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.
Although many of the foods have cancer-fighting properties such as
antioxidants, the information within the book is intended as general guidance.
It is not for clinical research or medical advice. Penny hopes the featured
recipes will help make cancer patients feel good because well-cooked fresh food
nicely served can bring joy, even when someone is really ill.
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.
Avocados are one of the many fruits Penny recommends. One avocado contains a
quarter of the recommended daily amount of potassium for an adult and provides
a rich source of a number of nutrients that can act as antioxid-ants. Also,
avocados are easy to eat, guacamole being a perfect light snack that can be
served on thin crisp slices of toast, or as a dip with celery sticks.
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.
