The C-Word: What's Left To Eat?

At this point, you've read all the things I gave up - wheat, dairy, processed foods, any kinds of preservatives, sugar - especially refined sugar, animal products (except for very rarely, a little bit of organic, grass-fed meat or chicken or wild fish). Sometimes, when the weather was warm, I even ate totally raw - and gave up the rest of the grains, too. You might be despairing - WHAT do you eat?

Chokeules helps me out with this.
 
As it turns out, I did not have to become a breatharian. This gentle, detox diet would probably do wonders for almost anyone. It's very good for soothing the body, as well as giving it the support it needs to heal itself. If you are trying to kickstart a weightloss program, lower your blood pressure or cholesterol or simply soothe your body during a stressful time.

A lot of people follow the ketogenic diet very successfully to "starve" their cancer out but I didn't do that. Instead, I tried to make my diet at least 80% vegetables. These days, if you live in a major metropolitan area, you'll find many of the ingredients and even pre-prepared food in health food stores, supermarkets and amazon.com. Any time, I mention vegetables here, I mean organic and non-GMO - you must read labels carefully. If you absolutely can't find organic, wash and peel the vegetables before you use them. But personally, I think anyone with cancer should not eat ANY pesticides or GMO products, so it may be better to bite the bullet and try to find organic or at least, locally-grown from small farms.

I put my diet together by reading cancer diets online and by consulting with nutritionist Joel Fuhrman so some of my recipes are modified from his book which is totally worth reading when you are feeling strong.

Any time I use salt, I use himalayan pink salt, but you can also use sea salt. Commercial table salt is bleached and refined and, according to Max Gerson, the doctor who created Gerson therapy for disease, it causes an imbalance in the body.

On a different note, if you have radiation therapy, I suggest you bathe in sea salt and baking soda, half-a-cup of each, soaking in the tub for 20 to 30 minutes afterwards to recover. If you are getting chemotherapy, I'd suggest taking a little glutamine along with your other supplements to help re-heal your stomach lining.

A few suggestions, try to make everything as fresh as possible, don't eat leftovers too often and never microwave anything. Microwaving heats food by making the water molecules jump around and there is a theory that that affects the chemical composition of the food and how it reacts with the water in your body. Remember you are 70 to 80% water. 

A ban on microwaving can be tough in the morning when one is in a rush. If I really don't have time, I eat a handful of raw nuts along with a dried or fresh fig or two - as long as it doesn't have any preservatives or sugar.  I tend not to have smoothies for breakfast even though they're fast, but for me, they are too intense in the morning.

Before Breakfast

Here's what I do in the morning. I have two tablespoons of Essiac tea and then a big glass of water with 2 spoonfuls of PolyMVA Then I do some oil pulling since chemo can do a lot of damage to your gums and teeth. Lots of dentists don't like to work on cancer patients as we get infections so easily.

For my oil pulling, I use one tablespoon of raw coconut or sesame oil and one drop of myrhh essential oil because it is a good antibacterial. I put it in my mouth and swirl and swish it around while I take a shower and walk the dog or read emails - 5 to 10 minutes. I spit it into a paper towel or directly into the garbage and go rinse my mouth.

Next I have a green juice:

4 or 5 leaves of lacinato kale or 2 or 3 of regular kale
a small bunch of cilantro or parsley
a small bunch of dandelion greens, collard greens, mustard greens and/or swiss chard
broccoli stems or any raw vegetable parts that you didn't cook
one small lemon
one to one-half a cucumber, depending on the size
4 stalks of celery
1-1/2 inch of fresh ginger
1/4 green apple - to taste

All the ingredients must be organic (except maybe the ginger because it's hard to find), because when you drink the juice, you are getting a super concentrated dose of the vegetable and you don't want a concentrated dose of pesticides with it. I put all these in my Omega HRT 350 juicer.
I mix up the combinations so it doesn't get boring. Sometimes I add a couple of carrots instead of apples. I don't add beets because they don't agree with me but they are good for the blood. You can add some from time to time, but not too much because, of course, they are so sugary.

If I am in a hurry, I buy a cold-pressed Green Love from organic avenue in New York City. Or the Squeeze truck's Stand and Deliver. These brands are great because they don't (currently) use hpp - a way of preserving the juice by squeezing all the air out of it (which tragically kills enzymes with possible bacteria) and means that it really isn't raw any more.

Either before or after, I drink a cup of hot water with a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I also take my probiotics.

In Paul Pitchford's famous Healing with Whole Foods, he suggests waiting for an hour or two after you wake up before you have solid foods. This is a brilliant book on healing the body with food but it's heavy reading so if you are in the throes of chemo or radiation, maybe a friend can start it out for you.

If you have a few cups of green or black tea after the juice and everything else, you probably won't be hungry for a little while. When you are ready, here are some possible foods.

For Breakfast:

 Chia porridge

2 tablespoons of chia seeds
2 tablespoons of shelled hemp seeds
2 tablespoons of flax seeds
1 handful of goji berries (for sweetness)
pinch of salt

I put everything together in a bowl and then add a cup of almond or coconut milk, stir it up well and let it sit. Within a few minutes, it will be thick and custardy. If it's too thick, I add more nut milk and/or a little hot water to warm it up. Sometimes, if I really need it a little sweeter, I add a sprinkle of coconut sugar on the top. You could also use a few drops of stevia extract but I don't like the aftertaste. You'll notice that if you don't mix it in, it hits your tongue first and you need less.

Black rice toast and Avocado.

Toast a slice of Food for Life Black Rice bread (which tastes more like a soft-baked cracker than bread, it's relatively low-carb and gluten-free), top it with artichoke pesto* and slices of fresh avocado. There is an American illusion that we don't have enough protein. If I am with someone who is stressing out, I might add a strip of eggplant bacon or some chopped roasted almonds.

Artichoke Pesto*

I put this on everything - from quinoa pasta to grilled salmon. You can buy it but it's better if you make it because there are theories that corn and canola oil contribute to the growth of tumors whereas olive and coconut oil do not. So here's a recipe, but I suggest you play around with the ingredients to taste. I don't use parmesan cheese but if you do, make sure it is organic and adjust the salt accordingly.

small bunch (1/4-1/2 cup chopped) cilantro/coriander
8 garlic cloves
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/2 teaspon of cayenne (or maybe a fresh green chili if you like it spicy)
1 cup of walnuts (especially good for prostate cancer)
1 cup of olive oil
1 8 oz package of frozen artichokes, thawed and chopped
sea salt to taste

I just put it all in the Vitamix and pulse until it is chunky but spreadable texture. It keeps for a week or two in the refrigerator. You can dip carrot sticks in it or mix in more olive oil and lemon and use it as salad dressing. Artichokes are great for clearing the liver and blood.

Oatmeal

Joel Fuhrman suggested I make it using Steel-Cut Oats which is quite slow-cooking. I used to cook a large amount in advance and then put it in a container in my fridge and heat it up a little at a time. I cook two cups of oatmeal with three cups of water, one cup of fresh apple cider, one tablespoon of organic blackstrap molasses, fresh cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, nigella sativa (onion seed) and ginger, along with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I add 1/2 cup of chopped almonds, hazelnuts and/or walnuts and sometimes chopped dried figs which (along with sour apples) are one of the fruits that good for killing cancer cells. I eat the oatmeal as is or I add a little nutmilk to make it more liquidy. If you desperately need it sweeter, add a tiny bit of raw honey on top after you serve yourself. In Chinese medicine, all the spices are warming and cancer quite often makes a person cold, so this is a Qi-building tonic.

Since I refused to take prednisone (or steroids) with my chemo, I kept my bones strong but I had bad nausea. I counteracted the nausea with A LOT Of fresh ginger. It actually worked very well.

Again, if I am eating animal protein - sometimes, I have a small amount of grilled wild salmon over baby kale with artichoke pesto and olive oil on top. I try not to eat farmed salmon - organic or not - and I never buy it from places where they sell massive quantities of fish like Costco or Sam's Club.

If I'm in a rush but want something savory, I chop some broccoli, quickly parboil it in the tiniest bit of water and eat it with tamari or a little bit of miso.

