Time to grab a cup of joe (or bottle of ice water with this heat!) and settle in for another great self-love reflection and story. Remember, I am sharing YOUR strengths and stories now because you all are just so dang inspiring. This week comes courtesy of Alex from Fighting Cancer with Food. Her story gives me chills. So read it and then give Alex some love with a visit to her blog and/or a hello in the comments. You want to know this chick!

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Hey there! I’m Alex...

...and it is absolutely wonderful to meet you.

I feel a little uncomfortable writing this. I’m better at “It’s just what anyone would have done,” and then changing the subject. Possibly with granola. I’m really good at granola.

But if I’ve learnt anything from reading Tina’s blog, it’s that my triumphs are worth shouting aloud. My strengths and accomplishments are not average or every-day. They are mine and I own them. Own them with me? Let’s jump in at the deep end.

In April 2010 my Mum was diagnosed with cancer for the third time. First was Breast Cancer in 2002. Then secondary cancer in her spine. Third time’s the charm and she ended up with Advanced Breast Cancer that metastasised to her liver. It was as if the disease had finally reached its breaking point. It was pissed off and had come back with a vengeance. The first two times had some side effects, but I began to think that the world had been lying to everyone. Cancer wasn't that bad. Chemotherapy didn't make you ill.

Well, they weren’t lying.

I was in the final year of my degree, just 4 weeks away my dissertation deadlines (yes, plural. I was an absolutely geek and did two...it seemed like a good idea at the time). Despite all that, there was no way I was leaving her to go through treatment on her own.

It was stressful, tiring and incredibly emotional, but I don’t regret a single second of
it. I attended all of Mum’s early appointments with her. From the point when we were still hoping that chemo would shrink the tumour in her liver to a manageable size to the point when a nurse suggested that she stay at a local hospice for a few days, for what they called ‘respite care’. Little did I know that the next time she would come home, would be the week before she died - three short months after her diagnosis. We went through some truly horrific things at the end, but I was there holding her hand.

One thing we decided together was that we needed to kick cancer’s ass. It had obviously taken a liking to her body, so we needed to make her body as unwelcoming as possible. We began to look into the links between diet and cancer and discovered that there is so much evidence out there for what food can do to cancer cells. I researched big time, and we completely overhauled our diet.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to save her, but it ignited something in me that I cannot forget. What started as a little bit of research became the passion that has managed to drag me through losing her. Learning about what I could do to protect myself against this destructive disease gave me something positive to focus on, and it’s completely changed my outlook on life. I love food more than I ever have, but I am also aware of how we can use it to arm ourselves against the things that feel out of our control.

Okay, deep breaths. That’s the background of it all.

Tina’s Sunday posts are all about self-love, and I wanted to shout out about my story for two reasons:

First off, because I never do. People tell me how strong I have been, and more often than not I will brush off their compliments. But you know what? I did good. I rocked my degree. I don’t know how, but I managed to come out with First Class Honours.It was pretty incredible that I did so well, and my Mum found out my results while she could still tell me how proud she was of me. I’ll never forget that look on her face.

I was at my Mum’s side when she needed me the most and I know how much she
appreciated the small things. Glasses of water after she’d been sick; laughing instead of
crying; hugs; someone to watch daytime TV with. It all mattered.

I am inspirational. This is the one I get most embarrassed about, but I hope it carries on. I started my blog Fight Cancer With Food as a way to tell people about how easy and tasty it is to live the anti-cancer lifestyle. While I don’t expect everyone who reads it to change their diet in the same way, I have received so many lovely comments about how amazing it is. And no, it isn’t all crazy health food – I like serious comfort food – I just know the simple ways to anti-cancerfy your favourites.

For the second reason, I simply hope that some good might come out of my Mum’s illness. I am strong because of her strength, so it feels right that I might go on to help someone else because of it. It hasn’t been easy, and of course there have been (and still are) some truly dark days, but I have come out stronger. Here I am, a year later, and I know that she would be incredibly proud to read this post.

