Dieting for Health

             Time for an update on dieting for health. Ever since I got the cancer diagnosis, I became more motivated to participate in my own healthcare. The main and really the biggest step I could take was a look at my diet. In November while recuperating from a mastectomy, I had the good fortune of staying with my friend Peggy and her husband who had recently become vegans. I had already been reading about veganism and health, but in their home I could experience it. Peggy is a great cook no matter what’s she making, so she had quickly mastered tasty dishes for a vegan diet. I enjoyed the eating first of all. But a wondrous side effect took place – I felt better. This was directly after my surgery so I was really looking for ways to feel even just a tad better.

            That marked the beginning of my vegan journey. I’m not nearly as good a cook as Peg, and I’m only cooking for one, so it’s a challenge to make dishes with lots of preparation. Just not interested. I have taken advantage of making smoothies, though, in my nifty, awesome blender (a Ninja) and I put all kinds of stuff in them. A healthy green mix of kale, chard, arugula, lettuce; chunks of tofu; a cup of frozen blueberries; banana; an apple cut up; green juice; soy milk; cucumbers; squash; cilantro; and the list goes on. I don’t put all of those in one smoothie, but probably three or four solid items plus the liquids.

            With the Standard American Diet we’re all bound to get generous dosages of illness, including heart and vessel disease, cancer, various chronic illnesses, autoimmune diseases more than we’re genetically disposed to, arthritis, and all kinds of crappy stuff. It isn’t necessary. Besides, you don’t have to be a complete vegan to conquer illness until it more naturally shows up many decades later in your precious lives.

            If you’ve had cancer, and everyone who has dreadfully fears a recurrence, then check out Kristin Carr’s manifesto, Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips. She is an awesome statement of how to be proactive when faced with a deadly form of cancer – with no treatment known. She is still writing books and researching more ways to help herself nine years after diagnosis. And don’t worry, she goes to the regular physicians (who can think outside the box) as well as holistic practitioners. No wacko crystals for her! Her website is  http://www.crazysexycancer.com. And she’s on Facebook.

            Lots of people’s illnesses are described as chronic now. Even HIV. I know people who might have two or three chronic illnesses, and I definitely believe they can be helped by getting off the Standard American Diet and onto greener pastures of grazing. It's already been proven.

            Remember, you can SUBSCRIBE to my blog now and get these messages as emails.

            Feel better! Go green!

Following My Heart

             I want to show up as a creative writer everywhere. I feel like I’ve been given this strange “opportunity” to follow this path. I’m chronically ill, enough so I can’t work full-time. So I’m on Social Security Disability and stay at home much of the time. Why not call myself a writer and actually commit to what I’ve been wanting to do (and avoiding) all this time? Years have passed while I’ve quivered in fear of taking this step. Well, it is a big deal. And no one gives you a handbook on how to do it. You make it up as you go.

            I want to show up as a writer in every way possible. I don’t want to write business stuff – I’m not very good at it. I like to write newsletters for organizations, though, because I love writing as a healthy tool for communication. Someone can speak to you, you can watch a youtube video, you can listen in on conversations. But unless it’s written down, you can’t go back and reread it, underline it, make lists from it, color-organize it, whatever you can do to a piece of written communication.

            I don’t want to write so I’ll be remembered. I want the story to be remembered. I want, if it’s meant for you that special reader, for you to make use of it in whatever way you see fit. I may write under several different names. There are many Dana Bennetts. Who cares? I can have an exotic name – Luna Lapwater, Moonlight Radinsky, D.B. Loud, Ali Gator.

            This is day number 3 this week for writing a blog. Tomorrow is my first reward if I write number 4. This is not only easy peasy, but it’s a lot of fun.

            If you want some advice from me about how to get started writing, let me know. I love to share that story. And over the years I’ve supported and encouraged many, many would-be writers to get started. It’s up to you to find out how to keep going. Or if you want to.

            You can SUBSCRIBE to my little blog now and will get email notification. I hope you’ll want to follow me. You won’t have to read everything, but you won’t (if you subscribe) have to remember or bookmark my blog.

            Have a great day and follow your heart.

What a Surprise

            Pondering the day and what it has already brought. Wait, actually started last night.

