Spring 2005 Newsletter

I continue to enjoy re-reading my old Email Newsletters as I transfer them over to my CancerRD.com blog. In many ways, they are like reading snippets of a diary or a journal, which I have tried to do, over and over, both during sickness and health, always feeling that the process was a 'chore' and what I wrote was uninteresting even to me. True confession time, I have actually thrown away all of these past attempts without even re-reading them. The only way I can think about that lack of desire and pleasure from writing just for myself is that perhaps writing about me, but for you, frees the creative part of my brain by removing some blockages to both the desire and the process.


I don't think that is how most writers, great writers, do their best work, and I would never put myself in their echelon. My writing is certainly not creativity at that level. I think it is simply about service, sharing, action, balance, compassion, kindness...........hoping that something I write will help someone somewhere have a less difficult cancer recovery journey than my own have been.


So I am re-sharing the introduction to my Spring 2005 email newsletter. The full newsletter is available here.
***************
Spring 2005 Greetings from Diana Dyer, MS, RD, author of A Dietitian's Cancer Story.

On April 8, 1997, The Detroit Free Press published an article in which I was interviewed about the impact of nutrition on cancer recovery. It was the first time I had spoken to a reporter, and I thought it would a little article buried in a big newspaper. In a nutshell, I never could have foreseen the multiple opportunities that would subsequently come my way to help other people with their cancer recovery journey after that article was published.

From that “little article”, I recently had the opportunity to speak at The American Society of Breast Surgeons’ annual meeting in Los Angeles. It was an awesome opportunity (in the true sense of the word) to be able to speak to and potentially influence the practice of 1000+ breast surgeons in this country about the importance of nutrition for their patients.

I recently came across this meaningful quotation:

No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. • Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

We never know how far the ripples of our small actions will spread, but spread they will, just like the ripples that result from throwing a pebble into a lake.

I urge you all to do something “little”, not knowing where it will lead, hoping only that your actions will help someone else with some aspect of their life.

Diana Dyer

********************
As I slowly re-read my two copies of the Tao Teh Ching side-by-side, I find I keep coming back to one particular saying or poem (#8). Of my two copies, the version I prefer is from the 1944 translation by Witter Bynner, which I first read in 1970. I like the softness of the words in this translation, along with the images and the feelings they create for me. 


I'd like to end with a portion of the 8th saying that seems relevant to my thoughts this morning. 

Man at his best, like water,

Serves as he goes along:

Like water he seeks his own level,

The common level of life,

Loves living close to the earth,

Living clear down in his heart,

Loves kinship with his neighbors,

The pick of words that tell the truth, ..........

~~ Laotzu

The curious paradox in my mind this morning is pondering if I am the water, the pebble, the ripple, the thrower of that pebble, or all of the above. 

It started with the courage (and naiveté) to say yes to a reporter for what I thought would be something small, perhaps insignificant. I remember that she even asked me "Are you sure?" This morning I am also pondering if she saw something coming that I did not. :)

I hope all of you will also do something small, knowing the ripples, no matter how small or difficult for you to see even in the beginning, will find their right end, being more than you know, hope, or imagine.

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Slogging through paperwork ends with 'thanks'

Today I must have needed what I would call an 'introvert-type-of-day'. I cannot fully explain why. There were a couple of 'extrovert-type' of things I could and should have done today, but I just could not get myself out the door. I could think about this a bit more, or maybe not, at least not over-think it much.......

I spent the day, the entire day, wading through the piles of paperwork that have been building up on the desk in my part of the room that my husband and I will be using as our joint office at the farm. I have bird feeders right outside those windows, so there is always a bit of happiness to watch, mostly chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, blue jays, and downy woodpeckers coming to take their bit of the suet that is always there, even if they have gotten ahead of me and emptied the feeders of sunflower seeds. They were busy today; it was a constant show. Hmmm, I wonder if that might mean there is some snow coming?

