Arguably the biggest challenge as a natural medicine, food as medicine cook is to prepare food for someone who has elected to have chemotherapy: food that will nourish and be medicine in its own right, whilst appealing to someone who is nauseous, has zero appetite and has a perpetual metallic taste in his mouth. That was my challenge this morning as my friend came to visit. He has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer with liver and lung nodes, and is undergoing both chemotherapy AND a number of complementary therapies including cannabis. He is struggling with food and eating enough to retain body weight.
So what CAN I eat? He asks me this question often.
- Must be all organic
- Only plant based
- No grains, gluten or excess starches
- No soy
- Must be very easy to digest (preferably cooked)
- Must also be filling
- Can't be fatty
- Need to be mild flavours.
- If possible must contribute to the healing journey
And so off I schlepped to the Thai fresh market before 7am, cos that's the only time to get the young, fresh, tender shitake mushrooms.
I bought the shitake before I had quite decided how to cook them, but I knew that's what the light, small meal needed to be based around, and what my friend needed today.
Lentinan (a polysaccharide found in shitake mushrooms) has been shown to be effective in extending survival in patients with stomach, colorectal, pancreatic, and liver cancers. Source. In Chinese it's called Hua Gu and in Thai we call it Hed Hom เห็ดหอม - the fragrant mushroom. It's an obvious go-to for many healing dishes.
After wandering around the market, I listened to my intuition and decided on a simple but filling soup - my own spur-of-the-moment recipe.
Shitake, Red Lentil & Mung Bean Soup
200g fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced
5-6 cloves of garlic
Tiny bit of plant based organic oil (I use rice bran oil)
1/2 cup washed red lentils
1/2 cup washed green whole mung beans
1 bunch sawtooth corriander
1 bunch chinese celery
1 or 2 green spring onions
Mineral salt and a tiny bit of fresh cracked pepper
Cooking time: about 40 mins.
Using your small amount of plant based oil, saute the sliced mushrooms and finely chopped garlic until fragrant - about 3-5 minutes.
Add your washed lentils and mung beans.
Your sawtooth (broad, flat leafed) coriander is next:
With your Chinese celery:
I cut off the roots with several inches of greens - they get planted straight back into the garden to regrow!! 😍 The top half of the bunch I shred finely.
I keep just a few sprigs of young greens and a spring onion or two to chop finely and use as a garnish.
So add the shredded greens to the pot with salt and pepper, add water and bring to a gentle boil.
Turn the heat down low, cover, and simmer for about 25 mins, stirring occasionally to make sure the lentils and mung beans don't stick on the bottom.
Make sure to serve it very warm rather than hot - mouth sensitivity and mouth ulcers are common during chemotherapy and it's important not to accidentally burn or aggravate the mouth.
Voila!!
Cooking with intention for friends or family is such a magical and healing act of love. There is nothing more rewarding that seeing a seriously ill person eat your food with energy and obvious enjoyment, and knowing that it is nourishing and singing the sick cells to better health.
How did he go with it? Ate the whole, fairly large bowl full. Loved it. 😍 "That was just what my body needed", he said.
Feeling contented in my Thai kitchen.
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Wow, that's what I call being a good friend!!
In my experience I tried to avoid soups for one reason only, and that is that I liked them so much that I didn't want to throw them up and then not want to eat them anymore.
So I just tried the things that would provoke me, my doctor always guided me through this process and made meal plans for me, so I can only recommend that you prepare vegan things that explode in flavor, foods that you would only prepare on special occasions.
In my case always towards eggplant lasagna, spinach meatballs and cannabic brownies.
I hope your friend gets better, i know in these cases company is usually the best medicine.
a big hug.
Adiwa!
Things that explode in flavour are overwhelming him right now and making him vomit. He's not even able to tolerate the kombucha without nausea as it tastes too strong and unpleasant to him.
Company IS the best medicine and we're baking special cookies this afternoon.
I made this post about my experience with cannabis maybe can help you!
For my was the solution and help me to avoid so many medicines
https://peakd.com/qurator/@auelitairene/grandma-reveals-the-secret-of-her-good-health
He's already having extensive cannabis treatment. But thank you. It is a legal medicine here in Thailand and considered traditional medicine.
What a wonderful meal, prepared with love for your suffering friend.
I think soups are the best thing for someone who is ill, with no appetite.
Easy to get down, and so healthy.
Your soup looks so good.
Stay healthy, be positive.
Agree that soups are "the biz" especially for sick people. 😊
Bless you for helping your friend like that. Looks seriously yummy :) x
❤️🙏❤️
I opened a LBRY account btw. x Finally. To download the Dispenza book. I am SUCH a Dr Joe devotee. 😍
@artemislives you are a woman after my own heart. I too relish in going to lengths to provide a nutrient-filled custom food for friends and family, especially when there are specific health or dietary concerns!
That soup sounds delicious. I wonder if you know, would glass noodles be a good option for your friend as well? Mung beans definitely make my favorite soup noodles...
Glass noodles nutritionally WOULD work and we eat them often ourselves at home. Fabulous healthy fast food! However he's a bit anti-asian-anti-thai right now (fairly justifiably since he may well die here against his will due to covid flight restrictions) so I was deliberately trying not to make it Asian. I didn't want to put that i the post itself, but happy to share it here. 🙏
You just let me know if you need any "good 'ole fashioned southern" recipes from here in the southern corner of the Appalachians...that's about as opposite from Thai cuisine as you can get! 😂🤣😅
Sending reiki and loving energies. I can imagine it is a challenging head space for either of you.
