Why Keto?
Although we have generally tried to eat healthy, neither my husband or I had really been particularly motivated to go on a real diet or exercise program, so we definitely did NOT volunteer to take on this Keto adventure! We love food and carbs are amazing!! We had heard of Keto, and I have a brother-in-law that has been dropping some serious weight on the program, but it really wasn’t anywhere on our horizon… Or so we thought…
On March 29, 2018 a lump on DiDi’s neck appeared out of nowhere. A noticeably large lump that completely filled her cupped hand!! Turns out it was really several of them grouped together, but think of an elongated softball flattened between her neck and her shoulder bone! She didn’t want to rush off to the ER, so we iced/heated it to see if it would help, and she headed to the hospital the next day. On March 30th, DiDi learned that the lumps presented as Lymphoma, and it looked like it was moving fast! She needed to see a surgeon, the oncologist, etc… This lump was terrifyingly huge, and had already shifted her windpipe by 1.5 cm by the time we met with the oncologist. She also had other various lumps that were found through a cat scan and ultrasounds. For a parent, there aren’t too many things that stick out quite like cancer and your kid in the same sentence, and let me assure you that survival rates and statistics are not very comforting when they base the success on just surviving for 5 years! Shock. Panic. Anger. Fear. Doubt. Disbelief. I have no end of words to sum up those first few days. Literally, a nightmare. I have a lot of faith, and I believe in a GREAT BIG God, but it pretty much tilted our world off axis for a bit. I can barely type these words and relive those days in my mind without choking up.
It has gotten better as the days have gone by and we overcame the initial shock. She went through a couple procedures as recommended, but after long discussions and consultations, DiDi was sure that she did NOT want to have this huge lump cut into, or go through Chemotherapy and/or Radiation. At this time Derrick was finishing up his last days in high school, so DiDi left the day after his graduation for a naturalistic health center to begin a holistic detoxification process. This started shrinking and/or softening the lumps, and before she came home on June 17th, the naturalist placed DiDi on a modified Keto diet. Sugars, mucous, and toxins had been feeding the cancer, and our job was to starve this thing! In addition to being on the Keto diet, she is supposed to have non-GMO / Organic / Grass fed EVERYTHING!!! They even want to make sure her food ate green veggies! No crab or other bottom feeders, little milk/dairy/cheese, etc. and a few other variations from the standard Keto diet. Didi is and always has been a picky eater, she hates nuts, loves nutrition-less cereals, energy drinks, and anything that comes out of a package all ready to eat or microwavable, she is very spontaneous, hates planning anything, and doesn’t really cook. Awesome.
On top of that, DiDi doesn’t have a pound to lose, she already was quite thin, and was dropping weight quickly due to appetite loss and the diet changes. Jim and I decided we would jump on Keto in support of her, and to help her. (Jim said he just did it so she couldn’t gripe about not being able to eat certain things while we were popping donuts in our mouths.) Our life was basically shoved from zero to Keto in 7 days (check out my Keto Pantry page!) Maybe a Keto-hybrid pantry 😉 The oats and carbs she is allowed on her diet keeps her from going into ketosis, but she has now limited foods that used to boost her caloric intake. She’s also 22 and it’s not easy to change a lifetime of eating habits. She often cheats, grabs something on the go, and/or doesn’t bother to read labels. When she does start looking at labels, it’s overwhelming. I know. I’ve spent unknown hours looking at labels, starting with organic and non-GMO, then ruling stuff out from there. It’s overwhelming to ME. There are just so many things she can’t have! We aren’t just looking at carbs. There are quite a few ingredients that are on her 0% list!! Bottom line is that there are very few packaged or easy items that she can have, so most foods need to be made from scratch.
As you can imagine, there has been quite the adjustment for meals. Getting groceries and making everything from scratch means I’ve logged a LOT of hours in my kitchen, but I have been learning some fantastic recipes and cooking has been a nice distraction. There have been some recipes that have turned out like food bricks (the last one I think cows would probably lick for the salt content), some stuff that looks and smells awesome, but no, it’s not, and a couple trials that were downright laughable. I made cookies that resemble emoji poo. They weren’t great but at least they didn’t taste as bad as they looked! It’s a challenge, but it has its perks. It’s a pretty good feeling to hear “I can’t believe this is Keto!”
We can and already have benefited from the healthy diet changes, and that lump on her neck is getting smaller!
I have faith that we are going to win this battle!
Photography on this page by Dave Kupetz, Land and Air PhotoWorks – Po Box 381 – Washougal, WA 98671