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Be Healthy Through Breast Cancer Treatment

Yes, you read that right. You can be healthy through breast cancer treatment!

You can be healthy while your body is being ravaged by chemo drugs for your breast cancer.

I did it and I’m nothing special. So you can too!

First of all,

Don’t Believe the Lies Your Body Tells You

One of the first appointments I had before I started chemo treatment, was to meet with a nurse who explained the drugs I’d be getting and what to expect. He said most patients won’t feel like eating and that most patients are extremely fatigued.  So he said I should eat whatever and whenever I could and rest as much as possible. He told me to

“Just listen to your body.”

To which I replied,

‘But my body lies.’

And we both had a good laugh about it. But it’s true!

My body will tell me that I’m tired when I’m really just bored. It’ll tell me that I’m hungry when really I’m thirsty. And my head tells me all the time that I’ll exercise tomorrow when we know that we won’t!

Most of us know what we have to do to be healthy.

We know that we need to eat healthily (more veggies, fruit, and water and less junk food and soda).

We know that we need to exercise (more movement and less couch potato-ing).

And we know that we need to get enough sleep.

I pretty much ignored all that until I found out I had breast cancer. Then my health/mortality became front and center!

Mind Over Matter

I stopped eating so much sugary junk and ate what I knew was good for me.

I got up off the couch and exercised for at least 30 minutes every day. Sometimes it was just a few minutes here and there walking the dog that added up to 30 minutes for the day.

And I let myself sleep instead of binge-watching tv late at night. (I know it’s tempting to get your mind off of things that way.)

So I basically stopped “listening” to what I thought was my body saying when I was hungry or tired. Because here’s the thing, you will lie to yourself. It’s not your body. It’s you!

You will say to yourself that you’re going through chemo so you should eat whatever you can even if it’s junk food. But if you’re really hungry, then how come you’re only hungry for junk food?

You will say to yourself that you’re body aches so you should just sit on the couch instead. But guess what? The less you move around, the achier you get! It’s a vicious spiral! I know it sucks but once you start moving, you’ll want to keep moving and you’ll feel better for it.

And you’ll say to yourself that you’ve had a hard day so you’re just going to zone out watching tv instead of sleeping. Although I completely understand wanting to zone out, being well-rested will help you more tomorrow than whatever was on tv tonight… I mean, unless it’s something really good. Lol!

Many times, you’ll find yourself saying, “I’m going through something right now, and I deserve to [eat this pint of ice cream, to sit here and do nothing, to crawl under the covers and cry.” And yes, there are times when this can really help you feel better but you know what you really deserve?

What you deserve is to live!

And eating better, keeping your body moving, and sleeping enough will help your body heal itself.

Really Listen to Your Body

Most of us don’t really listen to our bodies. It wasn’t until the health scare, to put it lightly, of a breast cancer diagnosis that really snapped me to my senses and made me realize I hadn’t really been listening to my body. I only thought I had been but those were lies I had told myself (remember the beginning of this post?) because I just didn’t feel like exercising.

But since chemotherapy drugs suppress your immune system and can make you tired, I figured I wanted to get as healthy as possible before starting the treatment.  Plus, I figured I wanted to be in better condition so that it would be easier to recover after treatment. And I was right. It totally worked for me.

I didn’t gain the 20lbs during chemo that’s really common from eating junk food and being sedentary.

I got myself exercising regularly so that my body was in a good routine before chemo even started.

These changes allowed me to listen to my body better and be healthy during breast cancer treatments. By really listening to my body, I realized when I was actually hungry or tired.

Yes, chemo finally caught up to me in the last couple of days of treatment. I slept for about 17 hours straight. That felt amazing!

And if that’s what you need all throughout treatment, go for it! But don’t lie to yourself when that’s not really what your body needs. Remember, what your body needs is for you to live!

You can be healthy through breast cancer treatment. I did it and so can you!

Were you able to stay or get healthy during treatment? Share your tips in the comments!