Survivors who had chemo etc and are into Complementary medicine
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YAY Sherry. The deed is done. I have similar thoughts about venison. For a number of years, I had a steady supply and miss it.
Anne....King Arthur flour was what we used when I was growing up. Who knew it would be almost a cult product. I have been to their store in Thetford VT. Really fun place.
Not sure if everything there is "good for us" but certainly a fun place.
Speaking of baked goods, one fab combo I have discovered is crumble crust that is an equal part whole wheat flour (yes, King Arthur) and ground hazelnuts. I use the normal amount of brown sugar and butter. This goes over mixed frozen berries or fresh blackberries.
YUM....and yes, cream makes it even better.
(Now, how many miles do I need to cycle?????)
Will retreat to my fresh rhubarb instead. Just cream......Mmmmmmmmmm. - Claire
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Saw rhubarb in the supermarket tonight -- just two withered sticks left in the box. Checked the label and see it comes from Cranby, Oregon. So probably takes a week to make it cross country, then another day or two until it's put our for sale. No wonder it's so lousy. My mother always had a rhubarb patch in Ireland. Got very little attention except a couple of loads of cow dung once a year. We always pulled the rhubarb fresh for use in desserts. It was never stored. Now I'm obsesses with finding some good rhubarb around here. Surely they must grow it in Maine or somewhere nearby.
Claire, your crumble mix sounds great. TraderJoes's sells ground almond (whole including the skins so the mix is brownish) that could be used instead of the ground hazelnuts.
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I never quite understood the fear of cannabis, though I guess I'm lucky. I don't have an addictive personality. I don't see how it's different from the occasional drink, and though I'm not one of them, I have tons of highly-functional friends and colleagues who partake. I have many more alcoholics (or recovering) in my life than washed up potheads.
It also has very different effects on people depending on temperament and a bunch of other things.
Just depends on who you are, and I think having a good time in moderation is also good for health. It's why I decided that a puritanical attitude towards wine, even though I'm ER+, isn't for me. I like wine, sugar, and a few other "bad" things now and then. Complementary "treatment" is a host of things, from medicines, to mind and body experience.
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I have not been on here in a few days...this thread moves fast. So many good ideas...I am now hungry after reading everything.
About tomatoes...most in cans have BPA. That's an issue for us ER/PR+ girls I believe....I am just going to avoid it as much as possible. You can buy Pomi tomatoes in a carton. I got them at Whole Foods and Meijer. They are not organic but grown and packaged in Italy and they are not in a can. I also thought I read that Muir Glen was going to have BPA free cans for their foods. I don't know when that was suppose to happen but their tomato products are available at Meijer and Whole Foods in my area. It's hard to find much not in cans for tomatoes..... What I don't understand is why you would package organic food and then put it in a can that contains BPA. What a waste! Canned beans are also some thing I typically like a lot of, but they contain BPA too! Now I am buying dry beans instead.
As far as yams/sweet potatoes - if you like them, this is good. Just toss them in EVOO an season with garlic powder. Put some EVOO on the bottom of a baking dish and put the potatoes in (peeled and cut up). Bake at 425 degrees for about an hour. They get brown and taste soooo good. I could eat a whole bunch! I have eliminated regular potatoes so this is a real treat for me.
Now I am making some salad dressing this week..you all had some good ideas. I usually make EVOO, Red Wine Vinegar, a squirt or two of mustard, a smashed garlic clove, dried oregano, dried basil, S&P. I am ready to try Lago's with salsa. I often put salsa on top of a mexican type salad as dressing but never made a dressing with salsa. Sounds great!
I also love roasted veggies too....I make roasted eggplant dip...that's tasty on baked whole wheat pita chips!
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One doesn't get physically addicted to m, maybe psychologically but as LtotheK stated; it's not any different from the occasional drink..I believe alcohol can make FAR more damage than a substance that gives relief from SE's (my neuropathy is much more managable with it). But as it has been said too, it depends on the personality how the drug acts on you. Then again, an interesting question concerning interactions with AI's..worth looking in to!
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LtotheK: very well said. I don't know the answer Yazmin, but hope you find it and it works for you.
