Gundersen, La Crosse YMCA support cancer survivors through plant-forward cooking class
Nearly a dozen cancer survivors sit in the demonstration kitchen inside La Crosse Area Family YMCA’s Healthy Living Center. Smells of roasted garlic and simmering curry waft through the air. These survivors are part of LIVESTRONG, a free 12-week program that provides a supportive community where people affected by cancer can connect during treatment and beyond.
They watch Gundersen dietitian Jill Wenthe and Gundersen ophthalmologist Anna Kitzmann, MD, chop onions, whisk eggs and prepare quinoa. Because Gundersen refers patients to the LIVESTRONG program at the YMCA, partnering together to promote healthy eating post-cancer just made sense.
“We understand that recovery isn’t just physical, but also emotional,” says Dana Boler, health director at the La Crosse YMCA.
Boler says that since the program launched in 2011, more than 1,000 survivors have graduated from this local LIVESTRONG chapter.
“Here, we share the importance of fueling your body correctly during and after treatment,” she says.
Connecting during cancer treatment and beyond
In the second row sits 43-year-old Chrisy Fell. Two years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a lumpectomy and four rounds of chemo – and before radiation – she began to experience pain that she attributed to her kidneys.
“That’s when my story takes a weird twist,” Fell says. “My doctor said it was either a tumor or a baby.”
Fell said she and her husband, Nick, were sure it was a tumor. After experiencing years of infertility, they stopped trying to have kids and had made peace with that decision.
“At the scheduled ultrasound, the tech said, ‘Oh, it’s a baby! And it’s a big baby!’” Fell recalls.
She was 27 weeks pregnant.
Zack was born on March 15, 2022. Now 15 months old, he loves to swim, play with his water table and ride in the bike trailer behind his parents.
‘Eat real, whole food … mostly plants’
Fell sits with her LIVESTRONG community and watches as Wenthe and Dr. Kitzmann incorporate vegetables from a local farmers market into a few colorful dishes.
“People are always asking me how they can prevent cancer. I tell them to eat real, whole food…mostly plants,” Wenthe says. “Through cooking demonstrations, we can show people how easy it is to eat a more plant-forward diet.”
Plant Partners is growing
Dr. Kitzmann, who’s always had a passion for health, started Plant Partners at Gundersen in 2020. The mission of this group – that consists of about 130 employees – is to promote a whole food, plant-based diet and its many benefits for overall health and well-being.
“I believe medicine is shifting toward disease prevention rather than treatment,” Dr. Kitzmann says. “The healthier people are, the less chance they have of developing chronic illnesses.”
This spring, Plant Partners encouraged employees to “adopt a bed” and grow vegetables in Gundersen’s rooftop vegetable garden terrace to highlight the importance of food as medicine. Plant Partners has plans for an onsite farm located near employee parking lot F. And, thanks to a grant from the Gundersen Medical Foundation, they’ll break ground soon.
Celebrating National Cancer Survivor Month
At the cooking demonstration, Wenthe and Dr. Kitzmann serve a green salad with fresh herbs, sweet potato boats with a cracked egg, red lentil dahl, and an asparagus frittata.
“Learning more about nutrition during and after cancer is just huge,” says Doris Faucheux, a LIVESTRONG instructor and YMCA employee, noting that June is National Cancer Survivor Month. “This is a chance for these women to get to know their bodies again and adjust to life after cancer.”