Engaging the Whole Person in Healing

Engaging the Whole Person in Healing for breast cancer survivors

For healthy women, this book provides reliable nutritional information that can help
you to stay cancer free. If you have had breast cancer, we explain how to use
nutrition and lifestyle practices to minimize the chance of a recurrence.

Nutrition for the body comes from food; nutrition for the soul comes from
hope, faith, and love. Combining optimal bodily nutrition from fresh, whole foods
with soul nutrition from kindness and compassion communicates to our genes that
we are committed to making the most of life. Whatever toxicity, trauma, or
malnutrition may have contributed to the altered gene expression that we call cancer,
these patterns may shift as we surround ourselves with love and good wishes while
undergoing treatment. If indeed an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,
then our intention is to provide you with information, skills, and Eating for Health
guidelines and recipes that you can use to foster vibrant health. May you live a long,
full life knowing that the “C” word stands for many things besides cancer, including
courage and commitment to change and growth.


A Message from a Survivor

To those facing diagnosis or recurrence, I’m delighted to welcome you to this book
by Ed Bauman and Helayne Waldman. Being a breast cancer survivor myself and
having worked with hundreds of breast cancer patients over the last fifteen years, I
think I have a pretty good idea of what goes through someone’s mind when she is
dealing with a cancer diagnosis or is concerned about recurrence. You may first
experience some panic and fear, but I hope learning and enlightenment will quickly
follow. Everyone who has been through this experience is overwhelmed at first.

If you are currently in a place of panic or fear, it will pass, and you will be ready
to move on to educating yourself. The most exciting part about learning about
breast cancer is that there is so much to learn, and there are so many aspects of this
disease we can take into our own hands to improve our own outcomes. This book
provides a road map to these steps.

A lot of information is contained herein, so do not expect to read this book as
quickly as you might read a book-club selection. Go through this book at a pace
that’s comfortable for you; you may sometimes have to put down the book and pick
it up the next day where you left off. The book isn’t going anywhere, nor is the
information. Take your time with the material, reading and rereading the parts that
pertain especially to you.

The speakers who come to my conference each year and the authors of this book
talk a lot about biochemical individuality, which means that some risk factors
discussed here may pertain to you and others may not. The point of individualized
care and self-care is to recognize and understand your individual differences and to
work with them first and foremost. So concentrate on the chapters that call your
name. There is no right or wrong way; there is your way. Making informed
decisions is what works best.

It may help to take notes along the way on issues you may want to discuss with
your practitioner. I encourage you to discuss what you read with your practitioner to
get his or her perspective and to share yours (you are so important to the decisionmaking
process). The “To Do” list at the end of each chapter is your guide to taking
action. Refer to each list as many times as you need to help put your personal plan in
motion. The material will become second nature to you before you know it. Refer to
the appendixes for all sorts of backup information, such as pantry lists, recipes, and
suggested testing. This is not a one-time read; rather, it is a resource that you can
refer to again and again. Remember that the “Last Word” sections are all from
women who have successfully taken the same journey as you—women like me.

Finally, I suggest using this book not as a stopping place, but as a jumping-off
place. Find areas that are relevant, and follow up with your own research. There’s
nothing more empowering than walking into your practitioner ’s office with a
wallop of data, and an open and curious mind. Best of luck on your journey from
one who has been there and back!

—ANN FONFA BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR, FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF THE ANNIE APPLESEED PROJECT