Shireen Abdullah: (00:02) 

Podcasting from Dallas, Texas, I am Shireen and this is the Yumlish Podcast. Yumlish is working to empower you to take charge of your health through diet and exercise and reduce the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. We hope to share a unique perspective and a culturally relevant approach to managing these chronic conditions with you each week.

Shireen Abdullah: (00:36) 

Lauren Anton is a speaker, registered dietitian, and breast cancer survivor passionate about helping people to reconnect with their bodies, breaking free from diet culture noise, and learning how to treat their bodies with compassion and respect. She helps audiences, groups, and individuals learn how to reimagine their bodies as a home and recognize food and movement as conduits for a deep connection with the body. Welcome, Lauren.

Lauren Anton: (01:02) 

Oh, thank you so much for having me, Shireen. 

Shireen Abdullah: (01:04)

It is such a pleasure having you on. So, Lauren, you have a deep personal connection to what you do, and that’s where I really want to start out. Help us understand and help our audience here understand this unique perspective that you bring both as a dietitian, a breast cancer survivor. I mean, can you share a bit more about your journey, both, again, professionally, personally, and how these experiences have really shaped your approach to what you do within nutrition?

Lauren Anton: (01:30) 

I once had a client say, wow, you bring everything that’s ever happened to you and that you’ve gone through to the work with your clients. And I was like, 100%. I was a D1 runner athlete. So that got me interested in sports nutrition, of course.

Lauren Anton: (01:47) 

I saw a lot of disordered eating and I saw a lot of my own disordered eating, especially when I stopped running. It was just like I’d lost my identity. That was really tough. That was a tough transition for me. You know, I went from training like a D1 athlete to just being a regular person, you know, just in and out of diet, in and out of, you know, over exercise, in and out of all of that.

Lauren Anton: (02:11) 

Learning about sports nutrition like really helped me and helped me to fuel my body for whatever it was I was doing. You know, I’ve run marathons. I’ve, you know, hiked really long distances, all these things. In 2023, I got diagnosed with breast cancer, which was that was a toughie.

Lauren Anton: (02:27) 

I really got to practice what I preach at that point. And it’s tough. I mean, this work is hard. This like starting to respect your body and accept change. And I turned 52 this year. The longer I live, the more it’s like, wow, the body is just all about change. And so going through breast cancer treatment, lot of body shifts.

Lauren Anton: (02:47) 

having to part with clothing that I’m like, I don’t fit in you anymore. Goodbye. You know, I have also had a son. My body shifted a little bit then, you know, not much, but like it did, you know, like I was like, oh, I remember putting on stuff and it’s like it fit, but it was like, huh, it looks like I’m wearing someone else’s clothes. So my style shifted around that time. So, but with the breast cancer, a lot of body shifts. I had hormone positive breast cancer. So I didn’t continue to be on hormone blockers.

Lauren Anton: (03:17) 

How my body reacted to the two hormone blockers I’m on is like a lot of shifting, just a lot of fat masking. And so I’m like, oh, wow, I don’t fit in any of my clothes anymore. And having to be OK with that, you know, having to be in total acceptance. Like when I say acceptance, I’m not like lay down and die.

Lauren Anton: (03:36) 

It’s more like, OK, I need to come to a true new appreciation for this body that has gone through so much. That’s so incredibly powerful. I think that lived experience element of it, man, it really moves you. I mean, not only moves you to the core, but it teaches you. And in fact, this is where my next question is going, really. Like, what did this process and going through recovery teach you that textbooks, drugs,

Lauren Anton: (03:59) 

training just never could a friend of mine recently said to me right from the and she said an expletive but like it’s just right from the poop right from the difficult and because I was like she goes you don’t need to be at the end stage of like some perfection you know in fact more authentic and what will help people more is how you need to remember how you got through the difficulties and

Lauren Anton: (04:23) 

how you got through, you know, gosh, I mean, what came into my mind just now is back in the day, you know, in my 20s, being called mean things about my body, you know, by men, actually. Honestly, like everyone’s going to go through body changes in menopause, whether or not you have breast cancer. I’m in a medical menopause at this point. And I wonder if now I’m just in a menopause. I don’t know, because I’m on those meds. But being able to remember very clearly what it’s like to

Lauren Anton: (04:48) 

walk through the swamp of our own minds is so important. And that’s what lived experience gives us, that a textbook can’t. Because a textbook is dry. Training is dry. You know what? One of my favorite rotations in my clinical was being on the cancer unit. I spent a long time there. And I just like sat up.