For Lunch:

Smoothie

I usually save my smoothies for lunch because they keep me full for a long time. My favorite smoothie is still the same:

1 avocado
3-4 leaves of kale or swiss chard, stems removed
packet of unsweetened acai
1 scoop of delgado protocol stem cell strong (this has lots of good mushrooms and parasite-killing herbs) but you can use other brands.
1 scoop of delgado slim blend (not trying to lose weight - this is very filling and nutritious) - again, this is the brand I use, you can use other vegetable-based protein blends, just read the ingredients carefully.
1 cup of vanilla unsweetened hemp milk
1 cup or so of coconut water, more if it gets too thick


Big Green Salad

I am very organic when I cook and even more so with salad because I think respecting your vegetables and their combinations is key, otherwise chewing it feels like a chore for horses. I do what the French do and start with a big salad bowl. I make the dressing at the bottom, put the salad on top and then toss it all together. All the measurements are approximate and you will have to see what works for you.

1/4 to 1/2 cup of extra virgin organic, cold-pressed olive oil
2-3 big tablespoons of pesto, basil or artichoke or one of each.
1 tsp black olive tapenade (check the ingredients to make sure there are no preservatives)
a few anchovies very finely chopped (optional)
1/4 cup of fresh herbs - whatever you have, basil, coriander, oregano... if you use thyme or rosemary, of course, you will need much less and have to chop very finely
a few squeezes of fresh lemon

stir this all up and taste, maybe add some Coconut Aminos if it needs more salt.

If it's summer, you can chop in some fresh tomatoes, but otherwise, don't eat unripe tomatoes. In Chinese medicine, nightshades cause inflammation and unripe tomatoes seem especially suspect.

Add a small washed bag of organic baby greens - spinach, arugula, kale, swiss chard, watercress, whatever you can find. If I have some leftovers in the fridge - like roast chicken or grilled fish or meat or vegetables, I heat them a little in a hot oven (just in case of mold or bacteria) and throw them in, too. You can also add cooked beans, edamame or corn (as long as it is organic and not canned or frozen).

If you want to add something really tough and chewy, like carrots or cabbage, be sure and grate it well first so that it mixes together with everything else. After it's tossed, throw in the broccoli or kale sprouts because they wilt very quickly - though peat shoots really hold their own. Eat this up immediately, it won't keep.


Vegetable Slaw

I make this more like an Asian-style slaw and it's good way to eat lots of cabbage and carrots. If you add cucumber, know that it will get much more drippy and liquid. You can do that whole thing of removing the seeds of the cucumbers first but it's tedious.

1/4 head of cabbage chopped
3 or 4 carrots grated
1 daikon grated (daikon is a japanese radish that has cancer-killing properties)
1 cup of mung bean sprouts
1/2 cup of broccoli or kale sprouts
1 cucumber grated (optional)
1/4 cup chopped almonds or hazelnuts (I use these instead because peanuts cause inflammation and when you have cancer, you are trying to keep your body as calm and uninflamed as you can).
 1/4-1/2 cup fresh basil, coriander and mint, chopped

In a small bowl, mix the sauce

1 clove garlic minced
1 small shallot or three scallions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon nam pla (fish sauce - more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon raw honey
juice of 1 lime or lemon
1-4 thai chili (seeds removed) chopped very fine, depending on how spicy you want it.

Toss it all veggies together and then add the sauce a little at time to taste. You can put it all in fridge to marinate for a day if you like. If you do prepare it ahead of time, don't add the cucumbers or sprouts til you're just about to eat. This makes me one serving, but I eat a lot of salad.

The dressing is very Asian-inspired, but you can try out your favorites. If you decide you want to use a mayonnaise-type dressing for a classic cole slaw, I'd suggest you make your own. Most commercial mayonnaises use soybean oil which is usually GMO, pesticide-laced and too high in omega-6s. If you can find a local, small batch organic mayonnaise using olive oil and cage-free eggs, go for it.

Zucchini "Pasta" with Basil Pesto

For this, you need a spiralizer. They are not too expensive and they are a super cool kitchen tool to have around because you can cut spirals of all kinds of vegetables and that makes them more interesting to eat.

1-2 small zucchinis/courgettes
2-3 tablespoons of vegan basil pesto (this just means pesto that has no cheese, but you can just as easily do it with a little parmesan)

This is kind of a trick food because it's so easy. You chop off the top, impale the zucchini in the spiralizer and put a bowl in front of it. Then spin it around until long, "spaghetti" strands start filling up your bowl. Toss it with the pesto and add more or less to taste. It's wonderful to eat if you are missing the "pasta" texture. You have to eat this relatively quickly too, as the zucchini can get watery from the salt.

For Snacks:

I usually have lots of fresh carrots, celery, daikon, jicama and cucumber chopped up that I can dip into hummus, artichoke pesto, or even olive oil and lemon.

I like oat cakes (homemade made using coconut oil or grass-fed raw butter rather than goosefat or Nairn's) with almond, hazelnut or cashew butter.

I also eat Brad's Nasty Hot Kale Chips. You can see the spicy food is a theme for me. There are other versions, too. But it's good way to keep up your cruciferous vegetables. If you can't buy them and you don't have a dehydrator, I suggest tossing kale with salt and garlic and putting it in the oven at the lowest temperature you can possibly use and letting it dry out for a couple of hours. Just check it from time to time to ma

Tart green apples or fresh or dried figs are the few fruits that you can eat without much trouble. I wouldn't eat large quantities but they are a nice snack when you need sweets.

Hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and chickpeas all have anti-cancer properties, so you can eat a handful of them whenever you want. These days you can buy them in all different flavors, too.

I just discovered this recipe online for when you are craving chocolate.

Coconut chocolate sea salt fudge

Melt an equal amount of coconut oil and unsweetened chocolate into a pan at very low heat so the fat doesn't separate from the cocoa solids, add a pinch of himalayan or sea salt.
Sweeten with coconut sugar, stevia extract or lo han guo extract - all low-glycemic sweeteners that you can actually eat from time to time. Don't add too much though because they can still trigger sugar cravings if it gets too sweet.
 Ladle mixture carefully into an ice cube tray.
Put in freezer for thirty minutes.
When solid, loosen from ice cube tray with a knife and pop out into a plate or freezer-safe container. Return to freezer til you are ready to eat.

You can eat one or two when your sweet cravings are driving you crazy.

One of the best way to detox from your sugar cravings is a glass of water with a tablespoon of Bragg's Apple Cider vinegar.  Put all the sweets out of sight and then chew some chlorella tablets which are also good for quelling sugar and junk food cravings.

For Dinner

If it is winter, I like a hot, hearty meal to warm me up - and also heat up my kitchen - in the evening. But there are sometimes, especially in the summer, when I find I don't feel very hungry at dinner and I skip it all together. For the most part, if you have cancer, I don't believe you should force yourself to eat if you are not hungry. It's better to rest and eat small amounts of food when you do feel hungry. It may seem scary when you lose weight, but rest assured it will come back when your body is in balance. DO NOT EAT JUNK FOOD IN AN ATTEMPT TO GAIN WEIGHT! That can backfire and weaken your immune system even more.

Here a bunch of warm things you can make so you eat more vegetables without feeling like you are eating a tragic meal of cold leaves while everyone else has something hearty.


Lentil or Split Pea Soup

If I making dinner for myself (without kids), I usually make soup. Since I am an Asian, I like the taste of browned onions and garlic, so I'll start by browning them in a little coconut or olive oil.

One onion, sliced or chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or sliced
2-3 tablespoons of olive or coconut oil
1 cup of dried lentils, split peas or dried beans - or a combination. If you are impatient like me, I suggest you soak them the night before, or in the morning when you are doing your oil-pulling.
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped
1/2 to 1 cup of maitake, shitake and reishi mushrooms, chopped
any other vegetables cooked or raw you have lying around, broccoli, kale, cabbage, sweet potatoes, chop them up and throw them in.
4 cups of purified water

Brown the onions and garlic with a little salt in the oil. You can even add the other raw vegetables and brown them a little because it changes their texture and adds a little sweetness, but you don't have to. Then add the beans/peas/lentils, mushrooms and water and anything else you want to put in. I often add anything that is leftover in the fridge - usually, it's raw or roasted vegetables. Then you let it simmer forever (that's what it seems like to me) but it can be a few hours unless it's well-soaked. You have to check on it and add water when the pulses suck it up, so that it doesn't get too thick. Once it's finished, you can eat it immediately and save some for the next day or two as well.

