Breast Cancer Diet - Do's and Dont's

The following is a preview of the recommended diet for people who are currently overcoming breast cancer, or who are survivors and wish to stay cancer free.  This is based on the suggested diet I received from the integrative therapy professionals I discussed in 'My Journey Part I' post under “About”.
I feel it is important to think of our diet as a treatment, just as you would chemotherapy or any other therapy...don't tamper with foods on the No list, don't think it's OK to cheat for a day or two. Think of this as your long term cure.  So, give it respect and it may give you life!
That's my intuitive understanding of our mind-body work.  What you wholeheartedly believe, your mind will believe, and it will work to bring that belief into reality. If your mind-body feel you lack faith in what you're doing or thinking, you lose the majority of the beneficial effect, if not all.
After a couple of weeks it will become easier to stop thinking about missing this or that food. Think of cravings as your old ignorant cells talking.  If you have or had cancer treatments, your body is transforming.  Many cells that were part of your body have been shed, and you are creating fresh, un-programmed ones as you move towards new health.
I feel we are reinventing ourselves on more than one level during a healing process.  And wouldn't it be interesting if that's the role of cancer in our lives? By creating a fresh new cellular structure, it enables us to let go of old habits and beliefs that were programmed in them, and pushes us to new heights and depths of understanding...and challenge us to stay there!
I know my thinking has undergone a shift, and my body and the way I think of it sure have as well.
Below is a starter list of Yes and No foods for breast/prostate cancer.  If you'd like a comprehensive list with menu ideas, please write to me.

YES Foods:

  • All Vegetables except white potatoes: every color, raw or lightly cooked
  • Legumes/Beans: garbanzo, adzuki, black, lentil, kidney, lima beans, green beans...
  • Whole grains: barley, oats, rye, whole wheat...
  • Animal Protein: Omega 3 organic eggs, 4 oz. organic white meat chicken, 3 oz. grass-fed beef, all wild-caught cold water fish, very little organic butter (not heated)
  • Dairy substitutes: Almond or Rice milk, soy milk in moderation (especially if you have estrogen based cancer)
  • Spices: all of them
  • Nuts/Seeds: All except peanuts and cashews.  Make sure you only buy dry-roasted nuts

NO Foods:

  • All Dairy except Whey protein
  • Non organic vegetables and fruits
  • Processed foods
  • Sweeteners: Sugar, artificial sweeteners, honey, agave..
  • Simple carbs: white flour, rice flour, white potatoes, starchy food, rice, cornmeal (unless mixed with high fiber flour for baking), most boxed cereals (choose low sugar, high fiber)
  • Beverages: sweetened drinks, drinks with food coloring, caffeinated beverages (teas are an exception)
  • Fried foods
~ Get creative! ♥

Walking Around the Garden this Morning

My L-shaped back yard is undergoing slow re-landscaping! This mean my boyfriend and I are doing the work when we can. Walking in the yard, even in its transitional phase, is soothing and grounding. Birds are frequently twittering in the plentiful trees in our neighborhood, and as of yesterday a couple is building a nest under the little metal awning over our kitchen window. They've been very busy this morning.

I noticed the mint patch needed weeding, so I decided to do it right then.  I pulled the pesky grass and sticky weeds up, enjoying the sound of our wind chimes playing tunes with the light breeze.

A few truant branches from our neighbor's plum-tree, dangle their limbs over the fence. Another favorite of mine.. sour plums! They are a street-vendor food in many Mediterranean countries, sold with a twisted corner of newspaper containing salt.

mulberry
mulberry

One of my fondest childhood memories is climbing up my Uncle Yusef's fruit-laden mulberry tree with my 3 cousins, and within minutes getting tattooed with purple splotches. When they are still white they actually have a flavor, unlike any I can describe. Well, this year my sweetheart, who has heard the mulberry tree story more than once, surprised me with this weeping mulberry. Isn't it darling?  Next year I hope to be covered in purple!

