It's been some time since I posted. Sorry. I've found that Facebook is a better format for a more interactive discussion. If you'd like to keep in contact, find me there. You will find pictures and comments to keep you updated. If there are some of you that really object to Facebook, let me know through a comment below or an email. If there are enough of you that actually check the Blog and don't want to start a Facebook account, I'll consider keeping it more current. Thanks and CHEERIO!

Fab Day

Yesterday I made fried plantains w/ ketchup and mayo for lunch, per Lynette... mmmm. It doesn't taste like banana at all. It's more like a winter squash flavor with a heavier texture, but delicious all the same. After I was done Deb told me she had an excellent banana ketchup for dipping. Banana ketchup! What will they think of next?

Yesterday I swam 40 lengths... bruised toe and all so today I swam 48... in 30 min. It felt very good with minimal stretch at my incisions. I do believe I am up to my pre-mastectomy speed. I can now walk with minimal limping but I still prefer to use protective shoes... and slippers in the house. I'm thinking I might lose that toenail... gross!

I now have 1/4" of hair growth. It's very soft and NOT CURLY. I feel jipped (sp)... but at least I HAVE hair. Vickie tells me hers didn't show up curly right away either so... there IS hope yet.

Just finished my Lumosity task for the day... working on the post chemo course. My memory is now nearly 90th percentile and my attention and problem solving have moved into the 80+ percentiles. I can definitely say I've noticed these improvements in my day-to-day life. What I cannot say is if the Lumosity is helping me do that or just giving me a number to prove that my brain function is improving. Who cares... as long as it's improved. Thanks Mark!

Darumas and Stubbed Toes

Tapwe made mac 'n cheese for dinner tonight. Not the healthiest but we needed some comfort food today. 14hr work day and creamed my toe early this morning on the bed frame...

I decided my Daruma had done his job of minimizing my chemo side effects so he got his other eye today!

Thanks, Courtney!

Natural Corset Defied

Tonight we had Szechuan stir fry. Included endive, a slightly bitter lettuce, baby bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, celery, red and orange pepper, leek, asparagus and ginger. A little advice... don't add a lot of ginger with Szechuan stir fry sauce. It makes it pretty spicy. Anyway, we had it over long grain Basmati white rice. Dessert was our favorite... fresh baked pineapple with Nutella and cashews or sunflower seeds. I was going to take a pic for you all but got so excited about eating that I forgot. I'll try to do better.

Physical therapy this morning to inflame the chest scar tissue. All I can say is that she was successful. A mooost uncomfortable process but worth the trade off. I can raise my arms now without much stretch and when I put my arms behind my back I don't feel like there is a tight band around my chest. I can't imagine how women wore corsets in the past.

 

Today I bought some "new" veggies to try: 

• galangal (a spice I gather), 
• delicata squash, 
• cherimoya, 
• chayote squash, 
• butternut squash, 
• endive, 
• 3 different yams. 

Yams and squash I think I can handle but if anyone knows what to do with cherimoya, chayote and galangal, let me know otherwise I'll just punt. 

I even bought some brussel sprouts so I need that recipe, Barb! 

Long ago I ate a fried plantain so I got one of those, too. If anyone knows anything special about cooking them, let me know.

More Neuropathy

Ha! 36 lengths in 25 minutes today! I use 4 different strokes - side stroke to warm up, then back stroke, front crawl and breast stroke. All strokes other than side stroke are completed arms only to increase the stretch and pec usage. Seems to be working.

Still have some neuropathy signs but they are liveable. All this time I thought a neuropathy was merely numbness but it's not. There's a whole range of sensations: neural twinge (quite painful), pins-&-needles, burning, ache, and numbness. I'm at the ache stage. Irritating but not painful. Back to the acytl L-carnatine.

 Tonight's delectable delight included baked squash and beets; home-made sausage ravioli & home-made beet ravioli sauteed with walnuts and spicy sausage. I love beets! So sweet and yummy. Who would have thought to put them in ravioli. Not me!

The squash was baked with leeks and garlic in the middle. After cooking I squeezed the garlic and leeks in a garlic press and mixed it with the squash. Too much garlic... so I added some agave and cinnamon. Mmmm mmm good.

