Nutrition Information

Helpful Nutrition Information

As my illness progressed, and I was told to take responsibility for my health by my doctors, I used information I found on the Internet to work toward eating a more nutritious diet, adding items recommended by my doctor to aid in my recovery, or to overcome problems I was having. Here are some of the things I was told, and some others I learned on my own that have helped me, and could be of benefit to you, no matter what your condition is, be it healthy or not, or if you're not sure. This information will at least give you some insight into what the process is like, and why I have made some of the decisions I've made regarding treatment.

Albumin
In 2004 my oncologist recommended that I try a new type of chemotherapy just developed, a "target" chemo called Iressa. Iressa was new, and had mixed success rates, because it was difficult to tolerate, causing distinct and sometimes difficult side effects. These were not all the usual ones that had been seen with previous chemotherapy, because a target chemo doesn't affect so much of your body, but targets a certain area, and was being used with amazing success in some patients. Actually, they hoped that you would have reactions to it, since the worse it reacted, the better it seemed to work but in many cases, it was too dangerous to continue treatment. He wanted me to be ready in case I needed further treatment, and I agreed to try it. Due to the expense, however, treatment had to be delayed until I could get on a program, because I could not afford to pay for it myself. I believe that the daily tablets totaled about $1,800 a month.

I did have some severe reactions to Iressa, and the worst two of these were a terrible diarrhea that didn't allow you to leave the house, since you could not get more than a room or two away from the toilet because it struck so suddenly and severely. With medication it was alleviated somewhat, but you never knew when it would return. The other, and more serious side effect was a rash. Actually, while the rash affected most of the body, it manifested itself differently in different parts, and was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. In places it was like a terrible allergy rash that nothing they'd found so far was able to provide any relief from the itch. In other places, such as behind my knees, it produced angry, deep red rashes that burned like fire, and again, no relief at all. On my face and upper body in spots it resembled psoriasis, and I still have scars from that. For treatment of this rash my oncologist explained that I needed to have excess amounts of Albumin, to fight this rash. Albumin is found in the egg white, and is an important protein. So, it was necessary to eat a much larger amount of eggs, the most important source of this protein, to help me tolerate the rash. After a month, however, the rash and diarrhea were so serious that he reluctantly removed me from taking it, for fear it would kill me with side effects. I still try to eat eggs to keep my protein levels up, since I'm not a big meat eater, and he wanted me to include more protein of all kinds in my diet to compensate for that.

Additionally, I developed some bad teeth after I contracted cancer, which my poor health prevented me from having removed, so I had additional infection to fight all the time from the teeth. I am still unable to have my teeth fixed, two years later, and continue to try to keep protein levels higher by eating a goodly amount of eggs along with other proteins, as well as those in meat. Note: It's important to know that if you are a cancer patient, or have an impaired or compromised immune system, you should never eat raw, or partially cooked eggs, as you can contract salmonella from them. Normally this is a rare occurrence, but in patients who are at risk, as stated above, the chances for contamination are much more serious.

Water, Water & More Water
I have never been one to drink a lot of water, to the dismay of everyone. I became a Pepsiholic in my teens, and continued to drink about six cans a day for most of the rest of my life. Jim became frustrated when he mentioned this to my oncologist after the doctor told me to increase fluids, and his response to what Jim had told him was "I don't have anything against Pepsi, if that's what she drinks. It is little more than colored water."

Actually, I think that was a compassionate answer, since it does contains many things that aren't good for you, especially in my situation. You see, cancer cells feed on sugar. However, one of the things feared the most in cancer patients weight loss, and they monitor your weight very carefully, and don't want you to lose a pound, since sudden weight loss is often prevalent, and then your body can't fight as hard, of course, in this weakened condition. I think he knew I would lose a lot of weight if I cut that out of my diet, since I was fighting loss of appetite anyway. Actually, I drank Diet Pepsi for about six months one time when it first came out, and lost 25 lbs. in a matter of a couple of months! Then, the headaches and indigestion from the artificial sweetener, as well as other things I was hearing about it convinced me to give it up, and I went back to the "regular" Pepsi.

