ANOTHER YEAR BEGINS

It's the start of another year, and I am blessed to be able to experience it. I don't normally do New Year resolutions, but I am drawn to them this year, once again. I suppose it's the thrill of filling in a new calender and diary. I also keep a tick list of what I do to enhance my health and I'm starting that all over again - from point zero. I have a new book from Paper Chase to enter my goals and ticks, and I love using new stationery ! And that puts me in the mood for new beginnings. So here I sit in front of my computer pondering on the start of another year.

New Years can start at any time of the year, and on any day. They can be very personal. Mine often starts in September and follows the school year. It could just as soon start in February, on my birthday, or on the Chinese New Year. It could start in March with the start of the new growing season in the garden. It could start on the 21st of June - the longest day of the year, or midsummer's night. It could start in July when schools close and we start our summer holidays. New Years Day is , to me , quite an arbitrary day. I pick and choose it for myself. But the Western world follows a calender that decrees that New Years day is officially the first of January. And I'm going with that at the moment. But it's comforting to know that should I get discouraged and feel that I've not lived up to my potential and that I've lost my way I can always start again without having to wait for next January to roll around.

Thinking of when my New Year starts has set me thinking of when my week should start. Once again, it's quite arbitrary. My calender likes to think the week starts on Sunday. My diary starts the week on Monday. I have had calenders in the past that start the week on Saturday. But I don't have to follow the dictates of society at large. I can choose for myself when my week starts, and I have started to think that this decision will influence how the week goes. If I choose to start my week on a Monday , as I always have in the past, then the emphasis is on housework. What I have to get done between Monday and Friday so that I can enjoy the weekend work-free. I've spent a few years now spending Mondays gardening, but it is still on my list of "things to do and appointments to keep " . I could start my week on a Saturday. That would show that my priorities are with spending time with my family. But I would spend it waiting on my family - waiting for my husband to come back from golf, and waiting for my daughter to get out of bed. I can't say that I much relish the thought of starting my week in limbo. I could start the week on Sunday. I love Sundays. It's a family day. I spend Sunday morning with my husband and at some point after lunch my daughter joins us and we perhaps do something together. But I still spend time waiting for my daughter to get up. So I'm still feeling a little bit left on hold. I could start my week on Friday. I sometimes do a class in flower arranging on a Friday morning. So that would be doing something fun and creative and for the house. I then do laundry in the afternoon. Sometimes I shop for groceries if I'm disorganised, but I hate shopping in the supermarket on Fridays when it's full of the retired and elderly. Starting on a Friday gives me a build-up to the weekend which is my favourite part of the week when I spend it with my family. A Thursday start could also work. I would have Thursday to tidy the house and shop for groceries, Friday to prettify the house, and then spend the weekend with family. Or perhaps a Tuesday or a Wednesday would be good days to start as these are days that are largely free and I choose how I fill them. But they can be lonely and isolating days. It turns out that although I believe the day I start my week on will be influential in determining the mood of the week, it is not as simple to choose a day as I thought. I think I'll sleep on it and decide another time. I don't need to decide this week. My husband starts his week on Tuesday this week. My daughter starts hers on Wednesday. I may need a day or two later to get back into my routine and start my week again. My work-week. And that brings me back to Monday where I would be in sync with the rest of my culture. It's food for thought anyway, but food for another time I think.

I would just like to wish anyone reading this a very Happy New Year. One filled with joy and laughter, with family and friends, with comfort and peace, and with the best of health both physical and spiritual. May 2011 be a most auspicious and treasure filled year for us all.

Making Plans

Yesterday I received the results of my recent scan, and I am DELIGHTED to report that all is still stable. I can't express my relief. I recently lost a dear friend to Breast Cancer, a friend who also fought the good fight with diet and lifestyle changes. She battled to the end and it saddens me greatly that the world has lost such a huge spirit. This disease is just too cruel for words, and as there are no words, I will speak of more optimistic things.



Recently I was persuaded by my friend Susan to tell a group of friends about my lifestyle changes and to show how anyone can follow suite. I have now given a few of these talks. I started with a very intensive day demonstrating juicing and how to make smoothies and sorbets, how and why to sprout seeds, and the advantages of incorporating more raw foods into our meal plans. I made a raw lunch which if I'm honest took 2 days to prepare. The feedback I received was very favourable with the only complaint being that it was perhaps too information - dense ( I did want to give value for money ! ) I followed up on this one with a day dedicated to indoor gardening which included a demonstration and talk on the wonderful world of sprouting seeds. I demonstrated the different seed sprouters on the market, ranging from a jar to the high-tech EasyGreen electrical sprouter that waters and rinses the seeds automatically. Everyone had the opportunity to purchase seeds for sprouting at home and we all sowed sunflower seeds and peas in seed trays to take home to grow on for green shoots.