I was told to boil the raviolis until they floated but they floated immediately so I guessed. Evidently, when you make your own there is a lot of air in the center which makes a little float bubble when heated. Sauteing the little guys was also a challenge - they want to stick and break. Next time I'm going to try making the pasta dough myself. Lasagne dough was great but I'd like to have more control over ingredients and waste.

Dessert was baked fresh pineapple with Nutella and cashews, again. A new dessert favorite... and it's good for you (except for the Nutella). Hope your dinner was as creative. I got my ideas from Danielle, bless her soul for helping me break into veggies.

Neuropathy

I've had neuropathy signs yesterday and today. Mooost unpleasant. It's a mix of heat, neural pain twinge and the need to stretch. I called the docs. They weren't a lot of help. Could be a side effect of the tamoxifen or could be a delayed chemo reaction. :( I'll stop the tamoxifen for a week and try again, assuming the signs go away. I also re-started the acytl L-carnitine.

Tonight's culinary trial was not really a delight but nor was it a flop. We had sauteed asparagus as an appetizer followed by fried polenta topped with an over-easy egg. Rather bland really. Needs something but I'm not sure what. To polish off the dinner we had french bread with hummus. Dessert consisted of baked pineapple topped with nutella and cashews. Dessert was fabulous!

Stir Fry Queen

We tried another stir fry tonight. This one had broccoli! Yes, Broccoli. It really works with spicy peanut sauce, 'cause all the little branches capture sauce. Yummy. The bed was of angel hair 51% whole wheat spaghetti and lots of chicken and skin. All stir fried in coconut oil. Oh, that oil added a fabulous light coconut taste... and I'm no fan of coconut flavoring. The fatty chicken skin definitely adds a level of satiety we didn't have without it. I'm assuming from this little experiment that we need a little more fat in our meals.

This morning Tapwe tried my cottage cheese with raspberries and pronounced it "super good". So now that's what he wants in the morning. A fair bit better than instant oatmeal! I'm not so happy about sharing my raspberries but I'll make an exception for HIM! Dang kids!

More Veggie Success

Another veggie success story tonight. Soooo exciting.  Today our appetizer was asparagus sauteed in butter, olive oil, salt and spicy mix with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese topping. Surprisingly deeeelicious! This was followed by spaghetti sauce with 1/2 the meat we normally eat and added celery, peppers, onion and garlic. I just couldn't bring myself to add broccoli. The sauce topped 51% whole wheat angel hair pasta. It was fabulous. To make matters better, Tapwe tells me if I can make veggies taste good I must be the best cook ever. Now THAT makes me feel awesome! You're right, Sara, it IS fun to try new foods.

Tomorrow I'll try a different stir fry with noodles. I'm finding these veggie meals are not that filling - although an appetizer works wonders. There are two main triggers for appetite satiety; bulk which fills through stomach expansion and fat which fills through delayed stomach emptying. Since veggies are naturally bulky, I suspect I need to add a little more fat in the form of butter or oil to make us feel full longer. I'll test that theory tomorrow.

This morning I saw the physical therapist to break down scar tissue. It wasn't painful per se but it was toe-curlingly uncomfortable. She worked over the numb scarred areas but it felt so... gross, I guess. I think I got quite the work out squirming the whole time. Her analogy was that the scar tissue sticks together like spaghetti, so she was just splitting it apart. Yuck! My chest is quite sore this evening.

Afterwards, I went swimming. The cool water was wonderful, the stretching not so much. Such is recovery, right? I must admit, I far prefer this physical pain to the neural pain I had previously.

Veggie Delight

I know that seems to be an unusual title for me, but I have exciting news tonight. I made a mostly veggie meal tonight... and it was GOOD! How exciting is that?! 

I made a carrot-cauliflower-leek-ginger soup as an appetizer, thanks to Julie Grossen. It was perfect for prepping our palates for the stir fry that followed. 

I had left-over quinoa, many thanks to Danielle for introducing me to that little gem!, which acted as the 'base'. I was late on cooking so I bought a rotisserie chicken for the meat. Mmmmmm so good. I stir fried carrot, celery, leek, baby bok choy, taku choy, red pepper, orange pepper and red onion in peanut oil for 1 minute then mixed in a spicy peanut sauce. The chicken was added to the stir fry and placed over the quinoa. On the side, I had baked acorn squash with a little agave on top to sweeten it. 