Remember to laugh often, and thanks for sharing your journey.
I sọ much love mushroom soup and this post just reminds me of how much I've missed it. I'm going to all out looking for some tomorrow. All the best to your sick friend.
It's one of my serious fav soups too - mushrooms somehow yield so much flavour to the broth.
Oh that's just lovely @artemislives! I would love that bowl anyway, but it looks absolutely nourishing for what your friend needs right now. I'm sure the love helped as much as the soup itself. 💚
Love is the secret, mystery ingredient in all soups. ❤️
Oh, I miss eat mushrooms so much. Here not have mushrooms. Your food look delicious 😋
Mushrooms would grow easily in Suriname - they do in all tropical places. I'm sure @justinparke can easily make you a bamboo mushroom house. If no one else is selling them much, you have a niche business. 😆
I miss mushrooms too so much. I wish we could have enough stability to spend time on such a project. Due to the economic freefall that was here long before corona, even things like successfully withdrawing money from an ATM once a week is miracle.
Right now we are dependent on famine crops that grow wild on abandoned land. Our living space is large, and there is even a garden, but unfortunately full of chemicals our landlord uses. We just spend all day walking, cooking, shopping and teaching.
We can't legally work within the economy here either until the governmet resumes services. But I fear any luxury produce wouldn't sell well right now. At the moment cassava is king in these hard times. A kind of funny but pressing issues at the moment is that Srey Yuu's legs are getting too long for her clothes.
We need to get downtown to do some clothes shopping, but the public transportation system isn't running these days, and we can't afford a taxi. Times tough in Suriname at the moment, but oh how we miss straw and oyster mushrooms.
You can grow them in a repurposed polystyrene box in a dark corner and they're ready to harvest and eat within weeks. Doesn't have to be a drama or a big production. I used to grow them under my bed in Australia. LOL. Loads of easy How Tos on youtube.
I see sewing in your near future. ;)
Making and repurposing garments is not so hard. Again, tons online.
It is actually difficult to go through chemo and even the treatment, one thing you can add in your diet to cope up with all the side effects is the yellow tea.
In a cup of water add in some grated ginger and some grated raw turmeric( the fresh one), add in some cinnamon powder, boil it and with a spoon of honey, stain it and have it in the night.
This will actually help, even it helps boost immunity.
Absolutely you're right. He's not allowed sugar or honey (pancreas can't regulate properly anymore & sugar feeds cancer) so I have been giving him raw ginger and turmeric juice with fresh lime - one shot glass x 2 every day.
Thanks for sharing healing vibes - it's lovely.
What an amazing healing soup that is! Excellent work. So hard to hear people accepting chemo as a treatment but each of us has to make our own best decisions I guess.
Keep up the positivity and healing work @artemislives , you are AMAZING!
It's a decision you can't imagine till you have to make it. I've had extensive chemo many years ago and survived. But I would never have it again, knowing what I now know. Allowing him his choice while supporting him and being personally triggered is a serious challenge for me.
Love without judgement is the goal. More Sadh Guru. :)
I tried to help my sister in this way, but she found it so difficult to keep anything down during Chemo. One of the times I visited, I made lots of organic wholesome food and put it in her freezer for her, so that she would have it when I returned to Spain. But it never got eaten. You are such a wonderful friend and that soup looks amazing. Much love to you my friend xxxx
How heartbreaking to know it was never eaten. Hugs @trucklife-family - I thought of you as I was writing this. ONe day, one step at a time - Andy's prognosis is very poor so it's Love and more Love and Time that matter. He's on the Cannabis program and using some other serious natural medicines as well as the chemo but a lot of it seems and feels counter-intuitive. Allowing someone their own journey and their own decision and not withdrawing or blaming in that space is the real journey, for me anyway.
Hugs. Go pick some wildflowers for your sister. x
That was a huge part of my journey too, standing back and letting my sister complete her's. There were so many times I wanted to try and convince her about different treatments or remedies, but it was not my place,my place was to suggest and support her in whatever she wanted to do. Much love xxxxxx
Delicious and healthy. I hope that your friend will be healthy in the end.
Sending all the positive energy your way, to both of you!
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Thank you - we are hopeful or a recovery despite a very poor prognosis. 🙏
Hello @artemislives, you've been curated for our Operation Positive Vibes{#hivevibes} by #naturalmedicine (curator~@notconvinced) - we'd love it if you joined our community here.
I love that you are selflessly helping another and just being there for your friend. We make a lot of soup at my house, so we will probably try this recipe.
On behalf of many, I thank you.😀
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Thank you @notconvinced Just bringing soup sometimes is all we CAN do. And listen and show up with a smile and a hug. The moments we live are brief, so I simply try to LIVE them with a capital L.
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That is one delicious healing bowl of pure love. I would have eaten the whole thing as well. I have never put mung beans in a soup and rarely buy them but they are on my list now.
What do I love most about mung beans in soup? No soaking and tender in 30 mins. My kinda legume. LOL. Thans for such a sweet comment. x
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I feel like I've been a terrible friend, missing all these great posts from you. xx