“It’s an Aladdin’s cave of amazing fruit and veggies, I literally take a shopping basket and go bananas.”
Banana in Cologne – photo by (c) howlzap Cologne

The day before yesterday was chemo day number 32. Afterwards, we always go to the Turkish vegetable shop almost next door. It’s an Aladdin’s cave of amazing fruit and veggies, I literally take a shopping basket and go bananas.

  • Fresh bunches of herbs; mint, coriander, chives and flat leaved parsley. Perfect for making salads, juices, and curries.
  • Fresh spices, ginger and garlic, that boost immunity and tackle inflammation.
  • Massive bunches of celery with dark leaves, bright orange carrots bursting with beta carotene and antioxidants and tender-leaved spinach, a veritable superfood. These to juice and dip into hummus.
  • Salad-greens abound and even salad-purples like raddischio, the latter with 5 B vitamins as well as antioxidants.
  • Super-fresh and beautifully fragrant fruit; melons, strawberries, raspberries, apples, pears and bananas. Great for adding to muesli, juice and snacking on.
  • Tinned beans and chickpeas for salads and stews and we’re nearing a good daily dozen in the basket and Dr Greger would be proud.

Dr Michael Greger is a nutritional super-hero, a medical doctor who’s made it a life mission to read medical papers and reports, digest the information and turn them into bite-sized videos, articles, talks and books to educate the public. His website https://nutritionfacts.org/ is an easily searchable database of insights into beating and preventing lifestyle related diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. The information is available for free and the organization a nonprofit one. The earnings from his award winning book “How not to die” go to charity and his easy to follow checklist “ the daily dozen” https://nutritionfacts.org/video/dr-gregers-daily-dozen-checklist/ is also a free app. It’s great to know as well as feel how beneficial all the veggies are.

So I’m keeping up the self-care work through the next 9 months and beyond; heavy on fruit and veggies, enough sleep, abundant fluids, daily stress reducing yoga and meditation and love, fun and connecting with friends and family.