            I went to my Course in Miracles class last night and told the story of my taking Anthony, my adorable 88-year-old neighbor, to a Baptist church on Sunday. I kept telling him I’d take him to church because he really wanted to go and he doesn’t drive anymore. Finally, I made a list of five churches we could attend – three Presbyterian and two Baptist – because he wanted the Baptist experience most of all. I could have left off going to church altogether except as a way to meet new people and maybe have people who’d visit me in the hospital when I go there.

            Anthony picked Calvary Baptist Church, of course – last on the list. At least all five of the churches had pipe organs and Calvary BC was upgrading its organ.

            I drive us to church on Sunday morning and the people there are really nice and friendly and not “come-to-Jesus” Southern Baptists (my grandfather was a Baptist preacher so I have some experience in this), and we feel really welcomed. Anthony wants to sit down front, so we do. I love to sit in the back, of course. The service starts and it’s moving along and all of a sudden I have this feeling like I’m in love or something. Really, like romantic love. And the pastor, a young woman in her 30s, talks about the pilgrimage of Jesus in the wilderness during Lent. Now I know it’s Lent. And she says it wasn’t a quest, because that has a goal, but this pilgrimage is where you ask to hear God’s will.

            Well, this is all very similar to A Course in Miracles where your job is to listen and do God’s will. Okay, I’ve had trouble with this all my life, since about age ten. But I’m also sitting there and this message is coming at me from all kinds of directions and I’m feeling like I’m in love.

            So, Tama, the Course in Miracles class leader, last night tells me I experienced a shift in perception, a miracle, because I was able to put aside my preconceived notions about Baptist churches and be open to what was really being said. I don’t know what else to say. Well, I do, but I’ll write about that tomorrow.

New Plans and Rewards

      You know how you feel when you want to change and yet you have as much resistance as you have desire for that change? That’s how I feel. There are things that have become habits for me. Inactivity. Procrastination. Putting off what would help me the most. That kind of stuff that is so mind-numbing.

     This morning I was going to get up and clean my apartment from stem to stern and then clean up my email inboxes and my messy desktop. But I read till too late last night – you know, that part of the book where all the ends start getting wrapped up and you can’t stop till you know how it’s going to play out. And I lost my get-up-and-go and I have lots of errands to run today, have to, and I promised I wouldn’t look at Facebook but I did (at least only just 15 minutes). And it’s already 9:30 and I – hm, I guess I have more time than I thought.

     Tomorrow I go for blood work early without coffee or food. I may take on some small jobs in the house today.

     I promised myself this about writing blog posts this week:  If I can write 3 times this week, I get a star. 4 times and I get a salted caramel chocolate thingie at Starbucks. Ohhhhh. 5 times and I get to buy an outfit at Macy’s. 6 times, new shirts for spring from Target. All week, I get a new pair of shoes, too, from Naturalizer or Nordstrom or Easy Spirit.

     I want those shoes. Change is coming, folks.

Being Tired

      I've been incredibly tired in the past week. I finally remembered I'm taking a new medication (to reduce my chance of recurrence of breast cancer) and it has added a layer of fatigue to my usual fatigue from liver disease. Last night I decided I had to have some concrete goals for this morning or I'd never make it out of bed. So I did it and it worked. I accomplished some tasks, even did some housework, and got my hair shampooed. Little things. But big when I feel this tired.

     I'm signed up for an online writing challenge for February. It doesn't involved much time and just a daily commitment to write – not so hard, right? Wrong! I'm  discovering just how much energy creativity requires. I'm so far below that bar, and I can't remember ever being this low. What to do? I keep writing twice a day. I write what I can to the level of energy I have at the moment. And I have this grand plan to build energy by exercising every day. Build on that. Use it. Set myself up to be creative by reading good books, going to good movies, visiting art museums and galleries. And hang out with other creatives.

     Creativity exists in so many places. A great business idea. A new way of organizing to see a new perspective. Seeing a new perspective and feeling it. Childraising methods that are new and fanciful, whimsical. Writing your own blog. Posting a creative, thoughtful status on Facebook. Lots and lots of places and methods. What is your form of creativity? Everyone has one...or more.

     Back to reading on the couch. Send me a little juice!

Being Proactive

     I'm going to hire a very part-time secretary to help me with all my paperwork. Especially with setting up a new file cabinet I'm getting soon. I have too many bad days to be able to keep up. I'm also hiring my handyman Dave to help me set up my office. I still have boxes to unpack, and pictures to hang, including some big ones! It's just too much for the amount of energy I have. I don't really understand it, but I've had this increasing fatigue for a few years now – a "gift" of the liver disease. I have to get proactive.