When I talk about 'building up', I mean it. I have tried to keep up (or 'retire from' - ha!) a lot of my various professional activities that I do on a national level. Somehow, this does not happen. At least not completely. It must mean that I feel my work is not yet done. I don't get paid for any of this work. I will think about that more.............what am I trying to accomplish? Why?

So I got caught up on paying bills, sending sympathy cards, getting my business's part of our 2011 taxes organized, finalized, filled out, mailed, and ready to hand over to our accountant as part of the home/farm/me package of complexity. In addition, I got my 2012 business files ready.

The bigger job was re-organizing my various medical files and folders, sorting what all happened in 2011, and sending emails off to a couple of doctors to ensure they 'talk' to each other about me. I function as my own 'case manager'. All my doctors understand that is how I operate and how I need them to operate. This is the only part of my life where I know I am 'pushy'. Why? I remember the moment with crystal clarity that I realized my oncologist was not thinking about me 24 hours a day (I can smile about that moment now), so something was sure 'to get lost in translation' if I wasn't paying attention and doing my job to follow-up, follow-up, follow-up on the hundreds if not thousands of details necessary to keep me patched together. :-)

Next I wrote out ALL of the projects I am working on (hmm, just right now I thought of another small one and added it to the list), organized folders for all of these projects, got all the various paperwork and other stray notes/articles/etc into the folder for each project.

Last, I sorted through the checks ready to deposit from various places that sell my books, got the deposit slip ready, and then did all the computer/paperwork to keep track of all the books and money. Here is where my favorite thing finally happened. Finally!

When my books are purchased from The American Institute for Cancer Research (the non-profit organization where I have donated proceeds from my book's sales since 1999), the paperwork they send me identifies those people who have purchased 10 or more copies of my book (discounts are available for larger purchases like this!). I always enjoy taking the time to hand-write a thank you note to these people, thanking them for sharing my vision and mission of funding research focused on nutritional strategies that will optimize the long-term odds for both staying alive and optimizing the quality of life after a cancer diagnosis. (I wish I had the time to write everyone who purchases my book, from anywhere, but I do not........so I hope you read this - I do thank you, too!)

These twin goals are not mutually exclusive, nor should they be ranked in order of priority. They are of equal importance to me, and I hope I speak for the majority of cancer survivors. Extended life of a lower quality is not an acceptable goal for cancer treatments or cancer survivorship.

I have deeply admired the words of John Greden, MD, the Director of The University of Michigan's Depression Center, when he says: "Better but not well is not good enough". I have used those eight words as my foundation and guiding light for the work I have done for cancer survivors. I cannot articulate a more comprehensive or succinct goal, and I still cannot imagine a cancer treatment center that thinks comprehensive cancer care does not include nutritional care from an oncology dietitian as part of its full-court press to try to win the game for each of its patients who trust it for the highest quality care. (Those of you who know me should be able to envision me shaking my head, sighing, even gritting my teeth a bit - now you all can envision that!) 

Which brings me back to my book, all my paperwork, etc. etc.

I envision and am working on my organic farm and in my community toward the day when my book is unnecessary, obsolete, or just a relic of the past because there is so little cancer being diagnosed. I would LOVE to take down my shingle as an 'accidental author', take it out of print and just take that part of what I do off my desk, off my computer, off my plate so to speak. However, with 1.4 million new cancer diagnoses in 2012 (it may even be 1.6 million, I cannot quickly find the 2012 projection) and people still writing me with such lovely and positive things to say about how my book helped them, I just cannot stop updating and reprinting it.

So again, to all of you who have purchased my book, whether one copy or 100 (even more), I thank you. I assure you that I was 'an accidental author', there was no vision, no long-term plan or desire to 'always write a book', no courage, no self-confidence, and no skills, so this book is clearly not 'about me'. This book is about you, for you, and for those people who will still be faced with the bewildering and frightening time of being diagnosed with cancer. Your purchase has and will continue to help AICR fund research to give hope for a very good life after that horrific day.

