Definition for Ladies Spring 2014 Issue 001 April 2014 | Page 40

SoulSurvivor Kathryn Lorusso shares her amazing plant-based victory over cancer I ­ have been an active, speeding human bullet my entire life. I raced through after school contests in elementary school, track meets in junior high, cross country and cheerleading in high school, and running, yoga, weight lifting and cycling in my adult years. I was a stud and ate animal protein to stay muscular and strong. That’s what we’ve always been told to do, right? At age 50, I found out that was dead wrong. My daily diet included chicken, lean meats, low-fat dairy and very little grains. I ate spinach here and there, but green veggies, carrots, squash and other colorful nutrients were generally strangers to my kitchen. I was working out like a fiend and felt super strong; what could possibly happen? My answer arrived one evening as I was soaping up in the shower after a long run. I felt a twinge around my right armpit and reached up to find a small, hard lump. It was ironic that my gynecologist had shown me a rubber model of a breast with cancerous lumps six months earlier as part of my exam. I had left his office blissfully confident that those lumps would never happen to me. As soon as I touched the alien lump on my own body in the shower that night, though, I knew what it was. 39 »