Roasted Broccoli

This is a delicious way to prepare broccoli that my youngest daughter discovered online and that we have customized. We make it often because everyone likes to eat it and we go through several heads of broccoli in one sitting.

1 head of broccoli
4-5 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cloves of minced garlic
Sea salt/himalayan salt to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper (only because it tastes better)
One fresh lemon to squeeze

Preheat the oven to 425 (farenheit). Cut up the head of broccoli, separating the florets and leaving the stems (you can juice those tomorrow morning). Put it in a bowl and toss with the olive oil and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Spread the broccoli on a cookie sheet. Put it in the oven at 425 for about 15 minutes, check on it from time to time. If it's nicely browned around the edges and slightly crispy, you can take it out. If it feels too soggy, reduce the heat to 300 and leave it in for a few minutes longer so that it gets drier and crisper.

Put it in a serving dish and squeeze a little lemon over it if you like. Or don't, if you don't feel like it. 

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

This is similar to the broccoli, those sometimes bitter brussel sprouts become slightly sweet and crispy and quite luscious after roasting.

Two containers of brussels sprouts, maybe a pound and a half
3 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of coconut oil or grass-fed butter
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
himalayan or sea salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400. Rinse the sprouts, remove the outer leaves, chop them in quarters and put them in a big bowl. Toss them with the oil or butter and garlic. Put them on a cookie sheet or a wide baking pan. Roast for 10 minutes, then toss in the hazelnuts and reduce the heat to 300. Roast for another 5 to 10 minutes, until nicely browned but not burned.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes or Yams

This is a regular dish in my house and the prep is quite similar to the other roasted things.

4 big yams, washed and chopped into bite-size pieces
4 or 5 shallots, peeled, maybe cut in half if they are big
1 or 2 additional root vegetables if you have some, washed and chopped.
8-10 big cloves of garlic
Vietnamese cinnamon, ground
Fine Herbes or Trader Joe's 21 Salute
Sea salt or Himalayan Salt
4 tablespoons of coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 450. Basically, add the vegetables (and shallots and garlic) to a roasting pan. I use my 13 x 9 cake pan. Sprinkle with spices, salt and coconut oil and stir it all up with a big wooden spoon. Shake the pan slightly so everything is distributed evenly and put it in the oven. I leave them there for about 20 minutes and then I reduce the heat to 350 and leave them in there for a really long time - like maybe another 45 minutes. If I have time, I take them out in the middle and toss them around the pan a bit so they cook evenly. But even if I don't, they seem to do fine, the slightly burned ones taste nice too.

Sauteed Kale or Spinach

I go back and forth between the two - sauteed kale has a lot more body and can stand up to longer cooking so it can become a nice combination of bitter and sweet. Sauteed spinach becomes soft and soothing and it's a good comfort food.

If I am making sauteed spinach, I heat a few tablespoons of olive oil first along with slices of three or four garlic cloves and a few sprinkles of himalayan or sea salt and pepper. I like to let the sliced garlic brown a little before I add a big bunch of spinach. I add salt to taste and cook the spinach just until it's wilted and bright green.

If I am sauteeing kale, I add the oil and garlic but then I devein (take out the hard stems) and chop the bunch of kale and add it as soon as I am finished chopping it. I cook it for quite a long time so it is not too chewy.

What is crucial is that you never heat the olive oil to smoking point. Olive oil is full of anti-oxidants as long as it is not overheated. So let it brown your garlic gently. If you feel you want a nice crispy, stir-fry sensibility, switch to coconut oil.

Tandoori Roasted Cauliflower

I adapted this from a recipe I found on PureWow - and you could use theirs instead, just never use "vegetable" oil - always choose coconut, olive or palm fruit. Then I followed some advice from my friend Purvi and made a nice tahini and garlic dip for the cauliflower on the side. The recipe I found used yogurt, but I used coconut yogurt without much trouble. Since the point of the yogurt is to keep the cauliflower moist and to hold the marinade to together, you could probably even substitute coconut butter.

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 head organic cauliflower

1½ cups plain Greek yogurt/coconut yogurt/softened coconut butter

1 organic lime or lemon, zested and juiced

4 tablespoons tandoori marinade (i use Shan Masala but there are a number of brands that make it)

1 tablespoon crushed fresh garlic

2 teaspoons sea salt or himalayan salt

Preheat the oven to 400° and lightly grease a small baking sheet with coconut oil. Set aside.
Trim the base of the cauliflower to remove any green leaves and the woody stem.
In a big bowl, combine the yogurt with the lime zest and juice, chile powder, cumin, garlic powder, curry powder, salt and pepper.
Dunk the cauliflower into the bowl and use a brush or your hands to smear the marinade evenly over its surface. (Excess marinade can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three days and used with meat, fish or other veggies.)
Place the cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet and roast until the surface is dry and lightly browned, 30 to 40 minutes. The marinade will make a crust on the surface of the cauliflower.
Let the cauliflower cool for 10 minutes before cutting it into wedges and serving it with a tahini dip or a nice raita (yogurt, mint, coriander, cucumber and roasted cumin seeds) and a salad.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

I recently made this but substituted ground chia seeds mixed with water for the egg (I am allergic to eggs) and the teenagers ate it all up. If you're avoiding dairy, you can use daiya mozzarella in the place of the cheese.

There are a lot more recipes in Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live and Alexander Junger's Clean Eats- and even just looking online. When I eat raw - way easier in spring and summer - I like Organic Avenue's cookbook. Or I buy pre-made stuff at my current fave raw food place, Juicepress. I WISH Karliin Brooks of The Squeeze would write one because her moc' n' cheese is worth going vegan for,

See? Not too hard! Start with one or two meals a day and then gradually ladder back!

If you fall off the wagon, do not stress.  Have a bite or a taste of something you crave. Eat it slowly, enjoy it, savor it. They say we most appreciate the first and last bites of everything we eat. Two bites should be enough then. Eventually, your taste buds will be cleaner and you will find the taste of artificial colors and flavors will be harsh and chemically. Sugar will give you a sudden headrush and you'll discover how quickly grains bloat you and make you sleepy. It's ok to have a little from time to time. But let your body rest, too.

The most important thing is to take the time to believe that your food is made with love and cooked to nourish and heal you. Take the time to bless your food and feel gratitude for the planet and the Source which gives you food to eat.

Sometimes the belief alone will transform your food.

does making a lot of money make you behave badly?

"as a person's levels of wealth increase, their feelings of compassion and empathy go down, and their feelings of deservingness, entitlement and their ideology of self-interest increase."

paul piff at berkeley did a TEDtalk called, "does money make you mean?" (watch the video of the monopoly game, it's hilarious). the video came out in december of last year, but on february 2, there was an op-ed in the ny times called, "how inequality hollows out the soul."

what does that mean in real life? (a picture on zach vella's instagram feed shows a naked girl - or is that me - tortured and bound to a mercedes symbol. her hands and feet appear to be bleeding.

a reporter from a major news source called me and asked what was going on with

zach vella (my next door neighbor and the developer) and the condo project beside me, 11 north moore, which is getting quite a lot of attention with its $40 million penthouse apartment. the real estate agent representing it is fredrik eklund, whose second claim to fame is the reality show, the real deal. leo dicaprio, amongst others, famously toured the sales office.

paul piff found that more wealthy people were "able to moralize greed being good and the pursuit of self-interest being favorable and moral..."

the video came out in december of last year, but on february 2, there was an op-ed in the ny times called, "how inequality hollows out the soul."

