I usually don't go out to eat much, since vegan dining around here is a joke! My husband occasionally likes to go to a local sushi buffet, but I don't usually tag along because I just don't think it's worth the money to sit there and have a bowl of miso soup and a bland cucumber roll, while everyone else is raving about their food! LOL ... But, I consented to go out to meet up with a good friend of my husband's at a Makuni's in Sacramento. I ordered their "Rabbit Roll"- because you know, all vegans eat like rabbits! (another LOL!) It was decent- but what really got me was the purple nori it was wrapped in! I don't usually see nori which isn't the typical black.
Steamed quinoa and brown rice with stewed limas, broccoli, onions, carrots, and tomatoMom is blatantly cheating on her special diet. She makes the excuse that she was hungry, and there wasn't anything else to eat. It's frustrating, but I'm doing what I can to provide her with good food and good information- the rest is up to her!
I just learned that tumors thrive on high fat/ high sodium diets. The type of fat that they like are inflammatory-causing fats from meats, dairy, and hydrogenated oils. Good fats include olive oil, flax oil, hemp oil, etc. The sodium was a surprise to me. Too much apparently changes your natural pH. There's so much information out there, some even conflicting- it's difficult to know what is what!
But these two things, on top of the fact that tumors like sugar too, are what I'm working with right now.
Mom gets cranky when she eats food that doesn't taste "good" ... don't we all! But she particularly hates it when things aren't salty enough. So I looked into some salt substitutes, and bought some AlsoSalt, which is mainly Potassium and L-lysine- nutrients that are good for cancer too! It doesn't taste exactly like salt to me, but is a good sub. They sell it at Safeway in different flavors too. Much more pricier than salt, but if you need to cut down on sodium, this may help.One more thing that I learned, is that Mom's cancer (colon) has a high heredity risk rate. I have a 50% chance of getting it myself later on! Well, at least my diet is on track- which is one of the most important things you can do for prevention.
I'll be posting more soon, as soon as I get into the rhythm of things that have changed around here! Thanks for all of you who have posted kind comments and words of support! I REALLY appreciated it, and it gave me a lift!!
All that looks quite healthy. We have a salt substitute here called 'LoNa', which is quite a clever pun. Besides the 'Low Sodium' translation, the phrase literally translates to 'Please take some' in Hindi.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, we don't use any. Perhaps it's time to take it out of the jar and substitute our regular salt with it.
I've never seen purple nori either. Did you happen to ask why it was purple? My son has been asking me to make veggie "sushi" rolls.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, you can only do as much as you can to help someone who is sick. Don't get down on yourself for trying to help your mom and then see her eating things she shouldn't. I can't imagine being in your situation. I have only witnessed what my mother-in-law did with her sister and she did everything to help her sister fight lung cancer, but she still decided to smoke and eat what she wanted. You can't make someone do something they don't want to do.
Be strong!
purple nori?
ReplyDeletetight!
Yeah, I didn't think of asking the waiter, but I think it's purple due to the variety of the seaweed. It was not a dark purple either- more towards lavender... probably more expensive than the common black kind, so they can legitimize charging 10 bucks for sushi that has very little in it (mostly lettuce, a little avocado and asparagus, and a tiny bit of unari, or fried tofu)!
ReplyDeletei am totally excited about the purple nori...!
ReplyDeletealso, thanks for all the education on foods and health. i find it really interesting to learn about this... i'm sure it will come in helpful to me someday!
Gasp, I've never seen purple nori before! As a sushi and seaweed lover in general, I'm dying to get my hands on some now- It's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMcDougall said that cancer in animals was induced by dietary fat. They were able to create tumors by adding either vegetable or animal fat; it didn't matter.
ReplyDeleteI have cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol in my immediate family, so I have to watch it as well. I've actually adopted a very low fat, veg and fruitastic diet plan and I feel pretty good, but I miss chocolate. I also miss fried stuff and cupcakes. OMG I really miss pudding cake, but no can do no mo.
Upon reading all the confusing and conflicting studies posted on the net, I have come to the common-sense logic that is: natural balance. We DO need fat in our diets, but not in the amounts that we normally eat, and that goes for protein and simple carbs as well. Veggies are another issue, as I have never read any studies indicating vegetable toxicity... plus most mainstream habits don't include enough, which is why you have your fiber pills and V8 juice! ...that is my theory, coming from a non-scientific human background.
ReplyDeletebest thoughts to you and your mom. it sounds like you are taking great care of her!
ReplyDeleteThe purple nori is odd. A suggestion for your mom to help with cutting down on salt is to try adding more acid to her dishes. Lemon juice, orange juice, a splash of vinegar can help give food more flavor and lessen the need for salt.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, Maggie!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your mom completely appreciates what you're doing for her. When people are sick they feel that everything is unfair and why should they give up things. So they end up wanting to eat things which they normally wouldn't even have eaten much of earlier.
ReplyDeleteThat qinoa, brown rice and veggies dish looks quite yummy. I wanted to suggest lemon juice instead of salt then read that Maggie already did. It really does work. Squeezing fresh limes/lemons is the way to go, don't use the bottled stuff 'coz that beats the purpose of you making special, fresh, natural food. Also, maybe you could try sprinkling in a wee bit of cinnamon, ginger, pepper or mild spices. That would add to the taste.
Wow that is really interesting about the tumours! (AND the purple nori of course). Your mom is lucky to have you
ReplyDelete