Andrea's Story

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Cancer touches us all. Whether we have it ourselves during our lifetime or someone we love has it, we are all affected by it. I am no different. The first time my mom had cancer, she was in her early 40s, about the same age that I am now. This was quite traumatic to my teenage world, but my mom would not be deterred from living her long, full life. She had travel to do (and still does!) Thanks to modern medicine and her steadfast will to overcome, she is still here with us today and I am eternally grateful.  This inspires me to help my clients, family and friends to both avoid cancer as well as increase the chances that they can survive it should it arise.

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When I first started studying oncology nutrition, it was because of my mom, but it turns out that it may have been to prepare me for what was to come. 

 

In February 2023, I did a preventative full body MRI at a company called Prenuvo, and it found that I had a 2.3 by 2.4cm mass in the right temporal lobe of my brain. About the size of a walnut. I had no idea, I was asymptomatic. I have been on a journey through the medical system since, culminating with surgery at Barrow Neurological in Phoenix, Arizona on April 5th, 2023. After surgery, I was released from the hospital and returned to mostly normal function remarkably fast. I credit that to the talents of my surgeon, Dr. Smith, and all the work I did preparing for surgery. As soon as I found out about the tumor, as my training instructs, I immediately went on a therapeutic ketogenic diet (also known as therapeutic carbohydrate reduction- very different from internet keto), and worked to mitigate any other contributing factors I could identify.  Two weeks after surgery, once pathology came in, we found out that it was a malignant grade 3 oligodendroglioma. While this is shocking news, my surgeon luckily was able to remove the full tumor and we are utilizing my diet, while monitoring labs (and using them to know where I need to work on my health), to avoid recurrence. The goal is to avoid chemo and radiation in my case, due to my cancer being of the brain. 

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Food has always played a central role in my life as a creative outlet, a health-transforming tool, and a source of joy. It is something that may end up saving my life. 

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I am forever grateful to have the education and contacts in the holistic oncology world to help inform every health decision I make and what I recommend to my clients.

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My Nutrition and Wellness Education:

To indulge my curiosity to learn more about food and health, I became a Certified Holistic Health Coach in 2010 through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and began working with clients to help them adjust their diets and lifestyles to encourage wellness.

 

In 2018, I became a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner through the Nutritional Therapy Association, which dove even deeper, teaching me hands-on ways to test my clients for dysfunction and nutritional deficiencies, as well as the nutritional solutions that help them feel and function better.

 

Once I started learning about food and health, I realized that there was always more to learn and I gobbled it up. In 2020, I became Restorative Wellness Practitioner (currently RWP Level 3) and I now offer functional lab testing including food sensitivity testing, GI Map stool testing, hormone testing and blood chemistry.

 

My passion is nutritional approaches to cancer. I completed my 250-hour certification to become an Oncology Nutrition Consultant (ONC) with the Oncology Nutrition Institute in early 2022. I also have studied with Alison Gannett, who has become my mentor as a practitioner and for surviving brain cancer.  I also completed a 6-month cancer nutrition program with Cancer Peace University in 2020. I have also studied advanced courses in ART (Autonomic Response Testing) and Applied Psycho-Neurobiology with Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt. I am continually updating my education through new courses, research and study.