"Paul Piff, also a psychologist at Berkeley, has shown that higher status is indeed associated with more unethical and narcissistic behavior. Mr. Piff found that drivers of more expensive cars were less likely to give way to pedestrians or to other cars. Higher status people were also more likely to help themselves to candies that they had been told were intended for children. He found that they also had a greater sense of entitlement and were less generous."

my youngest daughter is a serious student. she is always responsible, shockingly bright and very hardworking. getting into a great college is what keeps her up at night and she just turned 15. 

friday morning, i woke with a jolt thinking her alarm hadn't gone off. i jumped, but then realized that the light had changed and i was mistaken. so i said, "don't worry, you can still sleep for ten minutes."

she answered, "it's 6:58 and i've told you over and over that i wake up at 7:15! it is 6:58 so i still have 17 minutes to sleep - not TEN minutes!"

me: "what difference does it make if it is 17 or 10 minutes? in the end, it doesn't matter how smart you are or what college you get into if you are making other people feel small or stupid or taken advantage of."

i told her (like i tell all my kids) that the most important thing they can be is considerate to other people.

then the construction workers started shouting and banging in front of my bedroom window and it occurred to me that, in today's world, it's simply not true. 

many successful, wealthy people are quite comfortable taking advantage of or hurting the people who seem "unimportant" to them from the doorman to their less fortunate neighbors.

that ability to believe yourself "above" ethical or compassionate behavior - or even traffic rules - is now standard amongst the american wealthy. look at lisa demack who drove her mercedes through a stop sign and hit an ambulance. or the wealthy texas boy who killed four people and was acquitted because he suffered "affluenza."  (his parents could probably afford a very good lawyer).

the idea that there is opportunity (or even justice) for an ordinary person - wait, middle-class, college-educated, living in expensive real estate - is a lie. clearly, i am not a poor person, but i am disempowered.

the u.s. today is more like a developing country. anyone who has lived in asia or latin america or africa knows that the only life that is really valuable is the life of an upperclass person.

so, after offering to clean up the flood, rent my apartment and fix it up, give me the money for the repairs or even talk to me - what happened? um, nothing. zach vella went on holiday in the caribbean. AFTER hanging an enormous sign for his project on the scaffolding outside my building.

my lawyer asked for them to pay for the repairs or at, the very least, follow up on all their offers. they simply ignored him. without a lot more money to pay for legal fees, they knew i wasn't going to do more than make demands. 

oh, and zach put his OWN apartment on the market. (been wondering what all guys carrying marble in and out were doing. it would be $20-40,000 to return my apartment to its previous state - how hard would it have been to do it at the same time?

the end of the TEDtalk cheered me up. it IS possible for the 1% to feel compassion, as long as they faced it.

did i mention i briefly saw zach on the street two weeks' ago? he avoided me and rushed across the street to his big black SUV. (however, i do have plenty of friends who prove that the 1% are capable of kindness and compassion)

the truth is, none of us are perfect. we've all made mistakes or been inconsiderate, but taking responsibility for your actions, with compassion and empathy should not be restricted to the 99%.

 

The C-Word: All Those Pills!

I was watching Family Guy (the Amazons were watching, actually) and Brian (the dog) had fallen in love with an older woman. Stewie is the brilliant baby.

The dialogue went like this:

Brian Griffin: She's 50, Stewie she's not an old woman [His phone rings and he takes it out and answers it] Hello?...Hey Rita...So, uh-what're ya doing this afternoon?
Stewie Griffin: [Imitating an elderly woman's voice] Oh I'm just sorting out my pills for the week, sweetie. 
Brian Griffin: [Still on the phone] Well you do that, and I'll be over a little later [He hangs up the phone] 
Stewie Griffin: [Condescending noise] Did I get it? Was she sorting out her pills for the week? That little plastic thing with the 7 boxes? [Excited noise] 

Me, too. Since I started seeing Integrative Oncologist Mitchell Gaynor, I have had one of those plastic pill boxes, along with an entire tray full of bottles of supplements. The supplements were put together by him and a genius pharmacist called David Restrepo and a very good Drugless Practitioner/Acupuncturist called Galina Semyonova. My friend, Mary Schook, is always searching out the latest and best forms of natural antiaging products, so she tipped me off to some better forms of vitamins. If you have any health issues at all, I suggest talking to someone who knows supplements as there is a lot one can rebalance with vitamins, minerals, oils, herbs and enzymes.

After three years of studying Chinese medicine, Holistic Nutrition and North American Herbology, everyone asks me about supplements - but they rarely take them. Or they buy a few from the drugstore and then forget to take them. Given recent news about the GNC, Target, Walgreen's and Wal-Mart, be conscious about where you get your products. I buy a lot online and others at my local Wholefoods, I know people who work in the Whole Body section and there are a few who really know their stuff.

The main obstacles to successful supplementation are as follows:

1. Knowing which brands provide the most bio-available (usable for your body) sources and forms.
2. How much to take and when to take them, for your own body.
3. Whether you take them with or without food and what time of day.
4. Which supplements work better in tandem and which you should never have together.

and

5. Waiting to feel the effects. Patience! Herbs, homeopathic medicines and vitamins work gently.

They are meant to work in conjunction with your body to address the underlying causes of your issues. In the beginning, they might give you an upset stomach or a headache, so you should have your practitioner's number on hand in case you need to have the dose adjusted for you. But generally, you should wait at least 2 weeks before you take a bigger dose and six weeks before you decide they are not working.

It's like exercise. The first day you go for a run, you will not drop an inch from your waist. Maybe even if you run every day for a week, you might feel more energized, but you still won't be much skinnier. Real change takes time. Rushing it can make you sick. Imagine if you immediately started running 5 miles a day after not doing any exercise for years, you'd probably feel pretty bad and more than likely you would injure yourself.

Here's the other argument I hear against supplementation:

"I get all the vitamins and minerals I need from my food and most doctors say that's enough."

There are several reasons why that doesn't work for most people - but especially not people with cancer. The food we eat is of varying quality, depending on how it was transported, how long it hung out in the shop and then your fridge and how you cooked it. Basically, the vitamin and mineral content is dropping since it got pulled off the stalk. And we're not even talking about how much less nutritious conventionally grown food is than organic. Then, depending on what's going on with your body, you don't always ingest all the nutrients in your food. Especially, as you get older, and your body produces less enzymes and acids to break the food down, you don't get the same value.

Last, if you have cancer or another chronic illness, you know it is systemic. Illness makes your body weak, can take away your appetite and, worse, limit your ability to absorb the nutrition from your food. If you are not well, you need more vitamins and minerals than you can possibly get from eating. And if you don't eat well, or if you are getting chemo or radiation, even more reason to supplement to help your good cells stay strong during the onslaught.

Obstacle 5 is the reason I never take multivitamins. First, because the various vitamins might cancel each other out, next because there might be things in there that my body doesn't need.  Also, some substances are best absorbed by your body at night and others in the morning. It's like the shampoo-conditioner-in-one, they never seem to do especially well at either job. Admittedly a multi is better than nothing. So, if that's your starting point -

CHOP YOUR MULTIVITAMIN IN HALF!

If you do take a multivitamin, some advice. Choose one that comes in smaller capsules so that you can divide the dose, take half of the dose - or chop the pill in half - in the morning, with/after breakfast and half mid-afternoon or after lunch. The reason is that your body can use the vitamins most effectively with food - your stomach secretes hydrochloric acid to digest food which breaks down the supplement and allows absorbtion, otherwise, the supplement can go straight out to vitamin-enriched urine - and it can spread out the effects throughout the day.

DROP A TEST PILL IN A GLASS OF WATER

Also, with any supplement you buy, try to choose capsules or liquid forms rather than pills. This is because the glue they use to bind pills is often so strong, even your stomach acids can't break it apart. To test if the pill will break down once you swallow it, drop one in a glass of water and see how long it takes to disintegrate. If it takes more than an hour, the pill is probably going straight through your body undigested.

 Dr. Oz recommends these five supplements.  I'd agree, except for the calcium and magnesium and the folate and the recommended dose of vitamin D3. The amount you need of those vitamins and minerals depends on your body, sometimes you will need those, sometimes in larger amounts than others, sometimes not at all. Personally, I don't take Vitamin A or B, because my body hasn't needed it - and perhaps I get enough from dietary sources. I take more D3 in the winter when I am not exposed to enough sunlight and less in the summer when I am outside a lot.

If you have cancer, there is an oncologist called Nicholas Gonzalez who uses pancreatic enzymes to fight the growth. The idea behind this therapy is that cancer cells have a thick coating that makes them invisible to your immune system, thus your body does not always attack them and otherwise strong immune-boosting supplements, like turmeric and quercetin, can't get through. The pancreatic enzymes digest/melt away the coating on the cancer cells, allowing your body to then destroy them naturally. While most people produce pancreatic enzymes sufficiently, when you have cancer, you REALLY need them, thus supplementation can be key. I did not see Dr. Gonzalez, but I did take 15 capsules of pancreatic enzymes, three or four times daily.

