Attitude of Gratitude

• 2012-01-24

  

  Vegan Waldorf Salad

  I love Waldorf Salad, but not with yucky mayo! So here’s a vegan version that works surprisingly well. And so healthy.

  • 1 apple, cut into smallish bite-sized chunks (not peeled if organic)
  • 3 stalks celery (always organic! This is a “dirty dozen” food)
  • 6-8 leaves kale
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 1/2 inch chunk ginger, grated
  • 1 Tbsp mustard
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lemon (very juicy, use 2 if not)
  • salt and pepper to taste

  Go ahead and juice the lemon to a small mixing bowl. Wash the kale leaves and rub with lemon on both sides, set aside. Chop celery and apple, add to a large bowl.  Add the walnuts.

  To make the dressing: You can mix with a whisk, or use a food processor if you want it smoother. Add all dressing ingredients (mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, grated ginger, salt and pepper) together and mix well. 

  Chop the kale and add to the large bowl. Add the dressing and mix well. Enjoy!

  Lots of good super-foodie-goodness in there.

• 2012-01-23

  What you put at the end of your fork is more powerful than anything you will ever find at the bottom of a pill bottle.

  — Dr. Mark Hyman

• 2012-01-20

  

  Made the exact same thing as in my previous post, only I didn’t have any broccoli, so I used frozen corn and chopped kale instead. Very delicious! And, I remembered to take a photo this time.

• 2012-01-17

  Broccoli with onions, garlic, black beans

  Woops! I ate the whole thing before taking a photo. It was delicious. This is a good way to eat more broccoli (at least it is for me). Broccoli is a great anti-cancer food. It’s in the brassica family and has all the right stuff for staying healthy.

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 small onion, chopped
  • 1 large clove garlic (or 2 small), chopped
  • 2 cups broccoli florets and peeled stems (or eat the peeled stems as an appetizer!)
  • 1/3 cup vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup cooked black beans
  • 4 Tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 1 lime
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • dash cayenne
  • 1/4 tsp oregano
  • chopped tomato
  • salt and pepper to taste

  Saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until onion softens. Add broccoli and vegetable broth. Reduce heat just a bit, cover (mostly), and steam broccoli for 5 minutes. Add beans, cilantro, lime juice, and spices&herbs and mix well. Cover and cook 1 more minute just until beans are warm through. Serve with avocado and chopped tomato, season to taste.

• 2012-01-01

  

  On this first day of 2012 I am happy to be alive, grateful to be able to go out and enjoy the sunshine and the beauty around me. Happy New Year! 

• Get your data

  This post by Jeff Jarvis reminded me of the importance of getting my data in the process of taking control of my medical experiences. It describes how Xeni Jardin, an editor at Boing Boing, recently described how she asked for and received images from her MRI (after being diagnosed with breast cancer), and when reviewing them, discovered that one set of images was from someone else.

  I can only hope that most of the time, those kinds of mistakes don’t happen. However, people make mistakes, so they are going to happen. But attempting to catch mistakes isn’t really the point of getting my data.  Feeling empowered about my medical experience is, I think, why it’s worth doing.  Even if I’m too overwhelmed to actually look at the data for a while, at least I have it.  It’s my body, and all those measurements the doctors are taking of it are, in some sense, mine too. I like being able to do my own tracking of the various numbers that get recorded every year; I like having copies of the pictures of my body that show (so far, anyway) that I am cancer-free following my surgery and treatment in 2010. (Hopefully those pictures I’m getting really are of my body and not someone else’s!)  I like getting more educated on what each of the measurements actually means so I can have more meaningful conversations with my doctors. It helps me feel like I make better decisions for myself, and should the time come again when I have to make some very difficult decisions, I will be better prepared to do so, and more confident about the whole process.

  My next round of tests is coming up in February. I’ll be asking for copies of everything, as usual. Add it to the pile! And as always, I am grateful to the doctors who help me understand what it all means and are willing to take the time to review it with me. But I wouldn’t expect anything less.

• 2011-12-11

  Broccoli and “cheese” sauce

  I was looking for a more interesting way to eat steamed broccoli on rice, so I invented this non-dairy version of a traditional cheese sauce. It came out quite well. 

  • 3/4 cup raw cashews
  • 3-4 Tbsp parsley
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 Tbsp mustard
  • Juice of 1-2 lemons
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 head of broccoli, separated and/or cut into florets

  Soak the cashews in water for about 6 hours. Drain. Add all ingredients except broccoli to food processor. (Use 1 very juicy lemon or 2 if they’re not so juicy). Process until smooth.

  Steam broccoli florets 5-6 minutes. While still hot, place in bowl and add sauce. Stir to mix well.  Serve over brown rice.

  Broccoli is a vegetable in the Brassica family which has powerful anti-cancer properties, so eat up and enjoy!

  p.s. If you take the skin off the broccoli stem, you can steam it, or even eat it raw, and it’s very tasty.  I usually eat it raw as an appetizer.

• 2011-12-10

  Cancer is everywhere

  Two bloggers that I follow fairly regularly because I like their writing (Xeni Jardin and Susannah Breslin) were recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I read about both today. 

  Once you’ve had cancer, or you know someone close to you whose had cancer, you notice it more. You notice news items about potential cancer treatments, about people who’ve been diagnosed with cancer, about people who die of cancer. You notice people wearing wigs or looking frail and wonder if they have cancer. You see a new freckle or bump and wonder if it’s cancer. Sometimes it feels like cancer is everywhere… and, unfortunately, it is everywhere. 1 in 4 people will get cancer in their lifetimes.  In the US,  about 1500 people die every day of cancer, and every day, 3400 people are diagnosed with cancer.

  Cancer really sucks. It is a horrible disease, with horrible treatments, and affects the lives of people and their families and friends dramatically.  It’s hard to imagine 3400 people around the country getting devastating news about their health every single day.  It’s sad to think about. 

  And yet, and I am profoundly inspired by these people. People like you and me who get terrible news and most cry and then they take a deep breath and head forward into the unknown, the confusion, ahead with courage.  

  Xeni and Susannah write eloquently about the unknown and confusion they are experiencing right now. My heart goes out to them. And I am inspired by them. I went through that journey, I came out the other side, I am grateful to be alive, I am changed, and I am courageous too. 

• The Buddhists are right; reality is illusion. But it never looks that way. And if you’ve ever been hit by a bus, you’ll know it’s an illusion that hurts.

  — UF, Life Is a Chihuahua Wearing a Pink Sweater via This Isn’t Happiness

• 

  I think, sometimes, perhaps our priorities are a tad misplaced.  I am grateful for all of you out there who think peace, not war; who think life, not death.