The parsley plants against the house are rather perky this morning.  We had an amazing rainfall last week, and they apparently enjoyed it. And from the looks of it, so did the sage.

sage
sage

Yesterday I asked my son to grab what ever lemons were left on our trees, and he brought me 6.  This crop is almost all gone but I was sure there were more than 6 left.  I was right. He's so tall that I don't think he remembers to look low for stuff!

fresh lemons
fresh lemons

I was able to reach most of the Meyer lemons that were left; some can stay on the branches for another week.  I noticed that new lavender and white buds dotted the trees.  They are amazingly prolific.

Even if you're not into gardening, put a chair in your back yard and chill with a book or a glass of cold minted green tea (or hot depending on the climate!), and let nature do its magic on your mind, body and soul.  It will, you know.

~ Cheers! ♥

5 Things You Can Do Now to Improve Your Health

Many illnesses, including many cancers, cannot thrive in an alkaline environment. The American diet is extremely acidic...commercially raised red meat, coffee, sugar, fried foods and simple carbs... those make up the overwhelming majority of what we eat.

The components of what you put in your mouth and on your skin has to processed by your liver. This much abused organ is already working overtime to rid your body of toxins that you breathe and get on your skin ...household cleaners, register tape, etc..

FYI - 40 percent of cash register receipts printed on heat-activated paper have been found to contain the dangerous chemical Bisphenol A (BPA)!

I'm going to take just one from a very long list of dubious ingredients that we are commonly used in lotions, deodorants and makeup, namely: castor oil.

Castor oil and its derivatives are used in the manufacturing of soaps, lubricants, hydraulic and brake fluids, paints, dyes, coatings, inks, cold resistant plastics, waxes and polishes, nylon, pharmaceuticals and perfumes.

The castor seed contains ricin, a toxic protein.  Allergenic compounds found on the plant surface can cause permanent nerve damage, making the harvest of castor beans a human health risk. India, Brazil, and China are the major crop producers, and the workers suffer harmful side effects from working with these plants.

This is ONE of many, many ingredients we don't take the time to research, trusting that no company would manufacture and sell a product that contained toxins.  I wish that were so.

Parabens are another ugly story.  Parabens are a group of compounds widely used as antimicrobial preservatives in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, including deodorants. Parabens are absorbed through intact skin and from the gastrointestinal tract and blood.

"Measurable concentrations of six different parabens have been identified in biopsy samples from breast tumors (Darbre, 2004). The particular parabens were found in relative concentrations that closely parallel their use in the synthesis of cosmetic products. They increase the expression of many genes that are usually regulated by estradiol and cause human breast tumor cells to grow and proliferate in vitro."

  • Has anyone blown the whistle on cosmetic manufacturers?
  • Do you still believe some government agency is really looking out for our health?

So on top of the hundreds of chemical substances our liver has to deal with, we pile on sugar (a toxin itself) and artificial sweeteners and hormone-filled animal protein, and preservatives.

We neglect the care this vital organ needs until it causes us pain or gets sluggish enough to cause alarming symptoms. Please don't wait that long.

Here are the 5 things you can do today to improve your health;

1) Eat Organic

2) Cut out sugar and white flour

3) Refuse to use products with ingredients you can't pronounce or don't recognize

4) Squeeze lemon juice in every glass of water you drink (lemons alkaline our bodies, making them inhospitable to most disease

5) Choose wild-caught, cold water fish (never farm raised) or organic free-range chicken as your animal protein of choice.

~ Be Well. ♥

Boost Your Immnue System with Mushroom Soup

This homemade soup captures some of the anti-cancer features of more expensive immune-enhancing soups.  Unlike Sun Soup, it is inexpensive and tasty. Medicinal mushrooms have been shown to improve specific immune markers and contribute significantly to healing processes by stimulating the body’s immune system. They contain high concentration of fiber and act as prebiotic, antioxidant, and antibiotics. They hold anti-hyperlipidemic, hypotensive, and hypoglycemic ability in addition to helping many health conditions such as asthma, ulcers, and kidney inflammation.