OMG, it was to die for. I never thought I'd say that about veggies! Much less think I could successfully cook them! No, Sara, I am NOT becoming a vegetarian. I am simply a meat-atarian that is coming to appreciate veggies. No small feat in itself.

Thankfully, I have little to report for this last week. Exercise continues to go well, muscle pain is resolving, I'm off of all pain meds, my hair follicles are recovering, chemo fog is receeding and I have had Dr Oz's  S-shaped stools for 2-3 weeks now. I'll just say that torpedos are much more satisfying than depth charges and leave it at that. I can't say I enjoy hot flashes but they aren't horrible either, just uncomfortable. A couple of days ago I found 6 dark chin hairs, so I guess I have a beard growing now. The amazing thing about that is that they were not at all noticeable. Then one day out they popped. I'm serious. It's like they were all curled up or something and then unfurled all at once. What's up with that? I lose the hair on my head and grow it on my chin. Of course, I plucked them out immediately. At this rate I'll have to consider laser hair removal!

I found some excellent cancer websites for anyone interested.

• National Comprehensive Cancer Network  http://www.nccn.org/index.asp
• LiveStrong  http://www.livestrong.org 
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality  http://www.ahrq.gov
• Healthfinder.gov  http://www.healthfinder.gov/prevention/
• OncoLink  http://www.oncolink.org/types/article.cfm?c=18&s=63&ss=861&id=9623
• SkinCancerNet  http://www.skincarephysicians.com/skincancernet/skin_examinations.html

Fudd Look

Today I swam 26 lengths (13 laps) and could have done more but thought it best to call it quits. I'm also exercising with a kettleball so no need to overdo it.

I've officially ended my Uncle Fester look and have move on to an Elmer Fudd look. Next... Sinead O'Connor!

Deb provided us with a surprise lasagne tonight. It was chunky with veggies - peppers, zucchini, etc - and delicious. In fact, I don't think it would have been nearly as good without them. Blasphemy! I believe I'm getting a taste for veggies. Could it be? We'll see.

Swim Success

Today I swam 11 laps (22 lengths)! Felt good. The PT told me to go slowly and stretch the chest scar areas like crazy... so that's what I did. We're working diligently to loosen the scar tissue. Then I won't feel like a have a tight band around my chest. It's all good. My bloodwork came bad good so now it's just a waiting game to see how much soreness I can get rid of over the next 2 months. The muscle soreness is from an inflammatory response, per the oncologist. Then I begin Tamoxifen for a year, followed by 4 years of aromatase inhibitors.

I've had some pretty intense hot flashes. Some days more than others. It's irritating but I better get used to it. It'll last anywhere from 6 months to 10+ years. Sigh... Some nights I wake up multiple times. Gotta say, it really disturbs the sleep cycle. I'll go to bed with socks on to warm my feet up. Wake up hot. Throw off the covers, take off the socks, fall back to sleep. Wake up cold. Pull on the covers, find the socks, put them on... if I can find them. Back and forth it goes. Some mornings I can't find the sock. At the bottom of the bed, under the bed, on the other side of the room, under the pillow, inside the pillow case... I'm not fully coherent when I first wake up. So now I have a treasure hunt in the mornings for socks! A wonderful side effect of menopause.

My co-workers are wonderful about trying to find veggies that I would like. They are always coming up with new recipes to try. They even bring samples, sure I won't make them myself without a taste - they're right. I went to a cookbook club meeting with a friend the other night. Everyone brought a dish from a certain cookbook and served it. There were about 16 people there and everybody made something different. Quinoa dish with little bits of kale - was good. Black bean brownies - good. Dandilion dish - not so good, bitter. Almond flower cookies - awesome. Sauted broccoli/brussel sprouts with some vinegar or citrus juice sauce - excellent. Veggie chili with spaghetti squash side - excellent. Those are the ones I remember. LOOK! I liked some of the veggie dishes. I MUST get that cookbook.

My next projects are to successfully cook a yummy long grain brown rice, kombucha, and a carrot-cauliflower-ginger soup that is good, not just edible.

Lumosity Rocks!

