My story

Hi, I’m Martina.
I’m a photographer, a traveller, a bit of a nerdy researcher, a breast cancer survivor and much more. I’m also a big foodie, and I love cooking and experimenting with food, and this is my story.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 and threw myself into researching the importance of cancer nutrition, how the food we consume can impact wellbeing, provides cancer-fighting chemicals and enhances the benefits of conventional medical treatments.

For more than 6 years I documented:

• foods that I cooked and ate throughout my chemo and various treatments
• the ingredients that I used and their health benefits
• and what helped me, supported by online medical research studies

How might this help you?

Are you considering changing your eating habits after being diagnosed with breast cancer?
Or perhaps you’d like to support someone you love and care for and simply don’t know where to start?

I understand you’re facing the most difficult time of your life and you might feel overwhelmed with all the information about the different treatments ahead of you and their different side effects. You’ll face some very important decisions about your personal and work life, and the changes in your lifestyle.

Lots of women want to start eating healthy after being diagnosed with breast cancer. But there’s so much information out there, some of which can be conflicting, misleading, and sometimes quite costly.
I strongly believe that if there’s any information that can really help people during their illness, then it should be for free.

Where did my interest in food come from, and what’s my background?

Since I was a little girl, I loved being in the kitchen, smelling and tasting every food I found. I especially loved creating new ice cream flavours, trying different herbs and spices, and making up new recipes with whatever was in the cupboard or fridge.

It has always been a hugely important part of my life, from TV cooking shows and magazines as a student to organising 3-course dinner parties for my close family. I lived in Italy for 3 years and travelled a lot around the world, especially around Asia. I was constantly trying new foods, learning more and more about different cuisines, and then cooking them for my family and friends when back home.

I come from a medical family where, from my early childhood, the biggest priority was always our health and wellbeing. That, combined with my attention to detail, analytical thinking, problem-solving and methodical skills developed during my studies at the Technical University, where my favourite subjects were physics and chemistry, became an ideal ground for my research.

Diagnosis and how it all started

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, my whole world fell apart, but I decided to take action and take control.
I had months of complex treatments ahead of me but kept telling myself over and over again that there was a way of getting through this.
I decided to change my lifestyle and habits, and what I thought was already a good diet, and realised, quite quickly, that there was so much more I could change.

What was my plan?

• to turn my body into a hostile environment for the cancer cells to thrive and make them weak
• to successfully get through the chemo, make it more effective and increase my survival
• to reduce fatigue and stay in charge of my weight and digestion through my diet
• at the same time to make sure my body was getting all the nutrients needed to recover and stay fit and strong for the next chemo cycle ahead

Why I focus my energy on nutrition and its benefits?

I spent a lot of time researching and studying, and it became clear that cancer nutrition needed to be my main focus. Good nourishment is incredibly important as it:

• strengthens the body
• supports our immune system
• reduces inflammation
• speeds up the recovery time between the chemos and after surgery
• helps to cope with chemotherapy side effects
• helps in combating weight loss during the treatments
• helps to control cancer cells from growing

Eating specific foods really can increase the body’s immunity, which is shockingly low during the chemo, as I learned very quickly.
Moreover, they can also make some chemo drugs more effective.

There are thousands of medical research studies proving that food is full of bioactive natural compounds with medicinal properties.
And that many foods have natural anti-carcinogenic properties as well.

Furthermore, a combination of certain foods has a much greater effect than a single ingredient.
Researchers have shown that there’s a synergy between the various phytochemicals, which works to slow down or block mechanisms that promote cancer growth.

So why is my website different?

Let me show you.
I started looking at plant chemicals in various ingredients and their cancer-fighting properties, all sorts of different diets and their health benefits, and the most suitable cooking methods.

And I came across lots of anti-cancer recipes and a huge amount of medical and pharmaceutical research studies.
But I couldn’t find any single source that would offer both: recipes and a scientific explanation of the cancer-fighting properties of the different ingredients used in them.

So I decided to combine it all and create recipes that are chemo-friendly and are purely based on the ingredients and their benefits.
In short, every single ingredient in every single recipe has its own purpose.

At the same time, I made a database of individual ingredients listing their health benefits here.

To complete this, I also built a list of phytochemicals and their properties, based on the scientific research, which you can find in the Science bits article here.

How I matched ingredients and recipes with my chemo cycles

As you may already know, chemo treatments affect the body in so many ways. Your appetite and digestion change and your experience of taste as well.
I experimented with different foods during my chemo on myself. I took notes of all meals and ingredients I’ve eaten and closely monitored if I could digest and taste them or not.
It was one serious trial and error exercise, but the result was better than expected!

I put together a detailed meal plan for every part of my chemo cycle and divided meals into 3 categories, making sure that I was getting as many nutrients as possible into my body, from the very start of each cycle, all the way through, until its end.

Consequently, I’ve managed to keep my bodyweight stable throughout my chemo (and until this day), and supplied my body with lots of powerful phytochemicals, which I believe, made my treatments more effective.

Read more about my meal plan here.

And here is how my body responded

• every new chemo cycle was easier to get through than the previous one
• my tumours started to shrink, and cancer that had spread to my lymph nodes disappeared after just 2 chemo cycles
• once the chemo was over, I was told that I had an excellent response to it
• originally planned and 3 weeks long radiotherapy treatment was no longer needed
• my energy levels were high all the way through the chemo
• I returned more than 100 anti-sickness pills back to the hospital, as they were not needed
• my blood sugar was low, resulting in a very low risk of developing diabetes
• cholesterol in my blood reduced as well, lowering my risk of having any cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years to 0.8% (according to NHS Health Check results)

So, what’s next?

It got me thinking of all those women out there, mothers and grannies, sisters and cousins, aunties, wives, daughters, friends or colleagues going through their breast cancer chemo. They might be ready to change their diet, but not know what to eat and might benefit from my research and experience.

I knew it was time to put my love for cooking and science, knowledge of ingredients, photography and research skills into action and help to support these women.
I want to share my experience gained over the past couple of years and what helped me get through my chemo successfully.

My mission is to:

• help people going through their breast cancer chemo and also after their treatments have ended
• make conventional medical breast cancer treatment more effective
• increase the quality of life for breast cancer patients
• increase their chance of survival
• raise awareness and educate people on the importance of a healthy and balanced diet

Many women get a chemo brain during their chemo, and I was one of them.
I was unable to remember little things and also struggled to remember what I read.
That is why I created easy and simple to follow, step by step photo recipes, as I found it much easier to look at the pictures than to read.

I share my experience from this very long journey and what I’ve learned and tested on myself. It’s based on scientific research studies and evidence to inspire you and help you get through this incredibly difficult time.

During your journey, you’ll see that you’re much stronger than you think you are.

These are the nutrition tips and the dishes that kept me full and helped me get through my chemo and beyond.

Martina
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