Read more about the health benefits of mushrooms here.

Mega Power Mushroom-Lentil Soup

  • 1/4 lb. shiitake mushrooms
  • 1/4 lb. maitake mushrooms
  • 1/4 lb. oyster mushrooms
  • 1 1/2 c. dried mung beans (pre-soak)
  • 1 1/2 c. dried French lentils (pre-soak)
  • I/4 head green cabbage, sliced in strips
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 leeks, chopped
  • 5 cloves of garlic, crushed and peeled
  • 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 1 Tbs. olive oil
  • 4 c. purified or spring water
  • Sea salt or Tamari to taste

NOTE: If you cannot find fresh mushrooms, dried mushrooms are widely available, in the market or over from the Internet. Pre-soak until they are soft, then sliced. Also pre-soak the mung beans and lentils.

Peel the garlic cloves, crush them with flat side of knife.  Wait 10 minutes, and then mince them.

Add the garlic and all the remaining ingredients and cook at a slight boil for two hours, stirring occasionally. Season with reduced-sodium tamari (soy sauce). Try pureeing in a blender. Refrigerate surplus after eating.

Consume one cup of this soup per day, 3-4 times per week.  You may add any other fresh, organic vegetables.

~ Bon Apetit! ♥

Laughter Yoga

It always amazes me how many things children can find to giggle or laugh about in a day.  What happens to our ability to laugh as we get older? My boyfriend's girls, 10 and 12, are constantly giggling at something. I seem to judge each thing on my internal laugh index before I deem it worthy of my laughter!  Sheesh! Don't get me wrong, I have a wicked sense of humor, and use it often.  Ask my relatives!  But when it comes to expressing hilarity at something someone else does or says ... her come da Judge! lol

I've made a promise to myself to laugh at every attempt someone makes to be funny. I get the benefit of the laughter, and they get the benefit of feeling good about making me laugh! Talk about a Win-Win.

Kataria is a physician from Mumbai, India, and is the founder of and chief proselytizer for Laughter Yoga. Based on his teachings over the past fifteen years 5,000 laughter clubs have sprung up worldwide. People meet just to laugh.

So far there are around 200 clubs in the United States, including ones in Atlanta; New York; Orlando, Florida; St. Louis; and Tucson, Arizona. Kataria hopes to change that over the next few years, by training more teachers.

“Our objective is to build an international community of people who believe in love and laughter,” Kataria says.

Near Pasadena, California about 20 people—yoga instructors and health care providers, and retirees—have gathered in a spacious 1910 Craftsman bungalow for this workshop. The five-day training includes sessions on the health benefits of laughter, starting and running a laughter club, and working with particular populations, such as children and the elderly. Most of the time is spent on what Kataria calls his “breakthrough technology”: exercises designed to get people to laugh for no reason.

Combining simple yoga breathing techniques and “laughter meditation” we get to the heart of Laughter Yoga. Kataria promises that Laughter Yoga relieves stress, boosts immunity, fights depression, and eventually makes people into more positive thinkers.

How Laughter Heals

Kataria says, “When you start laughing, your chemistry changes, your physiology changes, your chances to experience happiness are much greater. Laughter Yoga is nothing more than prepping the body and mind for happiness.”

According to Kataria laughter has two sources, one from the body, one from the mind. Adults tend to laugh from the mind. “We use judgments and evaluations about what’s funny and what isn’t,” he says. Children, who laugh much more frequently, laugh from the body. “They laugh all the time they’re playing. Laughter Yoga is based on cultivating your childlike playfulness. We all have a child inside us wanting to laugh, wanting to play.”

The idea that laughter has beneficial effects is not new. Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review, documented his own laughter cure in the 1979 book 'Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient'. Cousins was diagnosed in the mid-1960s with ankylosing spondylitis, a painful degenerative disease of the connective tissue that left him weak and barely able to move. Doctors gave him a 500-to-1 chance of recovery.