This term I started a course called Healthy Lifestyle Choices, a series of six talks and demonstrations which runs fortnightly. The sessions involve explanations, and demonstrations.

• In week one I talked about our fabulous body, our cells, our energy. I brought in my own juicer and my blender and demonstrated a juice or smoothie - my memory fails me here. I do remember I didn't have enough time to do everything I had wanted to do.


• In week two I talked about the bodies PH and about acidity and alkalinity. I demonstrated making a juice with a blender for those who don't have a juicer. I also demonstrated a hummus or guacamole or tapenade - my memory deserts me again and I offered recipes for these. The plan was to offer alternatives for snacks and spreads for lunch, and for wholefood salad dressings.


• In week three I talked about meat and dairy. It was at this point that I was preparing for my scan and it was also just very shortly after my dear friend passed away. As a consequence, I tried to make a very compelling case for avoiding, or reducing the quantity of dairy and meat we eat, or at the least being aware of what we put in our mouths. I believe it came as a bit of a surprise to some of my listeners. I just hope they return ! I demonstrated a nut cheese ( which can be used as a substitute for cheese, or butter ) and an avocado based lime pudding with nut crumble and nut cream. Thankfully there was no-one present with a nut allergy. ( I had emailed out asking to be informed of allergies prior to the start of the course, but as I received no replies it has given me carte blanche )


• Week four's plan is to talk about the glycaemic index, and the effect of sugar on our bodies. The demonstration will be a lentil loaf with a vegan gravy. This is a very versatile recipe which can be served warm with gravy, or cold as a pate or sandwich filling. It is cooked, but dark nights and cold weather call for warmer foods, and raw foods will now have to wait for the sunshine of Spring. The vegan gravy recipe is very meaty in ? what's the word ? feel ? As I did a job of criticising too much animal protein in the diet, the plan is to offer easy and delicious alternatives.


• Week five will be about the wonderful brain, and hormones and freely circulating chemicals, and their effects on our physical bodies ( what other kind of bodies do we have !! ) I'll be sharing the information I have on how wondrous the whole symphony of the body is, and how genes do not always determine destiny. I am intending to also talk about the benefits of meditation and relaxation and pass on some of my favourite techniques and resources. I'm really excited about this one. I am undecided about the weeks recipe for this one at this stage. Time may prove tight if I demonstrate some of the techniques I'd like to. I think I'll have a better feel for it on the day, but will go armed with a recipe and ingredients and see how time goes.


• The plan for week six is to talk about some of the hazards in our environments. This was the most overwhelming issue for me to take on board, and the most recent. I'm certainly not an expert, but I will be passing on what I have learnt so far. As it is the last session before Christmas, I thought it would be nice if everyone could take something away with them. I make my own moisturizers and scrubs and the plan is for us all to make some to take away. I will bring in some pretty little pots, and there will be gift-wrap suggestions from my friend Susan who is a gifted floral artist and florist.

It hadn't been my intention to carry on and do any more sessions after this last one, but as I've had very positive feedback, and more importantly, my scan result was reassuring I would certainly consider continuing for another few sessions. I think what I have learned from this experience is that there is a lot we the public don't know about nourishing ourselves, and I mean nourishing in its widest meaning. I sometimes forget that the knowledge I have gained with such difficulty wasn't always widely available, and that others are in the position I was in prior to diagnosis. Of course the reason for doing the demonstrations and talks was precisely because it was so difficult to take on this information, and as the opportunity arose I jumped at the chance to pass it on to others. The adage An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is just so true !! But occasionally, I feel so settled in my new lifestyle that I am sometimes momentarily puzzled that others don't know what I do and act accordingly. I am also sometimes extremely frustrated by this - when I'm in the supermarket, or trying to find something on a restaurant menu for example !

The other thing I'm learning is not to try to cram so much information into two short hours !! I want desperately to pass on this information while I can, and cancer is my constant companion, sitting on my shoulder. It is a motivator to act now, act quickly whilst I have energy and am well. It is also a demotivator, always there and never giving any hints about how far ahead I can plan. As a consequence I operate within a shorter time-frame than most other people. I have been trying to pass on the most important information as efficiently and succinctly as possible in my talks and demonstrations, but perhaps I'm in danger of overwhelming people, as I've overwhelmed myself in the past. So perhaps a little recapping may be in order. And the advantage of recapping is that the information all starts to dovetail into itself. It's all interconnected, but you just need to have a basic understanding of the bits before you see that they do all fit together.