My hope (and the reason I can smile after doing a day of paperwork) is that my book gives you the information and inspiration you need to be well after cancer, not just better. :-)

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

(Thanks, Dr. Greden, for your words and the very important work you are doing to remove the stigma associated with mental illnesses and make wellness the only goal, not being satisfied with just, 'oh well............').

A Dietitian's Cancer Story Newsletter: Winter 2005

Slowly, slowly, slowly, inch by inch, I am reviewing content on my long-standing website, deciding what to keep as I move components over to my www.CancerRD.com blog, what to tweak, and what give the old heave-ho. I have had such pleasure re-reading my past Email newsletters and cannot imagine giving them the toss. I have reprinted the introduction to the Winter 2005 Newsletter in this post, but the entire newsletter can be viewed here.

A Dietitian's Cancer Story Newsletter: Winter 2005

Greetings from Diana Dyer, MS, RD, author of A Dietitian's Cancer Story.

As winter starts to give way to spring, I had the pleasure of visiting the Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the largest temporary indoor butterfly exhibit in the US will open on March 1st. Because I was fortunate to be there early (before the throngs of happy school children, teachers, and families will fill the pathways throughout the exhibit), I was able to focus on more details of the plantings in the conservatory.

I was admiring a large stand of bamboo when I noticed a small plaque with this saying: 

 "It is quite possible to live without meat 
but not without bamboo" 

~~ 11th century Chinese poet Su Shih 

Yes, it is possible to live without meat. In fact the translation for tofu is "meat without bones", and parts of the bamboo plant are used in multiple aspects of Chinese life.

Of special interest to me however is bamboo being considered the Chinese symbol of spiritual fortitude, compromise, and survival as it gracefully bends without breaking. In addition, even more meaningful to me is the beautiful image the bamboo plant conveys for cancer survivors, with our spirits bending but not breaking as we seek and find our individual path on this journey of cancer survivorship to emerge with newly found spiritual fortitude and wisdom.

March 2005 will be the 10-year anniversary of surviving my second breast cancer. As I wait for spring to finally arrive here in the snowy Midwest, I am going to celebrate by growing a bamboo plant indoors, an ever-green symbol of my survival, but even more importantly, my spiritual growth, fortitude, and wisdom.

My hope is that you will also gracefully bend without breaking during the stormy times of your cancer survivorship journey to emerge renewed with life,
Diana Dyer, MS, RD

************************

As I read this old newsletter introduction and approach March of 2012, I realize I am creeping up on the 17th anniversary of my second breast cancer. It has not been 17 years without additional medical problems (some of them have been and continue to be serious), but it is an anniversary without a recurrence of that advanced and aggressive tumor. 

Only yesterday I told a writer who is preparing an upcoming article to be published in USA Today that my oncologist finally told me in 2000, when I reached the 5-year mark past my diagnosis, that he had not expected me to be cancer-free at 2 years after my diagnosis based on various characteristics of my tumors. (Oh wow, blink, blink, swallow hard, deep breath, repeat........that instant is burned into my memory.)

While my oncologist's statement came out of my mouth rather easily during the interview yesterday evening, and I am deeply honored by the fact that he wrote the foreword to my book and now refers ALL of his breast cancer patients to a Registered Dietitian, I realized somewhat later during last night after the interview that I felt quite rattled by that memory. 

Why would that be? I am not fully sure, but I think it may be as simple or complex as knowing how deeply fortunate I have been to still be alive, how fragile life is, how unfair life can be, how hard I have worked (without a break) to recover and live as well as possible after cancer, how many friends, relatives, and millions of other people have died from cancer since my diagnosis in 1995, how grateful I am to have had affordable access to the best medical care available right in my own town, a supportive family, friends, and employer, all of whom loved me and helped get me through that mind-numbing and terrifying time (just for starters).  Sigh........blink, blink.......

I remember looking for a bamboo plant to buy when I wrote that newsletter in 2005. I cannot remember the reason(s) why I got side-tracked and did not get one. So this time, seven years later, I feel I need to re-focus and buy myself a bamboo plant, a physical reminder of all that has happened to me, the bending but not breaking, the compromises, plus the fortitude I have developed and the wisdom I have sought (for myself and others) just since 1995. 