So you may recall that my good friend, Mark, turned me onto Lumosity for brain games. I've been working on it almost daily every since. I have nothing with which to compare it, but if the score improvements are any indicator, than it has made a HUGE difference in my mental recovery. Below are the percentiles at which I am now running. It's taken me 5 weeks to pull the numbers to this level. To put this into perspective, when I had a chemo treatment all numbers (except for flexibility) would take a massive hit, dropping me several hundred points. Attention and Problem Solving would drop to about 25%, Speed would slow to about 40% and Memory would decline to about 50%.

In case you've forgotten what percentiles mean, it shows how you compare in each category with other Lumosity users who are within five years of your age. For example, if your percentile in a given category is 40%, that means that you have a higher BPI (brain profile index) than 40% of Lumosity users in your age bracket. Since you're being compared to other people training with Lumosity, your percentile rank isn't as high as it would be if you were just compared to the general population.

90% Flexibility - Flexibility games will make multitasking a breeze, help you articulate your thoughts better, and give you the discipline to resist temptation. These stimulating and complex situations will help improve your precision and cognitive control.

85% Memory - Research has shown parts of your memory are closely related to general intelligence and IQ. Remember locations and names, improve sense of direction, and recall important information more quickly and accurately.

66% Problem Solving - Improve your ability to make mental estimates, comparisons, and calculations. Increased computation and prioritization are the keys to unlocking more efficient thinking.

62% Speed - Think more clearly and quickly, improve reaction time, increase alertness and awareness, and enjoy the benefits of faster cognitive processes. Speed training will help make you become sharper at work and slow the effects of aging.

58% Attention - New research shows attention training has a meaningful impact on your ability to improve performance on tests and on other visually demanding activities. Improve your ability to avoid distraction and increase your work productivity and concentration.

You might want to check them out!

Hair Growing

How exciting. I'm seeing new hair growth! A few eyebrow hairs are now visible... of course, right where I don't want them. I'm also getting more stubble on my head. I'll wait for a 5 o'clock shadow before I let it grow out. 

I've decided the beet kvass is good. It's such an odd drink but very refreshing. Still don't know what to do with the cream cheese and none of you are giving me ideas.:( Janie, I used an organic brand... Nancy's whole milk yogurt, I believe.

Success

This week has felt like a great success!

Today is 5 weeks post chemo. I swam 14 lengths in ~7 minutes. About half the time as last week. Just so we're on the same page, my goal is to swim 40-50 lengths in 20 minutes + 4 lengths warm up and 4-6 lengths of cool down. That's what I was doing pre-cancer diagnosis.

Crispy pecans and almonds are AWESOME! Very delicious. The beet kvass... not sure yet. It tastes very fresh but also quite salty with a touch of beet flavoring. I don't dislike it. I'm just not sure I like it, yet. Cranberries are still drying. It's taking them forever! I haven't found a use for the cream cheese yet. Any ideas?

Quinoa is a new favorite. I ate some with some cinnamon, agave, blueberries, raisins and sunflower seeds. Mmmm mmm good. Breakfast or dessert... not sure which... nor do I care.

I can run up the stairs at work without panting like a dog now. My muscle are still sore just not quite as painful. The teary eye thing seems to be abating, also. Thanks to the Garcia's I don't start my day out already tired. They have kindly lent me their covered parking so I don't have to scrape my car windows in the mornings.

Whey Success!

Last night I successfully separated whey from yogurt resulting in a dry sourish cream cheese. One quart of sour cream resulted in one cup of whey and two cups of cream cheese. I tried the whey... a bit sour but not bad. One tablespoon a day should aid in digestion and re-colonization of my intestinal microflora.

The almonds and pecans are now in the dehydrator for the next 12-24hrs. Soaked they were much tastier than raw.

Beef stock has been strained and is currently in the fridge to allow the floating fat to congeal. The rendered fat will be used in pemmican... another pending project. The stock will be boiled down to a concentrate that I'll freeze for cooking.

Since I now have whey, I started making beet kvass, a Hungarian drink. I thought it might be an ok veggie to try since it isn't green. Basically, one ferments beets in filtered water, some whey starter and salt for 2 days. I'll keep you appraised of this interesting project.

