Sunday, 29th January 2006

Meanwhile back in suburbia.....

My friend Debbie, who drove miles across London to our house with a three course meal shortly after I got back from hospital, called me to say she is organising a delivery of her mung bean soup later today. We will have some this evening then freeze the rest. It can be a ready-made meal during the coming weeks when I might be feeling tired. What can I say? She is a gem.

In the meantime Bryan and I continue to be interested in the link between good diet and good health.

The Japanese island of Okinawa where the diet is practically vegan (no meat or dairy) has a growing number of people reaching the age of 100 according to a recent article on healthy living in The Guardian. The secret ? Well, apart from the consumption of more soy based food than we consume in the West, they eat more fish, fruit and vegetables, especially it seems, sweet potato. There are, I am sure, a number of other factors that influence the longevity and well-being of the islanders however when I call into the supermarket for my weekly shop I make sure a bag of sweet potatoes goes into the trolley.

Another source of interest for us has been sprouted seeds and beans. Sprouts are nutritional super foods well known for the boost they give to our immune system, high in antioxidants, fibre and, what's more, some of them are quite tasty. Some of them, like alfalfa, I have sworn never to buy again, it looks a little strange and tasted a little too odd for my liking. But then again, so did Green tea when I first tried it, and now I have two or three cups a day. Bryan, being the wonderful person he is, took it upon himself to order “ biosnacky” a mini greenhouse which cultivates sprouts developed by a company set up by swiss health pioneer Alfred Vogel. Mr Vogel died at the age of 94 leaving behind an industry based on healthy eating. http://uk.avogel-server.org/index.php.

I have never met anyone who has admitted to me they grow their own sprouts. In fact three months ago if I had come across a person who was into this sort of thing I would have expected them to be wearing black, understand the significance of all the zodiac signs, probably had the right sort of crystals on display near their desk/window, regularly meditated and was, of course, an evangelical vegetarian. Come to think of it, I do have a few black items in my wardrobe. The rest will probably come with time.

All the vitamins and other good substances found in sprouted seeds will help me fight the effects the chemotherapy will have on all the healthy cells in my body. However there is a large body of evidence which suggests we should all be including sprouted seeds in one form or other in our diets. I am hoping the children can be tempted to try some.

Determined as I am to pass on healthy eating habits to our pride and joys I bought a child-friendly juicer. I found a plastic one that will bounce off the floor and, for the first time, the children squeezed some fruit to make their own fruit juice. They had fun with oranges trying it out and even managed to drink some of the juice(!).

I met 'boxing-gloves-Jaks' for a healthy lunch: we both agreed on the medicinal benefits of red wine and talked a lot about the link between good food and good health. So much, when I think about it, is common sense but sadly not so common practice - in this country at least. Finally, I started to think about how I would look in few weeks time with no hair. My sister and my mother have been thinking about this too. They have given me some hats which have come in rather handy with all the chilly weather. I'm not sure about a wig. I might settle for a nice selection of headscarves. The Grace Kelly look perhaps? A hard act to follow. Nevertheless maybe a cool pair of sunglasses (even though it's January and minus 2 outside), a neat headscarf and some serious lipstick could do the trick.