To celebrate both the Chinese New Year (the year of the Water Dragon) and my good fortune to be entering into Year 17 without a local recurrence or metastasis from my second breast cancer or even another new primary cancer, I'm heading to the florist tomorrow to bring a bamboo plant home to our farm to enjoy, honor, and nurture daily. :-)

Again, I hope wherever you are on your cancer survivorship journey, you will join me in celebrating your own 'bending but not breaking' during your challenges. I am celebrating for you, too!

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Recipe: Garlic Brittle (yes, really!)

The inspiration for this recipe began at a garlic tasting event my husband and I were invited to conduct at The Ugly Mug Cafe and Roastery in Ypsilanti, MI last Fall. Instead of just bringing several varieties of garlic for the attendees to taste, it was requested that we bring several 'food pairings' to compare and contrast in conjunction with the various garlic varieties. So we rounded up several of our remaining garlic varieties that were not already sold out for the year along with several foods, i.e. flavors, to pair with the different garlic varieties. For a guide, we used the book The Flavor Bible, which was introduced to me by Katelyn D, the dietetic intern from Western Michigan University who spent two weeks on our farm in May 2011. 


The foods I remember using (I have a list in my office somewhere!) were Italian parsley, pickled garlic scapes, fennel seeds, chopped almonds, fresh spinach, and cooked beets. The surprise 'hit' for the evening was pairing the tastes of the chopped almonds with garlic, any of the garlic varieties, but the most impressive was our variety Slovenian, which has a smokey flavor. I remember the "wow!", thinking in my head about a new candy bar!


A week later, I was visiting friends in Virginia. We were talking over dinner options for later in the week when my husband would be arriving. Bacon brittle was on the menu. Bacon brittle! I had never heard of such a thing, so why not modify the recipe to also make garlic-almond brittle? 


I am the idea person, so I left for my meetings in DC and came back several days later to find that my friend and my husband (who love to cook together - I wonder if I ever blogged about their Iron Chef cook-off using carrots as the secret ingredient several years ago?) researched the idea, came up with a recipe, and executed it before I got back to their home after my DC meetings were finally done. 


The garlic brittle (and the small bit of bacon brittle I tried - yes I did!) was delicious, so in a weak (but creative) moment, we added making garlic brittle on our farm with us as an auction item on the on-line auction last month for Growing Hope, one of our favorite local non-profit organizations in Ypsilanti, MI. We had hoped that someone from our Garlic Friends Email Newsletter list would be the winner, and in fact, that is what happened! To make it even better, the winning family has a connection to our part of the township. They came over today, bringing their two young sons to share in the event. 


We raised boys, we love boys, my husband took them right under his wing/tutelage, and I hired these two young men to work for us this summer, assuring them that 'weeding is wonderful' and I would weed or harvest or clean garlic right along with them. It was a great afternoon! They went home with lots of garlic brittle, and I assured them that they were always welcome at our farm, without needing to bid on an auction item in the future! 


Here is the recipe we used today, which is different from the one that we first came up with last Fall. I think the variations are endless, and I can see us making this to sell when we have access to a commercial kitchen. In the meantime, you can try it yourself following this easy recipe (no candy thermometer needed). 


Recipe: Garlic Peanut Brittle
Special Note: you must have all your ingredients measured out and waiting prior to starting as there is no time (none!) in between steps for measuring! 

Special Note: our microwave's high level is 800 watts. If yours is higher wattage, you'll have to reduce times but I cannot guide you on how to do this - good luck!

Ingredients:

        1 cup white sugar (yes we used this)

        1/2 cup white corn syrup (yikes, we used this, too - please don't tell the entire world!)

        1 cup unsalted peanuts (chop slightly in a food processor)

        1/2 cup pureed roasted garlic (4-6 heads of garlic, depending on size)

        1 tsp salt

        1 teaspoon vanilla

        1 teaspoon butter

        1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

    1. Mix the sugar and corn syrup well in an 8-cup microwaveable dish (It's easier if you have something with a handle on it).

