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Recipes and advice for Cancer patients


NormanH
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Teapot, do you sprout seeds to eat?

I love alfalfa sprouts but the mung beans were less of a success because I suppose it's a bit too warm on my kitchen window sill.

If you enjoy raw food, sprouting is very satisfying, both as an activity and as nutrition[:)]

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[quote user="Théière"]No Mint, not done anything like that, tell me more please.

[/quote] 

Teapot, I have bought a germoire, nothing fancy, it's just a thingy with a couple of plastic trays.  Mine is called Germline and I buy their seeds as well.  You soak the seeds overnight and then you put them in the trays, water twice daily, and after about 5 days they are ready to eat.

You could put them in salads and I also like them sprinkled in soups and get a bit of that nice crunch.

The Chinese beansprouts weren't like the ones you could buy so perhaps, as I have said, I don't have the best growing conditions.

Here is my thread on this topic: [url]http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance-forums/cs/forums/3564148/ShowPost.aspx[/url]

Id, you'd remember 5-e?  She gave me the mixture for cakes but I haven't actually made any but I too fancy trying the salmon one

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Oh yes, OFCOURSE I remember 5E.

I was thinking of her recently and a few of the other posters like Saligo Bay and Will and Miki and Dick Smith who I used to drive round the bend. And I still worry a lot about Pucette and hope she is ok.
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I looked at my diet after being diagnosed 3 years ago, and bought a book on what is recommended to eat. I came to the conclusion sensible eating with a little bit of what you fancy. I have cut my alcohol intake down to less than half what I was drinking before, we still have the odd 'blow out' when we stay the night at the hotel we use regularly. Cut out most processed food, eat fish twice a week[+o(], usually chicken twice a week and the rest of the week whatever is left.

Théirè I am interested in the green smoothy you drink daily, I must admit I looked at buying a nutribullet type thingy, but the price put me off, although there are cheaper products that supposedly do the same thing. I won't go anywhere a green leaf I am afraid, and definitely not cabbage, so does the smoothy taste very cabbagey (is that a word?), or do you add something to take the taste away?

mint, glad to hear that you are still 'sprouting' and monsieur coli has not got you yet! You have got me wanting a sprouter now even though I am not sure I would like the end result. Must say I am better at pulses and beans more than green leaves.

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Grecian, sprouts only have very minimal green leaves which are in any case very tiny, I promise!  The sprouts "stems" are white in colour!

So far, I have done alfalfa (very nice and fresh tasting) but had bean sprouts that are nothing like the ones from Chinese restaurants.  I think my kitchen is possibly too warm for them or they need more watering than alfalfa.

This week I have bought fenugreek seeds but haven't grown them yet.  I love egg and cress sandwiches so mustard cress will be the next to be tried.

Have you tried eating white cabbage raw?  A couple of days ago I made a coleslaw type salad.  Finely shredded white cabbage, grated carrots, sliced white onions, sliced fennel, a good handful of raisins and add mayo to the lot.  Salt and pepper to taste and I added some fresh green herbs but, if you don't add the herbs, the salad would not be green at all?[:)]

I have also done the same, using red cabbage and that is really nice and crunchy.  For added "goodness", add some nuts and seeds; my favourites are flaked almonds, walnuts (as I have bowlfuls of them as I live in the Dordogne) and sunflower seeds.

Yes, Teapot, give us the recipe for your green smoothie, please.   

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mint, I will not eat cabbage whatever the colour, much to the annoyance of Mrs G who really likes all things green. My dislike of green leaves only really applies to big green leaves, cabbage, lettuce, spinach etc, the tiny leaves that would be on anything sprouted would be no problem.

I like the sound of fenugreek as I can relate this to curries, I would imagine they have a strong flavour. I think you mentioned that you buy your seeds from biocoop, I have found a mixed bag of organic sprouting seeds on Amazon that I think I will start off with. So I have made up my mind and will add a sprouter to my Christmas list, I have made a space in the back of a cupboard where the sprouter will live after I stop using it after about two uses.[:D]

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Sorry both, I missed your request for my basic breakfast smoothie.

I will start at beginning if your sitting comfortably [:)]

Don't forget I had bowel cancer and a section of bowel is in a jar at St Thomas's it was including my appendix. That I feel means I don't absorb all the nutrients from my food as the start of the large bowel is where all the action happens so others results may be totally different.

Mrs T expressed a desire for Santa to bring her a nutribullet, I know better than to stray off target [;-)]  The item was put into use and 4 days later I felt wonderful. took a break for 5 days and energy subsided. Back on the juice 3-4 days and could run a marathon!

I have barely missed a day, I have a second machine in France and the one in the UK is almost exclusively used by me.  Lidl and Aldi + others are on the bandwagon so €29 would do it, They are noisier than the nutribullet which is noisy.  The biggest issue is to make sure you can clean the seal around the cup, the nutri-ninja is very hard to clean so I rejected it. I use a toothbrush on the seal daily but weekly remove the seal and sterilise, you wouldn't believe what |I found under the seal the first time.