I'M A BARBIE GIRL IN A BARBIE WORLD

I'm a Barbie Girl in a Barbie world. I'm all plastic.It's fantastic.






The words are ringing around in my head at the minute. Why ? Because I live in a plastic world. Can't get away from it. I live in a world that is cushioned and padded and far removed from the world others inhabit. I was watching a series of programmes on TV called Blood Sweat and Luxuries which follows a group of young adults who find out how their consumer goods are produced. They have travelled the world taking on jobs in the industries that manufacture our merchandise, working alongside their foreign counterparts. They experience the third world lifestyle which produces the cheap goods we are all enjoying. Things like cheap trainers, gold and jewelry, computers,etc. A large part of the cost of our affordable luxuries is paid for by these workers who are on minimal wages living in squalid conditions. We are unaware of their living conditions because they live half way around the world. Out of sight, out of mind. We have passed laws to prevent our own people being abused by industry. We have raised the nations standard of living. We have health care for all, a benefits system that ensures the weak and frail and unfortunate can enjoy a dignified life, and laws that ensure more than fair working conditions for all., with a legal system to enforce it. Industry it seems has not so much taken this on board and adapted to it, as simply moved on - moved further afield. I used to lament that we had lost our manufacturing industry. Gone were the jobs and opportunities ! Where was all our engineering expertise ! Where were our textiles. But industry is alive and well - just look at the staggering stuff in the shops ! It's just moved abroad to where there are less ( if any ) safeguards and rights afforded the workers. Wages are cheap. Life is cheap. The industrial revolution's human cost is still being paid , just not in our own backyard.






I have taught my daughter to think about these things. I've pointed out that shops hide the true cost of their goods in the homes of workers abroad who can't possibly be paid enough when you consider the cost of the finished clothes on display. I sew, but I can't make anything for the prices they charge for the completed goods which have been shipped halfway round the world and passed through many many hands. How can so many things that were luxuries when I was young have suddenly become so cheap to produce ? Why have we become a throw-away society ? It isn't good for us. We are creating mountains of rubbish which will not break down. What's more we're shipping some of our garbage abroad ! ( I know, I know - we take in other people's garbage as well . Nuclear radioactive stuff !!! Stuff I don't want to know about or think about because my brain is too small - and that's why it's happening. There's not enough people to complain. ) There are children in foreign lands smashing up old computers and electrical goods, trying to get tiny components out to sell. Fibres of wire, tiny dots of something on a computer thingummy ( circuit board ? ) are worth the price of children running barefoot through broken glass and sharp fragments of plastic and goodness knows what else. These mountains of garbage are in places where the people have no knowledge of their potential hazards, and they don't have a say in whether the stuff gets dumped there or not. These countries are poor and are dependant on us for jobs and I dare say we pay them to take our garbage. But it means it's out of our sight.









It means we are not fully aware of the consequences of our actions or the actions of big businesses. I think it's important to start being more aware of the consequences of our purchases on the world. And this is happening. This programme has gone a long way towards making people more aware - anyone who watched it, anyway. Now we just need to have the message repeated every so often. Perhaps we are waking up. But we all have to vote with our wallets. That is the only message big companies and businesses hear.





I was looking on the Huffington Post site and an interview of Thich Nhat Hanh by Marianne Schnall caught my attention. (posted 21 May 2010 )

When we take time for relaxation and meditation, and turn off the constant drumbeat of advertising we've been inviting into our home, we find we actually need very little to be happy. We already have so many conditions for happiness that cost us nothing at all. Just take our eyes, for example. Our eyes are miraculous, they are like a pair of jewels. We only need to open them to see the blue sky, fluffy white clouds, beautiful flowers, the faces of our loved ones. Or our ears; anytime we like we can take in the sound of inspiring music, of bird songs, of a burbling stream, of the wind whistling through the pine trees. These are wonders of life, accessible to us at any moment through our eyes and ears. Our body's still healthy, our legs are healthy, and these are wonders in our very own body.

Well said indeed !

Being Happy

I was rereading some entries for earlier in the year when I was at my wits end and it strikes me I'm in a really good place right now. I'm taking the view that I have my miracle. I am healthy and alive, and I'm really enjoying it. I have been in a dark place and that was a blessing in its own way. How can you appreciate how good something is if you haven't experienced anything else ? How can you recognise warmth if it's all you've ever felt? You need to experience cold to draw a comparison, to have its quality drawn to your attention. I am very grateful to be here, to be alive, to have woken to this lovely sunny, crisp morning full of possibilities. The sun is glistening off the lawn and a group of 5 ducks has just landed in front of my window.Oops, they're off again ! There's so much activity out there. There's a wren nesting in last years floral basket that I left out over the winter and is sitting on a table over by my veg. patch. I pulled the dead plants out, leaving a little hole in the side and a wren took up residence before I did anything else with it. My untidiness has provided a home for a family ! Talk about making a virtue out of a vice - namely lazyness and untidiness ! There's so much life out there that it quickens my heart to look on it.