Instead of undergoing conventional treatments, Cousins checked out of the hospital and into a hotel, where he set up a film projector and played funny movies. He took massive doses of vitamin C and submitted himself to hours of the Marx Brothers. “I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect,” he wrote, “and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep.”

Cousins recovered and lived for another 26 years. And, in part inspired by his experience, a handful of scientists began researching the healing power of laughter. William Fry, then a psychiatrist at Stanford University, was one of those people.  Fry documented some of the health benefits of what he calls “mirthful laughter.” In a series of studies, Fry and his colleagues found that laughter increases circulation, stimulates the immune system, exercises the muscles, and even invigorates the brain. Other researchers have found that laughter reduces stress hormones and may even help prevent heart disease.

What about forced laughter?  Fry believes that aside from the mental stimulation that comes in the moment of discovery when you hear a good joke or appreciate a pun, the effects should be largely the same. “I think it’s definitely beneficial,” says Fry.

How do you laugh when nothing’s funny? Just open your mouth and force the breath out with your belly!  Trust me, it’s going to feel silly at first, but you know, if you get a bunch of people together and do this...you’ll all be genuinely laughing in no time! Try it with your kids, they’re experts at it.

Do you remember the scene in Mary Poppins when Uncle Albert is singing "I Love to Laugh"?  Well that should be your training video!

So let’s get started:

Lion laughter Stick out your tongue, widen your eyes, and stretch your hands out like claws and laugh.

Nasal laughter Laugh with your mouth closed and push the air out through your nose.

Silent laughter Open your mouth wide and laugh without making a sound. Look into another person’s eyes and make funny gestures.

Gradual laughter Start with a smile then slowly start laughing with a chuckle. Turn up the intensity of your laugh until you’ve achieved a belly laugh. Gradually bring your laughter back down to a smile.

Heart-to-heart laughter Hold hands with another person and laugh. If you feel comfortable together can touch or hug.

~Hilariously yours! ♥

Health and Wellness, and Preventing Disease

Maintaining health and wellness and preventing disease are major priorities for integrative medicine. Currently, the majority of our health care dollars are spent after a person is in crisis, when it costs the most to intervene and when the possibilities for full recovery are the slimmest. A recent study found that of the 7 million deaths from cancer worldwide in 2001, an estimated 35% were attributable to nine modifiable risks factors, all of which are controllable and most of which are under an individual’s own sovereignty.

Based on this and other scientific evidence, integrative medicine recommends lifestyle modifications—changes in diet and nutrition, physical activity and exercise, adopting stress management methods, and strengthening one’s social networks—to lower an individual’s risk of specific diseases and improve overall health.

The Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, under the leadership of Dean Ornish, MD, offers a comprehensive approach to lifestyle modification for people who are at high risk for or diagnosed with conditions such as coronary artery disease and prostate cancer. The program’s core components are a low-fat, whole foods diet; moderate aerobic exercise; stress management; and group support. This program, which has been approved by Medicare, is used in hospitals and clinics around the country.

Because the food we eat plays such an important role in maintaining health, nutrition has been a key focus for research—not only what to eat but also how to grow and buy the right food and how to prepare it in a healthful way.

“As a rule of thumb, try to include foods in your diet that have less than three grams of fat per serving. Stock foods in your refrigerator that you want to have on your diet. If it’s not right in front of you, you’re less likely to eat it. Cleaning out your refrigerator can be a nice metaphor for cleaning out your body and organizing your life in the way that you want it to be,” advises Dean Ornish, MD.

“Even simple choices can make a powerful difference. For example, two tablespoons of most salad dressings have as much fat as two scoops of premium ice cream. When in a restaurant, ask for the dressing on the side; just dip the tips of your fork in it with each bite, and you’ll get a fraction of the fat that you would otherwise.”

pizza-2945298_640.jpg

Forward-thinking hospitals have now begun to promote healthy food. Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest nonprofit health plan, opened its first farmer’s market on the grounds of the Oakland Medical Center in Oakland, California in May 2003. Today, a total of 26 Kaiser-Permanente facilities have established on-campus farmer’s markets, which enable the facilities to offer better food choices to both employees and patients and promote awareness about good nutrition.