Early this summer, however, I finally found a good substitute for most of the Pepsi I drink. I discovered an old recipe for summertime lemonade, and both Jim and I have been drinking a lot of it since. It's simple and quick, and puts a lot of fluid into the body. This has really helped with my digestive system, which the cancer treatment over four years has played havoc with. As I learned more and more about the benefits of more water in my system I became convinced I had to find a way to get more nutritious water. Here's the simple recipe I found:

Summertime Lemonade
Ingredients:

3 Lemons, cleaned well before cutting*, and juiced
1-1/2 qts. cool water
1-1/4 C. granulated sugar
Directions:
*It is especially important that the lemons be cleaned properly before cutting, because Pathogens can be transmitted to the inside from the knife. I searched for instructions, and here is what I found in every instance: Do NOT use soaps to clean them. Do not clean them in sitting water. After thoroughly washing hands in hot, soapy water, run each lemon under cool running water, turning them a number of time in your hands, using hands only to clean them thoroughly, then rinse and dry with clean paper towels. Using a clean knife, cut and juice them. Add them to the cool water in a pitcher, and add the sugar, stirring thoroughly to mix and dissolve sugar; a whisk helps with this. We make two pitchers up at a time, every day or day and a half. What is surprising about this is that Jim hates lemon! Yet, he loves this lemonade.

I know it sounds like a terribly large amount of sugar, and I suggest that you gradually lessen it until you grow used to a smaller amount if you can do that with doctor's permission. Even though it seems like a lot, it is evidently much less than the amount of sweeteners in Pepsi, because I gradually lost a total of 10 lb. this summer using that amount of sugar, and they don't want me to lose anymore weight, so it will stay at that amount. I don't normally eat a whole lot of sweets, so I guess it evens out, and paramount right now is keeping my weight where it is. It is about right for my height, but it seems to have mysteriously "migrated" over the last ten years, so my body is nothing like it was at this weight at that time. It's like being invaded by an old woman!

Anyway, although we tried a lot of new foods this year, this recipe for lemonade was the single most important one we added to our diets!

Green Tea
The other drink I used, mostly last winter and spring, to include more water to my diet was by drinking a lot of green tea, which I sweetened with orange-blossom honey, something I'm very fond of. I have been reading more and more in the last few years about all the beneficial aspects of green tea (as well as black tea), and the green tea had more benefits for me. It is more soothing to me, so is a help with stress, as well as being a great cancer fighter. The honey also has excellent properties for cancer fighting, and I really like the taste of this combination. If you can find local honey, you are further ahead, it is said.

Alternative Medicine Diets and Treatments
I worked a long time in retail and wholesale business, first with my own business, then as part-owner and general manager of a retail store, added a catalog, dealers and then manufacturing, I met and became friends with a whole lot of people. After being diagnosed with cancer, at their request I began sending out updates on my condition, and this is how my Cancer Journal pages began, that appear on my website under Journal. As a result of this, I began hearing from people I knew, and some I didn't know, about many alternative medicines, treatments and cures. All were freely given in the hope that they might be of benefit to me, and I did what I could to check each of them out, and then I prayed about each one, to see what path the Lord wanted me to take. This is how I live my "walk with the Lord." I put every major decision in His hands, and ask Him what He would have me do.

Each of us (cancer patients), as patients of a life-threatening disease, as I was told by my doctors, have to make a choice as to what we want to do regarding treatment, and the first two doctors would lay out all the options each time a change was needed, and then I had to make the choice.

There are two basic choices a patient must make first and they are to choose what are called "quality of life" or "quantity of life." Some people opt out of any treatment at all, preferring to try to achieve the best quality in whatever life remains to them. In the other group, the "quantity" group, are a number of sub-groups.

Those who choose conventional treatment, such as surgery, and other conventional treatment (in my case that generally includes chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy in many cases, and sometimes all three).

