Clearing Cobwebs

I am having so much fun this morning! I've been reading through my buddy's new website. He's been working on it for months, and it is FABULOUS. It helps us brain tumor fighters make sense of research studies, explaining things for us non-scientific minded people. I'm over simplifying, of course, but the website is just crazy exciting. It's so informative, concise, and helpful.

My buddy Stephen, with his new breakthrough website, is always helping me understand things. We bounce ideas and theories, it's a lot of fun. On top of researching, our email conversations often remind me of things that I've forgotten. One of the latest, exceedingly exciting helpful details that had skipped my mind, is about diet. I forgot about one of the first research studies I conquered dealing with calorically restricted diets. It dealt specifically with the standard American diet, and the ketogenic diet. It then went into restriction of both and the effect on controlling cancer cell growth/brain tumor growth.

I have been constantly beating myself up because I am not capable of staying on the restricted ketogenic diet. Rereading through it, though, reminded me that technically, restricting the standard American diet actually led to lower tumor weights (as opposed to the restricted ketogenic). Of course, the study was conducted with mice - not humans, but that's mostly how they're deducing the effectiveness of the KD-R. Here's a graph from the study, if you click HERE or on the graph itself, you can read the whole thing.

Sometimes I get caught up in a concept, forgetting other contradicting info that I've read. I feel so relieved to be able to drink my green smoothies in peace, without guilt. All I want to do is make the best decisions for my health, but sometimes all of the info coming into my mind gets jumbled, and disorganized. I remember choosing the ketogenic diet because of the seizure activity in my brain, I saw the restricted ketogenic diet as a tool to hit two birds with one stone. However, as you know, the restricted ketogenic diet makes me miserable. My body craves veggies. I love them.

So finally, I have come full circle, I am back to green smoothie heaven. And I don't even have to feel bad about it. And as it goes, restricting calories is a lot easier to do when you can fill yourself with lots of big leafy greens. To celebrate I just blended up an old trusty favorite for brunch.

Old Trusty
2 large kale leaves - stems removed
1 small frozen unripe banana
water to the consistency you prefer
1 tablespoon orange flavored fish oil

"Set your heart on doing good." - Buddha

Afternoon folks, thank you for all of the kindness over the Buddha bandits. It seems like everyone googled and found the news piece about the stolen gift, but I'll insert it at the bottom of the post for those who are hoping I'll share.

I still feel like a goober for this little goofy thing becoming such a big thing. I get the irony of me being upset over a possession - particularly a Buddha, but what can I say, I'm human. Truthfully, I'll always miss our sweet Buddha, and I did hope that maybe he would come back home to us, but it's okay that he hasn't. I do peer over the couch, through the window, and hope to see the back of his head, but oh well.

On another note, aside from Buddhagate, Dan, Amy (my high school buddy - and NYC road warrior with me for a shot), and I got the chance to support Movember by running a 5k together on Saturday. It was such a blast! The annual run is called the Mustache Dache, and it raises awareness and funds for men's health. Our buddy Derrick (who is heavy into Movember), helped us join in. We've really been buckling our financial belt straps - or is it boot straps - and when Derrick heard that, he approached us with a comped entrance fee. He's so great! It was the first race I've done in two years, (if I'm remembering correctly), and since I love to run, and I love supporting healthy endeavors, it was truly the most fun I could imagine for a Saturday morning. The whole day was fabulous. Dan and I can't wait to return again next year with more secure finances (by way of fewer treatments, and less travel to doctors - cause I'll be a healthy harbor seal), more friends, and some exciting costumes. Dan even said he's going to start growing his man hair the day after my birthday in August. I can't wait!

Mustaches, costumes (There really were some great ones: Mario, Luigi, Selleck, Hogan.), and men's health are things I can really get behind!

As promised, here's the video about the Buddha Burglars from Komo 4 News (click to view). Life goes on, and I keep learning more and more about Buddha's great wisdom. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
― Guatama Buddha

"In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?"
― Guatama Buddha