Health Habits Can Diminish the Cancer Bugaboo

When someone who takes obvious health risks is diagnosed with a serious illness, people who know that person aren’t usually surprised. But even people who think they are doing all the right things to be healthy can turn up with a frightening diagnosis.

That was the case for Beth Dotson Brown, an organic gardener, healthy eater and racquetball player. In June 2005, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After the diagnosis, people repeatedly said to her, “I never thought this could happen to you.”

Beth is now sharing what she learned while consulting with a holistic nurse and other complementary care providers during her cancer treatment and recovery. She deepened her knowledge of how to truly take care of herself from a holistic perspective and believes that approach, which is always evolving, diminishes her chances of dealing with Cancer again.

Join Beth and Erica as they talk about the roles of paying attention to your body’s signals, food, body care products, spirituality and more. 7:30pm Eastern time tonite!

Online resources for Health Habits Can Diminish the Cancer Bugaboo

Compiled by Beth Dotson Brown

www.whfoods.com The World’s Healthiest Foods website offers a detailed nutrient chart on individual foods as well as health benefits. Great site.

http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm Food Safety Food Additive is a site from the Center for Science in the Public Interest that rates the safety of food additives.

http://www.safecosmetics.org/ The Safe Cosmetics Action Network examines the safety of products used by every one in the family and points to ingredients to avoid.

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ The Environmental Working Group has put together this database of cosmetic ingredients. You can type in any ingredients you have questions about for information about its uses and possible side effects.

Upcoming Podcast: A Holistic Approach to Breast Cancer

Join me this Thursday, March 26 at 7:30pm ET for my talk with my friend Beth Dotson Brown. Beth has battled and beaten breast cancer with a combination of traditional and holistic methods, and has a lot of great information to share about kicking cancer and staying cancer-free. Click here to join the call!

Bio: Beth Dotson Brown is a freelance writer and editor. She has written for a number of magazines and newspapers, including Total Health and Fitness magazine, Junior Scholastic, the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper, Kentucky Living and Catholic Digest. Her work has won awards from the International Network of Young Journalists and the Catholic Press Association.

Beth also puts her skills to use to help nonprofit organizations (such as World Vision, Save the Children and the Christian Appalachian Project) with their communications endeavors, to teach writing, and to lead writing retreats. She was awarded a fellowship by the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, an artist’s residency by the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and grants by the Kentucky Arts Council. She also writes fiction.

Beth wrote a book for Catholic teens, Yes! I Am Catholic, while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She also wrote an essay about wearing wigs that appears in A Cup of Comfort for Breast Cancer Survivors. She lives with her husband, Jim, in Lancaster, Kentucky where her yard gives her space to raise organic vegetables and fruits right in town. You can reach Beth at www.bethdotsonbrown.net.

A Cup of Comfort for the Breast Cancer Survivor

If stories are medicine, then this collection will help keep hopes up and spirits alive on the road to recovery. Readers will applaud the bravery of 50 exceptional survivors as they tell their unique experiences with breast cancer. Every breast cancer survivor has a different story, but they all have one thing in common: courage. From dealing with diagnosis to undergoing chemotherapy, facing hair loss and possibly the loss of a breast, these fearless women undergo more than anyone ever should. These stories pay tribute to these women and their battles, and celebrate their victories. In this stunning new collection, readers will find compelling, inspiring, and uplifting personal essays about the experiences and emotions of living with—and after—breast cancer. $.50 of every copy will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®

Yes! I Am Catholic: How Faith Plays a Role in My Life

It is important for all of us to know that we are not alone in valuing our faith. When teens hear someone they respect talking about being a Catholic, whether it is another teen, a celebrity, or an adult they admire, they feel strengthened in their own convictions and beliefs. Here teens will read stories by people who could be next-door neighbors, teachers, favorite athletes, or beloved authors, including the following:

Steve Chabot, United States congressman

Bill Gullickson, retired Major League baseball player

Catherine Hicks, actress, 7th Heaven

Tara Lipinski, Olympic gold medalist, actress

Tony Melendez, musician

Anne Rice, novelist

Tim Roemer, former congressman

Matt Smith, MTV Real World

These stories are from Catholics who have struggles in their faith life, yet they can still proudly say, "Yes! I am Catholic!"

Attention Homeschool Moms

I know that I have a lot of homeschool moms visiting me here, so I wanted to let you know that I have expanded into a homeschooling blog, and also a homeschooling podcast!

Tomorrow (March 21) I'll be interviewing Amy Puetz about her wonderful new book, Countdown to Easter. You can read more about it here. I just wanted to let you gals know, because Amy's resources are really wonderful! I hope that some of you will join me, either by calling in, or listening online. :) These chats are really fun and interesting!

If you miss it, you can always go back and download the audio to listen to it when you have time. Feel free to let your friends know!

Recipes from Paula

I had the fun of getting to interview Paula Brake, and she was kind enough to share a few of the recipes that she finds helpful to people trying to eat more raw veggies and salads, and to eat less meat. Enjoy!

~Erica

Non-Dairy Ranch Dressing

from

Hallelujah! Simple Weekly Meal Plans

by Marilyn Polk

1 cup Vegenaise or Nayonnaise

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt

1 tablespoon minced onion

3 tablespoons distilled water*

*If you prefer to use this as a vegetable dip for baby carrots, broccoli florets, cauliflower, sliced squash, sliced cucumbers, celery sticks, etc., then omit the water.

We use the Vegenaise with the purple label and top because it contains grape seed oil. The other one contains canola oil – which we don’t use.

Sunflower Tomato Dressing

from

Everyday Wholesome Eating

by Kim Wilson

¾ cup sunflower seeds

1 ½ tsp.paprika

1 cup canned tomatoes

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. onion powder

juice of 1 lemon

pinch cayenne

1 cup water

opt: 2 Tbsp. raisins

½ tsp. unrefined sea salt

1/3 cup olive oil

Puree all but oil in blender. Gently mix in oil last.

To use as a dip, decrease amount of water.

Vegetarian Chili

(in crock pot)

1 15 oz. can Light Kidney Beans drained

1 15 oz. can Mexican Recipe Stewed Tomatoes (Del Monte)

1 15 oz. can Chili Beans Mild Sauce (Bush’s)

1 8 oz. can Whole Kernel Yellow Corn (no salt added) drained

Put all canned ingredients into crock pot and heat on low.

2 stalks celery chopped

1 onion chopped

½ red bell pepper chopped

1 tsp. chili powder (Frontier is best)

3 Tbls. good sautéing oil (grapeseed, sunflower, etc.)

Sauté raw vegetables in oil until soft/tender and add to crock pot. Turn crock pot on high for 1 hour and then on low for 3-4 hours or until done. Add water (distilled is best) to thin as needed.

Serve as the cooked portion of your evening meal over prepared brown rice or with Tostidos Natural Chips.

These include book and author names and are two of Paula’s favorite books and are simple. They can be bought from these websites: www.simplynaturalhealth.com (Kim’s) or www.AlphaOmegaFood.com (Marilyn’s). The chili recipe is great for people learning to eat without meat (even the guys usually like this - and it is easy). Paula’s husband is the cook and this is his recipe - Henry Brake.

You can contact Paula at hpbrake@gmail.com or by mail at

1830 Cokey Road, Rocky Mount, NC 27801

Join me tonite!

I'm hosting a great call for you tonite with health teacher Paula Brake. She's going to be sharing her story of going from sickness to health through changes in her diet. A bonus goodie will be included for all that listen in. The call starts at 8pm Eastern time today. Click here to join us.