Lauren Anton: (05:05) 

pulled up a chair, which is unheard of. They were like usually standing and got like 2.5 minutes to deal with this person. And it’s like, no, I sat down and I was like, hey, you know, and then we just talk, we connect. I think it’s just being able to connect on a human level with anyone we’re working with, I think is just vital.

Shireen Abdullah: (05:23) 

You know, I think, Lauren, you mentioned a couple of things in there. And one of the one of the things you mentioned there is like going through this journey. I think one of the big things for me, at least, that jumps out is like you get all sorts of experiences, right? You’ll get on the one hand people who will sympathize, like you said, you know, even like the brunt of it, you know, going through that. After coming out of the other side, did recovery change how you define your journey ahead, be it hard days, be it good days? Like, how has it shaped you?  

Lauren Anton: (05:53) 

I think it has made me more self-compassionate. That was something I struggled with. And I’ve had friends pointed out like the way like, wow, you are rough how you speak to yourself. And I don’t speak to, you know, like they’re like, you don’t speak to me like that. Why do you speak to yourself? And I’m like, oh, I don’t even know it. Right. So.

Lauren Anton: (06:12) 

That was pointed out to me. And I was like, just going through this whole thing has made me really examine how I recreate past trauma patterns. And I’m like, I don’t need to be my own perp. You know, I really don’t. And I tell my clients that, hey, watch for when you’re being your own perp. How are you abusing yourself? Because now it’s you, right? And so being very aware. Again, like I tell my clients this, it’s like, how can I rephrase?

Lauren Anton: (06:42) 

You know, and it’s simple, Shireen. I have to move slower because I had some breast infections post reconstruction and which is unusual and odd and everyone’s concerned. They put me on some antibiotic that can cause tendon rupture. Unfortunately, I did have a tendon rupture in my knee. So I’ve had to really like rehab that over the past six months, you know, and I had surgery, obviously.

Lauren Anton: (07:04) 

I have had to really have some grace. You know, slowing down. I didn’t realize how fast I went through space. When I move really fast, I have fallen a couple times. I can’t walk as fast as I used to. I used to be the fastest walker. I’m still pretty fast.

Lauren Anton: (07:20) 

Anyone who listens to this, you still walk fast, Lauren. It’s actually ridiculous. So I’m like, I don’t need to move fast. I now go to bed earlier. I need to ease into my day. And it’s amazing how after one week it just became so easy. And now I’m not like rushing into my day and feeling frantic and rushed, which is how I live most of my life. So, yeah.

Shireen Abdullah: (07:42) 

Let me ask you a question around the nutrition element. What role does nutrition play in supporting the body during and after breast cancer treatment? Well, there’s a lot of things. And I think it’s really based in like a lot of fear, you know, like never eat sugar. You know, we know all the things. I almost don’t want to repeat them, but I kind of want to repeat them because it’s like, you know, like never eat this, never eat that, don’t eat this. And hey, you know what? If that works for you, my goodness, do it.

Lauren Anton: (08:09) 

I was talking to someone yesterday and I’m like, I don’t want to be the person who’s like, I don’t eat this, this, this, this, this, this, this. If I don’t have to be, because obviously if there’s a medical issue, I will respond. If I don’t have to, I’m like, I want to be able to meet my friend out for some pho. I want to be able to, you know, like go to ice cream. I really think coming from a point of body respect is key. I like, you know, making big dinners for my friends and family. I really do. So when I get full

Lauren Anton: (08:38) 

really fast i’m like i’ll have it later it’s okay so it is about like a deep listening to the body as it changes like literally every day you know like it comes with menopause like the appetite can decrease like that’s actual thing because our metabolisms decrease it’s and it’s about being honest like hey that gives me indigestion whereas it didn’t before

Lauren Anton: (09:01) 

You know, I used to be able to eat anything. And it’s like, I do that. I’m going to have some IBS issues. You know, I’m going to have some GI issues, I should say. 