Find the good in awful situations. Live with every fibre of your body. And somewhere along the way, fill that body with granola. Because life should be long and taste fantastic.

• What is something that has sparked your own healthy living passions?

FFF’s weekly Self-Love Reflections have now taken a new spin – they will feature one of YOUR awesome stories of growth, self-discovery, strength, and self-love every week. I can’t wait for this new twist on an old favorite of mine because each of you inspire me every day. Let’s kick things off with Kristin from the STUFT Mama blog!

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After years of struggling with binge eating, over exercising and infertility, God graciously blessed our family with two miracles in December of 2009. Yes, TWO! My husband says we like to do things the hard way around here in the STUFT house. It’s a long and incredible story (and has something to do with a trip to Belize), but I’ll save the details. Here are my little “miracles”.

Throughout my entire pregnancy I was living my dream. I wanted to be that pregnant lady that kept running, working out and staying fit (big belly and all). I wanted it bad enough that I made it happen. As a fitness instructor, I continued teaching classes until I was about 7 months pregnant. I never felt that big, but I remember getting a lot of weird looks and comments and now, as I look back at pictures, I realize why. Ha!

When my doctor pulled the plug on my running I still kept active using the elliptical, walking and lifting light weights. I even went for a walk the morning I gave birth (with my water being broken and not knowing).

When I look back on my whole pregnancy, I actually think I was the healthiest I’ve ever been in my entire life those 9 months. My whole view about food changed. For years pre-pregnancy I had struggled with binging. I cringe when I think about the stress I put my poor body through. I would go from eating my way through entire bags of processed food and/or sweets to restricting calories and exercising 2-3 hours a day. I turned to food instead of dealing with my emotions.

Pregnancy changed everything. I realized that I had been blessed with an amazing gift and I needed to take care of my body and my babies the best that I could. My mindset changed and instead of having a list of foods that were off-limits except for special occasions (which added to the desire to binge), NO foods were off limits. I was focused on eating for health rather than eating to lose weight. I knew my body needed a certain amount of calories a day to feed two babies and I exercised to FEEL GOOD rather than to burn off all the “junk food” I had eaten previously or because I “had” to. Really, as big as my stomach was, I felt great.

After the birth of my boys, things got a little rocky. I thought I had left the old binging Kristin behind. I got back into my workout routine and lost the baby weight rather quickly.

However, after a few weeks of sleep deprivation and struggling to figure out how the heck to be a mom, my binging came back with vengeance. It felt like the only thing I could control. Really though, it just added to the complexity of being a new mom and trying to figure out what direction my life was going to go. Not only did I feel guilty that I ate that way, but I was so disappointed in myself that I had gone back to my old ways (after finally being “normal” during my pregnancy).

One thing I did do though was keep my focus on being active. I went running as my “therapy”. I pushed that stroller everywhere I could and I resumed teaching my fitness classes 5 weeks after the boys were born. Even despite my old eating habits, I managed to run a half marathon when the boys were just 4 months old.

Somewhere along the way I crawled my way out of the hole I had fallen back into. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t fun. It was a lot of trying to figure out the root cause of the issues, finding other ways to deal with my feelings and being creative with ways to distract myself away from the kitchen. Slowly and surely, by focusing on my boys, my health, and trying to become the mom that I wanted to be, I feel like I have overcome a major obstacle. There’s a part of me that still struggles, but I don’t act on my anxious feelings like I used to. It’s a very long process and a lifelong journey - the whole idea behind my blog and the “journey to find balance”.

Over the past two years since my boys were born, along with many sleepless nights, countless tears and a lot of wasted time second guessing myself and my decisions (rather than just trusting God in the process), I have finally

• gotten to a healthy place with my eating habits
• quit my full-time job as a PE teacher
• started my own business
• become a personal trainer
• run my first full marathon and 8 other races (3 of them pushing the stroller and one of them being my PR for my half marathon time)

People CAN change their habits and views about food. I did and I hope to inspire some others along the way through my STUFT mama blog. I hope to see you there!

• What is one way you have changed for the positive in the last 5 years?