I believe that it is not only what you DON'T put in your body, but what you do. Since dx 2/1/05 I have been doing the Breast Cancer Diet and have posted it here. Yes, it IS overwhelming in the beginning, but now it is second nature and not only do I put at least
9 fruits and vegetables a day in my body, but many days closer to 11-16. I will start a new post of the diet AND I will post the checklist I made up in the beginning to help me until I got used to it (don't use it now except for a grocery list). This is just what I "typically" do. When I wake up I drink a TBS of olive oil (this is just extra insurance for the HER2). I then walk 2 miles on the treadmill (this was my after chemo present to myself and recently have begun jogging as I just had an echo stress test and the techs said they had to work me extra hard to get my heart rate to where they wanted it...my heart is VERY healthy and I have low blood pressure). After, I make a cup of black tea (Lani just did a post that black tea may be a benefit to HER2, but one day a week I drink AM detox and THEN have my black tea) AND I make a dble carafe (actually its 2 of my 4 servings) of green tea to drink on my way to work. I then make the phytochemical shake that is in the diet. I eat EVERYTHING that the diet lists as I believe that not any
ONE food is the "magic bullet", but EVERY food has it's merit. I literally have a HUGE freezer of organic blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries (when you buy them direct from the farmer, they are actually CHEAPER than the non organic that are bought in the store) and I rotate each one so that when I use up the bag of blueberries, I then open a bag of raspberries (you also have to understand that I have OCD as well). I also put the garbanzo beans in my shake as I don't care for them much). My 6 yo son likes the shake and is even learning how to make it. For breakfast I have either whole wheat cereal, toast or we like homemade oatmeal w/ raisins, brown sugar and cinnamon (being made from scratch it doesn't have the preservatives AND most everything I buy is organic...I made the decision when I was dx that I would rather spend my money on quality groceries rather than expensive clothes, etc), grape juice and a fruit. I pack my lunch which consists of 2 fruits (one for morning and afternoon...remember, I've already had 4 servings of fruit/veg in my smoothie, my grape juice and a fruit for breakfast making a total of 6 already), MWF I take a handful of filberts (I read an article that said that these have some of the properties of Taxol...so I feel I'm getting chemo on these days), whole wheat crackers (this makes 2 servings what with my breakfast), a salad using one of the dark greens (kale, collards, swiss chard, spinach, romaine...these I also rotate and when one is used up, use a DIFFERENT one), a cruciferous ( brussell sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli...again rotate when one is used up), tomato, almond slices, tumeric, oregano (I believe good for lung mets), szechuan pepper (I posted an article a while back that it is good for HER2, I'll bump it back up) and once a week I put schiitake mushrooms and artichokes on it (now with my morning fruit and salad, I've had 11-12 servings). The dressing I make is from scratch (except I use Good Seasonings mix, olive oil AND I do a sweet sour adding a TBS brown sugar and a TBS soy sauce to the bottle as the salad CAN be quite bitter, but I believe this has a lot to do with the health problems and I'll explain further.) When you go grocery shopping, have you EVER looked in your cart and or others carts and noticed what they are buying (weekly shopping, not just an item or two). It's AMAZING, but MANY peoples carts have only 1 or 2 FRESH fruits and veg (if that) and everything is processed, packaged, sugar, high fat...etc. Like mom and I say, I have a LOT of groceries every week, but I have a LOT of fresh fruits and veg every week. Back to the cruciferous concept. Prior to my dx, I used to BINGE on candy (I thought for SURE I would one day become a diabetic and even with all the heart problems on my dads side of the family, THIS was my bad habit...I would eat candy like a smoker would smoke cigarettes). When I was younger I was thin, BUT my dad would hide candy bars (he ALSO had a major sweet tooth and was diabetic...when he got his terminal heart dx and I was caring for him, when I would go down to see him he would ask that I bring some Krispy Kreme donuts and when I would get there he would eat one and "for fun" would THEN want to check his sugar...he was somewhat of a sadist) and when I got old enough to go to the store by myself, I used to buy a BAG of Reeses cups, bring them home and eat the whole bag before dinner and hide the bags under my bed and this I kept up on and off until dx. I remember once being hospitalized for testing as I "literally" wouldn't have a bowel movement for 3 weeks (I often think of all the toxins that would be floating in my body when this would happen). I used to have bad heart burn (had my gall bladder taken out 6/01, but understand that I am allergic to fowl AND until just prior to my dx, fish so my diet consisted ONLY of beef and pork...not good) and found a book called 7 weeks to a better stomach and the ONE thing it recommended (this was the ONLY thing that worked for me...not even antacids)...cabbage juice. HORRIBLE stuff (and I now know what the smell is behind restaurant dumpsters), but it works. Think about it...how many people eat or LIKE to eat the bitter, cruciferous vegetables? Few to none and it's THESE I feel are what are helping to keep "harmony" in our body. I remember my fathers doctor (who is Asian) recommending that I get some "bitter melon" and give it to my dad to help with his diabetes and I've noticed several articles recently talking about this. I have a cup of green tea with my salad (have read that drinking it WITH food, helps the absorption) and another cup of this AND black tea after lunch(don't drink much water as I'm TOO busy drinking tes
. I have a fruit (the fruits I eat are whatever is in season) in the afternoon (now up to 13 servings). Mom and I rotate kitchen and laundry duties and on the weeks I cook, being a single mom who works full time, I do all my cooking on the weekend and we eat leftovers during the week. I cook 2 meals on Sat and 1 on Sun as well as make our "treat" for the week (I make either a pie, cookies, bars, crumble, etc AND I eat only 1 a week and save the rest for other weeks, so I am not baking EVERY week...this is our TREAT). An example of a weekly menu is: Salmon, Butternut squash, Green Beans (I do have a glass of 1% milk with supper); Minestrone soup (I always double the recipe and freeze the extra so some weeks, I have one less meal to make AND it's great if there is an after school program going on); Spaghetti (we DO eat beef or pork once or twice a week...since this ALSO is a treat and so that we are not "deprived" we each take turns making the selection so that if we have a "taste for something" we can enjoy. For desert I have a fruit ( ONE day a week...generally Sun, is our "treat day" and for example for brunch((we only eat 2 BIG meals and maybe popcorn on Sun...this is something we have done since I was little)) we are having French toast and sausage ((I only eat 1/2 of one)) and Salmon for supper. So by the end of the day I have had 15-16 fruits and veg... I'm NEVER hungry as I am eating all the time
. Also, put Burts Bees diaper ointment on my feet (I know Gina prefers the Desitin, but I'm an organic girl) for the Zinc, take a Magnesium, CoQ10, A & D (take an extra D during daylight savings time) supplements. Diana Dyer (the 3 time cancer survivor/dietician who WROTE the Breast Cancer diet has told me she has heard positive things regarding the WHEL study (though the results haven't come out yet...I'll post information on this as well). Well, I know this is a long post (I had better copy and paste just to make sure I don't lose it), but I figure I haven't posted much lately. Take care and God bless.
Rhonda