A second group of patients opt for what is loosely termed "alternative treatment," for a variety of reasons and this can consist of many things. Some are limited to certain diets, and methods of trying to maintain what they feel is optimum health. A good portion of these people have very strong religious beliefs, and believe that God has put forth direction in the Holy Bible, and that God can do it, so they must put all their faith into that to HAVE Him do that, and not use any conventional treatment. All the credit can go to God; or they feel they must do it that way for their faith to work. They must step off into the unknown, sort of. Others in this group have been told that there is no further conventional treatment that can benefit them so they turn to alternatives to seek help, and in some cases are very successful with it. In some cases they are not. There are no statistics that I'm aware of, for this group.

There are others who simply do not feel they can undertake conventional treatment because of indignities, or other personal reasons, and they opt for alternatives that sound like a better option for them.

As I said, it is "our" life at stake, and we have to each decide how we want it lived.

I am a strong Christian, and I know that the Holy Spirit resides within me, and is there to help me with decisions. That's a very good thing, because especially at first I felt that I was being asked to make decision I felt very unqualified to make. After all, the doctors had all the training, and even though I repeated over and over that I wanted to be told everything, I instinctively knew they were withholding information at times that they felt would be difficult for me to handle. So, how could I make informed decisions about the things they were asking me to when I did not hold all the information? That's where the prayer came in. I repeatedly asked for guidance, and in every case, answers then came to me that brought me peace about them. And, in the one case where my life definitely depended on my decision, and none came to me (so I decided I must rely on the doctors' recommendations). In this case, the Lord took it from me, and the doctors made a last minute decision... I believe I would have died if I had gone ahead as planned, and He wasn't ready for me to. That is sobering. What was cancelled was surgery, and I have always had a deep-seated fear of it, but was ready to proceed (I had to have a pulmonary surgeon for this in addition to my oncologist, because it was to surgically remove my tumor). I was already admitted to the hospital, had all my tests, and was waiting, gowned, to go to the operating room, when in a long-lasting meeting, they decided it was too risky in my case, and cancelled. Jim and I were still praying all this time. Who says prayer doesn't work? Who says that God, and the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ are just blind faith? There is nothing blind about this faith.

Anyway, this is how I decide what to do and what not to do; I ask for guidance, for when I was given salvation, I gave my life to Jesus Christ, to do His bidding from then on. After all, He is in charge of when we live and when we die; we only have a "perceived" control over our lives. God is Almighty, He put me here, and He'll take me out when He is ready, not one minute sooner or later.

However, although I am still a very poor sinner, just trying to improve, I feel I want to do what I can to help improve my quality of life, while getting as much quantity as possible, if that makes any sense, all the while trying to do as He would have me do. Sounds like a conflict? Not necessarily; it is once again, putting the priorities in place. My first priority is to God, of course, and next in line is the quantity, and then comes the quality, I guess, as far as I'm concerned. Hmmm, I don't think I've ever laid it out just like that, but that's the way it is.

Two of the alternative diets I was interested are those contained in the Holy Bible, one early in the old testament, and I've forgotten where the other is, but it is later on. A friend had two books that went into these diets in great detail, one on the first one, and the second on the last one - I believe this one is called "The Maker's Diet." I found both books very interesting, and I learned some good things from them. However, after praying about it, I felt I was not ready to commit to these diets fully, either one of them. The first one eliminates too many things that my doctors feel my body needs right now, and while the second is not as strict, it incorporated too many changes I knew that I'd not be able to make to adhere to it. And, that is the key to alternative treatment success, you must believe with your whole heart that this will succeed, and then that may not always work from what I've seen, although it's difficult to see into someone's heart. And, none of us knows what God has in His plans for us. I've had several friends and a relative who chose alternative medicine, all involving diet of some kind, and some of them are no longer with us. One of them seemed to have boundless faith, did everything right, and I'm so sorry to say that she didn't make it. She was a dear friend. But then, I have conventional treatment friends who have not made it either. With a five year recovery rate of only 15% for lung cancer, not many people make it. It is the leading cause of cancer deaths, and is second in all deaths, only surpassed by heart disease. With my kind of cancer, the doctors have always said there is no cure without surgery. Of course, that doesn't take into account the miracles that happen with all kinds of cancer, and they do happen.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that if you send me some information about something and I do not try it, or use it, it is meant as no reflection on you or what you've suggested, it is simply that my prayer and faith with regard to that particular thing have guided me down a different path.

