With Easter fast approaching, I've been spending a lot of time wondering what I should give up for Lent. This isn't exactly a regular thing for me to do. In fact, in my old pre-baby, pre-cancer, pre-juggling world, I was lucky if I knew the exact date for Good Friday, such was my lack of forward planning and organisation. Now, in my bid to be not only the best supermum there is, but also the most productive and efficient supermetastatic breast cancer patient around, my iphone is now filled with beeps and reminders of appointments and nursery dates. Is this such a good thing to have one's life ruled by a small but chunky piece of glass and gadgetry ? Only time will tell after we have finally forgotten how to actually 'speak' to each other. I envisage a world of texters not talkers in about ten years time, but that's just my own humble opinion...
So back to Lent... this one is a tricky one. You see the problem is - I have no vices. With the revelation of my cancer diagnosis almost three years ago came a complete commitment to abstinence. No more spirits, shots or sangria, no more dairy, no more saturated fats, hardly any sugar, no more being a couch potato, no more wearing of paraben filled cosmetics, no more barbecued food... I could go on and on. It ain't easy not having a wild side any longer. I know that parenthood often puts an end to the free and easy teenage lifestyle that we often continue to carry with us into our thirties and beyond. But somehow even after the birth of my son, I wasn't quite ready to hang up my dancing shoes just yet and would occasionally sneak off to a music festival or girls' night out just to remember what it was like to feel well and truly free again. But with abstinence I have found, comes a swift descent into middle age.
At work, I have often found myself repeating a mantra that I read in some book about green juices - to the woman who is known for necking a few pints every night after work. I will then tell someone else exactly why you shouldn't take antibiotics too regularly (because your body builds up resistance to them and they destroy the good bacteria in your gut - just in case you were curious to know...). In other words I've become well and truly - boring. And nerdy. And old. At nights, just before I slip off into slumberland, I will sometimes remember that girl who danced the night away until the following morning and got well and truly plastered on way too much red wine and find myself wondering whether she'll ever come back into my life again. Or did the chemo and the radiation and the herceptin all do enough to send her packing ?
So this year, just to change things up a bit, I've decided to give up something and the thing that i've decided to give up is... my choice of food. Stay with me on this one. I've decided to try to eat ten portions of fruit and veg every day, which means that I'm giving myself less choice as to what to eat each day. I'm doing this because I've read that a diet rich in plant foods gives your immune system one hell of a kick up the arse and since things are currently back on with NED (no evidence of disease to you newcomers) once more, I'm determined for it to stay that way. I've also read that apparently here in the UK we eat far too few portions of the green and yellow and red ones - a govt guideline suggests five portions a day, but that's only because they don't think we'll eat any more than this. Across the channel in France, it's more like ten, in the US the national cancer society suggest five to nine for cancer patients. My challenge is to try to find a creative way to ingest all ten of the these cancer-fighting foods. It might not be very rock n' roll but if it gets me back on the road with NED once more, I'll happily save the partying and good times til I'm well and truly back on that train out of Cancerland - even if might not be forever. I'll let you know how it goes...
