A few years ago my younger sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. The doctors determined that her particular cancer was not hormonal, and it was not genetic. The cause of her breast cancer was therefore labeled as “unknown environmental factors.”
When the initial shock wore off, I did what I assume most sisters would do. I distracted myself by immersing in internet searches, namely trying to figure out what the h*** “unknown environmental factors” was supposed to mean. My sister was doing the same, and it didn’t take long for us to understand just what that term actually means.
Do you have any idea what is added to our cosmetics…cleaning supplies…personal hygiene products…and our FOOD? It is shocking (add feelings of sadness, betrayal, anger, fear, disgust…I could go on). My sister and I soon realized that we were being poisoned…had been unknowingly poisoning ourselves with these products…for years. Chemicals, additives, and pesticides that not only likely caused her cancer, but were impacting the health of both of us…and the health of our young daughters.
We began educating ourselves and rapidly making changes. We swapped out our household cleaning products first, as those proved to be some of the most toxic. We then started swapping out our personal hygiene products…deodorant, toothpaste, lotions, etc. By this time, she was in full blown chemo. Her research came to a screeching halt, but I continued. Next up was food. Holy cow!! (Pardon my Midwest slang.)
The food issue is HUGE…definitely the most difficult to tackle. At first it was difficult to find factual information. Once I started truly educating myself on the facts, I was so overwhelmed that I was paralyzed, not knowing where to start. Not only do we live in the Midwest, but my family lives an hour outside of a major city. I could go to the farmers markets in the summer, but how do I know what they are putting on their crops? What about all winter? Am I going to have to drive an hour each week to the city to find an organic market for fresh produce? Can I start growing my own? What about all the pantry items? What about the meat? If I change up our recipes, will my family even eat what I prepare or will I get kickback? Does this mean we can’t ever eat out again? We love eating out!
The painful truth is that while all of this caused a fair share of panic, I was still working full time. I had also become an independent consultant for Norwex as a means of sharing what my sister and I had learned and was working that job on evenings and weekends. I desperately wanted to educate everyone I knew and at least get the toxic cleaning chemicals out of their houses ASAP! So while I found the time to educate myself about the food issues, I had a much harder time implementing any real changes. I found a couple “clean” online resources for food and pantry items such as Daily Harvest and Thrive Market and started shopping local farmers markets when possible…giving each vendor a round of questions before picking up a single bell pepper.
It’s been several years since my sister’s cancer diagnosis. She made it through the red devil chemo and surgery and is now cancer free. Her gorgeous curly brown hair has all grown back in and she’s thriving once again. We still constantly share information with each other…new websites and apps to vet toxicity of products, which new clean cosmetics we’re trying, etc.
I’ve continued down the rabbit hole of clean eating, and now that I am retired and have more time on my hands, I’m making some pretty significant changes…which are (or will be coming soon) evident on this blog.
My sister’s cancer diagnosis has made a huge impact on my life and changed everything. It’s made me a completely different person…in a good way. I appreciate more of life’s little things, I don’t get uptight and take things so seriously anymore, I found yoga and meditation, and I value my health in a way that is nurturing and protective. My hope is that I can share some of this consequential knowledge so we can all live our best lives!
