100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (70 page)

Perk #71

Treats in the Mail

B
efore cancer, my visits to the post office normally yielded only unwanted

flyers and even more unwanted bills. After being diagnosed, however, I

emptied my mailbox each day like a child would empty a stocking on Christ-

mas morning. Many days embedded among the flyers and (sigh . . .) bills, I’d

find a gold nugget: a card, a note, or a gift sent to cheer me through my recovery.

One particular day, I was very fortunate to find not one, but two of these nuggets

in the mail, both very personal and thoughtful gifts. Then later in the day, some

of my former colleagues showed up at the door with a big bouquet of flowers

to share a cup of tea and a few laughs. It really made me appreciate having so

many kind and thoughtful people in my life.

If you are fortunate enough to have people in your

life who send a card, a gift, a wish for your recovery,

a prayer, or to visit with you, REJOICE!

HEALTH TIP #71

REJOICE! Chocolate Is Actually Good for You!

C
hocolate is healthy! Yay!

Yes, all that money we pump into scientific studies has

finally paid off! It turns out that chocolate, more specifi-

cally, dark chocolate containing 70 percent cacao or

more has many health benefits.

Besides lowering your risk of heart disease and

stroke, the substances found in chocolate can also

reduce your risk of cancer by acting as antioxidants and

anti-inflammatories.

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And more important than fighting any disease, dark chocolate reduces

aging effects on your skin, giving you a more youthful appearance. Does it

get any better than this?!

The secret lies with the seeds of the cacao tree. Cacao is one of the main

ingredients in chocolate. The cacao seeds contain high levels of polyphenols

and flavanols (a class of antioxidants), which are the healthy compounds

that help fight disease and aging. Cacao seeds are one of the world’s most

concentrated sources of these powerhouse antioxidants.

But you must eat your chocolate dark. Milk chocolate and white choco-

late don’t have the same benefits. The darker the better, as the darker

chocolates have higher levels of flavanols and lower levels of added sugar.

As you might expect, adding lots of sugar defeats the beneficial action of

the cacao. Look for chocolate that is 70 percent cacao or more because

that will provide you with the most healthy benefits and it will contain

the lowest amounts of sugar.

Also choose organic dark chocolates that don’t use preservatives or arti-

ficial flavorings. Using natural organic unsweetened cocoa pow-

der has even more benefits than bar chocolates, as the powder is

pure cacao with nothing added. You can use pure cacao/cocoa

When you want

powder to make healthy goodies where you can control the type

a treat, reach for

and amount of sugar you use. (Check out my Beetroot Cupcake

dark chocolate

recipe in Health Tip #51.) Sorry, processed and packaged hot

to boost health

cocoa just has the cocoa name, but it does not offer the same

and happiness.

antioxidant benefits as dark chocolate products.

As a side note: cacao and cocoa are the same part of the plant, but some

use cacao to mean powder from the raw bean and cocoa to mean powder

from the roasted bean. Others say the tree is called a cacao tree and the

beans and their powder are called cocoa. Either way, look for a high per-

centage of the stuff in your dark chocolate product.

I wish I could say that more is better in this case, but alas, there is a sug-

gested limit to your chocolate intake. One to two ounces per day seems to

be the magic number to keep you healthy and avoid too many extra calories.

But even with this limitation, you have to agree, this is the best news you’ve

heard in a long time.

Perk #72

Cancer Made Me Reevaluate

the Relationships in My Life

P
eople expect that when you get cancer you suddenly get great insights

into life. Well, they are right. When I am asked about my great insights,

I have only one: The only thing that really matters in life is people. You

already knew that, right? Yeah, so did I, intellectually. But knowing it and

really believing it are two different things. And cancer has the perk of allow-

ing you to really feel the truth of that statement, as it helps you to truly

appreciate the people in your life.

One relationship that I have come to feel more grateful for is with my

children. My teenagers, Kaitlyn and Donovan, really stepped up to the plate

following my diagnosis. I am the type of mother who does everything for

her kids (some would say “spoils them”) so it wasn’t easy for me to let my

kids become my caregivers. However, I had never been more proud of them.

I realized that giving them more responsibility did not make me any less

of a mother, and it gave them valuable skills to carry into adulthood.

When Ben, my youngest child, was diagnosed with autism at the age

of three, that became my obsession. I have read hundreds of books and arti-

cles, attended numerous workshops and training sessions, been an active

participant in his therapy, and even became trained in alternative healing

modes so that I could administer therapy. I figured that if I tried hard

enough (and spent enough money!), I could fix Ben’s autism. After getting

cancer, it suddenly dawned on me: “Ben has autism. No big deal! He is

healthy and happy and that is what really matters.” My goal is no longer to

fix his autism, but rather to help him reach his greatest potential.

The biggest relationship metamorphosis occurred between my family

and me. We have always been close, but being the independent (okay, some

would say “stubborn”) personality that I am, I would sometimes shut my

family out. It is not easy being a single parent, particularly with Ben’s chal-

lenging behaviors. However, I would rarely ask my parents and sisters for

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help. If they offered, I would often refuse, figuring that this was
my
respon-

sibility. When cancer knocked me down, I had no choice but to accept their

help. I suddenly realized that I was not burdening them with my problems.

They
wanted
to help, and by allowing them into my life and Ben’s life, I was

actually giving them a gift.