The miracle that is your body deserves your love and respect. It is exactly this miracle that will get you through.
New year, new you.
For a few weeks now it’s likely that ads for health clubs, workout routines, diet plans and detoxes have flooded your social media and email.
Those behind the ads are on a mission to unearth the NEW YOU. You know the one. The woman just beyond the extra pounds, unhealthy diet and deconditioned body.
But this year’s different.
This year you’re ringing in the new year as a survivor of hormone-driven breast cancer.
You already are a new you, and depending on your frame of mind and experience, you may not be happy about it.
You want the old you. The woman you were every previous New Year’s Eve who vowed that her out-of-shape body, destructive eating habits and nightly wine pour were behaviors destined for change at the stroke of midnight.
Your resolution list probably looked something like this:
Lose weight. Start exercising. Eat out less. Cook more. Eat better. Cut back on the booze.
How myopic that feels in comparison to now, right?
The idea of changing to a healthier lifestyle used to feel so daunting. Now? You’d give anything to have no concern other than how to make a healthy dinner your entire family will eat, or to decide which diet you can stand for more than 24 hours.
The new year is barely underway. You’re looking at days filled with unknowns.
You don’t know how you feel about what’s happening with your body. You struggle to make peace with it. In truth? You don’t like it at all.
A Different Approach
I invite you to welcome the New Year with a different perspective.
What if you celebrated your body in all its forms?
- Your time-of-diagnosis body, which you now distrust because you did your best to treat it reasonably well.
- Your in-treatment body, perhaps reeling from side effects, surprising you daily with its endless changes.
- Your post-treatment body, working to regain strength, flexibility, freedom from pain and navigate survivorship.
Especially if you’ve been at war with your body for years (say, pre-diagnosis), this may be a leap. But I ask you this; is it possible to at least acknowledge that you HAVE a body, one deserving of love in all its forms?
I’ve come up with a list of things to celebrate your body for. Can you imagine what it would feel like to acknowledge its power for the following?
Its ability to heal and recover
Its raw strength, even on days you may not feel particularly strong
Its power to get you off the sofa and into the kitchen for a nourishing snack
Its miraculous digesting and metabolizing of food for energy and curative properties
Its tendency toward balance in support of normal blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm, blood sugar levels and kidney function
Its signaling, subtle and strong alike, that alerts you to feeling hungry, full, cold, hot, so you can respond in kind and keep yourself safe
Its ability to bounce back from surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, medication. Perhaps not looking or feeling as it did before, but here, solidly on earth, participating in the messiness and reality of life
I could go on.
The miracle that is your body deserves your love and respect, because it is exactly this miracle that will get you through, regardless of what that looks like for you.
The world as you know it has been upended.
But your body is still here for you, doing its best to rock steady and rock on. What do you say to helping it along, now and in the new year to come? Let me know your thoughts in the comments – I’d love to hear your take on this! xx
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Thanks for reading my blog post!
Most survivors of hormone-positive breast cancer get anxious when they think about what to eat after finishing treatment, so I’ve created the Peaceful Plate program to help survivors eat with peace, not panic.
When you eat with peace, you feel free to enjoy your food again.
Ready to eat with peace?
CLICK HERE and grab your FREE copy of The Five Foods Survivors Should Eat
CLICK THIS LINK and watch my 2-minute Peaceful Plate program video!
Follow me on Instagram @hormone.breastcancer.dietitian
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your dietitian or doctor for guidance specific to your needs.
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