 Once upon a time I used to feel guilty eating so many strawberries. I was the queen of strawberry and white chocolate platters – ask anyone. Little did I know those juicy little morsels were helping my body to fight the cancer that was trying to destroy it. Obviously strawberries by themselves can’t save you – otherwise I wouldn’t have had to go through such a harrowing journey as it were. But suffice to say, I no longer feel guilty. Although admittedly, and yes quite obviously - less white chocolate may boost my chances!
If you search up “Strawberries and Cancer” in Google, you will come across hundreds, if not thousands of articles that confirm these berries have a military role to play in the attack on cancer cells. The American Institute for Cancer Research puts it like this; “All berries, but particularly strawberries and raspberries, are rich in ellagic acid. In laboratory studies, this phytochemical has shown the ability to prevent cancers of the skin, bladder, lung, esophagus and breast. Research suggests that ellagic acid seems to utilize several different cancer-fighting methods at once: it acts as an antioxidant, it helps the body deactivate specific carcinogens and it helps slow the reproduction of cancer cells. Strawberries also contain a wide range of other phytochemicals, called flavonoids, each of which seems to employ a similar array of anti-cancer strategies”. Ok if I didn’t already love strawberries – now I’m the humble strawberries biggest advocate!! And if your not already totally inlove with them, well maybe this will help you take the plunge! It is for these reasons that I’ve decided to grow my own strawberry patch. During strawberry season it would be quite normal for my household (ok ok – just me!) to go through at least x2 1kg punnets a week. At $10-$15 a pop that’s pretty expensive yeah? I needed my own personal strawberry budget at one point!! Obviously I’m never going to be able to harvest that many strawberries in my own patch unless I convert my entire front lawn into a farm, (hmmm tempting) but I figured, why not give it a go and at least try and cut down some of that ridiculous spending.  Now, obviously there are other reasons why I’ve decided to grow my own stash. One does not spend all day in the garden, pulling back muscles and suffering for hours after - unless there exists some extra sweet motivation. Now for the record, I am not a greenie. I have no knowledge of gardening and up until now have not been interested in the slightest. In the rare event that I made a “oooh that’s a pretty flower” impulse buy, lets just say that pretty potted flower got handed an death sentence. I think my record was one week of life. And no I’m not joking. So I’m definitely not one of those people who love to live in the garden, but I will admit that since being diagnosed I’ve grown somewhat in my appreciation of life. There is something about planting something in the ground and watching it grow, especially if you know you’ve done everything to nurture that thing to life. But now I’m just getting mushy. Since planting my strawberry patch I’ve often joked with friends and family that they can come and see me for all their strawberry needs in the future. Mmm I’m sorry, but I may have to rescind that crazy offer. There simply just won’t be enough to go around…..BUT I can help you to grow your own if your really keen ;-) That’s if I don’t kill my own garden somehow in the long process between now and harvest time!! Watch this space!! #MissionHealth
 Oil Pulling.
Sounds gross right? It kind of is and that’s being completely honest. And whilst on the subject of honesty, I would not recommend trying to do it while you are nauseous, unless you want the sink to see the inside of your stomach! Now did I get your attention?? I like to keep it real first and foremost :) The truth is, if you want to take care of your body your sensory preferences aren’t always going to be catered to. Not everything tastes as delicious as Whittakers creamy milk, or smells as good as hot apple pie straight out of the oven. Damn it…now I’m drooling at the thought!! Yes we must make sacrifices sometimes, and override the gag reflexes if necessary. It really is a 'mind over (oily) matter' thing and the question really is; how badly do you want to increase the quality of your life, or in my case - keep living? I found out about oil pulling via the internet when I was researching how to take care of myself during chemotherapy, and at first I thought what I was reading was a joke. How can swishing 1 tablespoon of oil around your mouth for 15 minutes do so much good? And it is as simple as that: Wake up, head to the bathroom, grab some coconut oil, swish it around while you’re doing other stuff (fyi you have to develop some swishing muscles – you’d be surprised at how exhausting it gets when you first start!), spit and rinse, then brush your teeth. Done. Then you can go and get on with the rest of your morning. Do this every day and these are some of the benefits;
Ok I hear ya. How does a tablespoon of oil do all this?? Surely this is exaggerated! Well for all you nerds who are still reading this blog, here are some scientific facts: Oil pulling detoxifies and cleanses toxins from the body. Not only does coconut oil attract bacteria, microbes and other pathogens, it also has the ability to kill them. So when you swish a little coconut oil around your mouth, it essentially pulls the toxins from your mouth and cleanses your blood. Not only can it do this for your mouths sake, but because blood circulates around your body every 15-20 minutes, the oil in your mouth can cleanse the entire body. It’s science baby!! But whatever you do….don’t forget to spit it out!! To keep up to date with more #MissionHealth blogs, subscribe here or join us; @lifeandinsights or on facebook /lifeandinsights |
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