Cooking From Scratch

I have sojourned into the realm of cooking from "scratch". So far I've made chicken and turkey stock. Today I begin a beef broth. I had no idea what was involved... you need both marrow bones AND meat bones. Who knew? For those of you that don't know, broth is made from meat and stock is made from bones and meat. The bones, if soaked for an hour in vinegar and water, add gelatin and many minerals that meat alone don't. Interesting.

My friend, Danielle, introduced me to quinoa (kinwa) last week. It's a grain-like crop from South America. Grains come from grasses and it does not. It is more like a seed that is related to beets, spinach and tumbleweed. Quinoa has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12–18%). Unlike wheat or rice (low in lysine), and like oats, it contains a balanced set of essential amino acids, making it a complete protein source, unusual among plant foods. It is also a good source of fiber, phosphorus, magnesium and iron but gluten-free and considered easy to digest. It's cooked like rice. So far I've added black beans, avocado and jalapeno stewed tomatoes to make a Southwestern style meal. Pretty good.

My other projects include crunchy pecans and almonds. This involves soaking the nut meat in salt water to neutralize inhibitory enzymes prior to drying the nuts. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I'm also in the process of separating whey from yogurt. The end result is liquid whey and cream cheese. The whey is a digestive aid and can be used in cooking recipes. I'll let you know how that turns out, as well. 

Believe it or not, it's costing me less in groceries even with buying organic. Without all the processed stuff and with the time it takes to start things from scratch, you just don't snack as much.

Scientists Develop Vaccine That Successfully Attacks Breast Cancer in Mice

I managed to swim 14 lengths this morning! It took me nearly a minute per length... ridiculous. My muscles were very sore which made it difficult to accomplish. I kept having to alternate from arm-based strokes to leg-based strokes. Then I forgot an appointment this afternoon... sigh. Day by day, right? Next week will be better, and the week after that, and ....

Kim sent me an artical about researchers at Mayo Clinic in Arizona and the University of Georgia (UGA) that have developed a vaccine that dramatically reduces tumors in a mouse model that mimics 90 percent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases — including those that are resistant to common treatments.

It may have implications for treating ovarian, colorectal and pancreatic cancer, too.

Check out this article! http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2011-sct/6614.html

Nutrition & Carbs

All green plants produce carbohydrates (CHO). Carbohydrates are starches and sugars, or saccharides. The carbohydrates (saccharides) are divided into four groupings. Monosaccharides are the smallest unit available. Examples include glucose (blood sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar). Disaccharides are chains of two monosaccharides. Examples include sucrose (table sugar), lactose (milk sugar) and maltose (malt sugar). Oligosaccharides are chains of up to ten monosaccharides while polysaccharides typically have more than ten monosaccharides. Examples of oligosaccharides would be stachynose and raffinose found in legumes and beans. An excellent example of polysaccharides is starch, a compact energy storage-form in all green plants and many of their seeds. Starch is the most common carbohydrate in the human diet. It is found in large amounts in foods like wheat, potatoes, rice and corn. In fact, starch is processed to produce many of the sugars in processed foods. 

Although carbohydrates are a common source of energy, NO carbohydrate is an essential nutrient for humans. They are not necessary building blocks for other molecules, and the body can get all its energy from proteins and fats. That said, according to the fossil record, humans have been eating starch in the form of flour obtained from cattail rhizomes in Europe dating back some 30,000 years. I'm sure honey and fruits were involved well before that. We may not need carbohydrates but we sure do like them!

Unfortunately, the refining process strips most carbohydrate sources of their vitamins, minerals, enzymes, proteins, fat, and fiber. That's why they have to be "enriched" with a handful of synthetic vitamins and minerals. Not only does refining strip products of their goodies but, because it is generally done under high temperatures, many grain flours go rancid. To add insult to injury, flours begin losing their nutritional value as soon as they are ground. Yes, I am suggesting you grind your own flour right before you need it. That way it's whole AND nutrient dense. And, yes, it IS most inconvenient.

Whole grains, nuts and beans contain many enzyme inhibitors that interfere with digestion including phytic acid which blocks the absorption of mineral nutrients in foods. Simply cooking these foods will reduce the phytic acid to some degree but more effective methods are soaking them in an acid medium, lactic acid fermentation, and/or sprouting. These predigesting techniques increase the foods' digestibility and nutrient availability. Yup, just another inconvenience.

