I am often asked why I am so passionate about food and lifestyle choices.
So, let’s back it up to March 2019 as the story get’s “juicy” there (pun intended).
Like many people, my road to considering the role of nutrition in health began with a family crisis. This was in May of 2019, when my wife, Gayle, was diagnosed with stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer, with so many tumors in her bones, it was listed as too many to count. She went from doing 13 mile hikes at the Grand Tetons (just a few months earlier), to being taken to doctor appointments in a wheelchair.
We were shocked and devastated. We thought we were living a decently healthy lifestyle of exercise and good food. Boy, were we wrong.
Like many cancer patients, Gayle turned her care over to her oncologist and started down the path of Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy treatments. After the second treatment, she had new scans done and those scans showed a “positive response” to the treatments. We were thrilled, until we found out from her oncologist that this was good, but most likely there would be no further improvement. He told us that Gayle would never hike again. He said the drugs he was giving her would eventually stop working and he would have to find a different drug for her to take; it too would eventually stop working. But, he said he would then find another drug and then another and another. He left us feeling there was no real hope with his treatment plan and that she was headed down a path of decline.
As you can imagine, we kicked into high gear when we heard his prognosis; we put on our research hats and started searching for what we could do to heal her cancer and support her over all health and survival. Our research led us to Germany. We spent four weeks at a German cancer clinic where she was under the care of one of the top four integrative oncologists in Germany. His treatment plan was integrative and holistic. There she received treatments like full body hyperthermia and local hyperthermia, Vitamin C infusions, Oxygen therapy, Ozone therapy, Thymus peptide therapy, daily detox protocols, magnetic field therapy and of course, amazing food and nutrition.
The last one was somewhat of a no brainer for me as I am a foodie and believe that everything we eat or put in our bodies has an effect on us. It can be good or bad, immediate or long-term, predictable or not, but one way or another, there will be an effect. To me, food was the answer. It gave me something I could do every day, several times a day to nurture both of us and foster our health. And through the process, food became my greatest ally. It truly empowered me. It allowed me to make a significant difference in a situation that otherwise felt out of, and beyond, my control.
My passion is driven by my desire to share with others what I have learned about the healing and empowering aspects of eating the right foods, drinking carrot juice, and making healthy lifestyle choices. The message of hope behind this story, is that we are not unique or special. It can happen for you too.
Three years after Gayle’s stage IV diagnosis, she has gone from Stage IV to no active cancer. She is thriving. Her bones are healing. She is back to hiking 5-6 miles and doing all the activities she loved doing prior to her diagnosis.
It was a year into this path with Gayle that I remade my life, diving deep into research and going back to school to pursue the knowledge and credentials needed to practice as a functional nutrition counselor and a holistic cancer coach. I have become the food driven strategist and nutrition expert that Gayle and I wish we would have had at the beginning of our journey. My desire is to help others find their own path to understanding food as medicine and bring the science of nutrition and lifestyle into their everyday life.
Health begins in the Kitchen, let’s find our way back there.
Yetta Blair, CFNC, CHCC
Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor
Certified Holistic Cancer Coach
