Cancer is a Bully

Wearing pink this week is two-fold for me. I stand up for anti-bullying and I also stand up against cancer.
Put that together like a peanut butter sandwich and you have the fact that cancer IS a bully as well. Like a big kid that pushes you down when you least expect it, cancer pops it's ugly head when we are sure that indigestion is only that and not pancreatic cancer. That the shadow in your normal looking breast is only a cyst, right? Not with a bully. That's possibly breast cancer and when the bully enters into your life, you can bet it's an aggressive one that is already in a lymph node heading into your body.

Bully's try many tactics. The ones I had in grade school would surround me and warn me I wasn't to try and hang out with their friend Duska. At our 30th high school reunion, Duska was amazed to hear that her friends had threatened me.She had wanted to be my friend and wondered at my distance. And like the little bullies, your resistance to the possibility
that you might have cancer probably works the same way. You are surrounded by denial and so you snub your doctor's office with that new pain or lasting headache. You put off the colonoscopy because it costs you a day off work. You have to fast. Well I think you are only avoiding the bully. Going a different way home from school so he won't catch up to you.
HEY. We don't tolerate bullying anymore, haven't you heard?

Don't let cancer push YOU around. Do what you can to get tough and stand up to it. Knock it down with a daily dose of a 1,000 mg of vitamin D. Get some exercise, feed the oxygen into your lungs. That will take cancer down a peg or two. Knock the wind out of it with some fresh fruit and vegetables ten times a day. Pin it down by eating omega 3's found in salmon and anchovies.

And wear your pink proudly. Because bullies, whether inside or outside of us CAN be licked.

A One Star Review

Careful what you wish for they say and they (whoever they are) were right. Sort of. After 1500 downloads of my two books during the free Kindle promo, I received a whole eleven reviews- the very first one being a ONE star for Running From Cancer.

"This is yet another predictable tale by a woman diagnosed with early breast cancer who has had, thus far, an effective cure. The chirpy, ever so perk writing style reads like a self published romance novel. The author, while seeking traditional treatment, has a dangerous penchant for quackery which is why I can't be more charitable. She also assigns bogus rationales for cancerous growths which probably stem from ignorance and her inability to digest technical information."


Ouch!

Amid the procession of fan mail, ravings and hugs from people thinking the book was well written, interesting, inspirational and food for thought came the slash of a typewriter from this Chris (male...female???) Cennedy who said s/he had to give me a one star after my "dangerous penchant for quackery" and "bogus rationales for cancerous growths..."

My son said, "what, you didn't list your references, Mom?" Hmm. He might have a point.

My penchant for quackery? Well I am going through the book trying to decide what this reviewer meant by that as I don't actually promote anything without disclaimers- I did talk to a Naturopath at the suggestion of a doctor friend  and I do say a glass of lemon juice a day might help but calling that quackery instead of a possible minimal hope for some is a bit much.Quackery to me is promoting snake oil- I do propose through the book you do your own research and find out what you are comfortable with. I do list where I found some material in the websites mentioned in the appendixes.

As for the" bogus rationales for cancerous growth" as I explain in the MEMOIR, I am a neurotic ADDer full of  anxiety at all times.Every chocolate bar or glass of wine frightened me as I did research about too much alcohol and sugar being detrimental to your health. This can be found on the Canadian Cancer or Breast cancer sites as well as American health sites.It's no secret and it's no joke. It's also not a dangerous penchant for quackery or bogus rationale for cancerous growths. As stated in the book NO ONE knows what starts a cancer cell growing, but it IS known what can promote and accelerate cancer cell growth and that includes too much alcohol and refined sugar.

As I state on the amazon.com website where this all began...

If you check out this Chris Cennedy's review site, my cancer book actually fared pretty well. I have references to back my "quackery" up, so if that's what made Running From Cancer a "poor read" which Chris admits is why I received such a low grade, then I figure it's not as bad as I first thought. Besides, who doesn't like a romance novel in the middle of a non-fiction book? She admits it's perky and upbeat so I find her attempt conflicted at discouraging others to read this inspirational eye-opener about why you should try and prevent YOUR cancer today.A bit personal lashing out with the words "which probably stem from ignorance and her inability to digest technical information."But hey, everyone is welcome to their opinion and I welcome them all! Thanks Chris for sharing your solicitous view.



If you want to help, then like we did for Tinkerbell to keep her alive, we need to clap if we believe. If you think Running From Cancer should be read by others, then please click on Amazon.com or .ca and leave your review for my books today! If that doesn't work, there's always my website at www.debilynsmith.com where you can also leave your opinion. And if I get more one stars, so be it. Maybe that will make me take even a harder look at Chris's side of things.That's why we need reviews.

Thanks everyone.