Planning my eating today so I can do the 4th get togethers by eating before and after and not partake of unhealthy eating while I'm there. I have some beautiful asparagus to cook up later today, making my mouth water
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LtotheK, Carola, and kmmd:
Thank you for your comments on MMJ. Just like you, I don't have an addictive nature at all. And now that I have become intrigued by MMJ, I am starting to have a feeling that most addictions depend more on temperament, and other factors, than on the substance involved.
Of course, I have never used any drugs, so I have no experience at all.
I enjoy red wine a lot, I just cannot give it up completely, even though I am ER+, PR+, HER-
But I do realize the potential for harm in wine. I try to drink wine only when I "go out", but I go through periods of time when I have to have my 2 glasses of wine for 2/3 evenings in a row. Then, I don't touch wine for a long time.
Nevertheless, I want to stop doing that.
Whenever life gets stressful, I am now wondering if a tiny little bit of MMJ might help. Just to get through.
For example, when the time comes for those annual check-ups....Oh, My God.... The stress that we go through..........It cannot be healthy..........
And I don't want to just "take Xanax (or whatever) and forget about it". One doctor put me on Xanax for a few months 25 years ago, and guess what: I GOT ADDICTED to it. It took me months and months and months of terrible struggle to wean myself of that "medicine"; nevertheless, *they* (the *conventional*) won't call this a drug????
So if one could use MMJ to remain "zen" through the whole period of yearly cancer testing, wouldn't that be wonderful? (as opposed to having sleeplessness, experiencing heart palpitations, anxiety, sometimes panic attacks, etc.....).
That's what I am talking about. And if MMJ also turns out to be a powerful cancer medicine....
What else can we ask for?
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You all are inspiring me with the great cooking ideas - Thanks!!
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I use exercise for those things Yazmin. That's what all those miles cycling do for me. This is on top of the other obvious benefits.
Long walks are helpful too.
I am off in a few to get in my last training ride prior to the Seattle-to-Portland. One of my proudest moments was going through the finish line last year, less than six weeks after finishing radiation.
It took a lot of work, discipline and determination to get there. - Claire
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I can give up red wine but do I really have to give up canned tomatoes?
Seriously I only have a couple glasses of wine a year but I can't count how often I eat canned tomatoes. Love the convenience and can't afford to shop at Whole Foods. I also want no salt added in my tomatoes too. 0 -
Add strawberries to your rhubarb. Then sweeten lightly with maple syrup. Very tasty...not too sweet.
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there is research on MJ having a physical withdrawal syndrome--but it has only been seen in long time heavy users (75 joints per week over 20 years). what is just starting to show up is that long term MJ smokers are getting COPD from the tar. The research has been limited because so many long term users also smoke cigarettes--so you can't tell which is causing the COPD. MJ smokers are also getting fungal infections in the lungs, so it's important to have a good source.
Addiction has to do with how a substance changes and interacts in the brain. for example, nicotine, the most addictive drug--changes the structure of the "survival instinct" part of a smokers brain, so when they stop smoking, their survival instinct takes over (which is stronger than willpower or the thinking part of the brain), which is why it's so hard to stop.
I'm all for MMJ--I used it when I went through chemo in 1987--there were no anti-nausea drugs back then and it was the only thing that helped with vomiting. But I would suggest that instead of smoking it, eat it--I have heard that eating it works better for body symptoms and smoking it is more mental euphoria. (I no longer use as it gives me a headache)
Duke University (I think, but it could be someplace else) is doing research on vaporizing nicotine instead of smoking. It will be interesting to see what they come up with. I don't know much about vaporizing.
Just my 2 cents.
www.StopSmokingStayQuit.blogspot.com
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Great thread and ideas! I haven't been able to read through all the posts, but wanted to join in.
Diet: I've always eaten pretty healthy, but since my diagnosis, I follow a low-fat diet, which has been shown to be especially beneficial for triple negative BC... I try to keep fat within 20-22% of daily colories (very hard when you include the healthy fats too). I try to get most or all of my calcium from diet: low-fat yogurt and fortified organic soy milk (max 8 oz per day) for example. Little red meat, lots of "anti-cancer" foods: berries, cruciferous vegetables, mushrooms, organic Japanese green tea every day, etc. I eat organic as much as possible.
Supplements: multi-vitamin, curcumin, D3 for now
Exercise: This is the area I have changed the most. I power walk/run (intervals) 5K/3m, 5 days a week, weight train 2-3 x /week.