So what's the bottom line? Avoid processed sugars (table sugar, raw sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, fructose, large amounts of fruit juice) and white flour. Pretty unpalatable advice, I know. But cancers are huge sugar absorbers which is WAY more inconvenient. I speak from personal experience.

The best advice I gleaned from all this reading was to:

1. Replace flour with properly prepared organically or biodynamically grown whole grains/legumes packaged in cellophane or plastic vs open bins. 
2. Grind whole grains right before use. Preferably after soaking them overnight and drying in a dehydrator or low oven. 
3. Pre-soak all beans and legumes to maximize nutrient absorption while minimizing the farts.
4. Limit sweets to occasional dessert made from natural sweeteners like raw honey, date sugar, dehydrated cane sugar juice (rapadura) and maple syrup.
5. Eat moderate amounts of fully ripened fruit.

The real question is, can I do all this? Only time will tell.

Nutrition & Fats

Let's start this discussion on nutrition by clarifying one thing. Fats, carbohydrates, proteins, etc have different nutritional properties and values depending on how much or how little they are processed.

Unprocessed	Processed
Fresh fats	Rancid fats
Whole grain	Refined grain
Organically grown fruits/vegetables	Pesticide/fertilizer grown fruits/veggies
Fresh traditional fruits/vegetables	Irradiated/genetically altered fruits/veggies
Pasture-fed unprocessed dairy products	Processed-feed pasteurized dairy products
Naturally produced eggs	Battery-produced eggs

I think looking at this table we all intrinsically know this. We are what we eat, so what we eat is important for our health. Let's start by looking at fats.

Fats in the form of triglycerides are obtained from both animal (typically more saturated) and vegetable sources (typically more unsaturated). They are concentrated energy sources that are used for mineral absorption and provide a sense of appetite satiety. They are also used as building blocks for cell membranes, hormones and hormone-like substances while acting as carriers for fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, K.  In humans, triglycerides are a mechanism for storing unused calories, and their high concentrations in blood correlates with the consumption of starchy, sugary and fatty foods. 

It might interest you to know that triglycerides are not just absorbed directly once eaten. They are broken down into fatty acids first, then rebuilt and packaged with cholesterol before being released into the blood stream. Tissues then capture the packages, release the triglycerides and use their fatty acids as an energy source. Both the liver and fat cells make and store triglycerides for future use. 

Fats can either be saturated or unsaturated. Saturated fats consist of triglycerides containing fatty acids whose carbon atom chains are fully "saturated" with hydrogen atoms. Obviously, unsaturated fats aren't fully "saturated" with hydrogen atoms. Unsaturated fats come as mono- or poly- unsaturated depending on if they have one (mono-) or more than one (poly-) double bond that eliminates hydrogen bonds. It's just chemistry but it's easier for me to remember knowing what they mean by "saturated". Unsaturated fats contain a little less energy (less calories) than the same amount of saturated fats but it's also less stable. Therefore, more prone to oxidation (rancidity) which is bad for us. Homogenization makes them even more prone to rancidity. 

Polyunsaturated fats are further graded on their omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Omegas are just unsaturated fatty acids in certain chemical forms. The omega-3 fatty acids are "essential" fatty acids because they are vital for normal metabolism and cannot be synthesized by the human body. More precisely, alpha linolenic acid (ALA) cannot be synthesized by the human body at all, and the other omega-3 fatty acids can only be synthesized from ALA. Seed oils are the richest sources of α-linolenic acid. Although omega-6 (n-6), also known as linoleic acid, is necessary, medical research suggest that excessive levels relative to omega-3 (n-3) levels may increase the probability of disease. Modern Western diets typically have ratios of n−6 to n−3 in excess of 10 to 1, some as high as 30 to 1. The optimal ratio is thought to be 4 to 1 or lower. And how does one know what those ratios are in a certain fat or oil? You have to go searching them out.