Stop the Slide (I think I'm going to be sick)

Another Monday with a confession following. My initial hope was to be an inspirational blogger on weight loss strategy for the new year.But things haven't gone as planned. For three weeks now. In fact, with two big bags of red licorice and one of potato chips (which I rarely eat) under my belt and an evening of full fat cheese, incredibly delightful East Indian fare with creamy paneer, fried samosas and doughnut balls soaked in sugar, I think I gained weight this week. My scales are broken, but my ski pants never lie. They're tighter!

No, I didn't touch a drop of alcohol so I saved some calories there. I worked out six of the seven days and ate wisely all week except for Friday and Saturday evening when I figure my idea of "letting loose" got in my way. (Hey, I'm still a reckless Party Girl!Watch me eat this ENTIRE bag of potato chips!)( and...what is a movie night out without licorice? I had to buy two big bags because my husband wanted me to share. Then he only ate three ropes. The rest simply disappeared electric pencil-sharpener style down my throat).

This decline from healthy habits seems to be ALL about attitude and  a post breast cancer "I don't care...I WANT TO FEEL ALIVE AGAIN" coming out of my pores.It's that kind of attitude that gets us overweight, into ruts, disease-laden and headed for an early retirement of the more permanent kind. If I keep this behaviour up, it will become harder and harder to stench the flow. Now that I've opened that tap again I'm finding it ridiculously hard to turn off.But it has to.It's a slippery slope with the bottom, the end of the path, being death by over-indulgence. That's where it ultimately leads; to obesity, heart disease, cancers,diabetes and on and on.I'm a far cry from that, but like an avalanche ...

Actually, it doesn't matter how far down the slope you've slipped. There will be a reckoning between you and your mirror or your ski pants where you decide to climb up instead of continuing the slide. The amount of determination has to equal the amount of your wanting to succeed. To be what you visualize yourself being. The only way to do that is to stop the process. To stand up to yourself right now and say "drop those treats." Then go stand in front of the mirror naked for ten minutes and see if you still want to eat them. No, I didn't think so.At least that's what I do.And need to do more often. Because I'm sliding on that slippery slope and instead of slowing down, the sliding is speeding up.

I have learned from experience that the longer I leave facing the trek back up, the harder it becomes.

So a few tips for us to remember:

Water is your best friend. Not only will it help flush the cravings away, it will get rid of toxins from the bad food, keep you full and plump up your skin.

Hungry? Make a pot of tea. If that doesn't work, have something ready and sensible to follow up with. An apple and a tablespoon of peanut butter. Celery and carrot sticks. Pop some cherry tomatoes. Crunch up ten natural almonds.

Tempted by a sweet tooth? I sweeten things with dates, natural stevia and honey or fruit juices sparingly. I found a Stevia in a hazelnut cream flavour and between that, Chai green tea bags and almond milk, my Chai tea lattes are once again back on my menu.

Crave salt? I overcome this by eating dulse, a dried ocean food better known as seaweed.

Need something sour? Eat cherries or make a sugarless fruit compote. Simply simmer apples, berries, chopped dates and a shot of any type of juice until thickened. Top with fat free, low sugar plain yogurt and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds.

Want a chocolate fix? Try the Sinless Chocolate Macaroons in my book Running From Cancer.

There is an answer to anything you're craving. Pizza? Buy the brown rice crust by Bob Miller packaging, plain tomato sauce with spices, toppings and low fat cheese. Lasagne? Use brown rice pasta noodles, no fat cottage cheese and skip the meat.Ice cream? Eat no fat yogurt with fresh fruit. It's all do-able.

As for a substitute for red licorice, there is fruit leather but I think I might simply skip the movie going for another six months.

Of course, if you can wear all the excessive calories off by exercising for hours, then there isn't an issue other than the lack of nutrition you would have received from eating healthier
.

It's a scale of balance and I'm GOING to tip things the other way. The first thing I'm going to do  is lessen my stress about it all and promise to stop talking about it on these blogs. There! I feel lighter already.

We all know what we have to do. Now lets get to it.

The Face Plant From The Wagon

Uh, oh. It's Monday again. Time to "weigh in." This is tougher than I thought it would be, in the fact that I feel I have to justify the few actions and set backs I go through each week. Yes, we all have them. But even with them, my life is still much healthier than it was a year ago. Being honest is what I try to be all about and so should you. Every misguided bite of crap should count. Add them up and know that next week, you CAN do better.
 So...first off, our scale broke? It won't seem to go past 20. Honest and true...it careens into the 100+ and then comes back down to 20.

But, despite what I am about to disclose, my pants ARE looser this Monday. The hard work continued everyday except for Saturday where a respite on the couch with Pepto Bismal, Tylenol and plenty of fluids helped nurse my alcohol poisoning from Friday night.

What happened? It was a great bottle of wine. I was simply trying a sip of something new. That was the good news. The bad news is Barry happened to have a second bottle of it. When that was downed, we decided to cabin hop and that just lead to more glasses of wine. It was a major deja vus from days that I'd hoped were behind me.