CHECK WHERE THE VITAMIN/MINERAL/HERB COMES FROM

With calcium supplements, one has to be careful about the source of the calcium. Many inexpensive supplements are made from ground up seashells or limestone. These substances are full of calcium but they are not always "bio-available," meaning, your body can't use them properly. Again, off to the kidneys, where they might cause stones. Also, without sufficient amounts of magnesium, vitamin D3 and vitamin K, too much calcium can cause an imbalance in your body, effectively draining calcium from your bones into your blood stream and soft tissues where, again, they can block arteries and cause trouble.

The best way to get calcium that is both soluble (dissolves in stomach acids) and is used by your body (bioavailable) is through plants and sea vegetables and algae. I suggest you look for a supplement that includes magnesium, vitamin K, D3 and strontium. Personally, when I do take calcium, I take New Chapter Bone Health and I break up the dose (six small pills) throughout the day. I take the majority of the pills at bedtime because it makes me calmer and helps me sleep better.

Similarly, many Vitamin E and D3 supplements are made of soybean oil. Soybean oil goes rancid very quickly, which makes it toxic. While soy is a phytoestrogen and has become controversial as a food source, the main reason I don't eat it is that 98% of the soy produced in this country is GMO and I believe anyone who has had cancer should avoid GMOs.

However, I am not a doctor but current recommendations for EVERYONE who is worried about getting cancer or bone loss supplement is at least 5,000 - 10,000 iu everyday.  To figure out what that means, 15 to 20 minutes out in the sun in Cape Cod gives you about 25,000 iu. Xymogen makes a good one that includes K2, which has the added advantage of being good for your teeth.  Personally, I take 6 to 8 drops every day of Micellized Vitamin D3. Along with large doses of vitamin C, it has also been shown to reduce asthma attacks in children.  And taking regular supplements of D3 can reduce your chance of cancer by 70%!

AMEENA'S ANTI-CANCER SUPPLEMENTS PROTOCOL

A disclaimer - I am NOT a doctor. I am telling you this purely from my own experience. Everything I list here, I tested on my body while still under the care of an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering. My liver, kidneys, blood pressure, eyes and skin texture all improved greatly while taking them during chemotherapy and afterwards.

I TOOK THIS:

Turmeric 300 mg, twice or three times daily - Curcumin is the active ingredient in Turmeric, so the one you take should have a high active curcumin value - read the label.

I took Meriva-SR by Thorne Encapsulations. I currently take one capsule a day of Sky Curcumin by Revgenetics which is cheaper and seems to work just as well. It also seems to have more of the root, because often, when one isolates the active ingredient in a plant or a herb, it doesn't work as well. Most natural ingredients work better in their natural form.

Turmeric is good for inflammation of any sort so it is also recommended for arthritis and I give to my kids for headaches and cramps.

Alpha Lipoic Acid Sustain, 300 mg, one daily I took Jarrow Brand. This helps reduce the irritation in your stomach.

NAC 600 mg, one daily. I took Pure Encapsulations. This increases your body's production of glutathione, which strengthen your nervous system and helps your body absorb other nutrients.

Rosemaria (rosemary oil) and Calendula, one capsules each, twice daily.  I took Completely Green, but it was quite expensive so I switched to New Chapter's Omega 7, which has a combination of Rosemary and Calendula as well as Sea buckthorn. I currently take 4 capsules a day of New Chapter's Omega 7 which seems to hydrate my skin as well as help with my memory. From a herbalist p.o.v., rosemary is antibacterial but also a nerveine, it helps calm the spirit and reduce headaches.

Rice Bran Oil Tocotrienols, one capsule, twice daily. I took Pure Encapsulations. This is a non-soy vitamin E that hydrates the skin and organs but also fights free radicals, especially in breast cells.

Wheat Embryo, one capsules, twice daily. I took Completely Green, but there are others available. This is a rich oil that hydrates your skin beautifully especially after chemo has ravaged it.

Plant-derived Calcium. I took Coxamin, one capsule, twice daily. Now I take the previously mentioned New Chapter Bone Health.

Vitamin D3, 8,000 iu. I took Micellized Vitamin D3, 1000 iu, eight drops daily in my green juice every morning.

Vitamin C, 1000 mg, three to four times daily. I used Lypospheric Vitamin C, I squeezed two envelopes in my green juice in the morning and one in the afternoon. I chose this brand because I noticed an immediate bounce in my energy levels after taking it. It's also recommended by the http://www.cancertutor.com/ website which is a not-for-profit resource for alternative/complementary cancer therapies. Whether or not you agree with Linus Pauling, vitamin c does seem to make you feel better - and if you take good quality l-ascorbic acid, you do not get an upset stomach or diarrhea when you take large quantities.

Shitake, one capsule twice daily. I used Completely Green brand again. This was the brand recommended by Mitchell Gaynor. These days, I tend to take a multi-mushroom complex. I do however eat LOTS of mushrooms - Shitake, Maitaki, Reishi, Chanterelle - but NO BUTTON MUSHROOMS, NO PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS, NO CREMINI - these basically all one kind of mushroom and so watered-down that they have little to no nutritional value (the nutritionist I went to see, Joel Fuhrman, suggested they have negative value).

Pro-Omega, 1280 mg, one capsule daily.  This is one capsule of concentrated fish oil, manufactured by Nordic Naturals.

Peak Immune, 250 mg, two capsules, twice daily. This is a combination of rice bran and shitake polysaccharides (I think) and is designed for people with compromised immune systems. I did not take it again after the first four months after stopping chemotherapy.

Krill Oil, 500 mg, one capsule twice daily. I don't know if it's redundant to take krill oil and fish oil but soon I didn't feel like I needed them both. I took the Mercola brand as I tend to find them trustworthy and conscious about their ingredients.

Immunotix 3-6, one daily. This is a beta-glucan which is especially useful for people who need more white blood cells and want to strengthen their bone marrow post-chemo. It is expensive and I only took it for three months.

Since I had neuropathy, balance and memory issues from the chemotherapy, I took several nerve formulas.

Alpha GPC, 300 mg, one capsule, twice daily. I took Jarrow brand. This is a phospholipid that crosses the brain barrier and helps learning and memory. I have to say, my short-term is still in the process of coming back.

Co-Q 10, 200 mg, once daily. I buy my co-q 10 in q-gel form from a company called epic4health. I have a friend whose father used to sell supplements and he recommended them as the best supplier of co-Q 10 and fish oil.

Enada, 5 mg, one capsule twice daily. This is meant to improve mental clarity and energy. I took this for three months and then stopped as I wasn't sure what effect it had. Post-chemo, I had trouble with word retrieval, reading comprehension (big handicap for a copywriter) and short-term memory which gave me terrible anxiety.

Rhodiola 60, one capsule daily. I took Thorne Encapsulations brand.  Rhodiola is an excellent anti-stress herb. I'd recommend it any time one is feeling overwhelmed or anxious and not getting enough rest. It helped a lot with the post-chemo hot flashes which were brought on by anxiety - and my constant confusion and memory issues. I found it very hard to understand the meaning of street signs or notices.

Triple-Bee Complex, one capsule twice daily.  This is a combination of bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis which are said to nourish the body and brain and activate killer cells. According to Mitchell Gaynor's Cancer Prevention Program book, out of print now, but a brilliant and useful text, bee pollen may delay or avert breast cancer. It's also great for seasonal allergies.

Bacopa, one capsule, three times daily. This is an ayurvedic brain herb. Apparently, it is very useful to take for people who have alzheimer's and/or parkinson's. I did take it for some time but stopped as it no longer seemed useful. It is an adaptogen, meaning it will naturally adapt itself to your needs so one could take it in the long term.

Pancreatic Enzymes, 15 capsules three times a day. I took the Allergy Research brand because they manufacture the capsules for Gonzalez.

Probiotics, three times daily. At first, I took 1/3 of a sachet of VSL3, the idea was to restore my digestive tract post-chemotherapy. Later, I wanted a larger selection of bacteria (for immune issues), so I started taking Mercola's Probiotic which does not need to be refrigerated and is enteric-coated so it survives the trip through your intestines to your stomach.