Various fats contain different proportions of saturated and unsaturated fat as well as different omega ratios. Foods containing high levels of saturated fats include animal fats like butter, cream, cheese, ghee, suit, tallow, lard; as well as vegetable products like coconut oil and palm kernel oil. Because of their stability, these are the best fats to use in cooking and baking, particularly under high heats. Foods high in monounsaturated fats include extra-virgin olive oil (oleic acid), peanut oil and sesame seed oil. These fats are stable enough to handle moderate heat (olive oil) or short high heats (peanut oil) for stir frying. Foods high in polyunsaturated fats include corn oil, soybean and sunflower oils. These foods are so unstable that they cannot handle heats of any kind. In fact, most have already become rancid before resale due to the high heats used in their processing.

Let's chat briefly about hydrogenation. Hydrogenation is bad... very bad. It is utilized to turn liquid oil products into solid products like margarine and shortening. In the process they form trans fats, something no one should ever consume if at all possible. It's really a pretty gross process. The oil is mixed with metal particles then subjected to high pressure and high temperature with hydrogen gas. To improve its consistency, it is mixed with soap-like emulsifiers and starch. Then steam-cleaned under high temperature to improve the odor - 'cause now it's rancid. Next the product is bleached to remove the gray color before adding dye and flavors so it resembles butter. Finally, it is compressed and packaged for resale to you and me. This description totally cured me. I gave away my margarine and tossed my shortening, never to be seen again.

From all this, I get these recommendations for fat sources:

• coconut oil or palm kernel oil for baking or deep fat frying
• extra virgin olive oil (cold-pressed) that is both cloudy and yellow for salad dressing or moderate heat cooking
• expeller-expressed flax oil on occasion for salad dressing
• peanut oil on occasion for stir frying
• organic pasture-fed butter
• animal fats (goose, duck, chicken), tallow, lard for frying
• eggs

Food choices assist fight against cancer

My friend, Michelle, turned me on to this article. Very interesting, except that it pushes for vegetarianism... I just can't go there.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/sep/21/food-choices-assist-fight-against-cancer/?page=1#article

3 Week Anniversary

Today is my 3 week anniversary! If I was still doing chemo, I would have had another round today. Instead, I spent the day with several friends. Melissa came for lunch, Deb and I chatted over the phone, then dinner with Pat and Paula. It's an awesome celebratory day. 

Grandma Deb is letting me use their covered parking for a couple of weeks so I don't have to scrape off the windows in the morning. How nice is that! Pat and Paula gave me a cool Breast-Cancer Awareness Angel Christmas ornament. It's really too precious to only have out during the holiday season so it goes on my mantle instead. 

Somehow I was hoping all my side effects would resolve by now. I know that's totally unreasonable but I was hoping. I still have a weepy right eye that gives me a runny nose. Irritating but not horrible. The muscle soreness has actually gotten worse over these last three weeks so I'll be monitoring that. I'm off of laxatives but still need stool softeners and am anxiously awaiting a normal S-shaped stool. No more burping so that means the peristaltic action is chugging along as it should be. I think my taste buds have replenished more or less to normal. Sadly, I must report I am no more fond of veggies than pre-chemo... sigh. No more bone pain! Neural pain from the surgery is still present but kept at bay with nightly gabapentin. I'll test this every 2-3 months so I can get off of meds as soon as possible. Energy level is improving daily and the anemia seems to be resolving also. I'll try to start exercising come the end of next week and see how it goes.

I finally opened a Facebook account thanks to my friend, Mark's, badgering. It was more difficult than starting a blog and seemed very confusing at first. I'm starting to get the hang of it but it's not quite what I expected. Social media... hmmmm.

Happy New Year's

I know I have been remiss in my duty. No blog entry for OVER a week. What can I say? Life is busy and getting busier all the time. 

I saw the surgeon last Friday. She is very pleased with my progress. Thinks I look great and have more energy than she would have expected. All good news.

My current plan includes:

1) Starting physical therapy to loosen up the scar tissue next week. 
2) Waiting until mid January to start exercising again. Although I can now make it up a flight of stairs without being out of breath, I still tire out easily. 
3) Continuing to use Lumosity to make new synaptic connections in my brain. I don't like the idea of brain damage, no matter how small, so I'm working on building it up... just like muscles. 
4) Finding a way to stay in touch with friends and family that is more efficient and comprehensive than currently in place.
5) Entering blog entries regularly that address healthier diet options.
6) Working full time after January.
7) Meeting with the oncologist late January to make our next plan of attack.

Here's hoping your New Year's resolutions are simple and attainable!