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Books

Reading and Relaxing

{I look a little depressed in the photo, thankfully, I am not..just sleepy!}

My Oh My, I have been sooo tired! Not sure if it is the meds I am adjusting to, or if there is truth to what every medical professional has told me, that fatigue after cancer treatment can last months, up to a year. I suspect it is the latter, as many of my BC friends who are in this “after treatment” phase are having the same issues. We all seem a bit surprised by it. I think you just expect to feel better, because life just keeps going and starts to feel pretty normal again.

I AM learning how to relax, be ok with low energy, and ok with a home that is not always picked up just so. I have a stack of dishes in the sink right now, sheets in the dryer that need put on beds, and closets and drawers that are getting cluttered. I’ve ignored them and I am at peace with that–not normal for me!

I have loved grabbing a book while relaxing–at least my mind can feel productive. We have had a few rainy, dreary days here in Nebraska, perfect reading weather.

Here are my latest finds at my local library:

After The Diagnosis-by Julian Seifter, MD

Transcending Chronic Illness

Cancer is not necessarily a chronic illness, but I have read more and more that doctors are starting to treat it as one, similar to diabetes, where people can manage it with meds and diet for years. With my high reccurance rate, I do plan on treating my cancer like it is a chronic illness, keeping up a very healthy lifestyle because of it.

German Boy-A Child in War by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel

This was recommended to me by a friend. I love learning about history and other cultures through true stories. I also love to learn how others have overcome pain and hardship in their lives.

The Homesteading Handbook-Abigail R. Gehring

A back to basics guide to:

Growing your own food, Canning, Keeping Chickens, Generating Your Own Energy, Crafting, Herbal Medicine and More! Yes, I’d love my own chicken coop…I’m really a farm girl at heart:)

Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World

Veganist by Kathy Freston

I like her approach, Veganist means not fully vegan, but leaning toward that lifestyle, being more purposeful about eating plants. I saw her on the Oprah show and thought she recommended too many processed type vegan foods to replace meat (like tofu sausage). I didn’t not care for that part of her approach, I would rather eat less real meat, and focus on eating more plant foods, getting all colors of the rainbow in as much as possible. I have been inspired, lately, to make the vegetable the main part of our meals with the meat portion as the side dish.

The Coconut Oil Miracle (Previously published as The Healing Miracle of Coconut Oil)

The Coconut Oil Miracle-Bruce Fife

Loved this book. It shatters the myth that all saturated fats are bad for you. This plant based saturated fat is actually very good for your health. I love that coconut oil is a high temperature oil and I use it often in cooking, baking, sauteing and even frying. I also use Organic, Pure Coconut oil as an all over body moisturizer, it is heavenly!

The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life

The Good Daughter by Jasmin Darznik

I am on the last chapter of this book. Loved.

“Raised in California, Darznik never imagined that her mother Lili lived another life completely in Iran before marrying Darznik’s German father. Lili was married off at 14 to Kazem, a man who would prove to be violent and abusive. Lili gave birth to a daughter, Sara, but when Kazem’s abuse escalated, Lili knew she had no choice but to flee his house and seek a divorce. The move cost her Sara, as Iranian law dictates children stay with their fathers. Lili decided to go to school in Germany to become a midwife, but the sudden death of her father forced her to come back to Iran to earn money for her own and her brother’s schooling. When she returned to Germany, she drew the attention of the earnest German engineer who became her husband and the father of her second daughter, Darznik. Taken from tapes her mother sent her after Darznik discovered a photograph from her mother’s first wedding, Darznik’s memoir is a beautifully recounted homage to her mother’s life and struggles.” –Kristine Huntley

Skinny B#@*! by Kim Barnouin

“Crazy Delicious Recipes That Are Good To The Earth And Great For Your Bod”

Ok, so I don’t care for the title of the book (sorry to offend anyone), but when I opened to the recipes I had to get the book and check them out more closely. Easy, healthy, and beautiful photos.

