Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Still no time to blog, but.......

A while ago I chimed in on a professional listserv of oncology dietitians (my friends and my professional peers) with my 2¢ regarding an article recently published pointing out the inconsistent information on the internet about cancer and nutrition information, which caught the attention of Dr. Sanjay Gupta who actually gave it some light of day (instead of having the article just buried in a professional journal).

One of the dietitians on this listserv asked if she could post my listserv response on the website for Meals to Heal, a company that provides home delivery of healthy meals for cancer patients. I agreed (with some tweaking), and it was posted up yesterday.

Please note, I am providing my readers the link to my 'guest blog post' on another website only as a reinforcement of everything I have been writing about on this blog since I started it in 2007 (I have not been paid to write this other blog post, nor am I paid in any way by that company, nor is my posting on that website a 'testimonial' for that company.) For long-time readers, it will contain nothing new (although perhaps I am a bit more frank than usual). For new readers, it will give you a very clear and succinct view of my opinions based on the work I have been doing for the oncology community at-large since my 2nd breast cancer diagnosis in 1995.

Bottom line – oncology centers need to have (more) Registered Dietitians (RDs) on staff, preferably those who are achieved the rigorous credential of being specialists in oncology nutrition with the initials CSO after their name. In fact, I had this very conversation with a friend this morning after she told me of a dear young friend of hers who has just been diagnosed with esophageal cancer at age 40.


"Tell them to get a referral to an RD at their cancer center 'asap'. Do not wait for a crisis, and do not let your friends take 'no' for an answer. Cause a 'ruckus' if necessary. Sending them a copy of my book is a good start, but this young man and his family will need much more of an individualized nutrition assessment and intervention than my book can possibly provide."


Today was non-stop filled with hand-weeding a field that is too wet to cultivate with the tractor and then harvesting, marketing, and cleaning our green garlic. Tonight it has been used as an ingredient for a catered dinner in town for many CEO's who belong to a national organization called Small Giants. It seems like a nice fit since our goal for this new farm has always been to become big enough to contribute to our community while also staying small enough so our focus can stay on "creating a healthy community".  We have tried to encompass those dual purposes in our farm's tag line/mission statement "Shaping our future from the ground up" with the choice of the word 'our' starting with our soil and working its way up to our community.

So even though I have no time to blog, I did it again. :) However, it's almost 9 pm, so now I need to quickly figure out what we are eating for supper and then get back to helping my husband prepare our chefs' orders for tomorrow's delivery.

Oh, and Phoebe had a new experience tonight while we were walking the farm for a break. She saw two turkeys and made them fly, clucking and gobbling away, high high high up and over some trees!

We should all get t-shirts or bandanas to wear that say "Life is Good". :)

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

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you Diana, you are become my online friend from 2008 when I was sick with OVC and crazy and confuse about, now what? what I am going to eat? So many TV show are inviting people with no experience or just @personal experience@ that are making $$$ with their products, books, online cooking classes, etc. and you have to pay every time you are visiting their website,
I am very grateful with you for your generosity sharing your knowledge for people like me than can not afford to pay for a dietician. WHY NATIONAL TV DO NOT BRING YOU TO SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE? WHY THEY ENDORSE PEOPLE THAT IS MAKING MONEY SALLEING PRODUCTS AND TIPS, AN CONSULTATIONS. SO SAD.. I WROTE LETTER TO DR OZ, OPRAH TALKING ABOUT YOU AND ASKING THEM TO INVITE YOU TO THEIR PROGRAMS. GOD BLESS YOU

Diana Dyer said...

Dear Anon :)
Thank you for your thoughtful and kind comments plus your long-term support. A long long time ago, someone told me to get an outfit put together to be ready for "Oprah's call". Oops, I never did get that outfit ready. I think I have been too busy doing my work in my own way behind the scenes. :)

With everything I have been doing for the past 15+ years, my goal has been simple - to help others have a less difficult cancer survivorship journey than my own have been.

Here's a 'secret' for you. I have had all email containing the word "Oz" blocked and marked as spam. So I don't ever expect to be called by his show either. :)

Continued good health and best wishes to you!
Diana Dyer, MS, RD