The Fruits Fresh Ingredients That Can Keep the Body Strong
Food can be a real comforter when you are ill. Indeed, best-selling author and chef Penny Ericson is convinced that sharing food in the company of others is at the very core of our existence. In writing Around the Kitchen Table, for the Chemo Cookery Club, Penny says she has produced a sampler of possibilities, which she hopes will help cancer patients to minimize the effects of chemo treatment. The book does not offer specific dietary advice, it’s a collection of ideas for people and their careers, whose health and treatments have affect-ted the daily pleasures of food. It offers anyone who experiences the shock of cancer diagnosis a way of making ordinary food special with tempting flavors and simple-to-follow recipes.
The publication is available free in Maggie’s Cancer Centers across the UK. The book’s name is a reference to one of the core elements of the service provided by Maggie’s Centers, located in NHS cancer hospital grounds, where people with cancer, their friends and their careers can meet, get help and share the experiences of others.
People who have cancer often feel that everything is out of control. However, as Penny points out, whilst enduring those grueling sessions of chemotherapy, food is one thing that can still be managed. This book suggests ways cancer patients can help themselves by using food to keep the body strong enough to cope with the treatments. It contains 50 recipes that range from easy snacks to nourishing meals, drinks and even some cocktails. While some are designed specifically to help with some of the symptoms of treatment, from dry mouth to nausea and changes in taste caused by it, this isn’t a book containing recipes that promise a cure. It’s a book highlighting foods that can bring comfort and strengthen the body.
Popular TV chefs The Hairy Bikers create a very tasty guacamole inspired by their travels to South America by pounding together chilies, fresh coriander leaves, tomatoes, onion and salt to a fine paste before mashing in ripe avocado, along with lime juice and a little water to make a looser mixture. Four mild chilies is usually enough to give the mix a bite, but if you are preparing your own food, you can be guided by your taste buds, adding a little more of this or that as you feel fit. The taste of a hot chili is often quite welcome when under medication.
Beetroot and other purple foods, such as red cabbage and aborigines, contain anthocyanin’s which have been shown in laboratory studies to kill cancer cells and fight blood-related cancers. Penny’s recipe for beetroot risotto, great eaten on its own or as an accompaniment with fish and shellfish, is simply busting with nutrients, but the main reason for serving this dish is because it is the perfect comfort food and tastes superb as, like guacamole, it slips down easily.
Red fruits such as plums, cherries, blackberries, strawberries and cranberries fall into the same category as beetroot and are easy to eat, particularly when mixed into a smoothie. She advises mashing these fruits down and turn-ing them into ice cubes that can be used one by one as needed to cheer up a dish.
Then there are the cruciferous vegetables that contain glucosinolates that break down into isothiocyanates and in doles when digested. In laboratory tests they have been seen to have beneficial effects on cancer prevention.
The medical potential of spices that have been used for centuries — such as turmeric — are obviously included in Penny’s recipes. She uses them to delight the taste buds which is good news for curry fans.
The list of fresh seasonal foods that can at least soothe cancer patients is endless, but Penny has added some that are known to stimulate the appetite and soothe the sore mouth and throat. If the patient is able to consume alcohol, Penny’s gin and tonic ice lollies add a fun factor to the diet. The Marie Curie kitchens consider the lollies a real morale booster, and when you are not feeling well, that’s what it is all about.
Health Benefits of Papaya :
- Studies suggest that Papaya is an excellent food option
for diabetics as it helps lower blood-sugar levels.
- Papayas help in weight loss as they are high on
vitamins and minerals content and very low in calories.
- It helps in aiding indigestion, constipation, heart
burn and irritable bowel syndrome as it contains anti-amoebic and
anti-parasitic traits thereby easing bowel movements.
- Papayas are great for skin and help fight against acne,
pimples and other skin infections.
- Eating a papaya daily can boost one's immunity a lot as
it is a rich source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C.
