefit from a healthier lifestyle. And if you could prevent yourself from getting cancer, would you? (The answer should be yes).
I will leave you with that thought tonight and challenge all of you to take the time to do something better for yourself this week. Invest in your health, you never know when you may not have it...