     Last week I had a very good week but this week I've already been down two days in a row. I don't get it. Oh, I think I said that already. I have learned this lesson over and over, though: be kind, be gentle to yourself. And that's a message I want you, my readers, to hear, too.

     That's how we should all treat ourselves. I'm not promoting laziness and not fighting back when times get tough. But there are times to "buck up" and to fight back, and there are times that those terms mean something else you should be doing. Like being nice to Number One. When you're hurting for a long time (grieving, in physical pain, worried about how best to help an elderly parent or a child having problems at school), you need breaks now and then to build yourself back up mentally, physically, and spiritually. Sometimes it leads to being able to see a new perspective, recognize a solution you had overlooked.

     I've very happy to report that I found a dietitian on my wavelength who will coach me to be the most well-nourished and happy vegan in the West. When I told her that I tell people that I am a "vegan today," she said that was perfect. She believes in following your intuition (like when I get a hankering for broccoli-cheddar soup at Panera) and checking out how it makes me feel. (Wonderful!) She also told me I need B12 and some other stuff. And she's just so upbeat and friendly.

     I still believe that a vegan diet can help improve my health. Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) is not a lot of fun. I have special itch lotion loaded with menthol and camphor that I only put on at night because I smell like a walking ad for BenGay. I have nausea with too much frequency. I take candied ginger for that. It works but I still lose my appetite. I haven't been in the hospital for an infection of the bile ducts (cholangitis) in close to two years, so that's good news. And then there's the fatigue. I'm going to get some help so I don't feel so overwhelmed. Maybe then I can write more, rather than having to do paperwork when I'm feeling well – and that's all.

Reading and Studying I Have Done and Still Am Doing

     I have launched into an investigation into healing, cancer, liver disease, diet and nutrition, and living well. It started with checking out Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips by Kris Carr from the library and reading it straight-through. She gives a lot of great ideas about how to live with the diagnosis and to take a healing and wellness attitude toward it. That has affected me the most. She also underlines the need for a good, nutritious diet that is plant-based. She started out vegetarian and is now completely vegan. There are a lot of links to other informative websites and books, so I've been branching out from there. Kris is a young cancer survivor (diagnosed at 31) so she has a spunkiness and vitality that I needed to hook up to. She has a Facebook page (Crazy Sexy Cancer), so look her up. Especially if you have cancer and need a lift and some inspiration to fight back.

     Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman (MD) is one of the first diet books I read about veganism and using it to cure -- yes, cure as in heal and get rid of -- diseases and afflictions. He covers heart disease, high cholesterol and other indicators of oncoming heart disorders, diabetes, cancer, and many other chronic conditions that are a result of the Standard American Diet (SAD). It is SAD! We can all make adjustments to our diets to make them healthier without having to go all the way vegan. Add more fresh fruits and especially green vegetables to your diet today. Try to get organic, but if you can't, just eat the fruits and veggies you like and can find. Frozen ones are good, too. And cut out sodas - they deplete your bone density with this stuff called phosphoric acid that's in every soda container! Seriously. Hey, I still drink coffee and love my Starbucks, but I just do it moderately. You know? But not the sodas.

     Right now I'm reading a book by Uri Geller (you know, the spoonbender?) about mind power and he has some very unique things to offer everyone. His mind and abilities have been studied at the National Institute of Health and his intuitive and mental powers have been used by the FBI, the CIA, and even our State Department in important international negotiations. All he has to do at those meetings is to sit there and send positive thought waves to our opponents on important points! His book is called Mind Power. I don't like the writing so much, a bit dry and technical in some places, but he had someone helping him write it. His own voice doesn't come through as clearly as it should. A good, informative read, though, for anyone trying to get a better grip on life.

     I choose every morning when I get up to be happy and to have a good day. That is my mental workout. I have a lot to be happy about and grateful for. Today, I am thankful for everyone who read this post. Oh, what did this vegan have for breakfast? Ezekiel sprouted whole wheat bread toasted and spread with organic peanut butter and a blackberry fruit spread (no sugar), two Cutie oranges, and a green drink made by Bolthouse (sort of like Naked Juice). Yum!

     Be well. And happy.