These and other integrative approaches to maintaining a healthy lifestyle may prevent serious illness and challenging medical treatments. In his book, 8 Weeks to Optimal Health, Andrew Weil, MD wrote, “Many of the common complaints that people have these days respond much better to simple adjustments in lifestyle than to taking medicine.”

Read more here.

The Connection Between Mind And Body

The idea that our minds and emotions play a critical role in our health—a fundamental premise in integrative medicine—is far from new. Many ancient healing systems emphasize the interconnection between mind and body in healing, including Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, who taught that good health depends on a balance of mind, body, and environment. Modern scientific research supports this age-old tenet of medical wisdom. It began in the 1920s, when Harvard scientist Walter Cannon, MD, identified the fight-or-flight response through which the body secretes hormones called catecholamines, such as epinephrine and nonepinephrine. When they enter the blood stream, these hormones produce changes in the body—i.e. a quickened heart or increased breathing rate—that put the person in a better physical state to escape or confront danger.

In the following decade, Hungarian-born scientist Hans Selye, MD, pioneered the field of stress research by describing how the wear-and-tear of constant stress could affect us biologically.

Since then, scores of scientific breakthroughs have illuminated the mind-body connection in health. Experimental psychologist Neal Miller, PhD, discovered that we can be trained to control certain physical responses, such as blood pressure, that were previously considered to be involuntary. This discovery gave birth to biofeedback, which has now been found to be effective in the treatment of anxiety, attention deficit disorder, headache, hypertension, and urinary incontinence.

Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson, MD, identified the flip side of the stress response, which he called the “relaxation response.” Benson demonstrated that meditation, yoga, and other relaxation techniques can bring about physiological changes including a lower heart rate, lower breathing rate, and decreased muscle tension along with positive changes in brain waves. Mind-body techniques that elicit this relaxation response have been successful in treating many stress-related disorders.

Research by psychologist Robert Ader, PhD, at the University of Rochester provided a link between the brain, behavior and immune function, and founded the new field of psychoneuroimmunology, which researches ways to increase immune function through the use of the mind.

Based on a Buddhist meditation practice, Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, at the University of Massachusetts, developed Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a mediation technique that has successfully reduced physical and psychological symptoms in many medical conditions, including pain syndromes.

“When we are on automatic pilot, trying to get someplace else all the time without being attentive to where we already are, we can leave a wake of disaster behind us in terms of our own health and well-being, because we’re not listening to the body. We’re not paying attention to its messages; we’re not even in our bodies much of the time,” explains Kabat-Zinn. “Mindfulness—paying attention on purpose in the present moment nonjudgmentally—immediately restores us to our wholeness, to that right inward measure that’s at the root of both meditation and medicine.”

Guided imagery, which utilizes the power of imagination to heal, has been shown to reduce anxiety and pain in people with a wide range of medical conditions, including asthma, back pain, and headache, and to help patients better tolerate medical procedures and treatments. “Imagery utilizes the natural language of the unconscious mind to help a person connect with the deeper resources available to them at cognitive, affective and somatic levels,” explains Martin L. Rossman, MD.

Innovative research by Dean Ornish, MD, and his colleagues found that a program integrating mind-body techniques such as yoga, meditation, stress management, and group support with diet and exercise reversed coronary artery disease. “What we are finding is that comprehensive lifestyle changes may ‘turn on’ the beneficial parts of the genome and ‘turn off’ the more harmful parts,” says Dr. Ornish.

Today, these breakthroughs in our understanding of the mind-body connection have translated into effective therapies that support a patient’s journey through illnesses and trauma. Virtually every major medical center now has a stress management or mind-body clinic, and practices such as meditation, yoga, and group support are woven into the medical treatment of heart disease, cancer, and other serious illnesses.