It's too nice a day to waste inside, so the plan is to do more work in the garden and soak up the sunshine while I can. I have some baby plants to put into my beds, and some new seeds to sow. It's all so exciting !

Gardening For This Beginner

May is nearly, though not quite half way through, but we still have frosts, and had one last night. I have started off some seedlings and my gardening year starts here. I'm starting late, but at least I'm starting ! I was given a very pretty journal for valentines day by my husband and I'm recording all things gardening in it. So far that's included a weather report since the beginning of May. It also contains my plan for the garden so that I have a crop rotation record for the future. I grew things in the beds last year - my first year of veg growing - but I didn't understand the crop rotation thing then, and my soil was brand new, so vegetable growing seriously starts this year, here and now. I have 4 beds and will allocate one each for

1. onions and greens ( salads )






2. roots






3. legumes (peas and beans )






4. brassica's ( most important for cancer fighting properties )

I will also have pots of edible flowers for my salads - I've already had some violets which I sprinkled over an avocado salad and they looked delightful. I was really pleased with myself. Unfortunately the weather had turned cold and they lost a lot of their scent by the time thought about using them and picked them.

On Bank Holiday Monday I finally got my act together and started seeds off in pots and trays. The following is what I planted :-

Tray 1

1. Kale - Scarlet, Dwarf Green Curled, and Nero de Toscana



2. Kohl Rabi



3. Turnip

Tray 2

1. Swiss Chard



2. Swede



3. Sprouting Broccoli



4. Nasturtium

Tray 3

1. Peppers - sweet, and hot



2. Leeks

Tray 4

1. Tomato - Moneymaker

Tray 5

1. Peas - Mangetout

Tray 6

1. Peas - Hurst Green Shaft ( Sugar snap ) and Kelvedon

Tray 7

1. Broad Beans



2. Dwarf Beans

Tray 8

1. Beetroot

Tray 9

1. Sunflower seeds for micro-greens

Trays 10, 11, and 12

1. Peas - as before

A tray of broad beans in pots.

So far some have come up, but not others. I'm putting them out in the greenhouse - a tiny plastic and tin thing - during the day and bringing them into the shed at night. I can't wait till they're ready to stay out all the time and be put in the ground. My beds are looking empty at the moment, but that won't last long I hope.

Scan Results Time

I have just had my latest scan and the results are in. I am really relieved. The scan shows no change. Everything is stable. I was really frightened that it had woken up. I have been very stressed lately and haven't been looking after myself so well. So to say I'm relieved is an understatement. So I'm going to make a fresh start ( how many times do I say that ?!) and my healthy eating demo was just the kick up the bum I needed. So here's to the next 6 months !!

A New Challenge

I have just given my first demonstration of juicing, and healthy recipe making to a small group of women, hand selected by my friend who teaches and demonstrates flower arranging and floristry techniques. And it seemed to go well. So well that they have asked me to come back and teach them in a series of 2 hourly sessions. The drinks and recipes I demonstrated on the day are as follows :-

1. a power packed porridge
2. wheatgrass and apple juice
3. apple and beetroot juice
4. a virgin mary
5. a really good vegetable juice - recipe by Nigel Slater
6. a mango smoothie
7. a mango sorbet
8. a green smoothie
9. a quick almond nut milk
10. a courgette hummus.
11. courgette pasta
12. sprouting seeds

For lunch I prepared and served :-

1. Celeriac, carrot, and pepper salad with nut mayonaise
2. cauliflower cous cous
3. quinoa salad
4. green salad with raspberries
5. a nut "feta" cheese
6. lentil pate
7. mushroom pate
8. assorted sprouted seeds
9. no wheat mixed seed bread
10. sesame "raw" crackers

My friend has encouraged me to do some cookery classes, and expand on the day in 2 hourly chunks which I have agreed to . And I have suggested a healthy eating club similar to a book club, where we share healthy recipes and ideas. I'll just have to see what develops and take it one step at a time. I'm just pleased the day went well. I can't remember what I said, and the demonstrations are hazy in my mind. I was understandably nervous. But the feedback was very positive and I had a great day.