Sins: A weakness for dessert (I try to go for healthier ones now), and wine with dinner a few nights a week... and on a lovely summer weekend like the one just passed, a Bombay Sapphire and tonic, with a twist. (I refuse to give up all my simple pleasures).
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they have rhubarb sometimes in the frozen section.. very affordable. I grew up with rhubarb in the back yard. and holly hocks.
i don't see how 1 or 2 pieces of rhubarb pie year are gonna kill ya.. especially when you already have cancer.
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Don't give up the things you enjoy (unless it happens to be heroin or cases of whiskey!), but practice moderation (most of the time, sometimes its OK to plurge). You don't want to focus so much on 'being good' that you suck all the enjoyment out of life! I am going to start roasting more vegetables, not primarily because they're good for me, but because they sound delicious! Happy 4th of July everybody!
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apple, I totally agree. I try to save the treats for special occasions, but you bet I am having my mother's peach cobbler on our vacation this summer. It. Is. AMAZING. What I don't eat anymore are Zone bars and processed stuff like that. I have to say, even though my diet is really pretty restrictive (no dairy, meat, sugar, or alcohol), I don't mind it. I feel so good that it's not a big deal. I'll break my diet for special occasions, like I said, but most of the time it's really not a problem. And I don't think one serving of peach cobbler is going to make a difference, you know?
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75 joints a week? That made me laugh out loud, you'd have to be a chain toker. At this point and age, I'm pretty violently opposed to smoking of any kind: that, for sure, is bad for you. But I'll be the first to admit, a lovely Nat Sherman cigarette, a good red wine, and a rooftop party in NYC--that's livin'. Yes, it was bad for me, but I really enjoyed my days and not sure I'd change anything about it (smoked casually for years.)
What did I miss about canned tomatoes?
That NYT article about sugar was pretty alarming, so I'm trying. But I'd have to agree, a couple of pieces of pie isn't going to be the difference between cancer-free and not. As a friend said to me once, the diet isn't going to save you. It can help, but it's not the golden ticket. Looking forward to the medical community figuring out what that ticket is!
Off to the gym. Swam yesterday during the holiday weekend at our hotel gym. What was I thinking? Bandaids and hair floating in a pool of screaming kids. Crappy workout. Hoping to do some weight training, inspired by Lago, today.
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VJSL8: GREAT BLOG on quitting smoking, and staying "quit".
I know that's quite a struggle, I am glad I never started (to smoke). And I am also under the impression that many people opposed to MMJ (even medical, supervised, and taken in great moderation) are thinking about SMOKED marijuana, which is carcinogenic.
I have a friend who just told me that he and his wife eat 1/4 to 1/2 marijuana cookie from time to time, especially right before flying, because they are anxious fliers (they don't take it to the airport, let alone to the aircraft: they just eat before leaving for the airport).
He said he has been able to fly all the way to Japan (12 hours? 15 hours? More?) PERFECTLY RELAXED. See: this sounds good to me.....(I am an anxious flier and tend to deal with it with several glasses of red wine per flight, that cannot be healthy, I am sure
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Woah! 75 a week? You gotta be rich to smoke those amounts :-D
You're quite right Yazmin, drinking while flying for example is baaaaaaad...One drink in the air=three drinks on the ground, dehydration from alcohol AND high altitude...And it doesn't really help that you already feel bloated flying (never eat bread, cheese, drink carbonated sodas or heavy fatty meals when flying - it's my job so I know what I'm talking about :-D) I see passengers getting quite drunk because they don't know this. If you've ever had an inflight glass of champagne you'd notice that the bubbly you feel in the brain is doubled (champagne+lack of oxygen). I use to say to the anxious that being in the air is like being at sea, regarding turbulence. Although one passanger told me 'But I'm afraid of the sea too!'...:-O
Anyway, I've said this before: the good thing about smoking is that you can control the effect of m better, as opposed to eating it. If ingested, the stuff has to be metabolized by your liver (=extra work for one of our best friends) and it takes a couple of hours, while smoking it makes it go out to your bloodstream in minutes. I understand that many people don't like it, it suits one and not the other, I've noticed that during some periods of my life I wouldn't have benefitted from smoking because of the nature of my problems (I'm aware that it is a risk, but for me the benefits outweigh them), so I didn't smoke. It's been 8 years since I last smoked before my Dx. I definitely would say go for it if you're undergoing chemo and/or surgery, but would be more careful of telling the joys of m if the person had problems of a psychological kind. I'm curious about the vaporisers, I saw one on an american tv-show, can one choose how much m one uses? Do any of you watch The Big C (Showtime)? I just love it!