James Gordon, Director and Founder, Center for Mind-Body Medicine, has conducted mind-body skills trainings for patients and health care practitioners around the world. Gordon has said, “Mind-body medicine requires that we ground information about the science of mind-body approaches in practical, personal experience; that we appreciate the centrality of meditation to these practices; and that we understand—experientially as well as scientifically—that the health of our minds and the health of our bodies are inextricably connected to the transformation of the spirit.”

Go to source and watch a short video here.

Black Pepper

Black pepper can be a vital anti-cancer component in your diet. Piperine is the active component in pepper that is believed to prevent the harm that free radicals can cause your body. Piperine also has the ability to enhance the absorption of other beneficial anti-cancer compounds in other foods.

When black pepper is ingested alongside green tea, the absorption of the anti-cancer compound EGCG present in green tea is highly increased.  Also, the body’s absorption of  curcumin (the compound in turmeric) increases by 2000% when you add black pepper!

Read more about curcumin here.

Healthy Stir-fried Veggies

The important thing about sauteing any foods is to keep the oil below burn point. Foods added to the oil should not 'sizzle' much.  You want to aim for 7 cups of vegetables a day (4c. cooked).  This recipe will yield 2-3 servings, more if you have a salad with your meal.

Hoda's Healthy Stir-fried Veggies

  • 1 inch piece of Ginger, chopped
  • 4 c. organic Broccoli, cut up
  • 4 stalks organic Celery, cut up
  • 1/2 White Onion, sliced thin
  • 6 organic Green Onions, cut in 1 inch pieces with green tops
  • 4 organic Carrots, cut up
  • 1 organic Baby Bok Choy, sliced
  • 3 cloves Garlic, minced
  • 3 tsp. Sesame oil mixed with 2 tsp. organic Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 Tbs. Tamari or Soy sauce (gluten-free)
  • 2 tsp. Rice Wine Vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp. Stevia or 1 tsp. Xylitol
  • 2 tsp. Cornstarch mixed in 1/3 c. Water or Green Tea

Place a large saute pan over medium heat for 2 minutes. Pour in the oil mixture. Wait another minute then add the ginger, stirring.

When it starts to wilt add all the veggies except the Bok Choy and garlic.  Stir for a 3 -4 minutes, then cover, turn heat to low, and cook for 5 more minutes.

Add Bok Choy and stir to mix.  Cover again for 2 minutes.  Add garlic and stir.

Mix wet ingredients and add to pan, mixing with veggies for 2 minutes until they are all coated and sauce has thickened.

~ Enjoy. ♥

Baked Salmon, Veggies and Hummus

I enjoy mixing cuisines and this plate is certainly an example: Wild Caught Salmon broiled over mixed veggies (you only need 3-4 oz. of protein per meal), and Authentic Homemade Hummus.  Add a smattering of organic Persian Cucumbers and a slice of high fiber Flax-seed bread for an amazingly wholesome meal.

Salmon Bake.JPG

~ Sahtein! (To your health) ♥

Tasty Black Bean Dip

Recent research has shown that black beans provide special support for digestive tract health, and particularly our colon. The indigestible fraction (IF) in black beans has recently been shown to be larger than the IF in either lentils or chickpeas.

While some of the total carbohydrate content in black beans is lost along with the discarding of the soaking water, the amount of resistant starch remained unchanged. (Resistant starch is a type of carb that will typically make its way all the way down to the large intestine without being digested. Once it arrives in the large intestine, it can help support the growth of desirable bacteria in that area of the digestive tract.)

The seed coat of the black bean (the outermost part that we recognize as the bean's surface) is an outstanding source of three anthocyanin flavonoids: delphinidin, petunidin, and malvidin, as well as the super anti0xidant Quercetin.

Read more here.

