SALT OF THE EARTH

Jack and I headed to Salt Spring Island (oh, hey, Royal Baby was born!) this weekend (oh, and yeah, Jimmy Fallon had a baby too).

We went to meet with Ron Puhky (pictured above with wife/acupuncturist Kim), an MD that practices integrative (East – meet West, West – meet East) medicine. Dr. Puhky outlined a vitamin regime and a diet while in radiation and on chemo.

The good news, there’s a lot of stuff we can do to strengthen my reserves while being pummeled by a small nuclear reactor.

The bad news, no more than three glasses of wine a week.

I am so going shopping to buy three swimming-pool-sized wine glasses, I’ll tell you that much.

Anyway, if you care, this is the basic rundown of vits and herbs Dr. Puhky recommended: Vitamin D3, Kyolic garlic, Probiotic capsules, ground flax, food-based B complex, Turmeric, DoMatcha green tea powder, Golden Flower herbs, Resveratrol.

And foodwise?

First of all, go organic. Why? I always assumed just because chemicals are bad and bad is bad and someone somewhere has produced more-than-flimsy evidence that there is some level of toxicity in those big bad chemicals. Well, yes, that’s one very scientific explanation of the advantage of organic. You’re welcome. It’s like I have a Ph.D. in this sheot.

But Dr. Puhky explained that organic fruits and veggies simply quit producing cancer-fighting agents because they don’t need to – the chemicals do it for them. In fact, the level of toxicity in our food chain and the ineffectiveness (if not danger) of “healthy food” is being blamed by some for the country’s increase in allergies, cancer, autism, bi-polar disorder, the list goes on. Now, not for a second is this blog fact-checked, so please don’t go a-quotin’ any of this. Plus, I just had my first pot tincture in my tea, because OTHER research indicates that marijuana can slow tumor growth, or even reverse it. But, I will tell you, I am so only going to go organic from now on!

Anyway, on to the foods that Dr. Puhky recommended: 8-10 servings of vegetables and fruits per day; avoid omega 6 oils (corn, soy, safflower, sunflower, cotton seed); stick to coconut oil, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil, organic butter; organic, grass-fed meat and (free-range) eggs; organic dairy – yogurts and certain aged hard cheeses; pomegranates/pomegranate juice; 1 (big-ass) glass of wine every other day, Pinot Noir preferred; garlic and broccoli (don’t cook more than four minutes); Shitake mushrooms; wheatgrass juice – fresh or frozen – 2 oz weekdays (or 5 out of 7 days); miso-based vegetable soups – daily – add seaweed, shitake mushrooms and tofu.

So, that’s that. Incidentally, I think these food tips are just good eatin’ in general.

And Salt Spring Island, unbelievably beautiful. Like Orcas or Lopez, but the homes are all cottage-style charming, the towns avoid strip-mall ugliness, and the gardens tend to be wild and lush but often British country garden styled.