I have time to kill (bad choice of words) whilst I sit on the sofa & recuperate & seeing as I can’t jump on my exercise bike or take the little people out for a run around, I have to focus my energies on other ways to keep my cells happy.
I have touched on Diet before – if you look up the screen slightly you will see a whole section of my blog dedicated to the food & drinks that are proven to have an “anti cancer” effect.
I am & always have been somewhat Tea mad….I think wasted tea is a sin & constantly remind those around me to “drink up before it gets cold”…my brothers girlfriend has a habit of drinking tea in half cups – leaving half full cups behind her everywhere she goes. …I love her….but couldn’t live with her long term, although I frequently inform The Mr that she is my perfect companion because she wants a fresh brew about as often as I do!
In those early first days of panic & fog I spent many hours on the Internet researching what I could do to make my cells as unfriendly to Cancer as possible. Why so? Well …prepare to be blown away by the science bit…..high levels of sugar in our blood stimulate the release of insulin from the pancreas. If insulin levels remain elevated for long periods of time, the body’s normal immune response goes into a kind of unhealthy overdrive. The result being that this effectively causes the body to signal cancer cells to multiply.
Long story short – what we eat & drink is extremely important as healthy people, but much much more so for anyone diagnosed with Cancer.
I Googled, I found lists of foods & drinks that make cells healthier or actively break down the body’s ability to form cancer cells.
The item that came up on every list I looked at & the very first change I made was Green Tea. I have tried Green tea before and thought it tasted evil, so I gave up on it – now however I had reason to try again.
Green Tea contains antioxidants that inhibit the Cox-2 Gene that causes cells to become inflamed. The cells get inflamed when there is too much insulin (sugar) in our blood, when the immune cells get inflamed they tell other cells to re-produce to fight the insulin – a natural reaction in the body – but if there are Cancer cells in the body they also get told to re-produce – which isn’t good.
Green Tea contains a component called EGCG which is 200 times more powerful than vitamin E at destroying skin-damaging free radicals including skin cancer cells, signs of aging, sun damage, wrinkles…
The power of Green Tea extends to reducing cardiovascular health problems because it breaks down fats that build up in arteries. It contains an antioxidant than kills bacteria often found in your mouth that cause bad breath & tooth decay.
Green tea has less caffeine than other Tea’s & Coffee – although it still contains caffeine and the amount varies from brand to brand.
Green tea contains two other stimulants in addition to caffeine. These substances, called theobromine and theophylline, (also found in chocolate) affect us by increasing our Metabolic rate without increasing your heart rate (which caffeine does).. ….drink at least 3 cups of green tea a day and you will have a 4% increase in your metabolic rate which will, in turn, help you burn up to 200 more Calories per day.
What have you learnt from Imogen’s class today….a/drink Green Tea b/ Chocolate is good for you too!!!
Green Tea comes in many flavours & varieties – so it may take while to find the one that suits you – I like mine with Lemon – unfortunately it looks like a mug of hot urine…there is only 1 odd side effect of Green Tea – it makes you tinkle more frequently!
So back to me & my back… …I am trying to move around more & get my muscles used to the new tightness in my back. The feeling is like a really tight piece of cling film pulled over one side of me.
I now wait until the 10th of October when I get to go back to Oxford & have my stitches removed …and get the results of the Sentinel Node Biopsy.
But until then I shall enjoy the lovely flowers and gifts that keep turning up from my amazing, kind & generous friends and family…I will also take full advantage of all the soft gentle cuddles, spend lots of time resting & reading some new books I have been given & just generally hang out with these two Monkeys who are along on my rollercoaster ride without even knowing it!