Survivors who had chemo etc and are into Complementary medicine

BOO HOO! I think I am going to have to cook more  !!!

thenewme if you want the recipe PM me your email address. I don't qualify for the study. (What else is new). I'm not overweight. Even though I might want to lose a few pounds I know I am not overweight.

Last time I wanted to get into a trial I couldn't because they changed the protocol. It was stage II-III HER2+ but they added you had to be node positive. So a stage IIA node positive can get into the trial but me at stage IIB couldn't. Just didn't make sense to me.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balsamic vinegar doesn't have that much sugar in it unless you use a lot of it. Vinegar in general is recommended for diabetics (type II) because it actually makes blood sugar go down. You just need to read how many grams per serving and understand how big a serving is.

I do believe in cutting back sugar intake but I'm not going to go nuts. I do believe there is a balance. If a tablespoon of Balsamic is going to get you to eat your broccoli then it's worth it.

Thought I'd post these links as they pertain to vitamins and safe sun exposure.  They're from a skincare companie's blog that I found (tried their skincare back in 2008 and broke out and since my wedding was coming up I discontinued and never gave it another chance, looks different now).  Anyway, thought it was a little helpful.

http://www.sophyto.com/blog/2011/06/02/do-you-know-your-vitamin-abcs-how-about-your-d-e-and-k/

http://www.sophyto.com/blog/2011/05/12/spf-alone-wont-protect-you-from-this-summers-soaring-uv-index-so-what-can-you-do-our-bioesthetician-ishtar-has-some-suggestions/ 

For you chocolate lovers, I am one of them (I even gave birth to  one real chocolate lover) dark chocolate 80% minimum is good for you in moderation. I keep it in my drawer at work and when I need a pick me up I have a small piece. In my before BC life I would go for the white and milk chocolate bars and eat them in one sitting.

 Now I look at the dark 80% chocolate as a special and important treat for my health

For al those wondering about why so many restaurants have such high calorie food, I suggest you might want to read:  The End of Overeating by Dr. David Kessler.  Esp. check the index for the sections on "palatability."  Kessler was head of FDA, and exposed, alsong with Cong Waxman, the cirarette manufacturers adding more addicitive ingredients to their products.

This book is one of my favorites.  Just amazing - hyperpalatable food, anyone????

Kira the Balsamic vinegar I use has 2g per tablespoon. I use it all the time but I am not a diabetic. My husband is a resolved diabetic so we still look at sugar content. If you haven't talked to a nutritionist ask your endocrinologist about that. It will really help you understand how to cut back on sugar and starches that can turn to sugar a swell as portion control for these. You can eat pasta but it's now a side dish not a main meal. But exercise  is key for diabetics. And as I mentioned vinegar is excellent but do stay away from the fruity and overly sweetened ones.

Caerus-Sunflowers Caerus-Sunflowers,

I had never heard the turn hyper palatable food, so I looked it up. That is really scarry to think they are doing that to us on purpose. Makes me wonder about the food our kids are eating at school. When I look at how much are kids are given daily it makes me sick. They eat so much food with the school lunches, way more than their little bodies need.

lago, thanks for the info. it's not me that's diabetic, but my husband has been told he needs to watch as his blood sugar levels are too high.

I really love oriental food, just can't seem to make it taste good, so I buy it from the restaurant. Boy I wish I had some idea how to make it myself.

Kira..I use a little sesame oil with some soy and flash fry some veggies of choice chopped the same size. the sesame oil is the key to the oriental taste. Snow peas, carrots, book choy, red and yellow pepper etc. It's all super quick and easy.

Oh so it's the sesame oil. I had no idea. I will have to get some when I go to the store this weekend. Is it in the isle with the other oils?

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Indian food but that said, I saw a documentary recently produced in India and shown on CBC here in Canada showing that Indian food is very high in fat content and huge in carbs - people from India and Pakistan are becoming diabetic faster than even those in our North American culture - from the food and also from a genetic predisposition - they also crave sweets and of course they make heavenly desserts (shows that someone has a sense of humour) - anyway my late dh was a diabetic for 21 years and the first food he gave up eating regularly was his beloved Indian food - it became an occasional treat.

Pakistani & Indian food is "peasant" food. Now that many of the people are not out in the fields working (and have desk jobs with stress) they don't need that kind of "fuel". This is why they are putting on the weight and having issues. I'll say it again exercise is a huge help in controlling diabetes.

Coq10 is good for lots of things. I haven't heard it associated specifically with memory. As an antioxidant it fights free radicals and therefore has proven quite effective in alzheimers care. It's a great supplement.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine is memory booster

susieq:

A lot of people who come to the US complain about the same things you do. In this country, organic is a luxury. In most places (especially developing countries) it is the norm. You can often tell Americans in other countries by how well fed they look - we really load up our food here. But, of course, most Americans are too well fed, according to the scales. And by "well" I mean "overfed." The supermarkets here are a gush of almost neon-like colors. The carrots are unnaturally orange, etc... All the coloring and preservatives really show.

I almost never have meat in the US because it is so packed with hormones that it loses its taste, amongst other things. Organic fillet mignon? Very, very hard to get here.

The Farm Bill has a lot to do with it, but I won't go into that. :-)

Gutsy: In both my pre- and post-cancer life, I continue to have an incurable weakness for white chocolate. Oftentimes I compromise by choosing milk chocolate - and I know that is not much of a compromise - dark is still better. I tell myself that at least I am getting iron.