Cooking and cancer

A more appropriate picture of chef David! Not sure what the occasion was but we were serving on the pheasant dinnerware that my mom gave me.

When David was getting his chemo everyday during the work week, I went into a baking frenzy on Sunday afternoons. It was the best way for me to handle my stress, and to give back to the nurses that took such good care of him. The NYTimes  published an article shortly afterwards that captured my feelings.

*This week, I have an appointment with a dietitian. Perhaps this is because I have had some GI sensitivity, or maybe it's a standard part of treatment. Both David and I are enthusiastic cooks. He learned to cook because his mother didn't, I learned to cook because my mother did. When we need to, we can follow a prescribed diet. After David's second surgery, he had to go on a Chyle leak diet - which is a very low fat diet. We cooked everything extremely low fat, I even made yogurt cheese out of non-fat yogurt so he had something else to spread on toast. I guess what I'm getting at is, what is she going to tell me beyond the BRAT diet? Yes, I know I have a bit of an attitude and everyone at SCCA is doing the best they can to help me through this process and keep me healthy.

We eat as healthy as people can (if not too much). We shop at the farmer's markets year round. By spring I am sick of kale and root vegetables! We get pasture raised beef, chickens, goat and pork. We will make any adjustments that are suggested, but we won't stop cooking! Here is another great article in the Washington Post about cooking and cancer.Warning: Tear jerker!

*Update: I met with the dietitian and we had a good conversation. She said our current eating habits of whole foods (not shopping there!) and cooking for ourselves has probably played a big factor in how well I have been doing with my treatment. For now, I need to avoid things with insoluble fibers - raw veggies, fruit with skin on, fried foods, spicy foods, nuts and seeds. She also cautioned against juicing and other dietary changes. And, I'm supposed to still play tennis! So, despite my attitude, I got some helpful information and shared some with her!