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Recipes and advice for Cancer patients


NormanH
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You are a braver lady than me Gardengirl, spinach and kale in the same

smoothie [+o(]. I can report that I am now a proud owner of a Nutri

Ninja, and have been smoothing everyday since Christmas. I have managed

to include one chunk of frozen spinach in every smoothie I have made to

date, although today I treated myself and left the spinach out. As mint

posted I also just throw in various bits and pieces and experiment. I

have looked at lots of smoothie recipes, but everyone seemed to have

something in that I do not like.

My biggest problem is bloating

since my first operation, and have been trying various combinations of

supposedly anti bloating food. The good guys are: lemons, ginger,

fennel, pineapple, bananas and spinach. I have tried various

combinations, but have not been brave enough to include bananas as I

really cannot stand them. I have included a handful of frozen red

berries in pretty much every smoothie, which colours the smoothie purple

as opposed to the green  sludge colour without them. I have found brasil nuts to be the most tasty in the smoothie, and you can actually taste them in the smoothie, almonds and walnuts don't seem to register any flavour.

I think that I will continue to have a smoothie a day, if nothing else it helps get the 5-a-day out the way almost in one go.

mint, I also have a sprouting machine, but at the moment I have not proceeded to sprout anything yet, been too busy playing with the smoothie machine. But I will try and get things going next week and will report back. Hope you have not been pestered by anymore neighbours coming around uninvited. Good luck with your upcoming radiotherapy sessions.

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Grecian, hats off to you!  Frozen spinach everyday...........what a long way you have come[:D]

The nicest fruit to use, making the creamiest and tastiest smoothies, is avocado.  Yes, expensive and one never knows what the inside is like when you cut it open.  BTW, does anyone know whether the smooth green skin ones or the dark, bumpy skin ones are the best?

I think you might find, after you are used to the smoothies, that it will help with bloating.  Or, why not try a small amount of bifidus yoghurt?  Supposed to be very good for gut bacteria.  There was an item on the tv about it but I didn't hear it all.  Apparently, people without this good bacteria are now able to have, wait for it, a poo transplant from someone else!!!

I'll stick to the bifidus...........

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You’ve definitely made progress by eating spinach, Grecian, more power to your elbow and smoothie maker!

The smoothies we’ve made definitely don’t taste of kale, something I’ve only bought and eaten in the past because it’s supposed to be good for me. Nor does it taste of spinach, which I normally eat hidden in such things as fish pies etc.

Some have tasted mildly of banana, so if you really hate them they are best left out. Those with pineapple in them taste of that a bit, but they’ve all tasted very mild.

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I have had a machine for a couple of years but I really can't imagine mixing spinach and fruit for example in the same drink.

And how do you manage the fiddle of cleaning it all???

And the whole thing seems so agressive I am afraid of losing fingers..

I gave up after puréeing a few vegetables to make a soup I'm afraid..

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Good for you, Norman - good luck!

In England wehave oat milk on cereals etc, don’t drink cows milk. We can buy oat milk in many places, which is just as well, as 2 lots of smoothies each day as well rapidly depletes our stock.

In France I buy oat milk at the little Carrefour market close by or the big Carrefour on the edge of town and the health food shop near it or at Intermarché. They also have oat milk at the little Spar shop.

We tried cacao powder in the scond batch today; I liked it but my equally sweet-toothed husband didn’t, although he’s happily drunk all the others we’ve tried.

Our elder son (who bought me my Nutribullet along with our other son) phoned last night and while chatting, mentioned that his partner had been given a cheque for Christmas and had bought a Nutribullet with the money, don’t know which one.

Not only is his partner using it daily, but our son has started using it too. Quite a surprise to me, as he’s not into trying new ideas or ‘different’ foods etc, although his partner is very into healthy eating.
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mint wrote:

Apparently, people without this good bacteria are now able to have, wait for it, a poo transplant from someone else!!!

Maybe putting spinach in a smoothie is not so bad after all, if that is the alternative.[:D]

Norman, don't worry about losing your fingers, I have been making smoothies since Christmas day, and still have all 7 of my fingers. [:D]

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I can buy oat milk and almond milk at our local (small) Aldi.  Norman, you can equally use ordinary milk.  I have been using other sorts of milk because of my fearsome chemo cough (getting less frequent) because milk is notorious for causing phlegm.

No reason not to use cow's milk or even water, I suppose.

You MUST try the drinks, Norman.  You will really feel the benefit.

My OH was only having half a glass to begin with and used to take ages to drink even that little amount up.  Now he has a full glass and I no longer have to say precisely what goes in the drinks.  He feels he's less tired and that his digestion is very much better.

I don't have a special nutribullet.  I bought an ordinary, powerful liquidiser with a glass jug and it's simple just to unscrew the base and swish everything through.  The glass jar goes in the dishwasher.

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  • 1 month later...
OK, all you new converts to les smoothies and confirmed users like Teapot, I now need to know whether these drinks make you put on weight?

All my skirts and trousers are getting tight round the waist and belts have to be loosened a notch or two.  So, some googling later, it appears that I might have been overdoing it a bit.

So tell me, in a typical drink, how many fruit/veg do you put in it?  How many ounces (fluid ounces[geek]) of it do you drink?  What would you say is the consistency of your drinks?  Do you keep any excess for the following day?  Do you freeze the excess, as I have read somewhere that you can do?

Now one of the ambulanciers who take me to the hospital has bought a gadget and is drinking the smoothies after my high praise of the drinks.  She is a lovely, slim, attractive young woman and I wouldn't want her to put on weight without some sort of warning from me........urgh.....