Diet and Nutrition Goals to Improve My General Health
As I delved into learning more about nutrition and general health issues and into recommended diets for Cancer patients, with the ultimate goal of achieving better health to speed recovery and to fight cancer, much of what I saw was confusing, some was conflicting information, and it was clear that in many areas there was controversy about what was good and what was not. It was clear that I needed to pray about it, and decide what goals I needed to set for this.

Priorities; Setting Them
Early on in my treatment I found that with the limitations placed on me by my poor condition (I had cancer for about 6 years before it was diagnosed, causing my physical condition to deteriorate all during that time) I needed to set "priorities," which would henceforth play an increasingly important role in all facets of my life. I no longer could push myself endlessly, and then recuperate. I now had just so much energy, and I had to set priorities for the use of that energy for when it was gone, it was GONE! I learned to alternate active times with "resting" or "sitting" times, which gave me the best use of the maximum energy available for each day. This became even more important after I developed fluid on the lung, which severely curtailed my ability to breathe and caused a corresponding loss in physical activity.

I needed to also set goals and priorities for increasing my endurance and energy. I became so frail due to forced bed rest (after a minor surgery), that the increase had to be done in very small steps at first. I bought a treadmill, since I could not handle the severe cold outside at our high altitude and quite cold, long winter weather. My radiation treatments had damaged my lungs, throat, esophagus and my bronchial tubes. My breathing was now compromised, and I had to begin using an inhaler regularly to expand my bronchial tubes so congestion could be coughed up more easily; in their now shrunken condition that was difficult.
I needed to set priorities for things like cleaning, etc. I removed items on display, to facilitate cleaning, along with making other changes to simplify cleaning and the storing and preparation of foods.
I replaced my food processor to simplify and shorten time in making my delicious Cole Slaw that we have often. We also use it regularly to slice potatoes, onions, and other vegetables, making many food item preparation a snap so more can be made from scratch, and control what is in it, so we get the most nutrition, as well as saving money.
Jim began taking over more of the household work for me again, taking up slack I couldn't handle. We purchased air cleaners and found they made a big difference in air quality, especially in winter when the house was completely closed up. I have a lot of allergy problems that have grown much more severe since I contracted cancer due to my impaired immune system (isn't it strange how that keeps popping up?) The immune system has a lot of various duties, and one of them is in keeping allergies under control when it can work properly. The air cleaners keep allergic reactions to a minimum.

Getting Started with Exercise, Pushing the Envelope
After I broke my ankle in mid-summer of 2005, priorities became even more important. I had improved my condition by working hard on the treadmill but when I broke my ankle, the treadmill work came to a screeching halt. I also developed bronchitis for the first time since I was very young. This infection repeated itself two more times before winter was over... then we moved in the middle of all that, from Central Oregon to California. This was when my cancer first became very active again, with another very rapidly growing tumor in my lung. Since I had already had all the chemotherapy suggested for my cancer, and it was felt that it would not work well to repeat on such a fast growing cancer, in my present condition, another newer "target" chemo was tried (Alimta), and after several months it then quickly reduced the tumor in a two-month period, to just 50% of its original size. So, although the mid part of the year 2005 looked promising until I broke my ankle, the end of the year was dismal, and the early part of this year, 2006, was the pits. They feared for me again, and I did too! For the first time in this battle I was completely stunned for an entire day, but then with Jim's help I turned to the Lord again, and in another day we both felt peace again, and were ready to resume our fight with renewed vigor.

By this time, the roller coaster that this illness had put me on had assumed a very real vision in my mind. The illness threw me down into a deep valley, from which I had to climb out each time. This was not a walk up a hillside, or even a climb up a big hill. This was scaling a rocky cliff, straight up, fighting for each handhold and foothold; incredibly slow, especially at first, as I had to fight an incessant and unrelenting tiredness that just wouldn't quit, no matter how much or how long you rested or slept. You clawed your way up until your hands bled and your body hurt everywhere, and then you clawed and climbed some more. And, miraculously, as you strained to do this, you began to feel better, and soon you could do more and more, just by pushing that envelope a little more every day. That's the secret. Don't do so much you hurt yourself, but add enough each day that it hurts and you'll know you've improved, even if it means having to climb steps up and down over and over to exercise, practice and to become more agile again.