"It was nice to see the old Deb back," a friend commented. I'm not quite sure how to take that.I realize it was meant in fun, but I never want to go through that again. Being  physically sick from alcohol, besides being a major sign my body cannot take it, is so pathetic, preventable and cruel.And just like the cancer experience, I never want to go through it again.

So I've returned to being the new Deb, not begrudging or judging anyone else their glowing moments, of their highs and the impending lows that come with drinking. Or the weight gain. Or the expense, the wishing I hadn't said what I'd said because I ALWAYS say something I shouldn't. Some of us just shouldn't drink. Let's say good-bye to THAT Debi, shall we?

Oh, and I also gobbled down two white chocolate baking squares, (there is no other chocolate in the house) and two back-to-back Starbuck Chai Latte's, nachos with full fat cheese (no other cheese in the house) and two grilled cheese sandwiches. Subtract two meals I missed because I couldn't eat and it all came out to a minus on the broken scale. I figure I have three pounds to go to goal weight and the end of the weight talks!

Shouldn't be that hard when I won't be drinking anything but water and tea with Stevia next week.

Belly Fat Busting

This picture shows the Pillsbury Dough Girl effect much better than the one hidden behind bathing suit materiel. This ring of flotation is enough to get myself another cancer lottery ticket or two as fat can promote cancer cell growth, especially when this fat is comprised solely of high sugar and animal  fat intake.

What kinds of health problems are linked to overweight and obesity?

Excess weight may increase the risk for many health problems, including

• type 2 diabetes
• high blood pressure
• heart disease and strokes
• certain types of cancer
• sleep apnea
• osteoarthritis
• fatty liver disease
• kidney disease
• pregnancy problems, such as high blood sugar during pregnancy, high blood pressure, and increased risk for cesarean delivery (C-section) Borrowed From: http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/health_risks.htm

Like an actress who gains weight for a role, I let myself put on this weight to show you HOW it can come off almost as painlessly as it went on. Okay,that was the secondary idea after having been a good girl for so long, I decided to let loose and then turn the lemons into lemonade.

After week one, the scales are down a solid three pounds. I am at 147 and have been for 3 days. That was after seven solid days of one hour of exercise per day. Jogging for 40 minutes on Sunday and Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday Aqua Aerobics with a 10 minute swim after,Tuesday and Thursday weight training with a 20 minute jog after and Sunday three hours of hard skiing. The seventh day was my "treat day" where two hot chocolates spiked with a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream snuck into the "plan" and were down my gullet before I knew what happened. 

The normal diet was alcohol-free but laden with "Saudi Champagnes (ice-filled glass with no-sodium soda water poured almost to the rim. A quarter cup or less of white grape juice (or any unsweetened real juice) floated on top! Very thirst quenching. Lots of herbal tea and glasses of water. Stevia the sweetener if any was called for and almond milk the dairy.

Breakfast for me is always oatmeal (1/4 cup with water cooked in the microwave with 1/4 cup frozen blueberries), a dozen grapes, a sprinkle of sunflower, pumpkin and Nutracleanse seeds (contains ground flax and Psyllium for clean colon and waste management), a half cup of plain, fat free probiotic yogurt and a half cup of chilled almond milk (plain, original). Lunch was usually left-overs from a sugar- free dinner: fats only from coconut oil used as conservatively as possible.Moose burgers on brown rice buns, grilled cheese made from coconut oil as a spread, low fat cheese and brown rice bread. Dinner: usually fish or free-range skinless chicken, carbs either absent or brown rice, quinoa or brown rice pasta with LOTS of vegetables. Dessert chocolate macaroons from my book beneath plain yogurt, seeds (see above) and fresh fruit. 

I LOST three pounds. On someone with more weight to lose, I predict a loss of five pounds after a week like mine.

One thing I HAVE noticed besides a slight, if any change in anything but the scale number is my "furnace" is burning hotter, meaning I am needing more "fuel" to keep up with my body. This makes me hungrier, so I added a snack at ten a.m (an apple with 1 TBSP plain pnut butter as a dip) and another at 3 p.m. (a brown rice cracker with low fat cheese and a few grapes). This keeps me full between meals so I am less likely to gorge.

Okay, THAT was my perception of how the week went, food wise. In reality I DID the exercise mentioned, BUT I allowed myself a third drink: a glass of wine on Friday, a handful of chocolate chips (BIG scoop) on Sunday. a Chai Latte(high sugar content even when made with skim milk) on Saturday, a second helping of dinner after an already stacked plate and two low-cal desserts on Tuesday and Wednesday.

So I am LUCKY that scale is down at all. If I really want the scale to go down faster, I can't possibly exercise any more AND keep up working, so it means the calorie intake is going to have to suffer. I think, actually I KNOW I can do much better next week, reminding myself this is all only until I reach my goal at 143. Four HARD , stubborn pounds to go.Those last ones are always the hardest.

Pass the air, please.I'd like another helping!

Cancer Prevention Blunt Video Attempt

Dribbles From DebiLyn: Lose Seven Pounds In A Month?

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