The Books

In the middle of the shock and distress of finding out about Lindy's condition, my old and dear friend Janet sent me a copy of David Servan-Schreiber's book, Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life. 

It was possibly the nicest thing someone could have done for me. It took me some time to open the Amazon package. I mentioned that to Janet; I told her that opening it seemed to be making a commitment to cancer. She said she found the book to be energizing and empowering. After about 2-3 weeks, I finally did and I started reading.

She was right. It's when I stopped grieving and started working. I also bought the Audible version. I'm an auditory learner, and discovered a lot more once I started listening to it in the car.

Now I listen to it over and over. It's a lot of information, lots of ideas, and it re-energizes me every time I listen. I pick a chapter at random and listen while traveling to violin lessons or the (organic) market.

I made Lindy read it at one point, because he questioned every nutritional decision I made (he does that.) But it isn't as important that he read it. He just needs to trust me. And he does. He's just crabby.

A scientist who Servan-Schreiber mentions over and over is Richard Beliveau, PhD. His book, written with Dr. Denis Gingras, is Foods to Fight Cancer and has been just recently updated. One thing that annoys me about this book is he doesn't seem to think buying organic veg is all that important. I do. It makes me question his overall thinking, but doesn't stop me from believing his research into beneficial cancer-fighting nutrition.

Here's how sick I am: I like nothing more than to curl up on the couch with a cup of coffee and Foods to Fight Cancer.

I've bought a couple of anti-cancer cookbooks. I don't need these as much since I'm a pretty good cook and my inventions are decent. I also rely on Google to find recipes that match what I have in my fridge, and I'll share the best ones here. I like getting new ideas though, since I get stuck in ruts sometimes.  So The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen by Rachel Katz and Mat Edelson (sent to me by my dear friend Karen) is the most useful cookbook I've found. Others over-emphasize whole-wheat flour. I have read that glycemic index, the indicator of how much foods will spike your blood sugar, is nearly as high for whole-wheat flour as refined flour. I don't trust cookbooks that say they can solve the glycemic index problem (blood sugar spikes cause inflammation that feeds tumors) by using whole-wheat flour liberally. I especially distrust over-reliance on "white whole wheat."  So I like The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen best.

Upcoming blog posts will address

• Juicing
• Coping with Chemo
• Mushrooms
• Cruciferous veg
• Leafy Greens
• The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen
• Meditation
• ...and more that I can't think of right now.

Lisa