Anyway, you should have the picture by now. The really difficult part of this process is getting psyched up to get started with it, and then keeping at it at first, because that's when you just want to lie down and huddle under a blanket and let the world glide by, because this is the only time you feel free of some of the pain and discomfort, the worry, the stress, and the unpleasantness you face all the time, draining any remaining energy and enthusiasm. You can easily sink into deep depression. If you just lie there and vegetate, losing yourself in other people's lives and activities on television, then you don't even have to think. You don't feel much of anything. I slid down into that for awhile, and I don't remember how long it was before I one day suddenly realized just what I was doing, and I was shocked at myself!

That did it for me, and the next day I was up from then on for most of every day, doing all that I could to rectify my error. It was hard work; very hard, but I came much further this year with it than ever before. I began to feel like a real, live, un-sick human being part of the time, and we got to do things we hadn't been able to much of for a very long time, like having fun!

I still had to set priorities, and actually had to use full oxygen for a time early in the year, with fluid and a huge tumor removing needed space my lung needed to expand. I couldn't keep my blood oxygen levels high enough to breathe easily, and could barely walk from one end of the house to the other. Trying to do things in the house while being attached to an oxygen-making machine, dragging a long tube around behind you (whose prime function seems to be to trip you up, or tangle someone else, who almost rips off your face... that's not my idea of fun, so more priorities were set.

But I got through that, and was able to discontinue it completely for some time; I've only had to go back on it at night when I sleep (which works well most of the time) although lately, because the cancer is growing rapidly right now, my oxygen levels are falling again, increasing discomfort; consequently, further priorities were set. Actually, that's where the time to update all this website information has come from. With my physical activity curtailed, and my need to feel productive and useful needing fed, many of the things I've wanted to put up here for a long time are coming to fruition. Thankfully, I'm now well enough to still sit at the computer and work for long periods, something that's not always possible.

More Challenges
Midsummer this year, after looking for more than a year and a half, we finally found a place in this area to buy. That meant moving again from the rental we were living in, and with the untiring help of a wonderful friend, Anita, that was eased for me and was certainly more pleasant than doing it alone. It still required a lot of work, and then after the move while trying to fit everything in and getting it put away I contracted bronchitis again, and had allergy problems crop up here from dust and other allergies.

I appear to have developed chronic bronchitis now, which is common with my condition, and in my weakened state caused by that infection, the cancer is taking advantage by running rampant again within. So, I began taking Alimta again yesterday, November 16 (2006). I took it early this year, but it was discontinued and the decision made to just monitor the cancer after it quit reducing the tumor, for fear of what effect the cumulative side effects would have on my body if it continued, and how that would effect its performance later if the cancer asserted itself more. It is kind of an unknown in this new treatment option, and my doctor had not had any patients who had reasonable success with this treatment prior to me. He had only tried it on two or three, as it has very specific use within a narrow window of criteria. He calls me the "poster girl for Alimta." This new treatment has side effects, and while it is related to both Iressa, and the second targeted chemo I tried, Tarceva, it is an infused chemo where they were in tablet form, and it has other differences. It has fewer severe side effects, at least for me, yet worked reasonably well for a time. We are praying it will come through again.

Changes to Help Me Handle Food and Allergy Problems
While all this was going on, to get back to my original subject of this page, I was still contending with teeth damaged by the cancer I am forbidden to have fixed at this time. I had to devise ways in which to make meat more tender, since I needed to keep my protein intake up. We left a lot of our household goods in Alaska when we left there, due to high shipping costs; among them were two slow cookers, old ones, and a gas grill.

