Cancer preventing foods…

Fruits: Red and purple grapes and grape juice, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.
Vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, leaf lettuce, mustard greens, collard greens, chicory, Swiss chard, tomatoes, and garlic.
Beans: Lentils, soybeans, and peas.
Whole grains: Brown rice, whole wheat, oatmeal, air-popped popcorn, wild rice, kasha, and tabbouleh.

I got this list from an e-letter sent from http://deniseaustin.com/  as well, you can view a target exercise to incorporate into your routine.

I think it’s helpful to figure out what interests you and go from there.  For example, my cousin has a chiropractic practice and publishes an e-newsletter with helpful eating tips.  I find this to be a great resource, along with various other websites… create your own RSS list to zero in on what means the most to you for your fitness. 

I’m finding that tea drinking is of benefit since I love my coffeebreak… I spoke with my doctor about my daily cappuccino and he said the benefits outweigh any negative effects, so continue in moderation.  I appreciate the anti-inflammation benes it bestows on my joints and sinuses… but tea is a good alternative to arise to for me, I couldn’t or wouldn’t drink coffee straight up in the a.m. anyway, but tea I do, very hot and rather strong earl grey or english breakfast (I buy an huge box of loose leaf), sometimes with some whole milk added or 2%, often not.  Breakfast for me consists typically of what I call ”concoction”… which I’ve been eating since college.  A shake of:  grape nuts, raisin bran, natural granola (with nuts)… I often add some toasted pecans or walnuts, too, and at times chopped fresh dates.  Add: a good-sized tablespoon or natural peanut butter (never eat hydrogenated crud) and about 1/2 T. raw honey… enough milk to make a paste and stir… MMmmm.  Hot tea, your set!

 

I make no apologies…

for using Wikipedia, if need be.  Meaning, if I haven’t another resource handy and it’s the first thing that comes up on my Google search.  I’ll start with this one:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulforaphane

Why that?  Well, because of:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cauliflower

I just sampled delicious orange cauliflower:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Orange_cauliflower.png

at the co-op, lightly sauteed in olive oil and with salt.  It was so good!  They were sampling the purple sort, as well:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PurpleCauliflower.jpg also great, I imagine, and I was told even more beneficial.  The previous week this gal gave out a wonderful, beautiful salad of watercress , orange olive oil, chevre, gold and red beets, and blood orange, a tad of red wine vinegar.  The recipe is fabulous in nutrition and colour.  A good everyday sally, or a wonderful opt. for a party.  Like I entertain… my house is a mess!

We did spend the day at my best friend’s house.  I get no brownie points, since I brought chocolate! (well maybe I do, as cocoa bean is good for you.)  We drank tea, also, so had I not taken several sips of an iced-mocha (Starbucks) and nibbled 1/3 slice pistachio cheesecake, and out of angry reflex drove through and downed a hot apple pie (McDonald’s) I would have done better today.  Oh, darn, I forgot the hotdog (with cheese inside) I had at lunch.  (I never do that!)  Really.  I never do.  My oldest didn’t even know what a hotdog was until she went to a friend’s fifth birthday party.  She came home raving about the lunch.  She marveled about the incredibly tasty sandwich when I pried for information… oh dear, I thought, “She really doesn’t know what a hotdog is!  What kind of mother will they think I am!”

I’ve been drinking some tea nearly nightly that– I was told by another helpful co-op resource– aids in weight loss… I need all the help I can get!  As well, oolong tea is supposed to be helpful.  I used to be an avid tea drinker, but since the coffeeshopstop seems so desirable to me, and has for many years, I had nearly stopped, until lately, drinking tea.  I am definitely BACK!

…I began this blog, yesterday being April 4, by coincidence, on my sister Merilee’s birthday.  I never knew her, but loved her just the same.  She died long before I came along and would have been twelve years my senior.  She lived as my mom always says, three years, three weeks, and three days.  Imagine, such a short little life.  She was such a doll, too– I used to look at pictures and weep.  We actually named our second daughter after her (middle name), and my mother, whose middle name is the same, different spelling.  We kept with tradition and altered the spelling, and we decided to use the book version I’d been reading, “Marilee”, which, interestingly, is nearly my other sister’s middle name and mine combined.  Marie + Lee = Marilee.  There ya go.  You know a little bit about me…

I noticed the significance of the date, and also must say that death is quite the theme right now as we are saying goodbye to my cousin’s husband, a wonderful person and good friend.  He is losing his battle with colon cancer, and has put up an admirable fight.  I rest assured that he is and will be at peace with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, very soon.  Many have watched on as his wife, girls, family and friends have so lovingly cared for and about him, in part, because he lovingly cared for and about them.  Life is short in the scheme of things, whether passing at infancy, three, or forty-five.  I recently said goodbye to my brother, the second bro I’ve lost… and several years back we lost a son in utero, Luke Josiah.  Such a little thing, such a fragile one.  My dad and dear Aunt and several others I have loved are in heaven now… but I am here.  Here with love, challenges, heartache, lots to rejoice about, so many blessings to be grateful for… yet so much of the past to yet heal from, forgive, and move forward.   So shedding a few (more like tens upon tens) of lbs. will be a good thing.  Here is to overall health!

God bless you.  Tomorrow, maybe I will share exactly why I’m calling this and have designed this ‘diet’ to be, The Orange-A-Day Diet.

Maybe, too, I’ll figure out how to better use this blogsite!  How does one indent a paragraph? Blogs.