Changes I'm Making to Diet etc. [long]

This could seem mundane unless you're motivated by being healthy so that you can benefit others. Over the years I've made gradual changes to my diet, exercise routine, and other things. I hope that this info is of some help to you, in encouraging you take care of the "ambulance" (body) that is your vehicle for helping others.


Now that I have cancer again, I'm continuing to read lots of books and websites and to talk to various healers and friends who know a lot about nutrition. 
I still have a very complicated schedule of supplements and activities [remind me to write a post about those "logic puzzles], so I have been easing into these changes slowly, and making note of the ones I want to add later.
If you've read Anti-Cancer - or other books about cancer and diet - you can learn how changing your eating habits can keep your immune system and your whole body stronger, which means that cancer cells can be destroyed early, before they have a chance to gather together as a tumor, much less go on a "road trip" to a distant organ, where the treatments get tougher and the odds get longer.
On the other hand, I have a genetic mutation that gives me a much higher lifetime risk of getting cancer; my health history bears that out - that is, my DNA - really a form of karma [a blog entry I've been drafting in my head for a few years now]. 
When people get cancer, they ask, "Why? Why me." I'm odd, so I think "Why not me?" I know it's my karma ripening.
Most people looking for an ordinary explanation tend to look for 1 single cause, but I tend to think a cluster of ordinary things created the secondary conditions that allowed my karma to ripen at that time, in that particular way.


I read Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee, a thick but very readable history of the treatment of cancer from ancient times to the present. Mostly it tells about doctors attempts to carve out cancer surgically, then they tried dosing it with nasty chemo drugs, which sometimes killed the patients. Then Mukherjee talks about some of the promising new targeted or genetic or "personalized" treatments that use tumor assays and the like. 
Toward the end of the book, however, he also mentions environmental links, such as between asbestos exposure to workers and their rates of lung cancer. 
More than 10 years ago, I read a very interesting book called Living Downstream: An Ecologist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment, by Sandra Steingraber. I gave away my copy, and the book went out of print, but will be back next month; I plan to re-read it.
Some day more effort will be focused on preventing cancer in the first place; right now, there are more incentives for companies and researchers to work on drugs that fight the cancer once it's already arisen. (And actually it's so expensive for the drug companies that the US government is stepping in to help.)


Diet
I've been vegetarian for several years. Richard grows a lot of our produce in the back yard. We try out a lot of different non-meat meats. 
If I could I'd be vegan because I really admire their compassion for animals, but I'm not ready yet.


Here are some of the things I've changed in the past several months:


* Dairy - Almond milk instead of Cow Milk mostly. (Rice milk is kinda thin and I don't think it has as much protein.)
Organic dairy, including butter (which I'm still very fond of) and yogurt (which hasn't appealed since I started chemo).


* Eggs - Organic, free-range eggs.


* Organic - everything as much as possible, not just produce but also bulk foods, snacks, teas, etc.; if you have to discriminate, see the most and least important foods to buy organic at
http://www.organicspringtime.com/organic-fruits/organic-fruits-and-vegetables-top-ten-list-45/
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/10-foods-you-should-buy-organic1.htm


* Sweeteners - I've rarely added sugar to things. Occasionally when I'm traveling and feel I really need caffeine, and there's coffee, which turns out to be quite foul, I'll add sugar. If they have some kind of organic or raw or sugar, I'll use that.
Now that my tastebuds are off because of the chemo, I'm learning Rebecca Katz's "FASS" method for how to adjust the flavor of foods so that I'm more likely to eat them. One of the Ss is "Sweet," and I do find a natural sweetener makes drinks like tea taste better.
Katz wrote 2 excellent cookbooks, Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery and One Bite at a Time, Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and Their Friends. Even if you don't have cancer, I highly recommend them as excellent cookbooks: visually appealing, well-designed, with helpful notes in sidebars of recipes,  great reference material in the book, and a friendly, encouraging tone.  If you like, I can email you an excerpt. She has the best cooking lesson for how to adjust the flavor of foods. If I had kids, I'd teach them with it; if I was learning to cook, I'd keep re-reading it.