We replaced those this year, purchasing a large, oval slow cooker that we hoped would better tenderize meats so I could eat more of them, and it has worked very well for this. For one thing, the heat is not located in the bottom of this cooker, but in the lower area of the sides, which seems to provide more even cooking and less sticking and it provides very good flavor if cooked in a broth (chicken or beef). I have provided more information on this method in the recipe section under the various meats (as in Beef, Chicken and Pork Main Dishes). We are also finding it very helpful for preparing flavorful and tender stews and other mixed (or pot) meals simmered all day. This larger slow-cooker allows us to use larger cuts of meat and cook enough for several meals, so one can be used immediately, and then another couple of portions for other meals can be refrigerated or frozen ahead and preparation completed on the day it's to be served. This is an immense time saver, and helps with that long priority list!
We've experimented with grilling more new items on the new gas grill we bought. Jim in particular loves grilled meat, and since we like it done to different "wellness" levels it is easier and less messy to use that method. He's also wanted to try larger meat cuts like roasts (such as pork loin), whole chickens, and such. He finds it easy to regulate, and it produces very good results that way. We still have more things to try, but with these ideas and others I had been working on, I've expanded the list of meats I can eat more easily now.
We discovered oven roasted vegetables last year, and love the wonderful, sweet and very different flavor this imparts to them all. He wanted to try those on the grill, and they work very well there, too, giving them an added smoky flavor which enhances them still further.
We tried combining methods, using a slow-cooker to first pre-cook pork spareribs (on high), and then transfer them to the grill with barbecue sauce to finish them up, and this keeps them more tender and flavorful. These were a big hit with some of the company we had.
With temperatures over 100� F this summer, and no air conditioning, we experimented with cooking on the grill even more often. We fixed my special Potatoes Cooked in Foil out there, and they were wonderful!
We did roasted corn on the cob in several different ways, all of them tasting wonderful.
We prepared roasted sweet potatoes on the grill with very good results.
We baked potatoes out there.
We fixed cheese bread on the grill.
We made our Leftover beef/cheese open faced sandwiches out there, and most everything we would have prepared in the oven, and almost everything adapted beautifully. What a blessing to remove that heat from the house! After living in Alaska, we are simply not used to the added heat here, and it was truly a blessing to have this treat to cook on.

Removing Additives From Foods We Eat
We've expanded foods that we prepare from scratch, as I've been trying to eliminate prepared foods, seasoning mixes, and other items I discovered contained MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), often in disguised form, and foods with all sorts of additives. Removing these will increase my tolerance to other allergies (such as environmental allergies) that can't be eliminated, or even identified at times, for that matter. Since my allergic reactions have been greatly exaggerated by cancer, somehow they do not show up accurately in allergy testing - the allergy doctor I saw was completely mystified and threw his hands up in the air, saying he was unable to help me! He could only fall back on that old, old answer that some male doctors seem to hold on standby when they have no answers, being "... well, sometimes when women reach your age, there are things that happen that seem to have no reason..." I swear it makes me wish, when one of them says that, I was strong enough to punch them! How dare they insinuate it is our fault that they not only do not have the answers they are supposed to, but they are blatantly unwilling to even search for those answers. They treat symptoms, not even looking for the cause. I'm afraid, since my diagnosis and treatment for cancer was delayed for many years while searching for a doctor who would investigate and search for causes of my alarming allergy problems, my elevated white blood count, and other vague symptoms that were all I had from cancer, I became quite impatient with doctors who showed no concern for helping you unless they could simply treat symptoms, not find causes. It took me four years of searching to find a decent diagnostician, because I was in an unknown part of the country. I was then taken through a regimen of testing that eventually turned it up, and it was so simple. No one gave me a chest X-Ray because "Your lungs sound just great!" Let that be a serious warning to you. If you have unanswered medical problems, insist on an X-Ray no matter what they think. Your life could depend on that.