Black Beans, cooked

Black Beans, cooked

Serve Dip toasted whole wheat pita bread triangles (toast them yourself in a toaster oven), or high fiber crackers. Also good with carrots and celery.

Tasty Black Bean Dip

  • 2 c. cooked drained organic Black beans

  • 4 tsp. organic Tomato paste

  • 3 Tbs. Water or Green tea

  • 2 cloves organic Garlic, minced

  • 2 tsp. organic Lime juice

  • 1/2 tsp. ground Cumin

  • 1/2 - 1 tsp. Sea Salt (or to taste)

  • 1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper (to taste)

  • 2 organic Green Onions, chopped

  • 2 Tbs. organic mild Green chilies, chopped

  • Olive oil (optional)

Process all ingredients except green onions and chiles in a blender or food processor until smooth. nd Place in a serving bowl and garnish with the green onions and chiles (or stir them in).

I like to drizzle a little olive oil on top. 

Makes 2 cups

~ Buen provecho! ♥

A Delicious Fruit Salsa

I was looking for a tasty but out of the ordinary appetizer to serve at a function and stumbled on this recipe.  It was a big hit and fit with my diet beautifully so I want to share it with you. If you are not partial to spicy foods, omit the jalapeno.

This makes about 4 cups, and since it doesn't store very well, you may halve the recipe.

Spicy Strawberry Kiwi Peach Salsa

  • 2-1/2 ripe organic Peach - peeled, pitted, and diced
  • 2-1/2 organic Kiwi, peeled and diced
  • 10 fresh organic Strawberries, diced
  • 1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
  • 2 Tbs. and 1-1/2 tsp. Lime juice
  • 2-3 organic Green onions, chopped
  • 1/4 c. and 1 Tbs. chopped fresh organic Cilantro
  • 2-1/2 pinches Sea Salt

Combine the peach, kiwi, strawberries, jalapeno pepper, lime juice, green onion, cilantro, and salt in a bowl; gently stir to combine.

Very tasty on whole grain crackers or as a salsa with a mild fish, or roasted chicken.

~ Enjoy! ♥

Oaty Spiced Bran Muffins

These are tasty bran muffins.  The oats and applesauce lend fiber to make these a healthy alternative to breakfast cereals.

Muffins_2

Spiced Oat Bran Muffins

  • 2 c. Oat Bran (4 c. Rolled oats)

  • 1 tsp. Sea salt

  • 2 tsp. Baking powder

  • ½ tsp. Cinnamon

  • ¼ tsp. Ground Cloves

  • ¼ tsp. Ginger powder

  • 1 tsp. pure Stevia

  • 2 c. Coconut or Almond milk

  • ½ c. unsweetened organic Applesauce

  • ¼ c. Pasture-Raised Ghee or Coconut oil

  • 1 high pastured Egg or 2 Egg whites

  • ½ c. Sunflower seeds (opt.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease or line muffin tins.

If using rolled oats, grind them in blender to give them crumbly consistency of oat bran.  You can also substitute 1/3 c. dried figs for the applesauce.

Mix the oats with salt, baking powder, spices, stevia and sunflower seeds in a large mixing bowl.

In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. Pour milk and all the wet ingredients into blender and blend until mixed well, and figs (if using) are incorporated.

Carefully pour liquid into dry ingredients and stir quickly using a minimum of strokes to avoid making muffins tough.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 - 3/4 full.  Bake for 20-25 mins or until done.

~ Good with hot tea. ♥

Garlic

Garlic, like its cousins the onion and the shallot, is a member of the Allium family that is infamously distinctive for its strong odor. Surprisingly, the origin of garlic’s characteristic smell is also the explanation behind its anticancer abilities. The high content of the odorous sulfur-containing compounds diallyl sulfide (DAS) and diallyl disulfide (DADS) play the principal role in cancer prevention: they have the ability to prevent carcinogenic damage to healthy cells by reducing reactivity of carcinogens with healthy cells and by accelerating the elimination of the harmful carcinogens from the body.  It is also believed that DAS may directly attack tumor cells and destroy them by triggering tumor cell death.

