Early on, I wrote about FOOD and cancer, but I haven't yet written about COOKING and cancer. Somehow, slowly but consistently, I appear to be regaining my interest in cooking. Maybe it won't get past the infatuation stage, when I look up new cookbooks and drool over recipes, but we'll see. Thus, tonight's diary is devoted to eliciting recommendations from all of you regarding cookbooks you especially like (whether billed as being for people with cancer or not). While you're at it, I wouldn't mind if you added your comments about cancer-related cookbooks to avoid. Might as well save the rest of us some trouble.
That said, I'll acknowledge that there appears to be no one right or best diet. Inserting our standard qualifier seems appropriate here:
Monday Night Cancer Club is a Daily Kos group focused on dealing with cancer, primarily for cancer survivors and caregivers, though clinicians, researchers, and others with a special interest are also welcome. Volunteer diarists post Monday evenings between 7-8 PM ET on topics related to living with cancer, which is very broadly defined to include physical, spiritual, emotional and cognitive aspects. Mindful of the controversies endemic to cancer prevention and treatment, we ask that both diarists and commenters keep an open mind regarding strategies for surviving cancer, whether based in traditional, Eastern, Western, allopathic or other medical practices. This is a club no one wants to join, in truth, and compassion will help us make it through the challenge together.
I've gone through a few stages since diagnosis three years ago. The first month or so, we had casserole city, and I don't remember much of that. Afterwards, I embarked on a heavy protein intake, since I was doing chemo. The dieticians affiliated with the cancer center were not very helpful. They basically told me to drink a LOT of water, which I did; consume a LOT of protein, which I also did; and to keep up my caloric intake. They didn't have much to say about how to do any of that, which left me wishing they'd been more forthcoming and directive.
I did drink a lot of water, though I don't like it much. For a while, I splurged on alkalinized water, but I doubt it was worth it. Soon I went to a local purified water, drawn from an artesian well somewhere in the area. (Proprietary information re: location) I like the taste better than our tap water, though that is pretty good.
Protein was easy for me to keep up, since I had one doctor who encouraged me to go the full nine yards on an animal-based diet. I ate lots of meat products (hmm, bacon!), dairy (good thing I like cottage cheese) and eggs. I also stopped eating most processed foods and most snack foods and pop. As I have mentioned, there was a period when I lived on 20-oz Cokes and bags of Fritos. Not a healthy, well-balanced diet.
But when the chemo was ineffective, I felt I should change my diet yet again. At that point I went all-out vegan. I started out with a visit to what we refer to as "enema farm," since part of their detox regimen included the self-adminstration of three enemas per day. I was there for four days; you can do the math. The menu was also a detoxifying one, according to their lights, so we had only raw foods. In fact, the first three days were juices only. One of the concoctions they asked us to consume was a disagreeable product of fermented sprouts called Rejuvelac. I was compliant for a day, but after that refused to drink the god-awful stuff. We also had to ingest large--I mean LARGE--quantities of wheatgrass. Some of it we drank (three oz. per day, at least), some of it we put on our faces as a mask (which was actually pretty nice), and some we added to our enema bags (I agree: ewww). I didn't have a taste for wheatgrass when I arrived, and I lack one still.
On the other hand, consuming a lot of sprouts, fresh vegetables, and juices did seem to be easy for my system. Who knows how much that particular regime, which I followed for several months, contributed to my recovery?
But, as for most of us except the most disciplined, inertia won out for me. Now my diet is a bit of a mish-mash, though my Ayurvedist tries to keep me somewhat focused on fresh vegetables, grains, and organic meats, and to avoid white flour and white sugar. I don't consume nearly as much dairy as I once did. During the winter months, I eat more meat than I do in the warmer months. It's so easy to fall back on familiar recipes. Don't you find that to be so?
For quite some time, I relied on some take-out standbys from local markets. (I live in the complete opposite of a food desert, which is an incredible advantage as long as one can afford to splurge.) I'd like to learn how to make "chickpea-walnut burgers" which are one of my very favorite easy items to grab-and-go. Well, whaddya know? There are bunches of recipes online. I think I like the Epicurious one best. Time to give it a try.
If I were to follow my preferred diet, I'd have a pretty simple routine. Breakfast would be easy, one of four choices depending on my mood and the season: a protein shake with carrot juice, raspberries, and bananas; an omelet with feta cheese, spinach, and broccoli sprouts; raspberry granola with yogurt; oatmeal with dried cherries, walnuts, flaxseeds and almond milk. I'm not a big fan of breakfast, but I like all of these.
Lunch is similarly easy: a salad, and maybe a chickpea-walnut burger. Or some soup. (I love soup.)
But dinner is always more complicated. None of the three of us really likes the same things. My husband also works most evenings, so we rarely eat together as it is. My daughter needs as many calories as she can get, and since she's a fussy eater I don't put many limits on how she gets them. One battle at a time. And lately she's had an evening class three nights a week, so that complicates matters too.