I tried Agave Nectar at a local teahouse and found it made non-caffeinated rooibos chai with almond milk taste even better. I hear Stevia's good too; also maple syrup - Rebecca Katz recommends Grade B syrup for better flavor; this is also what locals said when I lived in Vermont.
For more info, see PCC's Guide to Natural Sweeteners


* Protein - when you're on chemo, you need extra protein to help repair tissues that are harmed; when you're a vegetarian on chemo, you need even more. Here are some newer ways I've added more protein to my diet.

• "Scotch" and Hard-Boiled Eggs - Richard makes a bunch of hard-boiled eggs, which I like a lot; even when you're in a hurry, you can grab a couple; I love them with salt and a bit of pepper. Thankfully, my blood-pressure and cholesterol are low. For extra protein, R will make "Scotch Eggs" by cooking (vegetarian) sausage and wrapping it around the hard-boiled eggs.

• Rice Protein Powder - add to oatmeal, applesauce, smoothies and other drinks with "body."

• Apple with Almond Butter or Peanut Butter - fresh ground from only the nuts - at the coop ("PCC"); I absorbed this from the residents at the Olympia Dharma house, especially Jamie; it's one thing to read about, but even better to see a friend actually doing it, regularly. Also works on banana. Right now we have a box of Washington Fuji apples R's sister Susie got right from the farm (she even paid in a donation box); hence the apple as the delivery vehicle for the protein.

• Mexican - add Soyrizo, beans, organic cheese to Huevos Rancheros, burritos, etc.

• Vegetarian Reuben sandwiches! Got the idea from Grand Central Bakery & Cafe, but they use a slab of tofu. Richard makes it by grilling the rye bread with butter, melting Swiss cheese, adding sauerkraut and fake "ham" or other choice of vegetarian meat, and topping with homemade Russian dressing. Serve with a simple soup.

• "Meat" - Field Roast, grain-based protein which is local to Seatte; Quorn, which some people have trouble digesting but the rest of us find very versatile for adapting chicken recipes, etc.; Yves and other brands for sandwich meats. When combined with other ingredients or condiments, the fake meat basically provides "mouth feel" (texture). For more info, see Savory Meat Alternatives from the PCC

• Salmon - Wild Alaskan; I haven't eaten fish in a long time but sense I could really use that form of protein; I always thank the fish for giving up its life for me and wish it an auspicious rebirth. Expensive. For more info, see PCC's Seafood Choices for Healthier Oceans.

• Hummus - we've been eating it often for a few years; Richard and Dachog both make it from scratch, although sometimes we get it from a tsog puja or buy a flavored version if we don't have time to cook the garbazo beans.

• Beans - Richard often cooks other beans from scratch, and we keep them in the fridge for burritos and sometimes other dishes. Very cheap!

• Breakfast Sausage - add as a side when you're having eggs or toast. The Morningstar Farms brand of links or patties tastes fine to me. None of the fake meats is very cheap, but that's not an issue for me right now.

Next steps:
* Keep working to add more dark, leafy greens.
I really like the Emerald City salad from the deli case at the PCC coop.


* Eat more beets. They're supposed to be particularly good for my constitution, according to my acupuncturist, other nutrition experts I know, and Paul Pitchford's excellent - but very big - book Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition. Great book for anyone interested in changing their diet.
Dachog made us pickled beets and hard-boiled eggs, which are some of my favorites and keep for a long time in the fridge. I also like the beet salad from the salad bar at Ballard Market.


* Make more smoothies and juices. I've been getting up at 4am, and haven't wanted to use the Vitamix, the juicer or the blender out of concern it would wake up Richard; later in the day, it hasn't been occurring to me ... yet. Add protein powder.


* Pull out and use crock pot again. Our good friends Marie and Tom use theirs all the time and think it's great.


* Sprout more mung beans at home - with just a 16oz glass jar, a canning rim, and cheesecloth.




Cosmetics
What cosmetics, you ask? (I hardly wear any!) Well, it turns out that manicures, hair products and other beauty supplies often contain a lot of dubious chemicals. Lots of products are sold as "natural," but if you really want to know, you need to do a bit of checking elsewhere, not just reading the label.
For more info, see:
* Skin Deep - a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products the Environmental Working Group


* Deodorant - I just changed to Crystal, a non-Paraben, non-scented deodorant from PCC coop; this is the info from Skin Deep about Crystal.




Cleaners - for around house


For more info, see:
* Alternative Cleaners and Recipes - using cheap, common ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, and castile soap
* Washington Toxics Coalition - pesticides too; see info about kids safety and health too.