PolyMVA, 2 tbsps, four times a day. This incredible weird supplement is especially good for the immune system, leukemia and pancreatic cancer, as well as reducing the incidence of bone metastasis post-chemotherapy. Leukemia was the main side-effect of my chemo-drugs so I thought it wise.
I noticed an immediate difference in my energy levels and sense of well being taking this. I have to say I have only caught one cold in the past four years, even during the worst of my immune system damage post-chemotherapy and I am around lots of schoolchildren who cough, sneeze, share my food  and drinks and wipe their noses on my towels. It's expensive but I recommend it to everyone who has cancer or even bad respiratory infections (at smaller doses).

Exhilarin, one pill twice daily. This is an ayurvedic combination of herbs, including ashwaganda, holy basil, amla and bacopa, which is very good for calm and focus, especially during menopause.

Resveratrol, 200 mg, 1 daily. I actually took Shaklee's Vivix which seemed to make an amazing difference in my skin quality, too. Today, I take two capsules a day of Revgenetics Nitro 250.

Melatonin, 5 mg, two at bedtime. Personally, I found I built up too much of a tolerance to melatonin. I started needing 20 to 25 mg to fall asleep so I stopped and switched to a tea of chamomile, passionflower, valerian, skullcap and hops.

Every afternoon, I drank one smoothie made of

Stem Cell Strong, one scoop. This is a combination of mushrooms and fruits.
Slim blend, one scoop.  
One-half an avocado
One or two stalks of kale, deveined
Half a cup of vanilla hemp milk
A handful of fresh or frozen berries
Half a cup of frozen acai
Coconut water to make it more liquidy

Every morning, I drank a cup of hot water and lemon and then 16-24 oz of "green juice."

I used three or four stalks of kale (deveined)
4 big leaves of romaine or swiss chard
1/4 to 1/2 green apple
1 half cucumber
3-4 stalks of celery
1 lemon
1 small bunch of parsley and/or coriander
1/4-1/2 inch of ginger root

Sometimes, I replaced the apple with carrot but it makes the juice browner.

Juicing is crucial when you have cancer because it floods your body with vitamins, minerals and enzymes that are immediately available to your body. The proponents of juicing include Norman Walker, Max Gerson, Fred Bisci, Alex Junger and a whole series of raw juice purveyors. The best method for juicing is using a cold-press - at home, one can buy a Norwalk Juicer if one has a big kitchen - because it extracts the most nutrients with the least damage to the enzymes. Personally, I use the Omega HRT slow juicer. If I don't have time, I buy my juice, but I make sure it is fresh, not hpp-processed and bottled for a month as that kills a lot of enzymes.

The combination of raw food, juicing, enzymes and colonics have been extremely successful at resolving all kinds of chronic and systemic illnesses at places like Hippocrates in Florida. If I had a little time and money, it would be worth it to go there and reset your body post-chemo or radiation or in the early stages of cancer.

I should add that I had acupuncture and a massage three times a week for two months while on this program. I did not eat wheat, sugar, dairy or other animal products - except maybe at a birthday party, a few bites here and there. I drank three liters of purified water daily. Every two weeks, I went to an energy healer like Penney Leyshon.

I exercised almost every day, swimming laps and/or pilates or yoga.

In the past four years, since the cancer and the tumor disappeared and the scars healed themselves, I have slacked off in terms of supplements - and I have to admit, I don't look nearly as good!

I do currently take essiac tea every morning as a prophylactic and have been for the past three months, with no adverse effects.

The above regimen cost me more than $1500 a month, and that doesn't even include the doctors and there was only so long I could afford it.

But this is is what worked for me.

Remember, this is an arsenal. It is a group effort. Diet, acupuncture, supplements, exercise, energy work, prayer or meditation, therapy, getting A LOT of rest.

It's not enough to do one or two things because cancer is a big disease. And it's here to teach you something. So do everything you can to learn the lesson and move on.

The C-Word: Essiac Tea

In the past few years, people often call or email me to talk a friend or family member who has just discovered he/she has cancer of one kind or another.

I tell them my story and give them tips about what they can do to heal naturally, as well as what they might do in conjunction with chemo.

Burdock root has anti-tumor properties

I've been impressed that people who take the information and run with it, have incredible results. Cancer recedes, diabetes disappears, aggressive tumors turn benign. Even if it is a few years' since their cancer was treated, changing their diets, breathing, exercising and taking supplements has changed their lives. They are energetic and vibrant, their skin glows, they are optimistic and active.

Usually, almost everyone I talk to gets really excited about the options available to them. There are so many ways to heal cancer these days - and heal it in a way that overhauls your life for the better - that people come away feeling relieved and positive about the challenge.

Unfortunately, three-quarters of the people I advise, then go to the hospital and get frightened.

Their doctors say things like, "Well, if you take these supplements, we can't help you.."

Or, as they said to a friend, "If you want to risk your life like that, go ahead, because we can't guarantee the results of alternative treatment."

So remember: Healing cancer, even more than almost any other disease, IS possible - but it's uncertain, no matter which method. All of our bodies are different and react differently. All of our minds and souls have different lessons to learn. Whether you choose the traditional route or the naturopathic one or a combination, THERE IS NO GUARANTEE. Just because the doctor/healer says they have success with one method or another, doesn't mean it will work on you.

For instance, if you have a virus and a doctor mistakenly prescribes you antibiotics and you get even sicker and end up in the hospital, you don't get anything back from the doctor.

There is no money-back guarantee on healing.

And worse, there is no health-back guarantee. This is even scarier when you are dealing with your kids.

So here's the other thing, YOU live in your body. You know it better than anyone else and you have for years. See what you feel comfortable with. Try one thing and see if it makes you feel better. There is nothing wrong with testing the experiences and listening to your body.

If it's your kid - remember, this child lived IN your body - you were there from his/her earliest moments. No one knows your child better than you do.

My recommendation - cancer is systemic - so never stick to any single therapy. You need to heal, mind, body and soul. If it makes you feel better to follow an oncologist's orders, do that. But also try the dietary changes and supplements. Try hypnotherapy, try polarity, try Brennan healing. Try acupuncture, infrared heat and vitamin therapy. Try intravenous glutathione, meditation, and Chinese medicine.

See what makes you feel like you are healing.

Recently, I discovered Essaic tea. 

It's a brewed herbal mixture that was created by a Native American tribe called the Ojibwa that uses local plant roots, bark and leaves to kill cancer and also normalize diabetes and HIV.  It started being used in mainstream healing by a nurse called Rene Caisse in Canada. She had such success with using it to heal the bottom-the-barrel cancer cases that it exploded.

Since I've been studying herbal medicine and Chinese medicine, I cross-referenced the four main ingredients with my textbooks and what I've learned. I also put in hours with my biology textbooks and reading testimonials and research online.

I should add that it has a tumultuous history with the mainstream - and even slightly alternative - medical establishment. Andrew Weil, for instance, says you should avoid it. But he also says that the formula was never passed on correctly by Rene Caisse. Apparently, Caisse refused to divulge her ingredients to the drug companies because she believed the product should be cheap and free and readily available. She did give it to Memorial Sloan Kettering, and interestingly, there are studies on their websites regarding certain ingredients, but from what I've read, she got angry at the way they handled it (they froze the herbs, making them much weaker) and took it all back.

That said, there are so many testimonials most people have bought a jar of vitamins on Amazon with fewer good reviews. And you can buy it on Amazon as capsules, pre-made liquid and dried herbs. It is also sold under the name Flor-Essence with the addition of kelp (good for the thyroid), red clover (builds iron and strength), watercress (purifies the blood, tones the kidneys and reduces inflammation) and blessed thistle (strengthens and tones the liver).

I suggest making it yourself as the pre-made versions are more expensive and, since they are not as fresh, they might not be as effective.

The ingredients are as follows:

Burdock root - which has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine to address a multitude of illnesses, amongst them, diabetes, gout, wrinkles (aging skin), measles and hypoglycemia. It has anti-tumor effects and is used in India and Russia in cancer treatments. It's also been used to cure fibroids. Burdock root is the main ingredient in Essaic tea. It's a pretty common weed that grows along roadsides in the U.S. and Canada.