I did start some chicken-noodle soup yesterday that I need to finish. I have some high-quality, grass-fed beef stew meat to make to carry us through most of the week. There's a salad waiting to be eaten that I can have tonight for simplicity's sake--and to observe Meatless Monday.
But I promised you some longer discussion of cookbooks, so I will do that over the jump. Meanwhile, let me ask you to consider discussing how you aim to nourish yourself now, and what resources (cookbooks, online recipes, or others) you use to help with that project. We accept bad reviews too, though of course we might not reach consensus with any of this.
Actually, I don't have a lot of cookbooks specifically designed for people with cancer. Oh, my mother came up with a couple of odd ones from who-knows-where, but I haven't found them to be very interesting. Too URGENT, if you know what I mean.
I appreciated the general dietary tips in Anticancer, one of the first (and still among my best) cancer books I read. The center section, focusing on anti-inflammatory foods and activities, is an excellent and compact reference. I liked having the information about anti-oxidants, too, which was a fairly new concept for me when I got sick.
This is not to denigrate the rest of the book by any means, since I think its overall premise about supporting the health of one's "terrain" is a good one. But a major portion of the book is devoted to elements that are not food-related, nor does it have specific recipes.
The primary cancer cookbook I picked up is called The Cancer Lifeline Cookbook, written by a registered dietician affiliated with the Cancer Lifeline organization in Seattle (about which I know nothing). It has good basic, general information, such as their "Top Ten Super Foods" (including standards like Cruciferous-family vegetables; berries; onions, garlic, and Alliim-family vegetables; dish; nuts and seeds. There are also chapters on how to eat sustaining foods when one is disinclined to do so, because of diarrhea, nausea, or other side-effects of treatment.
The recipes, most of which are drawn from the repertoire of well-known Seattle-area chefs, are also appealing, though I have to confess I haven't tried any of them, other than ones I already know. Isn't that a challenge about recipes, anyway? At least for me, they have to be sort of familiar, yet not identical to the tried-and-true. Partly it's a matter of having ingredients on hand, but partly it's knowing what I tend to like. But I think I will try their recipe for "Seafood Stew with Tomatoes and Saffron." I love, love, love Bouillabaisse, and this might be close enough without being so complicated. A side dish called "Roasted Beets and Beet Greens with Marcona Almonds and Zolfini Beans" also looks good, though I have no idea what Marcona almonds are, and I figure I'll substitute another bean for the Zolfinis. I'll let you know how they turn out.
My recent resurgence of interest in cooking has taken me in some interesting directions. For some time, I've wanted to have my own copies of an old set of cookbooks written by lesbian feminists who ran a vegetarian restaurant in Bridgeport, CT called Bloodroot. I never went there myself, but I had friends who did, even one who worked there for a time. Buoyed by the success of the restaurant, and convinced they had a worthwhile message to share, they published the Political Palate (in three volumes: the first in 1980, the second in 1990, and the third in 1993). These books in many ways were ahead of their time, promoting seasonal, local food years before those considerations became popular and compelling. And the recipes are superb. Most of them are easy enough for a home cook, and some have been part of my standard repertoire for years. I am especially fond of their vegetarian (though not vegan) version of onion soup, which has spoiled all other restaurant versions for me. It's passing out of season now, though perhaps all our snow can rationalize its preparation still. I am sure to make at least one more batch before spring arrives. To my great pleasure, my husband found the first two books online for me, so now I have the chance to revisit their recipes with a new emphasis on healing.
I would be remiss if I didn't also mention a fine Ayurvedic cookbook that I am just beginning to explore. Called Eat, Taste, Heal, is is a beautiful book as well as one with lots of advice for eating in accordance with one's dosha (oversimplified: body/mind type) in pursuit of health. Since food is life in Ayurveda, this is a very valuable reference for what it explains about the sorts of foods suitable for certain doshas, and how to use this knowledge to support a return to health and balance.
As one might imagine, the Indian recipes are excellent--the Vegetable Korma Curry and the Chickpeas in Masala Sauce being only two of many all-dosha entrees. Until recently, I haven't had the energy to take this approach to cooking seriously, but as I move into a more solid state of recovery, these also are at the top of my list.
Now it's your turn: what are your go-to cookbooks post-cancer? Same or different from those you relied upon before? Recipes also welcome if you want to share.
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT:
Sara R has asked me to promote the Community Quilt for hopeful, who had her surgery for breast cancer today. Here is Sara's most recent diary on behalf of hopeful's quilt. As of this afternoon, the quilt is still 14 messages and $161 short of being fully subscribed. YOUR message is welcome! And here is the PAYPAL LINK FOR HOPEFUL'S QUILT
Thank You for whatever you can do to help get this finished for hopeful.