Monday, August 24, 2009

What We Eat Really Can Make A Difference!

There's a Cancer support group that meets once a month. This month's meeting met last Wednesday and the topic was nutrition. When the Cancer education counselor told me about it, my first thought was that I already knew what they would say. It's not like I don't know I eat unhealthy stuff and know vegetables are good for me. The last minute though, I decided to go after all to check it out, see who all was there, find out what the resource center looked like and where it was.

I am so glad I went because I learned so much! The most important and biggest thing I learned was why certain foods are so bad and why others are so good. We saw a DVD called "Food For The Fight." I always thought "healthy foods" and "unhealthy foods" were all about weight management but boy was I wrong! According to this video, Food is medicine. Keep eating to survive even if doesn't taste good while having chemo. Sugar is cancer cells' best friend because it helps them grow. Good foods help build good cells that fight against the cancer cells.

Foods to Avoid that I eat: high fat foods like donuts, muffins, sweet rolls, ice cream,
Good foods are: cooked vegetables, bananas, chicken, scrambled eggs, a dietary supplement.

At least pizza wasn't on the "avoid" list, thank God! That is my staple food--I eat two slices 4 days a week!
For good nutrition and to maintain a healthy weight, we should:
Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day
Eat whole grain cereals, pastas, and bread products
Take a multivitamin daily (discuss with your doctor which is best for you)
Limit alcohol to 1 drink a day (I do good on this since I don't drink at all!)
Exercise more, walking is considered exercise so I'm okay on this too. The American Cancer Society recommends that women with breast cancer exercise about 4 hours a week.

The day after the meeting I shopped and bought a salad, cucumber, tomatos, carrots, almonds, prunes, bananas, trail mix and some V8 juice to try.

Homestay Mama sent me the link to this interview of Brenda Cobb at the Living Foods Institute which proves that diet can make a difference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVLDPI0TH90
(I did have the video embedded but it was too wide and I didn't know how to fix it.)

Ever hear the phrase "If I knew then what I know now
?" I used to be a "Junk Food Junkie," even had a shirt that said so. I was never fat so I kind of prided myself on being able to eat all kinds of fattening stuff without gaining for the longest time. I lived on Shakes, burgers, fries, fried chicken, pop every day, chocolate, Cheetoes, Doritoes, macaroni & cheese, some ice cream and of course lots of pizza! I made some changse when I started working out with a personal trainer but it basically amounted to cutting out the pop, fries, munchees and adding a protein drink. I still have a long ways to go, but I'm getting there with God's help!

I hope by sharing this information others will reconsider their eating habits and perhaps avoid growing those Cancer cells! I managed to down 4 cups of green tea the first 3 days after attending this meeting. Please continue praying that I will acquire a taste for it--still not good!

12 comments:

Daisy said...

Maybe the silver lining in all of this is you will end up being healthier than you were before because of your new good habits! I'm glad you don't have to give up pizza!

My Mommeh is a vegetarian, and she has just discovered some delicious and healthy frozen pizzas. It's made by Kashi and it has whole grain crust with flax seed. Her favorites are Caribbean Carnival (with plantains and mangoes) and Mexican pizza with black bean sauce. But they also have more traditional flavors, too.

Mrs4444 said...

Yup; keeping you in my prayers :) Thanks for the info. I didn't know that about sugar, and I am a sweet-freak, so that was a good piece of info.

Sandee said...

We eat healthy here. Have to. Getting older you just can't eat what you used to eat and weigh what you are supposed to. We also exercise everyday too. I can so relate.

You'll do just fine. I've every confidence that you will thrive. You just strike me as that type of person.

Have a terrific day. :)

Mike Golch said...

talk about food for thought.great posting.

Karen & Gerard Zemek said...

Daisy: Thanks for the pizza tip! I tried Kashi cereal a while back and it was so blah I didn't look forward to breakfast so quit eating that. Maybe I'll give these pizzas a try though.

Mrs. 4444: I'm going to have to check that sugar thing out further because it was in an email supposedly from John Hopkins giving an update on cancer but it turned out not to be from them after all when I went to their website. It's on Snopes.

Sandee: I'll do what I have to do. I am planning to talk to a nutritionist soon to help me find good foods that I like that won't hurt me and that don't involve any cooking because that won't happen. Thanks for your vote of confidence.

Mike: Thanks, glad you found this interesting.

Modern Mom said...

Those food will make you healthy. You're still in my thoughts and prayers.

Btw, an award is waiting for you over at The Modern Mom. Congrats!

Sierra said...

Food truly make a difference, welcome to SITS!~

Karen & Gerard Zemek said...

Modern Mom: Thanks. I really like these new snacks I found! Thanks for the award!

OceanDreams: Thanks for stopping by!

Tina Kubala said...

Have you tried flavored green tea? I shop at http://www.teavana.com. While I like black tea better, they have a great mint green tea and a cherry one. They also have white tea. White has more antioxidants then green and the flavor is super mild, so mild I don't like it because I like my tea strong and almost bitter.

The Bumbles said...

I eat a huge salad every weekday for lunch - I have found that my body craves them after weekends without. I always went for the fried food and avoided veggies. Then I got smart and healthy and active. Isn't that funny? You CAN re-train your body and mind! I have sweet treats every now and then but I hardly ever miss the fried or salty stuff anymore.

We have you in our thoughts in today's post BTW.

Homestay Mama said...

When you get to be as old as I am, you learn that how we lived when we were young, DOES affect how healthy and resistant to disease we will be when we get old.

Sometimes if we've been doing things wrong, God gives us a wake-up call and then a second chance to get it right the second time around!

I'm encouraged by this post, Karen. God bless you!

Karen, author of "My Funny Dad, Harry" said...

Tina: No I haven't tried the flavored tea except for the one with Jasmine. I'll look around and maybe give others a try. I never heard of white tea before. I'll have to keep an eye out for that one! Thanks for the advice.

The Bumbles: I'm sure I can do this, as long as I don't have to give up my pizza!

Homestay Mama: I guess you're right about the wake-up call. Hopefully it's not too late!

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