Foodista– 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices

Best of Food Blogs Cookbook

It had the word “blog” in it, so had to get it. Eager to see if any of my blog community “friends” are in there!

Food Trucks: Dispatches and Recipes from the Best Kitchens on Wheels

Food Trucks by Heather Shouse

Dispatches and Recipes Fro The Best Kitchens On Wheels

I don’t know, this book intrigued me. Again, I love learning about other people’s lives. Each chapter is a different city and story, with recipes of street food that sound amazing.

What are you reading?

Got any good recommendations for me?? Please share!

Books/ Healthy Eating/ How-Tos/ RECIPES

My Favorite Food Rules

FOOD RULES -an eater’s manual

by Micheal Pollan

I am a big fan of Micheal Pollan.

He was the first one that I have read who was able to take the incredibly complicated question of

“What Should I Eat?”

and answer it in just seven words:

“Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

I read his first book, In Defense Of Food, a year ago and just really jived with it. I was so happy to see that he came out with a short, easy to read, manual that expands on the answer.

Each page gives a simple tip on what to eat. I read the book in 30 minutes and loved it.

Here are some of my most favorite tips from the book:

#2 Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

(for example–neon colored tubes of flavored gel called Go-GURT!)

#3 Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry

(ethoxylated diglycerides??)

#4 Avoid food products that contain high-fructose corn syrup

(it is a reliable marker for a food product that has been highly processed)

#5 Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed among the top three ingredients.

(exception to this rule, are “special occasion” foods–see Rule 60)

#6 Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients.

(another sign that it is a highly processed food)

#7 Avoid food products with the word “lite” or the terms “low-fat” or “non-fat” in their names.

( Refined carbs can make you fat. Sugar makes you fat. Many low-fat or no-fat products boost the sugar and salt to make up for the flavor lost when removing fat)

#10 Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not.

(imitation butter-aka-margarine-is the classic example. Artificial sweeteners..)

#11 Eat only foods that will eventually rot.

(real food is alive food…therefore it should eventually die)

#12 Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.

(read ingredients on a package of Twinkies or Pringles and imagine what those look like raw or where they grow…ya can’t!)

#19 If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.

#22 Eat mostly plants, especially leaves

(antioxidants, fiber, omega- 3 fatty acids, energy dense!)

#23 Treat meat as flavoring or special occasion food.

(become a “flexitarian”–someone who eats meat only a couple times a week)

#25 Eat your colors!

(colors from nature are full of polyphenols, flavonioids, carotenoid, which all fight disease!)

#34 Sweeten and salt your food yourself.

(you will find you are consuming a fraction as much sugar and salt as you otherwise would–example oatmeal–buy plain not flavored, sweetened or colored!)

#36 Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk.

(ha..like that one. It’s kind of a “duh”)

#37 “The whiter the bread, the sooner you will be dead”

(I expand on that here)

#39 Eat all the junk food you want, as long as you cook it yourself.

(if you made all the french fries you ate, you would eat them much less often! Too much work!)

#57 Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does

(Gas stations have become processed corn station. Ethanol outside and high-fructose corn syrup inside!)

#60 Treat treats as treats.

(special occasion food is great as long as every day is not a special occasion. Save them for weekends or for true special occasions!)

Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual

In Defense Of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

by Micheal Pollan

Books

Books I’m Reading

One Thousand Gifts

by Ann Voskamp

{a dare to live fully right where you are}

Heart Of The Artichoke

by David Tanis

{and other kitchen journeys}

The Council Of Dads

by Bruce Feiler

{my daughters, my illness, and the men who could be me}

Beating Cancer With Nutrition

by Patrick Quillin

{optimal nutrition can improve outcome in medically-treated cancer patients}

The Cleaner Plate Club

by Beth Bader & Ali Benjamin

{more than 100 recipes for real food your kids will love}

Stronger

by Brian “Head” Welch

{forty days of metal and spirituality}

**These last 3 I have read everyday since my diagnosis back in August…

Streams In The Desert

by L.B. Cowman

{366 daily devotion readings}

Jesus Calling

by Sarah Young

{enjoying peace in His presence}

The One-Year Bible

{the entire Bible arranged in 365 daily readings}

What are you reading?