The standard mix is small handful of kale (choux frisee) small handful of spinach (epinade) small hand full of cashew nuts from lidl 50% cheaper in the UK unsalted natural.

10ml of olive oil, 1 banana and 1 kiwi.  (sometimes a little of my friends honey)  water up to the line and whizz up for 30-40 seconds. Done as the swearing chef says [:$]  

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Not so easy to do here.  Never seen kale and spinach is only to be found in season!

But, I adapted the avocado and coconut milk drink from Norman's link.  I thought coconut milk would be too rich and claggy so I used semi-skimmed cow's milk and, of course, the honey.  It was very nice.

Forgot it was a public holiday today and went off to biocoop for some almond milk.  Also I have heard that there is a cherry juice drink that helps you sleep.

Had one hell of a sore throat today but, of course, no doctor.  If I survive till the morning, I'll go to the surgery.  As it is, I am not sure I have an infection, my asthma is playing up or the last lot of chemo is destroying my throat.

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Kale is choux frissee, I seem to remember, you see it on the little cards in the vegetable isles [:)]

I buy it fresh in the UK all year round along with spinach all grown in the UK so france is just being lazy. I have to admit I bring it over with me just to please ALBF [:P]

Rich in vitamin K it should mess up anyone on warfrin but I gave the smoothie to my Mum when she was run down for a week and the warfrin remained??

I don't like green peppers in the mix but red are OK, very high in VitC.  Pineapple and your coconut milk with a little fresh mint sounds like a winner.

Like jonzjob, I believe in a good strong load of vit C whenever I feel the need, you can't OD on it but it helps and a bit of zinc or moules would help fight off colds or reduce the length of. 

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Gosh mint, have I missed something I never realized that you are on chemo, so sorry to hear that you have to go through all of what is happening to you at the moment. Have you had an operation yet or is this pre-chemo before your operation?

You are obviously doing the right things in trying to improve your diet, and you take regular exercise with your walking group, so for the moment you are doing all the right things to help your body. I know that chemo can knock your white blood count, so in trying to boost your immunity is a very sensible thing, obviously your oncologist will be keeping an eye on things.

Never really know what to say in a situation like this, difficult for all concerned, but I am sure that you have the determination to get through all of this, and come out the other side. Wishing you all the very best with your treatment, and look forward to having our mint back provoking the forum with your controversial posts.

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[quote user="andyh4"]Kale and Spinach are plants that are not overly frost hardy. So growing them in Brittany all year round might be possible, but not in much of France.

You can however get frozen Spinach.[/quote]

I couldn't agree more, I keep my open packets in the fridge but at the top only. Put them lower down and they turn to soup on their own. Said it before on here, the salad crisper at the bottom of the fridge is the worst idea ever for fresh things.  Should be for dairy etc.

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[quote user="Grecian"]Gosh mint, have I missed something I never realized that you are on chemo, so sorry to hear that you have to go through all of what is happening to you at the moment. Have you had an operation yet or is this pre-chemo before your operation?

You are obviously doing the right things in trying to improve your diet, and you take regular exercise with your walking group, so for the moment you are doing all the right things to help your body. I know that chemo can knock your white blood count, so in trying to boost your immunity is a very sensible thing, obviously your oncologist will be keeping an eye on things.

Never really know what to say in a situation like this, difficult for all concerned, but I am sure that you have the determination to get through all of this, and come out the other side. Wishing you all the very best with your treatment, and look forward to having our mint back provoking the forum with your controversial posts.

[/quote]

Thank you for your kind wishes, Grecian.  Yes, had the lot, the op, the scars to show for it, the thingie in my chest for the drugs, lost the hair, got the wig, had a couple of infections on account of lowered immunity, the bruises from where they cut me about and nursie keeps jabbing me with her needles.  Whenever she takes blood for a test, I think of Hancock saying blimey, she must have taken an armful![:D]

To be serious for a minute, I feel very grateful and blessed to live in a country where the whole panoply of treatments is available and, mostly, without me even demanding them.  I think of all the people living in wretched homes in countries with minimal medical facilities (or facilities only for the very wealthy) and I think about the chance that governs our lives.

Grecian, I know your treatment was probably more punishing and more anxiety-inducing that mine and I am in great admiration of your fortitude in the most exacting of circumstances.

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Well,  you pays yer money and you takes yer choice and if you take the farmed stuff then it's a different choice to us..

After all you ain't what you eat, you are what you digest init..

A bit like the difference between raw milk butter and axle grease  [6]

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  • 2 weeks later...
After saying I have never found kale here, I see chou frisé everywhere in the market on Friday.

Not only that, I have found dozens of recipes for kale on the internet.  Also found a site which says that there is a type called chou plume.

But I do remember cooking some years ago and the things were inedible, like trying to eat the outer leaves of savoy cabbages.

So, do you perhaps cut off the stems and discard?  And how do you keep the green colour and still cook it long enough for it to be chewable?

Would like to try it but there is always such a tempting choice of veg at the market that I am reluctant to buy any and prepare and cook only to be disappointed.

For my money, I love blette and spinach.

Anyone wish to prove me wrong about my suspicion of kale?

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