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YaY! Carola. You have hit the nail on the head about MMJ. I hear vaporizers (the good, more expensive ones) take care of the risk associated with smoking MMJ (allowing you to avoid those fumes).
I am just wondering if one could get into trouble ordering a vaporizer online (MMJ paraphernalia)
?Yes, I know flying is safer than driving, etc... I am just nervous, and that cannot be controlled.
(I have a friend who CANNOT sleep alone in a house or apartment; another one who is unable to sleep in a dark room, and I am talking about grown women!)
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i've been reading this thread and love all of the great recipes - inspiring! ruth is right: we could compile a cookbook of the ideas here.
i found a great recipe for a chocolate snack - from a book called "Raw Energy". I have a horrible sweet tooth and am desparately trying to curb it. Mix 1/2c. unsweetened cocoa, 1/2c. almond butter (no added sugar), 1/4.c. agave. roll into balls, stick in the icebox for 2hours. you can even roll them in unsweetened coconut.
took these to a BBQ and wasn't even tempted by the usual sugarbombs. i didn't even use the whole 1/4c. agave and they tasted fine. bit dense, so i would roll them small.
i've been making garlic shrimp endlessly - for the fish eaters out here. 1 bulb garlic (less if you wish); slice up, heat in 1/4c. olive oil, medium heat. add 1tsp. paprika, 1tsp. red pepper flakes. simmer 2minutes, add raw peeled shrimp, cook til pink. Amazing! (yes, i cheat and serve with fresh baguette - but add a salad, too. our favorite summer dinner.
tx again for the great ideas.
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Elmcity.....slurp!!!! I would add wine.
I did my 20 mile ride today, then stopped at the veggie stand on the way back. So have wonderful sugar snap peas, lettuce, rainbow chard, fresh strawberries, and tarragon.
Tonight it's fresh sockeye salmon with peas, and roasted fresh local potatoes. Think a small salad.
I just got chicken legs to do in tarragon and balsamic for tomorrow night. (Or it might be champagne vinegar.) Think I will do the rainbow chard then.
So wonderful to have summer veggies. Tomatoes will be in about another month. Finally got asparagused-out.
Berries for dessert. Mmmmmmmmm. - Claire
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Thanks elmcity69~
From another sweet tooth - I am going to try those chocolates.
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Claire - Can I come for dinner???0
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Claire we had the grilled salmon last night (Brussel sprouts and a small red potato). Tonight was grilled shrimp with sauteed spinach (garlic & olive oil). My husband does all the grilling. I have no idea what he did with the shrimp but they were very tasty.0
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Had friends over tonight to watch the city fireworks. We had a hormone free grass feed beef roast from Whole Foods, small red potatoes, carrots and okra. All organic. But then we bombed on the ice cream but it sure was good.
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Sounds like you are all having a great time!!!
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Hi Lago.....I had fresh local broccoli. Had forgotten what really fresh is like. Just amazing.
And yes, the salmon was just perfect. Need to get the rest of the potatoes out of the oven. Also amazing.....sweet and fresh tasting.
No, this isn't the wine.
Sherry.....did the beef yesterday, and was equally delish. Still have 2 steaks left.
But chicken tomorrow, as want to use the fresh tarragon. - Claire
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Gutsy'
I noticed that you take coq10.I can't seem to find any without soybean oil in them.....what brand do you take?
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Anybody read this book yet? The End of Overeating by David Kessler.
here's a quote from an article on why we EAT so much
Highly palatable foods, such as those available from fast food chains, are "layered and loaded with fat, sugar and salt," all of which, instead of satiating us, actually prompt us to continue eating, said Dr. David Kessler, former FDA commissioner and author of "The End of Overeating" (Rodale Books, 2009). Such foods cause particular excitement in areas of the brain associated with emotion and reward — much like alcohol, sex and drugs.
With sugar, salt and fat on every street corner, Kessler said, "we are living in a food carnival." And like an over-stimulated preschooler glazing over with fatigue and irritability, our bodies are responding to the food fun house by developing insulin resistance, diabetes and systemic inflammation, which is a body-wide immune response that has been linked with health issues, including heart disease and cancer.
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