Answers PLEASE tout de suite!!!  In the meantime, I have stopped my smoothies because I am alarmed by my expanding waistline[:-))][8-)]

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Norman, expanding waistline equals increasing good health?  Nah, false conclusion[:P]

Cajal, looking a million dollars with tuffs hair of an indeterminate colour and the whole ressembling a moth eaten patch of something or other?  Somehow I don't think so but thank you for your effort at diplomacy[;-)]

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Only just caught up with this post (told you I'd been otherwise engaged) but not like those mainly posting on this thread. Gosh, what a lot I missed. 

Mint, I'm so sorry to hear of all your troubles, but actually I think it is good that you are filling out ... shows you are feeling better. 

Hope it (your good health) continues!

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Must admit mint I have been thinking the same, and wondering if the smoothies are too calorific (is that a word?) I have put on about 3 kgs, but only back to the weight I was before my last operation, when I was in hospital I only had tasteless soup for 5 days and lost the 3 kgs. So I cannot really say if the smoothies are responsible, or just reverting back to my normal weight.

I seem to have got into a bit of a rut regarding as to what I put in my smoothies, usually half a lemon, a handful of frozen mixed red berries, either almonds, brazil nuts or walnuts, so obviously some calories there, a couple of ice cubes and not to forget the delicious spinach! Liquid wise I have tried coconut milk this week, but I think there could be something wrong the carton that I am using as it seems too thin. I have tried the probiotic yogurts that you recommended, which I think that I will go back to next week. Sometimes I use orange juice, so I guess  a few colories there also.

I drink the lot in one go, some days there seems more than others in the container. Health wise I think the lemon that I put in has helped with my bloating, but I still fall asleep in front of the telly on a regular basis, so no energy boost there. I have a smoothie everyday, so the fact that I am taking in my 5-a-day in one go justifies maybe the extra calories.

In your situation as stated already I would think that putting on weight is better than losing it, but I guess none of us wants to put on too much, especially you young ladies.[;-)]

Hang on in there mint, sending you my best wishes.

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I’ve put on a few pounds, but not due to my smoothies, which I haven’t had since being back in France - keeping my eyes open for a cheapie machine here.

At home I usually use lots of vegs, spinach, brocolli and kale with maybe some carrot and a lemon, with almonds or cashew nuts plus oat milk. I rarely add fruit as I eat quite a bit anyway and don’t want to add even more calories.

No, my weight gain is due to too much lovely local Gard red wine and delicious cheeses, lots of comfort food while it’s been so chilly plus not walking as much as usual while still needing my stick to get around.
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I think you have the right recipe, GG.  I have read that it's better to have more veg than fruit in the drinks.

Perhaps I should consider reducing the large spoon of organic honey I put in the drinks.

I do like the powdered almonds (sorry, ground almonds) I put in.  I only use a teaspoonful and it does provide some protein and fat and I have read that fat is good for the brain!

Grecian, re the probiotic yoghurt, there was a something on the tv where they said that these yoghurts only give you one strain of bacteria and that the gut needs lots of different types.  So perhaps the yoghurts are redundant.

Last week, there was no kale in the market so it's spinach this week and I must say I do like a piece of cucumber in it as well.  Don't feel it's right unless it is a vivid sort of green (sorry Grecian!)

Judith, hope the hip is behaving and that you are fully mobile again.  I am OK, will be half way through the prescribed radio sessions by tomorrow.  That is to say, if this were a snooker match of 33 sessions, I shall have won with 17 under my belt![:D]

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Yes Mint, and good to hear from you. That big spoon of honey!  and too much fruit or too larger portion.  When I first blended, I wanted to work but didn't have the energy, the mix cured that but I was working and medium physical work.  Over this winter I have had less work and it's been of a more sedentary type.  I noticed a couple of weeks ago an expansion of the waist measurement to. I concur too much of a good thing is maybe not a good thing.

I will, I think cut down the fruit to 1/2 a banana and half a kiwi.  I have run out of my friends excellent honey, which is all my fault for forgetting to pick it last time.

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Sadly, GG, I have to agree with with you about the wine and cheese and lack of exercise, though happily mine was not due to any cancer (as far as I know) just too many things happening this last year.

Mint, thank you for your thoughts for me, in spite of all your troubles.  Sadly, again, I am still struggling, though for me it is the seemingly still bruised muscles rather than the prothesis which seems to be well placed and happy according to my recent Xray.  Add into all that, a year spent putting the house to rights, still not all back in the right place though the work is done, a wry neck which will not go away completely, a shoulder being difficult (all on the same side as the hip), the other hip showing signs of deterioration now, plus that nasty bug just after Christmas. 

I have now found a sports massage therapist who was once a nurse, so she understands all the bits tied together .. and after only one session, she found all the tender spots ... so hoping they will soon become more usable.  And trying without painkillers, though it is not painless, I am coping - just been on them for too long I feel.

However, I think there is one bright thing to celebrate - it is a year today since my op,   ... and I am now tons better than I was, as before I could not even walk around the house without a stick.  So we progress, though to what, I do sometimes wonder!!

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Judith, you sound to be doing really well, especially overcoming all the diffculties with your house at the same time.

We went on a visit today in a mixed group of English, French and Dutch on a private group tour. Over lunch and afterwards, the conversation turned to physios - one had a broken shoulder, a second had been in an accident and the third had been operated on following cancer. All vehemently decried about who just put patients on machines - and were paid the same as what they all called ‘proper’ physios.

I’ve had no experience of physios in France, only in the UK, so I know nothing about what’s available. It was very interesting though.

Here in the Gard I visited our 84 year old neighbour last week. She’s having 2 months re-education in the local hospital following a fall; her physio has progressed from her arm to her shoulder, where she had 3 screws fitted, and the manual manipulation she’s having is causing her quite a lot of pain, but she says it needs to be done like that to reinstate her movement. No machines are being used on her.
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