How many books do you usually have going at one time?

Have you read any of these?

Got any you think I’d love?

Books/ Spiritual

One Thousand Gifts-The Book!!

If you have read this blog long enough, you will know I am a huge fan of Ann Voskamp and her blog–The Holy Experience.

I was so excited when I heard she was writing a book. I ordered it from last week Amazon, it arrived in two days, and I am reading it through for the second time. I can’t tell you how much I love this book! I feel it changing me already. It is called:

“One Thousand Gifts”

–a dare to LIVE FULLY right where you are.

It is the perfect book for me to chew on as I am entering in the (hopefully) final phase of this cancer fight-6 weeks of radiation. After fighting cancer, I have a huge desire to fully live. This book is giving me an idea of just how to do that.

I. Love. It.

I want to buy a copy for every one of my friends!!
It is that good..

Here is what the back cover of the book says:

One Thousand Gifts beckons you to leave the parched ground of pride, fear, and white-knuckle control and abandon yourself to the God who overflows your cup. As Ann Voskamp invites you into her own moments of grace, she gently teaches you how to biblically lament loss, turning pain into poetry; intentionally embrace a lifestyle of radical gratitude/ and slow down and catch God in the moment.

Please take a peak at this awesome video. It speaks my heart. It puts into words all the things that this battle for my life has caused me to think about, to ponder.

If you are interested in the book, you can order it at Amazon, where it is doing quite well! It has 5 stars and 215 reviews…I’m not alone in my praise of this book!

If you use this link to purchase the book, I will get a small percentage to help support this site. Thank you!

Books/ Seasonal

My New Favorite Children’s Christmas Story Book

Well, I shared with you my new favorite Christmas song, so I thought I would continue the theme and tell you about my new favorite Christmas story book called “The Nativity”

We purchase a new Christmas story book every year, and when I found this one at Indigo Bridge bookstore, I just immediately fell in love with it. It delighted me, made me laugh out loud in the store, and was just a refreshing change from typical.

Janice Harayda gives a great explanation of a few of the delights from this book:

The Nativity has several big advantages over most other picture books about birth of Christ and the arrival of the shepherds and wise men. One of these is that it tells the story through the rich and resonant text of the Gospel of Luke from the King James Version of the Bible, dropping only a phrase or two here and there for clarity or space. (“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” becomes “Fear not, I bring you tidings of great joy.”) Another advantage of the book is that the characters have no fixed race, so all kinds of families can identify with them. A third is that Vivas provides dynamic but offbeat and deglamorized watercolor illustrations — no gilt halos, no foil star, no flocked sheep. So The Nativity is more accurate than many of the books that have a Jesus, Mary, and Joseph who might have come straight from a DreamWorks casting call.

I fell hard for this book, I think it is a beautiful example of “New Nostalgia.”
The text comes right out of the Old King James version I read, memorized, and fell in love with as a kid, but the art is a completely different story. The characters are a bit sloppy and tatty. The angel gabriel has a ripped wing and is wearing boots that are flopping open with shoe strings untied. There is a page where Joseph is helping very pregnant Mary onto the donkey, bending down and making a stirrup with his hands for her to step into..my girls think that is so funny. Another one I love is while the angels tell the shepherd about their Savior, a couple decide to fly down and take a little ride on the sheep. The illustrator is able to, in my opinion, have a perfect balance of humor, whimsy and genuineness, without ever crossing the line into irreverence. There is a page where baby Jesus is exactly how he came into this world, before he was swaddled. Nothing that a little sticker couldn’t cover if you so desire.:)

You can browse through some of the pictures by clicking on this link.

A few others we love are:

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

The Nativity Story

The First Christmas by Carol Heyer

This Is No Fairy Tale Dale Tolmasoff

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