    2. Microwave on high for 3-1/2 minutes, stirring after the first two minutes.

    3. Add peanuts and garlic puree to the sugar/syrup mixture and microwave on high for 4 minutes, stirring at two minute intervals.

    4. Add vanilla and butter, stir, and return to microwave for 1 minute on high.

    5. Remove from microwave and stir in baking soda (it will bubble up here, hence the 8 cup container!!).

    6. QUICKLY pour onto lightly greased cookie sheet or silicon baking mat and cool in fridge (or more quickly on the cold stove top or the cold garage or even the very cold bench on the front porch!) for 15 minutes.

    7. Break apart and store in airtight container.

The roasted garlic adds an intriguing background flavor without overwhelming the peanuts or the sweetness of the brittle itself. I am going to make it again with raw garlic, chopped very fine, with chopped dry roasted almonds. Now that combination is my candy bar vision! 

Enjoy the photos of our garlic brittle making session!

The Garlic Brittle High Bidders!

My husband and his two apprentice chefs!

The two boys stirring in the baking soda and watching the mixture foam - a great food science experiment!

My husband pouring out the very hot finished brittle onto the silicone mat that the Garlic Elf brought us for Christmas. (I guess we were good this year!)

Garlic brittle cooling on the cold part of our stove top. As soon as it stiffened up a bit, we took the mat and the garlic brittle outside and let it cool completely (and quickly) while set on the bench on our front porch (it is a cold  January day in Michigan while I am writing this!). 

The Garlic Brittle Boys breaking up the brittle to take home.

Still breaking up the brittle!

Batch #1 ready to go home. Two batches completely filled these two tins - yum, yum!!

Last night my husband and I watched a movie - shock! We are the most cinema-deficient people on the planet, but we watched Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin in It's Complicated. There were so many funny lines in that movie that made me laugh out loud, again and again, but the line that most hit home with me was Meryl Streep (Jane) telling someone that "Fun is definitely under-rated". 

I cannot imagine eating as much garlic brittle as we made today (and our friends took home with them), nor can I imagine that garlic brittle might qualify as a 'health food', but today was fun, and I would do that again in a minute. 

Bring on the FUN! I am ready. :-)

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Dinner Party: Build your own nachos

We finally getting the boxes unpacked just before Christmas that were just dropped in the living room at our farm home after finally moving there last April, and after having a great time with both sons and one new wife home for Christmas (our other son's new wife is currently doing her doctoral research overseas, thus missed being with us this year), it was finally time to have a dinner party with some of our wonderful friends.

I wanted to invite some friends over before we 'put Christmas away' and wanted to make it simple for me and all of them, too. So I came up with the idea of 'build your own nacho supper'. I think I have confessed on this blog in the past that during ultra-busy times on the farm when we are too tired to cook supper late at night, one of our stand-by dinners is a very simple nacho supper with (relatively) healthy chips, black beans and garlic, roasted sweet potatoes, and home-made salsa as the bare bones of a meal. I usually would add some greens, as much for color on the plate as an added vegetable to this simple and quick supper.

So in some ways I thought 'bingo-easy!' but then I thought, 'oh no, so lame!' However, whew! I then remembered that I invited some of our best friends who were just happy to be together without any 'show' necessary.

We provided the chips, some pulled spicy chicken, some black beans with garlic, and our home-made salsa, asking our friends to bring a topping of their choice to add to the variety of options. I didn't say 'you bring xxxx and then so-and-so will bring yyyyy'. I just let it happen as a true pot-luck.

In addition, i also asked our friends to just bring any left-over holiday treats still hanging around the house to share.

It was GREAT!! What an easy and fun dinner!

There were no duplicates, none at all. Here is what was brought to add to our toppings:
• chopped cabbage and green onions from a local hoop house
• grated organic cheddar cheese
• guacamole (none of us are 100% locavores - avocados are very hard to give up!)
• multiple hot sauces
• roasted sweet potatoes
• caramelized onions
• roasted peppers and onions
• salsa verde
• I'll bet I have forgotten something that was scrumptious!