Shireen Abdullah: (09:10)

Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, this actually, I want to dig into that one a little bit because you’re absolutely right, right? Like we hear about how cancer treatments can change appetite, taste, digestion, like you mentioned, sometimes making food feel like really the enemy when you really love food.

Shireen Abdullah: (09:26) 

Food, right? In reality, right? So how did you personally and professionally navigate that? 

Lauren Anton: (09:32)

Okay, so just something to say. Everyone reacts to, first of all, different cancers get different chemo regimens. Not all cancers get chemo regimens. So we’re all clear. I went through chemo six rounds every three weeks. I’m near a major hospital in Los Angeles. So I have access.

Lauren Anton: 09:48) 

you know, so I got to go in. So the nausea for me, I went in for my first round and I was like, that was horrible. And they were like, yikes, it was the first round supposed to be cumulative. It’s only going to get worse from here. So then they were like, we’re going to

Lauren Anton: (10:00) 

give you hydration the day after. So I went in for IV hydration and not just like at some like rando place. There’s a lot of that here in LA. At the chemo center, went in for hydration, anti-nauseals, all this stuff. So I always got my chemo on a Thursday. Then I went in for hydration on Friday. The weekend was always the hardest. And then on Monday or Tuesday, I went in for more hydration because I did not react well to chemo. And so because of that, the nausea was like very minimized.

Lauren Anton: (10:27) 

I was super lucky. I also had people bringing me food, so it allowed me to ask for help. You know, I was smart. When I felt well, I made like stuff like soups and froze them so that I could just pop it in. So nutritionally, everyone’s going to be different. I remember when I worked clinical rotation and I was in the cancer unit. If they’re in the hospital, they’re not doing well at all. So they’re reacting poorly.

Lauren Anton: (10:49) 

There was a lot of muscle wasting in terms of that. And we would give them very dense shakes. And it was always like, don’t eat your favorite foods. If the nausea was out of control, just eat bland. That’s why we gave them shakes so that they could get the most nutrition per sip. I did not have to go through that. I did not have to go through that because I was very lucky with the hydration.

Lauren Anton: (11:11) 

And I know my own mother who died of colon cancer in 2020, she didn’t get the hydration. And I’m like, she really should have. Ask for hydration, everyone. 

Shireen Abdullah: (11:21)

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry to hear that. And coming to sort of like this pressure on survivors, right? And I’m sure you’ve had a similar experience, which is like there’s just a lot of pressure on survivors to follow a strict anti-cancer diet, whatever that means.

Shireen Abdullah: (11:36) 

From your perspective as both a survivor, as an RD, what myths, misconceptions sort of exist here?

Lauren Anton: (11:45) 

I think food’s important, you know, and I do have to listen to my body like this past holiday season and then my birthdays right after. A lot of people were giving me a lot of sweets. I used to be able to be like, yeah. And I’m like, whoa, if I do, again, I have GI issues like major. And I’m like, that’s a new thing. And I have to have my sadness about it. When they say like, oh, the sugar, I don’t know what’s happening. It could be the fact that it’s, you know, a lot of like high fat. Who knows? And I don’t care. All I know, I can have like maybe one and then be done. That’s for me. That’s the

Lauren Anton: (12:14) 

problem with going online or reading a study and being like, okay, I have to follow this route. We are so individual. I mean, I’ve got microbiomes are so individual. So it’s going to depend like your hormones, everything is so individual and what you will be able to tolerate. I would say, again, I come back to like deep listening and being honest with yourself, you know, like, okay, I cannot, I cannot eat this. I do well when I eat this, I can have a little bit of that.

