Alkaline Eating - A dietary journey to beating Cancer...

So not only was yesterday my moms birthday, but it also marked the beginning of a completely new dietary lifestyle for her. Approximately three months ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer and once it had been established that it was localised, they approved hormonal treatment, which she started about two months ago.

Between then and now, it had no doubt begun the eradication of the cancer, but it flushed my moms quality of life down the toilet along with it. As a family, we have had to sit helplessly on the sidelines as we watched the pain getting worse, the sleepless nights increasing and any and all life lustre she had remaining vanish into thin air.

It was then decided and agreed upon by all of us - including my mom... that the best thing to do would be to remove her from the hormonal medication and try the natural CBD route - as I have mentioned before. My brother and sister in law found a woman here in Cape Town that appears to have a fantastic reputation with such and so, once all the paper work was done - my mom had her first consultation with her (telephonically) and now we eagerly await the arrival of her new meds.

Alongside this natural route is also a complete dietary overhaul. We received the details of this on Monday. Essentially, my mom will have to move to a high alkaline diet - but with many additional limitations if I compare it with the average "high alkaline diet" found when searching Google.

After scouring the list of "can's and can'ts" which was supplied - we went out to do some shopping to get my mom started on it as soon as possible. Although there is an aspect of excitement in the culinary challenge itself... which as most of you know, I am always up for - I do have to say... DAMN it is limited!

a few years ago, I welt full on banting (which is similar to the keto diet) and that was challenging (when you take it seriously)... but this is on a whole new level! However, having said that... if it makes my mom feel better, affords her quality of life and potentially assists in beating the cancer, then I am definitely up for the challenge.

Really speaking, it is a whole lot of green! From what I can tell, an almost vegan like diet... and a whole new ball game for me.

For dinner yesterday, I cooked up some spelt pasta, as this is the only pasta recommended now - apart from buckwheat pasta which I could not find.

I sauteed a diced bell pepper with a few baby marrows and a little bit of garlic and then served it with a little bit of flaxseed oil and cayenne pepper. Absolutely no traditional seasoning is an option anymore... even olive oil isn't very high on the list of "can's" - hence the flaxseed oil.

Not sure what the sauteed veg tasted like, but I sampled the spelt pasta and I must say, it just tasted like a wholewheat pasta to me. My mom has been in an enormous amount of pain specifically in her gut - so whilst she did eat about half of what I served... she was not able to finish it.

Keeping that in mind, I decided to opt for something a little lighter and easier to digest today... and prepared a pot of vegetable soup.

It was a simple pot with absolutely NO added extras! Not even traditional pepper is allowed anymore... so no stock, nothing! It was just a little sauteed onion to which I added some diced carrot, marrow, celery, three new potatoes (as she is not allowed large potatoes anymore), a sprinkling of peas, a diced garlic clove, a bay leaf, a little bit of freshly chopped thyme, organo and a dash of cayenne pepper and some pink Himalayan salt.

Sounds like a pretty boring pot of food, but when my mom woke up she served herself two cup fulls which is more than I have seen her eat in one sitting for quite some time... so it could not have been that bad lol.

We take for granted how all the "instant this" and "instant that" adds convenience into our lives... and I don't even use that much of it... but when you cannot even make use of simple things like traditional pepper or some chicken stock... then you really have to start stretching your creative horizons. Thankfully I at least have a healthy array f fresh herbs in my garden which does help somewhat.

This is all new territory to me... but one day at a time - and I am quite keen to see how creative I can get with such binding limitations... and whilst I realise that judging by the above two meals, I have a loooong ass way to go lol... I am game! If anything, it gives me an additional distraction from this lockdown shitfest that we are dealing with here in South Africa.

I am very curious to learn more and would value the feedback of people I know and trust versus Google search results... Do any of you have any experience and/or advice or ideas when it comes to a high alkaline diet that is tailored specifically for a Cancer patient?

I would love to hear some of your ideas....