Slippery Elm (inner bark) - you might recognize this name from natural sore throat and cough remedies. It coats the throat, esophagus and even bowels when ingested, which makes it great for mitigating the effects of chemo and/or radiation on your mucus membranes. When applied topically, it calms and soothes irritation on the skin as well. While, according to Memorial Sloan Kettering, it doesn't have anti-tumor effects, it does have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities. Its mucillagenous (slippery, right?) qualities make it especially good for coating the stomach in IBS. People even eat it as a highly-digestible food. The trees grow in the Northern U.S. and Canada.



Sheep Sorrell - this grows wild all over North America, in fields and meadows. It's an astringent and a diuretic with a tangy, lemony taste. Traditionally, it's been used to treat fevers, scurvy and diarrhea, but it's also nice as a salad green. In Essaic tea, it's an anti-tumor agent, as well as an anti-bacterial. Kids like to chew on it, calling it sour grass. It should be taken in small quantities - and it's proportions are quite small in the essaic mixture.

Turkey or Indian Rhubarb - this plant has been used in herbal remedies for over 2,000 years.
It has both anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. In Essaic tea, it's used for its anthroquinones, emodin and rhein, which have tumor killing capacities. Anthroquinones are also good for strengthening the lungs, especially after chemotherapy or radiation. Finally, it's said that the tea can be used for controlling menopausal symptoms like hot flashes.

It seems incredible. If you have any health issues that affect the pancreas or liver, from diabetes to hepatitus to HIV or cancer, you should try this tea. Some people, like Flor-Essence, add additional herbs but these are the four main ones.

(The tedious part is making the tea. This isn't the kind where you buy a teabag and put it in a cup with hot water. It is actually a herbal extract or tincture, so it is boiled for quite a long time. Then strained and reduced again. Then you have to sterilize and fill a bottle with the thick, dark substance and keep it in the fridge. The advantage is that it lasts for several weeks that way and you only take a tiny amount in the morning and the evening, ideally on an empty stomach.)

Think about it this way, if you have a horrible sinus infection and you go to the doctor for antibiotics, you are probably still going to drink chicken soup, take a ton of vitamin c and maybe a hot toddy and/or watch some funny movies on netflix.

The doctor will tell you that all these other things won't make any difference. But, if you really want to get well fast, you'll decide that you want to put in the extra effort.

Along with meditating and speaking gently to your body and your cancer, it's worth it to use every piece of soul and body strengthening weapons reinforcements in your arsenal.

Just know that if you want to be well, listen to your body. Love it. Put in the time to treat yourself with love and respect. Who knows what miracles you could make happen?

thank you to thich nhat hanh for reminding us

The C-Word: How to Cure Your Cancer in 30 Days

this is the title of a book by ty bollinger. actually, it's "the 31-day cancer cure."

despite the confidence of the title and the fact that they sell it hard online and that ty bollinger is a committed christian and uses those metaphors in his work, it actually has some very useful advice.

the question remains - can you cure your cancer in a month?

i would say, yes. with some qualifiers:

1. it depends on how far your cancer has advanced.
2. it depends on how much chemo and/or radiation you've had already.
3. it depends on how much you are willing to commit to resolving it.

people who have cancer call me about once a week with questions about what i did and how i did it.
so i add with my own qualifiers - 1. i had a cancer that has a very high "cure" rate. 2. i did do fourteen weeks of traditional chemotherapy (though my experience made me believe that if my cancer were to return, i would never step into an oncology ward again). 3. the symptoms - very heavy bleeding - made it easy to discover i had cancer, however, i had an extremely aggressive and fast-moving cancer and i (like lots of busy mothers) ignored the hemorrhaging for six months.

i also swam laps - 3/4 of a mile - daily, until the last month, and did pilates every other day so it IS possible to be sick and not really realize it.

personally, i recommend the book - not as the be-all and end-all - but because it addresses the physical parts of healing cancer very well.

bollinger begins with the idea of the "de-tox" - i recommend this to EVERYONE who has cancer or any kind of degenerative illness - and then, re-building your strength.

1. eliminate sugars (and anything that turns into simple sugar) from your diet. that includes wheat, white rice, potatoes, most fruit, corn - i'm sure you know the drill. you might need to do this just until you are in remission, but i recommend one do it forever - with slight exception of fruit. you can start havng organic fruit once the cancer is resolved.

2. eliminate animal products - many sources say that a cancer diet should be low-protein AND low-carbohydrate, especially during chemo. i refer to william li's ted talk, can we eat to starve cancer? so bump up cruciferous vegetables. now almost everyone knows that broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage and daikon (japanese radish) are the enemy of cancer cells. i like to tell people the story of how i stopped eating sugar, wheat, dairy and animal products the day i was diagnosed (my brilliant brother had found the "cancer diet" online and printed it out and taped it to my fridge). in those two weeks, the size of my tumor shrank by half. this is before any chemotherapy or treatment of any kind.

i had ultrasounds in four different medical facilities before i came to memorial sloan kettering. my tumor was 4 cm and appeared to be expanding rapidly into the uterine wall.

when i got my first ultrasound at msk, my tumor was 2 cm.

my msk doctors said the rapid shrinking was the result of different kinds of ultrasound machines in the different hospitals. however, the other four places all had the same result. i find many cancer doctors feel like they have to cover their tracks.

3. eliminate ALL processed foods. if you have done the first two, you are probably forced to do this anyway. no artificial colors, sweetners, nothing that comes wrapped in cellophane, no MSG, nothing from a fastfood restaurant (where it is probably chemically-treated), no preservatives. if you can prepare your (organic) food at home - eat it fresh and quickly - you will always be better off.

4. ty bollinger - and many german doctors - suggest you address your teeth. first, like many naturopathic doctors, they suggest you get all your mercury fillings very carefully removed and replaced. mercury leaches out from the fillings and damages your immune system. people who do this report having headaches and colds disappear. next, there are a lot of illnesses lurking in the bacteria between your teeth and there is a theory that root canals - where a cavity exists inside your gum that is closed up and allows bacteria to hide and reproduce - can be the cause of everything from heart attacks to cancer. if you go to a holistic dentist, they can address the root canals as well as the mercury fillings using the proper materials so you are not exposed to the mercury. the idea is the stronger your immune system will be in order to fight the cancer. at the time, i did not have the finances to do this - and i still haven't but i have heard that it is a very important step.

5. the longer you've had cancer, the deeper its gone, and the longer you've had chemotherapy and/or radiation, the longer your healing process will be. simply put - and even doctors admit (like mine at memorial sloan kettering) - chemotherapy and radiation damage your "good" cells, your fast-growing cells (thus your hair falls out) and your immune system. most forms of natural healing work by activating your own immune system in order to fight the cancer. while you've been treating your cancer, you've been suppressing your body's own immune system.

if your cancer is quite deeply entrenched, or you have had a lot of allopathic treatment, i suggest you learn to be very patient with your body. if you've ever been pregnant, you remember that the day after your baby is born, you are horrified to see that you still look pregnant. my midwife used to say, ten months' up and ten months down. (it's sort of the same way you recover from a bad relationship).

ty bollinger suggests you start with a parasite cleanse. this takes about a week and can be done simultaneously with the liver and colon cleanse.

in my classes in naturopathy and chinese medicine, i've learned that almost all of us have parasites (some beneficial) - if you have ever eaten sushi, raw fruits and/or vegetables and/or almost anything prepared in a restaurant - you probably have some malicious ones too. it doesn't take a trip to somewhere exotic to have parasites and they are often not obvious.

the reason to kill the nasty parasites is to optimize your body's ability to utilize nutrients. it's not that hard as there are a number of kitchen plants and herbs that kill parasites, amongst the, ginger and garlic and oregano oil.

6. after the parasite cleanse, the liver and colon cleanse to help strengthen your immune system and to clear out the toxins that are building up from the chemo and/or radiation.

again, i would recommend that everyone do a liver and colon cleanse, at least once a year. but if you are feeling very weak, these might be hard to do. this is hulda clark's version.

for a gentler liver cleanse, my teacher of herbalism, peeka trinkle, suggests this. for 48 hours, avoid ALL fats, sugars (including fruit, potatoes and alcohol), grains (wheat, rice, oats, barley, quinoa), caffeine and animal products (no meat or dairy), no medicine (not even aspirin or tylenol, which settles in the liver) - with NO CHEATING, not even a teensy bit. lots of well-meaning people say, "just a little bit won't hurt..." in this case, it will - don't do it.

drink at least three liters of water a day and as many fresh vegetables as you can eat. if you can handle it, drink a spoonful of organic apple cider vinegar in water every few hours.

this has been known to get homeless alcoholics to get over the alcohol sickness and dry up for a little while.

after a liver cleanse, you'll notice immediately that your skin is brighter, the whites of your eyes clearer and the bags under your eyes depuff or disappear entirely.

7. continue to eat a ketogenic diet.

8. since ty is a christian, he suggests you go to church. i suggest you increase your level of prayer and/or meditation, wherever you do it - church, mosque, synagogue, temple, forest or beach - to help you manage stress, tension and anxiety.

9. add anti-tumor supplements and foods to your diet - including large amounts of turmeric, quercetin, vitamin c (pure l-ascorbic acid), vitamin d3, bitter almonds, cesium chloride, potassium, essaic tea, co-Q 10 and polymva. (please note, i am not suggesting you rush out and fill your shopping cart. work with a good naturopath or natural pharmacist to get your dosage and brands. i recommend speaking to david restrepo at vitahealth in nyc, they deliver all over the country).

10. take probiotics in the morning and pancreatic enzymes with every meal.

11. make sure you get a lot of sleep, at least eight hours a day - if possible ten.

12. drink only purified water - chlorine and fluoride are carcinogens - you need to avoid them at all costs.

13. if you are strong enough to exercise, do it. walk, yoga, pilates, swim (in non-chlorinated water), bicycle, run or lift weights if you can. it doesn't have to be intense, but it reduces your chance of cancer by 50% and increases your chance of recovery.

in reference to my own exploration of alternative and complementary medicine, someone asked me how i figured out which things to do. how did i know which were scams? "how did you decide?"

i said, "i just did everything non-invasive that anyone suggested."

that's not completely true.

everything that i read or heard about or that was suggested to me, i investigated online and with friends to see if there was real back-up. i also checked if it had more than one source that recommended it. i cross-referenced with the crucial database www.cancertutor.com

how to cure your cancer in 31 days is somewhat similar in that its program addresses the physical cancer from every angle.

like bollinger, i agree, there is NO SINGLE CURE. it's not just acupuncture, hypnosis, getting enough vitamin d3 or juicing or even switching to a total raw diet if you don't address all the cleaning and strengthening - and even more so, if you don't address your mental and spiritual state.
anxiety, self-doubt and tension will take you down, my friend.

in the end, if you are strong and committed enough to actually follow all the recommendations in ty's book. i believe you WILL cure your physical cancer in a month or less.

however, the cancer could come back if you ignore your mind and your programming. personally, i'd recommend working with a good hypnotist and/or an energy healer to help calm your subconscious and improve your self-talk.

be well. you can do it. it just takes work and a real commitment.

The Crying Game: 9 North Moore vs Zach Vella (and Saif Sumaida)

"nothing is what it seems to be."  never play the crying game with a blogger.

talk about constantly shifting identities - the personality-types involved in multimillion dollar deals are the most bizarre in nyc.

admittedly, i'm one of the 99%. don't know lots of those people. except zach vella. 

last summer, zach's a friendly new neighbor i meet on the sidewalk. here's the email he sent me.

From: Zach Vella
Date: June 8, 2012 7:57:44 PM EDT
To: "'ameenameer@gmail.com'"

Good meeting you. If you are interested in speaking about your ground floor space please let me know.

Best,

Zach Vella
212 686 2500

after sandy, after his development floods my apartment, he's the invisible man. not returning my phone calls, emails, not even the notes i leave with his doorman when i see him encased in black spandex, heading off for a run.

a freezing winter morning, after i write a blogpost about what a nightmare my life is - he's bristling mad that i had dared to write about him.  i figure, he's on the million dollar listing on bravo, he isn't publicity-shy. (on the street, he keeps murmuring about a woman whose wall he put a nail through. he offered to repair the wall but she sued him for all this money and, of course, she lost everything. he looks at me pointedly as he says this, though i miss the implication.)

a month later, i get a phone call, "hey, it's zach!" like we are best friends and i've been expecting his call all day. "are you still interested in renting your place? i just wanted to let you know i spoke to the partners and we are serious."

april 2 (day AFTER april fool's day, when i should have been wiser), zach came to the storefront to talk about how bad he felt about everything that happened. he was so sorry, he really just wanted to help me. the chain of command being what it was, he couldn't pay me himself, but he would be willing to give me a personal loan, out of his own pocket, until the insurance paid for the repairs. (i had actually emailed him the claim denials of all three insurance companies already.)

then, he said he had an idea that would be great for both of us. the development company would rent the entire space for a year, do a renovation that would repair all the apartment damage and pay me upfront for the stuff i lost. then they could use my space as a sales office and model apartment for their new development.

i am blown away. a perfect solution. "that is so kind of you, i would happy to do that," i said. "just so i can figure out my kids and my adjust my schedule - what's your time frame for that?"

zach said, "a month, a month-and-a-half at most."

i changed my mind about him. he was trying to do his best in a difficult situation.

a couple of artists planned a show of paintings and sculptures in the storefront in may. we'd been discussing it since last year. i cancelled the show.

out of courtesy, i didn't write any more blogposts because i knew it made him uncomfortable. i would wait til it was resolved and write something kind. (though the one about zach got over 1500 hits).

our emails:
  
From: Ameena Meer [mailto:ameenameer@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2013 08:20 PM
To: Zach Vella
Subject: thank you

it was great talking to you tonight.

i really appreciate your taking the time to address the issue.

i'm looking at the options - can you give me an idea of what you think the rent would be for a space like this?

thanks again,
ameena

On Apr 3, 2013, at 8:51 AM, Zach Vella wrote:

I will ask our broker but I think you should ask a couple yourself so we you are comfortable with the number

april 17: i put my apartment on the market to give him a number to work with.

ok weird.

may: he finally contacted my broker. he was traveling in africa. obviously doing good works in the developing world, he just wanted to be sure i wasn't going to write anything about him. in the meantime, no further offer of the loan either.

june 6, i'm fed up. nice and patient isn't working. send him a text saying that if he doesn't want me to write about his presence in my life, he needs to get this over with. (don't want to talk because obviously he's only good for what he puts in writing - plus my life is insane.)

he accuses me of extortion.

at this point, i don't care what he thinks. also, i cannot remove my blog as it provides important information for people with cancer.

he says: send me the damages.

for the 10th time, i send him the list - it consists of the destroyed stuff, the plumbing and electrical repairs, and last year's bills for the mold clean-up (subtracting the cost of the upstairs) and the re-build. being a good neighbor, i don't ask him for relocation costs while the work is done.

On Jun 10, 2013, at 11:17 AM, "Ameena Meer" wrote:

hi zach -

as per our conversation on saturday, here is the cost of the repairs.

as we spoke at the beginning of april, the flood happened in november of last year, i feel i've been quite patient.

i would appreciate some response within 24 hours.

i am forwarding you the same email my real estate sent you last week.

thank you,
ameena

On Jun 10, 2013, at 12:23 PM, Zach Vella wrote:

Received

24 hours x 4, no response.  i text again.

bizarrely, he forwards a release. it holds him and his company blameless for everything and i can never write about him or them again. the place for the number is left blank.

this morning, he calls the broker to tell him that his own basement flooded, it was cheap and easy to have it all repaired - my costs are way too high. zach offers me "a loan" for $14,000 - a little over a quarter of the cost of the damages. (in return, i have to delete my blog - which is usually used as an clearing house for alternative cancer information).

i should add that given this drama - my second major flood in two years - means that no insurance carrier will give me coverage for the next three years.

oh, one of the brokers on the million dollar listing is being investigated by the f.b.i. and had been photoshopping new kitchens and floors into his apartment listings.

oh so that's how it works.

want a writer to stop writing? you have to take off the costume.

UPDATE: for everyone who's asking. i decided to stop trying to mr. vella and his business to court. it wasn't worth the time, attention or the money. i sold my place and moved away from rat-infested tribeca. now it's his karma to live with. i wish him all the best.