This post is about how I used herbs and healthy eating to heal my body and my gut after chemo.
In Oct. 2020 (at the height of the pandemic,{naturally}), I was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
During the next year I went from chemo, to surgery, to radiation therapy, and back to chemo.
Finally in Oct. 2021, I was done with all the treatments. At the end of it all, I had very little immunity to normal everyday germs, the chemo had increased my arthritis pain, and my GI system was far from normal, with bloating and pain every day.
I had to do something to improve my health and feel better.
I Discovered Herbal Tea Was The Answer For My Arthritis Pain
The first thing I tackled was the arthritis pain. It had flared when I was given a medication called Taxol, as a chemotherapy treatment. Combined with a med called Neulasta, (taken 1 day after the chemo treatment), and all of a sudden my joints felt like they were on fire.
The pain was so bad, I had to take a narcotic to reduce it. Most of the pain went away when chemo treatments ended, but not all of it. I was still having joint pain in my ankles, knees and hips.
The normal meds they usually give for arthritis, and the over the counter meds such as Advil, Naproxen, Aleve, etc., were denied to me because they gave stomach pain and because I had a history of ulcers.
Searching online for alternatives for pain relief, I started reading more and more examples of other people getting pain relief with a mixture of herbs.
I was skeptical at first, because when I took my nurse’s training (many moons ago), doctors led us to believe that herbal medicine was right up there with witch doctors.
I should explain that I have plain old Osteoarthritis. (if you have been diagnosed with a different kind of arthritis, this tea may not work for you.) My doctors were telling me to take hot baths, use Tylenol, and exercise more to relieve my arthritis pain.
Well, Tylenol did nothing, it was like taking a sugar pill. As for hot baths, I was afraid if I got in a bathtub, I would not be able to get out!
And exercising more- while I know that not moving at all makes the pain worse, walking a mile, which I used to do easily, was impossible.
After a bunch of research I came up with a tea that combines ginger, turmeric, rosemary, willow bark, mullein, as well as a few others. I drink 1 measured cup twice a day and I can move more easily with very little pain. It is not a cure all, I still have mild occasional pain, but it is greatly reduced.
One of my friends said “sure, but you’re stuck drinking 2 cups of that a day.” Okay, but you would be surprised what you would do to get rid of the pain.
See the recipe for Arthritis Tea here.
How I Used Herbs and Healthy Eating To Restore My Immunity
Having dealt with the pain issue, I decided to see what I could do about my immunity. I needed it to improve so that I wouldn’t get every bug my grandsons brought home for school,
Most people don’t know that 70% of your immunity comes from your gut. Most of your immune cells are in your gut and the chemo had wiped out most of mine. These cells interact with your microbiome (the bunch of fungi and bacteria we all have), to digest your food.
The foods we eat affect the bacteria in our gut, which in turn affect those immune cells. I know, sounds complicated, right? But the basic idea is not only that ‘you are what you eat’, but maybe also ‘you feel better when you eat healthy.’
What it all means is that our gut with its bacteria, microbiome, and immune cells do better when they get foods rich in fiber and real, (unprocessed) fruits and veggies. And when your gut is happy, (I learned), you feel better.
Not only had my gut been stripped of all bacteria, but I had been eating only ‘comfort’ food after chemo, (mostly processed food), since I was so happy just to be able to enjoy food again.
So where to begin to fix my gut? Research told me to incorporate fresh fruits and veggies into my diet every day, and get more protein -in at least 2 meals a day. The third thing I did was to eliminate as much of the processed food as I could.
I slowly began to substitute the unprocessed fruit and veggies for the bread, pasta, white potatoes, chips, etc., that I had been eating every day.
I was warned to add in high fiber foods, ( the fruits and veggies) slowly, as if I added them all at once could lead to GI upset, and I didn’t need anymore GI problems.
I Healed My Gut By Eating The Rainbow and Healthy Eating
‘Eating The Rainbow’ is a term I kept running across in my research into healthy eating. It refers to eating fruits and veggies of all colors. The idea is that nature colored them all so vividly so that we would be attracted to the color and get the nutrients we need to be healthy. You could even say it was planned that way.
I found out that eating this way does not have to be bland. I ate the red of strawberries, the purple of eggplant, the orange of butternut squash, etc., and cooked the unprocessed fruits and veggies with a minimum of additives.
I found that all these fruits and veggies taste great without sauces and gravies made with processed additives. They tasted clean and fresh.
I had read articles about the benefits of adding herbs to your food, but what was really surprising was that the herbs made the flavor of these dishes ‘pop.’
It’s a little like how a good Merlot goes so well with a steak, the steak tastes better than it would on its own.
I also began to feel better after a few weeks of limiting unprocessed foods and eating fresh fruits and veggies with herbs. I started to read labels and surprise, surprise, I began to lose weight.
It seems if you are in the obese category, (by BMI), this upsets the microbiome. It is actually better for your gut health if you are not obese. I am now in the ‘merely overweight category’ but still making slow but sure progress towards my weight goal. (I have lost 53 lbs.)
As I began to lose more weight, I felt better and stronger. And it was surprisingly easy, – it seems all I had to do was eat fruits and veggies and protein, and eliminate much of the processed foods I had been eating. (and I was eating a lot!)
As time went on, I discovered what herbs and spices to add with what foods and I developed my own recipes. My GI system responded and now acts like it did before chemo.
This didn’t happen overnight, it took months to achieve this ‘happy gut.” What do I mean by a happy gut?
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I have no pain in my abdomen.
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I have a predictable system. No sudden surprises!
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No diarrhea or constipation or bloating.
It Is Easy To Start Your Own Herb Garden
Buying herbs all the time got expensive, so I started my own herb garden to grow the herbs I was using. Yes, I had to buy some, but I was able to grow, harvest, and preserve several of my herbs.
I use fresh herbs in the summer, but in the winter I use the ones I preserved by either drying or freezing them.
In future blogs, I will tell you what I learned about how to grow herbs, and how anyone can do it.
The Science Behind Why Herbs Make Your Food Taste Better
I began to wonder why food tastes better when you add herbs. I understand that herbs are good for you – (My gut is living proof). But why do they make almost everything taste better?
So back to the research; and what I found out makes sense. I already knew that most of what we think is ‘taste’ is really what we are smelling.
When herbs are heated, they give off an ‘oil’ which has an aroma. This aroma goes right up your nose to the Olfactory nerve at the base of your brain. Your brain tells you if it smells good, it will taste good too.
Also, the smell of baking food is associated, (by many of us), with home. As in Mom and Grandma, and ‘home cooking’.
This is why realtors ask people selling their home to bake cinnamon rolls right before they hold an open house. (Cinnamon is one of the most aromatic herbs.) They want the prospective buyers to associate that house with ‘home.’
So that’s my story, how I healed my gut and felt much better since I stopped eating so much processed food, and started eating more protein, and natural fruits and veggies.
In future posts I intend to go into more detail and get more specific about my journey.
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