7 Things I Learned This Week--Part 34

V8 Juice

I was pleasantly surprised that when I tried my 100% vegetable V8 juice that it actually tasted okay, way better than the green tea! I am stocking up on this. The bottle says it's more than half your daily vegetable requirement so I figure I'll drink two bottles a day and be covered.

False Email Re Cancer Update

Whew, I'm glad I checked on the email I received that claimed it was a Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins before I posted about it. I googled Johns Hopkins Cancer and up came a notice from Snopes that this email is false. It suggested the National Cancer Institute website as a reliable source for cancer information at www.cancer.gov.

Baby Carrots

Thanks to Jodi's Journey's Information About Baby Carrots post I found out that some of those aren't healthy at all! Some are coated with chlorine to preserve them but chlorine is a cancer causing agent. Fortunately, I bought the organic ones that hopefully are just little and not coated!

Keep the Flies Away

At Jodi's Journey this week I also learned about this easy trick to keep the flies away: Fill a Ziploc bag with water and 5 or 6 pennies and hang it in the problem area.

Speed Reading Trick

At Daily Blogs Tips I watched a video describing an interesting speed reading tip. The basic idea is that you need to stop reading with your larynx (i.e., trying to pronounce each word as you go, even if just mentally) and start reading with your eyes (i.e., the information is processed by the brain immediately as you see it).

Baking Soda

When I visited LaJolla Mom for the first time this week through SITS I found that baking soda works really well for cleaning wood cabinetry and furniture stains plus many more uses too.

Entrecard

I just found out that Entrecard has updated their tool bar to be compatible with Firefox 3.5. I missed it because it is so convenient to advertise on blogs as I visit them this way. I'm still not going to get back in that dropping habit that takes up so much time. Here's the post with the download if you're interested: click here By the way, welcome back Junk Drawer!

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My New Best Friend

I know I should eat vegetables every day but I'm lazy. Many need to be cut up or cooked so that is the main reason why I don't eat them. They don't really fill me up either. Ready-made Salads are expensive! That's why my new best friend is the V8 100% vegetable juice! It tastes okay to me, like cold tomato soup, and one bottle is over half the daily vegetable requirement so I'll be drinking 2 bottles of that a day.

I've also started drinking green tea every day. I discovered that the green tea bags are milder and not quite as bad as the green tea from our machine at work. If I put a little lemon in it and some ice, then I can swallow it if I picture it attacking those Cancer cells. Fighting Cancer is a great motivator to eat healthier! Thanks for all those who prayed that I would acquire a taste for these drinks!

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!