Garlic has been found to be most advantageous in the prevention of esophageal, stomach, and colon cancers. It also may play a role in prostate, breast, and lung cancer.

A Queen's-led team has discovered the reason why garlic is so good for us. Chemistry professor Derek Pratt led the study. Their findings are published in the January 2009 issue of the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.

The research team questioned the ability of allicin to trap damaging radicals so effectively, and considered the possibility that a decomposition product of allicin may instead be responsible. Through experiments with synthetically-produced allicin, they found that an acid produced when the compound decomposes rapidly reacts with radicals.

"Basically the allicin compound has to decompose in order to generate a potent antioxidant," explains Dr. Pratt, who is Canada Research Chair in Free Radical Chemistry. "The reaction between the sulfenic acid and radicals is as fast as it can get, limited only by the time it takes for the two molecules to come into contact. No one has ever seen compounds, natural or synthetic, react this quickly as antioxidants."

The researcher is confident that a link exists between the reactivity of the sulfenic acid and the medicinal benefits of garlic. "...until now there has been no convincing explanation as to why garlic is beneficial," says Dr. Pratt. "I think we have taken the first step in uncovering a fundamental chemical mechanism which may explain garlic's medicinal benefits."

  •  Garlic is most effective if crushed, chopped or eaten raw in salad dressings and salsa
  • A clove a day keeps the doctor away, and 2 or 3 will prevent a cold (see my cold remedy under Diet and Nutrition /Herbs and Spices)
  •  If a recipe calls for garlic, wait until the last 10 minutes of cooking to add the garlic
  •  Be careful not to eat too much as garlic can irritate your digestive system... I don't think you'll have any problem eating  3-4 cloves a day
  •  Don’t microwave garlic - it this kills the active ingredients!

I will be adding plenty of recipes that call for my friend the 'stinky rose'.

~ Chewing raw parsley will help get rid of garlic breath! ♥

Psychological Stress and Cancer: Questions and Answers

The complex relationship between physical and psychological health is not well understood. Scientists know that psychological stress can affect the immune system, the body’s defense against infection and disease (including cancer); however, it is not yet known whether stress increases a person’s susceptibility to disease.

  1. What is psychological stress?

Psychological stress refers to the emotional and physiological reactions experienced when an individual confronts a situation in which the demands go beyond their coping resources. Examples of stressful situations are marital problems, death of a loved one, abuse, health problems, and financial crises.

  1. How does stress affect the body?

    The body responds to stress by releasing stress hormones, such as epinephrine (also called adrenaline) and cortisol (also called hydrocortisone). The body produces these stress hormones to help a person react to a situation with more speed and strength. Stress hormones increase blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels. Small amounts of stress are believed to be beneficial, but chronic (persisting or progressing over a long period of time) high levels of stress are thought to be harmful.

    Stress that is chronic can increase the risk of obesity, heart disease, depression, and various other illnesses. Stress also can lead to unhealthy behaviors, such as overeating, smoking, or abusing drugs or alcohol, that may affect cancer risk.

  2. Can stress increase a person’s risk of developing cancer?

Studies done over the past 30 years that examined the relationship between psychological factors, including stress, and cancer risk have produced conflicting results. Although the results of some studies have indicated a link between various psychological factors and an increased risk of developing cancer, a direct cause-and-effect relationship has not been proven.Some studies have indicated an indirect relationship between stress and certain types of virus-related tumors. Evidence from both animal and human studies suggests that chronic stress weakens a person’s immune system, which in turn may affect the incidence of virus-associated cancers, such as Kaposi sarcoma and some lymphomas.

More recent research with animal models (animals with a disease that is similar to or the same as a disease in humans) suggests that the body’s neuroendocrine response (release of hormones into the blood in response to stimulation of the nervous system) can directly alter important processes in cells that help protect against the formation of cancer, such as DNA repair and the regulation of cell growth.

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