Hello there!
I’m Femi Niyi and my goal is to help you live the anticancer way by using wholesome ingredients to create meals that nourish, repair and fortify.
Given that you’re here, I’m sure you want to know how my life journey ended up on this path 🙂
About 4 and half years ago back in my home country Nigeria, I had to undergo surgery to extract my right kidney after many months of ill health. The pathology report came back as stage 3 cancer and to make the news more surreal, I received it on my birthday! What a birthday gift I hear you say.
Oh well, and so began my journey into the world of cancer. I started adjuvant chemotherapy for a few weeks but it almost killed me so I stopped, I was so afraid I wouldn’t survive it. Then I discovered the power of food and its amazing abilities and never looked back.
Today, living in the UK with my husband and 2 daughters, I want to share how my family and I eat post-cancer diagnosis. I’ve always been fascinated by food from different cultures so I have trained my family to have a wide palette, the difference now though is I’m more selective in the type of food I make. Our daily food and lifestyle choices can aid us to live healthily, cancer or not, and I look to making it much easier to prepare healthy meals no matter where you are in the world, without the usual grumble the thought of making everyday meals can bring.
So here, I share wholesome, anti-inflammatory recipes, encouraging adding more plants to give meals an increased nutritional profile. I do cook some animal protein now compared to when I was still healing from cancer, however, I ensure I buy organically/pasture-raised animal protein from the butchers. You would not find me using ultra-processed ingredients or deli meats such as sausages, bacon, ham etc. That life is far behind me now. Preventing disease is much easier than trying to heal, I know that first-hand, so a daily consciousness of an anti-inflammatory lifestyle is important.
I wish I had the information I have now when I was undergoing treatment, my experience would probably have been different but I’m extremely grateful for the path I took.
Do you have cancer?
Or do you have a loved one who does? I know it’s tough and can be extremely overwhelming but taking one day at a time helps to manage anxiety. I have resources here that can be of immense help through your journey. You are not alone, so don’t listen to that nasty voice in your head that says you are. You can read what I did in the early years of my cancer diagnosis here. A plant-based, anti-inflammatory (i.e. whole foods without animal protein, added sugars and ultra-processed foods) lifestyle is essential in fighting cancer so you might want to start there. I have many recipes that you can look at on the blog. As an African, I know all this can sound strange especially when our foods are animal protein-heavy, so it requires having an open mind and the determination to do what you can to heal. Click on this link to learn more about what I did and how you can nourish yourself on your journey to health.