“It is a serious thing / just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world.” Mary Oliver’s words echo to me as I put together this week’s menu. I find myself feeling extremely grateful, inspired, humbled, and furious all at once.

I am currently leading a weekly class on cancer-fighting nutrition with “ The Breast Cancer Goddesses“. I am inspired and humbled by their stories and incredible strength. I am profoundly grateful for my health and education, and I am outraged that millions of tons of chronic disease-causing toxic chemicals are being dumped into our soils and food systems every year, poisoning the very foundation of life—Mother Earth and our health—in the name of capitalist and patriarchal profit. I am equally frustrated by the lack of nutrition education and food-as-medicine training in our schools, institutions, and standard medical systems.

This week’s menu is dedicated to all the cancer-fighting goddesses and warriors. The celery juice is an excellent sugar-free, cellular-hydrating electrolyte for post-chemo treatment, and it can be made in a blender in just five minutes; no juicer is necessary. The raspberry cashew orange crème is dairy-free and sugar-free—both of which are inflammatory—and is easy to eat, soothing, nourishing, gentle, and delicious. The menu also features a moorish munch mix, veggie bowls, Tuscan lentils, citrus-roasted fish, and a simple, crisp salad. All recipes include whole, nutrient-dense ingredients that are easy to prepare, can be made in advance, and deeply nourishing.

Inflammation is the root cause of many diseases, so adopting an anti-inflammatory eating style is essential for good health. Buying local food grown with regenerative practices from farmers’ markets helps ensure that the food you eat contains fewer toxic chemicals while supporting regenerative agriculture and promoting our health.

A few frightening and very serious food for thought facts and figures to chew on…
According to preliminary U.S. Geological Survey estimates for 2024, roughly 320 million pounds (about 160,000 tons) of glyphosate are applied annually in American agriculture, with usage likely even higher—see the USGS Pesticide National Synthesis Project for more details.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over 500 active pesticide ingredients and about 400 active herbicide ingredients are in use in 2024 and registered in American agriculture. Each is intentionally toxic to target pests and plants, yet many also pose risks to human health and the environment.