Lauren Anton: (12:41) 

You know what I mean? And I think getting hooked into everything has to be whole foods, everything because this is the cancer things, right? Like everything has to be whole foods, everything like something that’s going to be impossible for people. Add in things. That’s what I usually suggest to people is like, OK, so you’re having this. Why don’t we add in some frozen broccoli or a handful of baby greens? So get that color and get those nutrients in. Let’s get some fiber, you know, and then some people are sensitive to fiber. They can’t have it.

Lauren Anton: (13:11) 

Otherwise they’re having, honestly, they’re having diarrhea or constipation or intense gas. If that’s the case, we adjust that to that person. I’m like, don’t worry about recommendations right now. Listen to your body. If you are like getting stopped up or whatever GI issue is coming up for you, we adjust. The blanket advice would be like, don’t necessarily take every single piece of nutrition advice that’s out there and apply it to yourself; it needs to be adjusted for you.

Shireen Abdullah: (13:39)

Super helpful. We’re coming up toward the end of the episode, Lauren. I’m going to try to quickly sneak in two more questions for you, which is something you mentioned a minute ago, which was like asking for help. How can friends, family best support someone going through treatment, going through recovery, especially when it comes to food?

Lauren Anton: (13:55) 

First of all, ask, hey, do you need some food? You know, can I bring over the, you know, X, Y, Z? What do you like? What do you not like? My friends set up like a whole meal that people signed up for. I put on like no raw onions, no black beans. I’m sensitive to them. And I don’t like raw onions. And so like put your likes and dislikes and sensitivities on there. And then from there, you know, let people bring in the stuff. You’re going to want to like heat and serve or have it placed before you. I live alone.

Lauren Anton: (14:24) 

You know, I didn’t have a partner at the time helping me. My sister, bless her, was there for every chemo appointment and the hydration on Friday and then the hydration on Tuesday or Monday. But I was alone during that weekend and it was the hardest weekend. And I would just lay there with my kitty. I was so grateful for, you know, my friends who came and just dropped things off and left. But like food wise, ask them what they want, you know, and then also offer to clean their house.

Shireen Abdullah: (14:51) 

Love that. I like how you snuck that in there. I love it. With that, Lauren, we are toward the end of the episode. The last question for you is very important. How can our listeners connect with you and learn more about your work? 

Lauren Anton: (15:03)

I have a website. So LaurenAntonRD, as in registered dietitian.com. I’m on Instagram, LaurenAntonRD. That’s my handle. I’m on Facebook. Again, it’s like LaurenAntonRD. But that’s where you can find me.

Shireen Abdullah: (15:17) 

Sounds great. We’ll link up everything the show notes below this episode. With that, Lauren, thank you so much for your time. It was lovely. Your energy is just contagious. I truly appreciate you coming on and sharing your story. And to our listeners, thank you for listening to another episode of the Yumlish Podcast.

Shireen Abdullah: (15:32) 

How has illness, recovery, or a major life event changed your relationship with your body and food? Tell us about it. Head over to @Yumlish on Facebook, on Instagram. Find this podcast post. Comment below to tell us again. How has illness, recovery, or a major life event changed your relationship with your body and food? What has nourishment looked like for you today? Go over there. Comment. Tell us more. We’ll continue the conversation there. Lauren, an absolute pleasure. Thank you again. 

Lauren Anton: 

Yay. Thank you, Shireen.

Shireen Abdullah: (16:02) 

Thank you for listening to the Yumlish podcast. Make sure to follow us on social media at Yumlish underscore on Instagram and Twitter and at Yumlish on Facebook and LinkedIn for tips about managing your diabetes and other chronic conditions and to chat and connect with us about your journey and perspective.

Shireen Abdullah: (16:23) 

You can also visit our website, yumlish.com, for more recipes, advice, and to get involved with all of the exciting opportunities Yumlish has to offer. If you like this week’s show, make sure to subscribe so you can hear more from us every time we post. Thank you again, and we’ll see you next time. Remember, your health always comes first. Stay well.

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Connect with Lauren Anton!

Website URL: laurenantonrd.com

Instagram URL: @laurenatnonrd  

LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-anton-ms-rd-ceds-c-cpt-683b7430/