Her High-Protein Nut Butter Helped Her Heal After Cancer—and Now She’s Helping Others
Inspired by her battle with cancer, Lea Hurley is now using her creation to help others
While in the midst of recovering from a battle with cancer, Lea Hurley was struggling with digestive issues and a lack of appetite. So she got to work developing tasty, high-protein nut butter to boost her energy levels and help her body start to heal. Amazed at the difference her low-carb nut butters made, Lea is now helping other women feel strong and healthy too!
Cancer turned Lea’s world upside down
Everything I eat hurts my stomach, Lea Hurley despaired. Why do I still feel sick all the time? Working as an ultrasound technician, nutritionist and personal trainer, the then-34-year-old knew certain foods could trigger intestinal issues, so she began cutting out dairy and wheat.
I’m eating nothing but turkey, rice and high-protein nut butter I make for myself, she thought. Is this really even helping?
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At her wit’s end, Lea went in for medical testing in 2018 and soon received a call that changed her life forever. She was told that she had stage 4 neuroendocrine cancer, which starts in hormone-producing cells in the lungs, stomach, intestines and pancreas. Terrified, Lea began researching and quickly realized the survival rate for this type of cancer was very low due to how it masquerades as other issues.
So this is why my stomach always hurts, she realized. Lea’s cancer was in an area of the body known as the porta hepatis, where the pancreas, stomach and liver meet. Her case perplexed her doctors because after investigating, they believe it originated in her appendix, which she’d had removed 10 years earlier.
But her doctor determined surgery was still necessary to remove the cancerous mass and part of her liver. “We removed the cancer, and your PET scan shows that there are no cancer cells anywhere else,” her doctor told her after finishing the procedure.
Thank you, God, Lea prayed. I can’t believe I was sick through four pregnancies and didn’t know.
How high-protein nut butter helped Lea heal
Despite being declared cancer-free, Lea faced a long road to recovery. She knew that to heal fully, she would need to consume lots of high-protein foods to help her body repair tissues, support her immune system and build new cells. However, due to scar tissue in her abdomen from the surgery, it was still hard for her to comfortably digest food.
I have to find a solution, she thought. Then she remembered the homemade high-protein, low-carb nut butters that sustained her before she received her cancer diagnosis.
She had made her first batch in 2012 to help increase her protein intake when she wasn’t able to eat much at all. She would often mix in tasty toppings—like white chocolate or cookie crumbles—to different varieties of almond butter (which is easiest to digest), cashew butter and peanut butter.
This is what I need now, Lea thought, her hope surging. Each batch she whipped up had 10 grams of protein for each 2 Tbs. serving, while regular peanut butter has only 6 grams. She also ensured her nut butters were low-carb and low-sugar, but tasted like a decadent dessert.
Lea began eating 1 Tbs. of high-protein nut butter as a sweet treat after meals three times per day. She also added it to toast, fruit or oatmeal. The delicious nut butter gave her the healthy fats, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals she needed to heal her body and boost her energy levels.
Spreading hope to other women
“Your nut butters are too good to keep to ourselves,” Lea’s husband told her one day, and she began experimenting with larger batches in their basement. Soon, her husband took samples to a body-building show and the testers had an overwhelmingly positive response.
Lea was surprised to find people showing up at her door asking how they could order more high-protein nut butter. I can’t believe the way this is snowballing, Lea thought as her Instagram account grew from 12 followers to more than 200,000 fans.
With the support of her family, in 2018 Lea launched American Dream Nut Butter and moved it to a 40,000 sq. foot facility. They quickly grew to 70 employees, and have since expanded to producing cookies, collagen, protein powder and serve more than a million customers. They also donate 10 percent of profits to veterans, military families and cancer research.
Now, Lea receives thousands of messages from happy customers, but the comments that move Lea most are the letters of healing from other women. One that really touched Lea’s heart was from a mother of a young girl dealing with an eating disorder. She wrote that after being hospitalized, Lea’s high-protein nut butters had saved her daughter’s life when the girl couldn’t eat any other foods.
“I feel amazing, and I know everything good comes from God,” Lea smiles. “From surviving cancer to launching a business, my life is a miracle.”
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