An Important Warning About MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)
I've also started making more sauces and seasoning and spice mixes from scratch instead of using prepared ones. Some of these recipes are included in the recipes I've added with this update. I am still working on some of them, as I've discovered new things just recently, concerning the fact that many uses of MSG can be concealed since they don't have to be clearly identified on product labels by FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) regulations; this is very misleading. MSG is a big culprit here, and I recently read a report that explained how, although a natural form of it appears in small amounts in some of the foods we eat, it is when it is processed as a flavor enhancer that it is changed into a highly concentrated form which can be up to 1000 times of concentrated strength that it becomes carcinogenic. It not only can actually cause cancer, it rapidly accelerates its growth and the metastasizing of it (the spreading of the cancer to another part of the body). This MSG is being eaten by us all in various quantities in a number of unknown products every day. Now, with my compromised systems, this is something I need to eliminate if possible, but that's very difficult to do, since nothing I've found tells you just how much MSG it contains (it has cumulative effects)and some don't even label it as what it is, because they aren't required to. To see this report, read this: http://www.truthinlabeling.org/organicP.html I urge you to do some of your own research on this. Don't take my word for it, or even what's in this article. Research the internet (and other avenues if you have the opportunity) to see what you can find out for yourself before making any decisions. From my standpoint, and that of anyone else with cancer or at risk, or with a compromised immune system, there really seems to be no choice, we must try to eliminate it. It is simply a taste enhancer and serves no other purpose. How can you add up how much you are getting when it's in natural foods, in prepared foods and mixes, in restaurant foods, in take-out and fast food; oriental food is high in its use; sauces and gravies, soups and such at even good restaurants... all these sources heavily use this processed compound that is clearly very dangerous to a lot of the public, if not all of us.

I'm losing all faith in the FDA, it must need complete revamping or some serious changes to be so far behind the times, so blatantly incompetent as to allow this to happen, when our citizens depend on them to take care of this efficiently. We depend on them to keep all those at risk from being compromised by their agency's poor oversight. Many lives are at stake here, and they seem to be doing little to nothing to correct the problems in their program.

They were petitioned in 1994 to rectify this misrepresentation and deception in labeling, and they still haven't even acted on that petition; that was 12 years ago! With the rapid changes being made in the food industry today they need to seriously get their act together (and do so very quickly) or there is no hope they will ever provide the guidance to the people in this country they are mandated with serving, by congress.

Note: As you go through my recipes you will find things like "Johnny's Seasoning Salt" and "McCormick's Taco Seasoning Mix," etc. included in them. These are just some of the things I've just discovered now contain unknown amounts of MSG flavor enhancers listed as "natural flavors" or "natural flavorings," or something similar. Therefore, I'm no longer using them, and I recommend that everyone discontinue use of them, for your health and safety. Believe me, as I sit and write this addition, wracked with nausea and illness from my first chemo treatment in awhile, you DO NOT want to have cancer!

I am, at the present time, substituting this for the Johnny's Seasoning Salt... a mix of salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper. Right now, since I haven't had any time for experimentation to concoct a blend, I'm adding them individually in dishes, tasting as I go to find a good blend. I'll post an accurate substitute that can be mixed at home in some quantity, as soon as I can put it together. I haven't had time to address the others yet.

I hope this page has given you more insight into why I'm becoming more aware of all that I put into my body now, and how I go about the process. It has involved a lot of time and effort to make the changes I've made due to my limitations, but I know they have been well worth the effort. My body was never prone to a lot of illness, but I never ate very healthily, either, and consequently, my illness took a heavy toll long before we even knew what we were fighting. That put me at a supreme disadvantage, and I know now that my doctors expected me to die within a short time, due to my weakened condition.

Many have asked what I attribute my continued life to, and I've tried to make that as clear as I can, also. It is the Lord's Will, for whatever reason. Beyond that, however, I think that we are charged with keeping ourselves as healthy as we can under the circumstances, so I think the quality of my life is much better than it would otherwise be if I had not been working toward constantly improving my general health conditions. Because I know and respect the danger my immune system is in I've imposed strict limitations on being around others any time I can do so. It has curbed a lot of the things Jim and I love to do together, but then, we have had more than three years of life together that we might not have had without that. And, although it's not the life we'd have if we had our "druthers," it is a life full of love, of happiness, and of the Lord, and that's all we need. The rest is just "gravy," and while we like gravy, we limit it now, as too much of that richness is not good for us... perhaps it is meant to be done that way in life, too. Limit the gravy, and it is all the more enjoyable when you can have it. ---Marcie

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