(Photo: Black beans with Spanish Roja garlic and one Thai chili pepper for a bit of a kick)

(Photo: Nachos and multiple hot sauces)

(Photo: Build it yourself nachos - yum, yum - oh I love good food!)

Desserts included two types of homemade pie: peach and apple (oh wow!), peppermint bark (oh-wow!), roasted almonds (oh-wow!), and some povitica (Italian rolled date-walnut sweet bread - oh wow, oh wow!). I'll bet I forgot something as everything was SO good.

Best of all? Sharing our new home, sharing our farm, sharing food, sharing conversations, being with friends and sharing the evening.

Here is the food blessing I read  before our meal that night:

We eat and we are revived, and we give thanks

to the lives that were ended to nourish our own.

May we merit their sacrifice, and honor

their sparks of holiness

through our deeds of loving kindness.

We give thanks to the Power that makes for a Meeting,

for our table has been a place of dialogue and friendship.

We give thanks to Live.

May we never lose touch with the simple joy and wonder 

of sharing a meal.

~~ Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro (b. 1951)    

Everyone raved about the meal. No one thought it was lame........ (whew!) :-) What would you have brought as a topping? Suggestions?     

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD          

"Pay your farmer or pay the hospital"

The best line this morning from the TEDx-Manhattan talks Changing the Way We Eat, being broadcast live right now (right now is lunch time) on the web (click here).

Here is the entire line-up of speakers for today's big event, which includes two inspirational and empowering speakers from Michigan, Patty Cantrell and Cara Rosaen.

I'm sure the presentations will be archived on the web and as soon as I know that link, I will add it.

In the meantime, if any of you are reading right now and have time to watch (maybe while you are doing something else), it will be time well spent giving you the reasons and tools and inspiration to improve your health and the health of your local community by joining the 'food fight'. :-)

This afternoon we are clearing fallen trees from the paths around the perimeter of our farm and doing a test-run of making garlic brittle. We have made this before (and it is amazing!!), but tomorrow we'll be doing it with the family who was high bidder for this activity at a recent silent auction for Growing Hope in Ypsilanti, MI. Their kids are coming over, too, so we want to make sure we're a little bit prepared! I do always feel as though we are operating right at the edge of controlled chaos, but tomorrow should be a lot of fun. I'll post the recipe and photos later, urging at least some of you to be brave and try it yourself! :-)

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Musing......A new word needed

Just musing (and new category for my blog)............

I have two friends who each have had a very recent death in their family, one's husband and the other's mother. Words in our language are so inadequate in these deeply sad and personal situations.

I had already been thinking a lot lately about the inadequacy of our English language and for some reason suddenly remembered that the Inuit have multiple words for snow to convey a combination of unique characteristics to facilitate understanding and communication. That led me to wonder why there isn't a word in our language that combines a person's feeling of sadness and/or a need to apologize (I'm sorry that..........) with thankfulness (Thank you for ...............) without having to choose which to say first, in effect ranking one over the other as a priority.

I can think of several times I could have used this non-existing word when I did not want to have to choose how to start a sentence, in essence starting the conversation and brain down one track versus the other when I really wished for a track in the middle that we could travel together with a common and easier beginning, a meeting of the heart from the first word.

Going from one language to another is never easy either. I am currently reading my two copies of the Tao Teh Ching side by side, each translated by a different person. They are so different, one is soft, one feels harsh. I suppose each will appeal to a different person, depending on their nature, their lens, where they are on a quest.

Thus I will keep contemplating my desire, my quest for a new word that suits my nature and my lens or framework to combine those two deep and essential feelings when communicating.

In the meantime, I send my heart-felt sympathy and empathy to my friends. I have also felt this deep pain from loss and found that knowing death will be a part of my life at some unknown point in the future (from cancer or so many other possible causes) brings the beauty within my life into clearer focus right now.

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD