100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (18 page)

until onions are limp and transparent (about 10 minutes). Add broth, carrots,

and ginger. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots

are tender when pierced with a fork (about 13 to 15 minutes).

Remove from heat, let sit for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a blender. Be

careful! Don’t fill the blender more than halfway. It may take several batches

to do it this way, but when you are blending hot foods, there is a real danger

Perk #13: The Use of Medicinal Marijuana

65

of heat explosion (and with that comes a huge mess). Leave the hole in the

lid to the blender open, and loosely hold a dishtowel over the opening to

allow the steam to escape. Pulse the blender a few times before letting it run

on “puree.” Puree all contents until very smooth, and return to the pot. (You

can use an immersion or hand blender, if you wish; just blend very well until

smooth. There should be no visible pieces.)

Add your choice of plant-based milk and stir over high heat until almost boil-

ing. Add sea salt and pepper, to taste. Ladle into bowls and garnish with pars-

ley (if so desired).

This soup also freezes well. I find this soup tastes even better to me when it’s

not very hot, just warm. Medicine never tasted so good!

NUTRITION PER 1 CUP SERVING:

Using whole coconut milk:
Calories: 150; Protein: 1 gram; Carbs:

6 grams; Fat: 9.5 grams; Sodium: 705 milligrams

Using almond or low-fat coconut milk:
Calories: approx. 120; Protein:

1 gram; Carbs: 6 grams; Fat: 4 grams; Sodium: 705 milligrams

1 serving, either way, also has more than 300% of your RDA for vita-

min A, a powerful antioxidant and cancer fighter.

Note: Reduce your sodium to almost zero by making your own veg-

etable broth without salt, or cut the sodium in half by using half broth

and half water in the recipe.

Perk #14

I Didn’t Have to Worry About My Guests

Finding a Hair in the Food I Prepared

W
hen I first learned that I would be “on

chemo,” I wasn’t exactly sure what “on

chemo” meant. I knew that I would be sick, and

I would lose my hair, but as to how this chemo

would be administered was a mystery to me.

Would I have to get it every day? Would I be sick

for the entire four months?

Although it was not pleasant by any stretch

of the imagination, it was not quite as bad as I

had envisioned. While treatments differ depend-

ing on the type of cancer, I received a total of six

rounds of chemo. Each IV (intravenous) treat-

ment lasted about four hours, and treatments were spaced three weeks apart.

Basically, for a week to ten days following a treatment, I was knocked on

my arse—well, more accurately, my back. Then I’d feel myself start to come

around and, thankfully, for the last week, I usually felt well enough to live

a normal-ish lifestyle. I took advantage of my “good week” to do things with

my kids, spend time with my boyfriend Shawn, and try to repay my support

team in some small way for all the fabulous stuff they did for me!

During one of my good days, as I was preparing a meal for a few of my

friends, I instinctively reached for my apron and hair net. Then I laughed.

Getting a hair in the food I was preparing was one less thing I had to worry

about. And if someone happened to find one, I could innocently say, “Hey,

it’s not mine!”

This may be a small perk, but it was enough to make me laugh. It is

good to appreciate the humor in situations such as this.

I 66 J

Perk #14: I Didn’t Have to Worry About My Guests Finding a Hair in the Food I Prepared

67

HEALTH TIP #14 Appreciate Your Liver

A
s I write this, I am “detoxing” right now. (Are you getting a

visual?) So are you. Part of the process of your body’s metabolism

is the excretion of toxins. (Just look in the toilet, and you’ll see some.) But

there are also toxins outside your body like pollution, radioactive particles,

UV rays, pesticides in food, contaminates in water, and chemical exposure

from personal-care products that bombard your system every day. All toxins

are harmful to you, and your efficient body is constantly trying to expel

these toxins to maintain health and prevent illness. And it all goes on, com-

pletely unnoticed, while you go about your daily routines like going to work

or picking up the kids from school.

If you are overexposed to toxins and your body can’t keep up with clear-

ance, or if you have unhealthy intestines or a tired liver, your body will be

unable to clear these poisons from your system. That can open you up to a

breakdown of proper functioning called “illness” or “disease.”

“Detoxing” is a hot topic right now, and there are many people on the

Internet and on TV who would love you to believe that, to rid your body

of toxins, you need to buy their product so you can detox quickly and have

instant health. They promise you that you will feel great, lose 20 pounds,

and have more energy than a five-year-old at Disneyworld. And you’ll have

it in three days! News flash: You can’t change your entire health in three

days. But you
can
make the decision to change and start taking the first steps

toward that change in three days.

Proper detox can only happen if you have two body parts in perfect

working order: your intestines and your liver. Without healthy pipes (bow-

els) and a healthy filter (liver), your body is unable to process contaminates

that attack us around the clock. The health of these organs is even more

important when going through chemo as it is up to your liver to metabolize

those huge doses of chemotherapy drugs. Having an unhealthy liver and

colon can lead to toxins collecting in your brain and fat cells, and circulating

through your entire body causing chronic illness and disease.

An
unhealthy person
allows toxins to enter his or her body through:

●
smoking

●
processed, high-sugar, high-chemical foods

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

●
chemicals in their environment, like BPA from plastics or chlorine in their

water

●
pesticides in their foods

●
pharmaceuticals

●
chemicals in their personal-care products

A
healthy person
is someone who:

●
eats clean, whole, nonprocessed foods, with no chemicals

●
limits pesticide exposure in foods

●
exercises regularly

●
limits unnecessary pharmaceutical use