Was doing some grocery shopping this morning, and I needed kombucha.
Take a look at these three products.
I usually just drink a shot in the evenings… but if I were to drink the entire bottle…
The brand on the left would give me 42% of my recommended daily allowance of sugar.
The middle brand has 24% of the RDA of sugar.
The brand on the right has 6% of the RDA of sugar.
That’s a big difference! It’s definitely worth taking the time to look.
Dr. Casey Means uses these five key biomarkers to determine if a person is metabolically healthy. Do you make the cut?
Dr. Means cites research that indicates that approximately 93% of adults are not metabolically healthy, which lays the groundwork for a variety of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, dementia, and cancer.
Strangely, according to these markers, I’m actually in a healthy range … cancer and all. 🤔
I had a checkup the other day and saw these on my doctor’s wall. How many times have you seen something like this?
There’s so much good info here. But prior to my diagnosis, I would have taken a little glance and not thought about it again. Now I’m pouring over them, matching this up with my own new patterns and habits.
When we first stopped using Cascade and other traditional dishwashing detergent, we tried a recipe that called for baking soda, vinegar, and a little Dawn liquid.
It didn’t work so well, and our dishes came out very chalky.
I tried this brand and have been really pleased. They do a good job. The wrapping is water-soluble and doesn’t leave microplastic residue. I recommend them!
These are the notes I took while reading Good Energy and watching Dr. Casey Means discuss her new plan for optimally healthy meals.
She (and many other doctors and nutritionists) wants us to ditch the food pyramid, which pushed carbs as the staple food, and move to something like this 5-slice pie above.
If we could design each meal to include one element from each section, we would be healthier in terms of our mitochondrial function.
I put it on the fridge so I see it every day, at every meal.
Just heard this morning that Mexico is saying no to buying and importing the genetically modified, cancer-causing, glyphosate-drenched corn our country is selling. I could not be happier to hear it!!!!
I feel bad for the farmer. This mess will take some work to un-mess. But it’s critical that we stop using GMO corn and its glyphosate counterpart.
Scrolling thru social media a while back, I discovered this interesting way to move the lymphatic fluid around through massage.
I made up a routine based on what I was seeing, using 18 repetitions (it matches the morning activation exercises I’ve been doing and Ayurvedic tradition). I do it in the shower every morning! And I incorporate a cold blast!
This video explains it well:
My shower routine:
CLL is considered both a leukemia and a lymphoma. (Yeah… I got a BOGO on cancer 😵💫?!?)
Having watched my mother and my sister-in-law battle breast cancer, I knew that the lymph system is often the pathway for a disease to spread / become metastatic.
However, with blood cancer, it’s everywhere already. There is no locus or tumor. The cancer circulates all the time.
There really is no pump or circulation process for lymphatic fluid, other than our own movement. Being a desk worker, I know I’ve been living in a dangerously sedentary way.
Things have been way too stagnant in my entire lymph system.
So I needed to find ways to move and stimulate my lymph system to circulate fluid… ways that would work during the long cold winters here in upstate NY… It’s a challenge!
So now I’m bringing in more movement and sweat to my days. I do the morning activation routine, a daily lymphatic massage (usually in the shower), and use the rebounder here and there throughout the day.
Here’s why:
It’s great with music or when watching a TV show with my husband (though I think it gets on his nerves a bit… 🤪)
I used to have tummy troubles all the time. ALL the time.
I was embarrassed to see a doctor about it. I minimized the issue and told myself it made sense that I had tummy troubles since many other people in my family also have this issue.
I dealt with it through restricting my diet, thinking that if I cut out the triggering food, things would stay on an even keel. (Now I wonder if the trigger was actually glyphosate).
Last year, we had a fish fry that really did a number on me. I was so worn out the next day that I tried something new: kombucha.
Overnight, everything changed. I’m happy to say that my stomach is very regular now.
I usually keep 1 or 2 bottles in the fridge and drink a “shot” or teacup-full after dinner. Once in a while, I’ll drink an entire bottle. It’s pretty high in sugar, so I try to go light on the amount in one serving.
I could kick myself for not trying it sooner, for not doing the research and figuring it out sooner. I could kick myself for continuing to suffer for so long. For decades.
Knowing what I know now, I wonder if this was the vulnerability in my particular system, which “let in the bad.”
Allowed prolonged mitochondrial dysfunction.
Let in the cancer.
Sigh.
Well, I can’t go back, but I can tell you: If you have tummy troubles, seek out some fermented foods.
There’s a wonderful doctor you can find on YouTube named Dr. Will Bulsiewicz. He’s the gastro doctor you never knew (or admitted) you needed.
Years ago, we caught a pledge week show on PBS about fasting. It was really interesting and surprising — not eating is healthy? Quite a paradigm shift from our day-to-day habits and culture.
My husband bought the book related to that program, read up, and eventually did a 3-day fast. He really liked how it made him feel better, sharpening his mind and jump-starting weight loss.
Fasting came back to mind when I got diagnosed. My husband and my best friend were immediately suggesting it, too.
Between my first meeting with my cancer hematologist and my second meeting, I greatly changed my diet and also did 3 fasts: one after the holidays, one for a colonoscopy, and one when my husband had his colonoscopy.
Looking at my bloodwork from those 2 appointments, there WAS a decrease in my markers. Plus, I felt better and had more energy.
Here is a great introduction to the power of fasting with Dr. Pradip Jamnadas.
This book is amazing as well. Both are long but worth it.
Since then, I’ve learned a ton about fasting, intermittent fasting, meal timing, nutrition, and metabolic health. And it’s exciting to see fasting being talked about by some very cutting-edge researchers and physicians.
The Cancer Canary 