Healthier diets, cancer screenings and the vicissitudes of getting older
I will probably steam some broccoli tonight and open a can of tuna. Plus, some leftover canned stewed okra and tomatoes and a slice of 100 percent whole wheat bread with raspberry jam. For dessert, half a blueberry scone heated in the micro and served with butter and maybe some pumpkin spice butter. Then, of course, the obligatory little piece of dark chocolate. UNLESS I ditch that menu and scurry over to Chipotle for a delicious chicken burrito!
My sister and brother both gave me stern lectures about my diet after my second colonoscopy in two months. Four polyps total were removed, one relatively large and, shall we say, harder to remove and more worrisome, although the doctor did not tell me much or indicate any special concern. The polyp was benign, but this still was not so good an outcome, and is probably what I get for waiting two years past the time I was due for the procedure, which I dread. Five years instead of three.
But the alternative is, of course, much worse. So I likely had a close call, and shouldn’t have delayed so long, but Covid and quarantines popped up at the same time I was due for the procedure, and also it was during the last few months my mother was alive, and as her full-time caregiver, I was intensely focused on her well being and not much else.
My siblings are both excellent cooks, and ANY processed food of ANY kind is anathema to them, They wince when I regale them with excited tales of my latest frozen dinner finds — no preservatives, I tell them, but it matters not.
As a concession to my sister, I bought two fresh, uncooked sweet potatoes to microwave, plus a container of greens for salads, as well as a couple of fresh pears, not the canned kind, which I don’t buy often, but which are really good if you drain all the sugary water or juice out of the can first.
They even frown on plant-based burgers. Can you imagine? But it’s absolutely no use arguing with them. They are purists about fresh ingredients, but I absolutely, unequivocally, abhor cooking and spending any more time in the kitchen than is minimally necessary.
The other day I was in the grocery store, and as is my wont was quickly scanning covers of outrageously priced magazines when I spotted one titled, something to the effect of, “Quick and Easy Plant-Based Meals.” Eureka!! That’s just what I need!
Then I flipped through the magazine and within five seconds was overwhelmed by the photos of delicious, enticing dishes, but with an unfathomable mix of familiar and exotic ingredients that would require some very serious, onerous grocery shopping over days to acquire even half of what was called for in those tempting colorful meals, glaring smugly at me from the confines of their fantasy magazine homes.
“Quick and easy?” HA! That has got to be one of the biggest cons of a magazine title that I have ever seen. No thank you.
Then I told my brother how there might be a nice vegan restaurant near me, and that I could get take out several days a week from there, freeing me from the need to cook or even microwave anything at home. One restaurant take-out meal would last two nights. Voila! Problem solved.
My brother just laughed. “Yeah, yeah, in two weeks time you will be so sick of that routine you’ll be begging for frozen dinners again.”
Okay, maybe he’s right, but I can at least give it a try.
Moral of the story: Please get regular colonoscopies when the doctor says to, and eat healthy, fresh food and whole grains when you can and avoid the too-frequent weekly, gooey cinnamon rolls from the grocery deli and those little container cups of mixed fruit, even if they are actually fruit. Eat only fresh fruit, I am told.
One final note: This entire diatribe was set in motion when I read that a friend was getting ready to cook some carrots and broccoli. This facilitated a cascade of Proustian memories and associations, which I had to turn into a whimsical personal essay to quell some of my guilt about the way I eat and to take the edge off such serious topics as diet, mortality and sibling differences.
Not to mention that this is all a natural part of aging, right?
I need to eat healthier. It would be a lot easier if “healthy” wasn’t so BORING. Cooked veggies make me gag, probably a leftover from my youth, where my mother overcooked EVERYTHING. Vegetables HAD to be boiled for at least 20 minutes. To me they’re only palatable if smothered in ranch dressing, which pretty much defeats the purpose. I’m surprised I’m as healthy as I am.
@startingover_1 This note really resonates with me. I just don’t care for vegetables unless I’ve added stuff to bake them tasty and unhealthy.
I’ve tried everything to make my steamed broccoli more palatable, even putting blue cheese and ranch dressing on it. Blech!! I keep going back to the old standby — cutting up some cheddar cheese to go with it. And nowadays, I’ve even gotten adventurous and sprinkle garlic and onion powder on it. I feel like a chef. 🥹
@oswego LOL! The only way I can eat cooked broccoli or cauliflower is with cheese sauce. Or chopped up and put in a casserole. In this case, I have a chicken bacon ranch pasta with a sauce made with cheese and cream cheese. I add the chopped up broccoli so I can pretend it’s healthy.
@startingover_1 LOL! Yep, cheese makes all things better. If only it weren’t so unhealthy. I better go back to buying the plant-based cheese at Whole Foods! It may be super processed, but at least it doesn’t have all that fat!!🥹🤔
@oswego “plant-based cheese” — that sounds disgusting.
@startingover_1 It actually is quite good! But I got out of the habit of getting it because I got lax about my bad cholesterol readings, which I am not having much success getting under control. I am allergic to statins. So artery-menacing cheese is quite bad for one’s health unless you live in Holland and eat all the cheese and butter you want and love to be 90. That’s not me, although I am half Dutch. LOL.
So it’s best to try real cheese alternatives and not write it off out of hand. Regular cheese is so good, by soooo bad for you also! Isn’t that the story of everything that tastes REALLY good? It’s all unhealthy! 😒
@oswego I know, right? I did really well when I was a gym rat. All of my numbers were awesome because I was counting macros and exercising. I’ve lost my mojo though. I’d like to get back to it because I felt SO good, and looked good, too. I have no motivation, though, and the nearest gym is 7 miles away. My old motivation was to overcome the depression that was inflicted on me by the ex and get rid of him. LOL I need a new motivator.
Warning Comment
I really really need to have a colonoscopy. I had one scheduled a few months ago but ended up having to cancel because we went to Houston. I just need to do it and stop putting it off. I need to take better care of myself.
I imagine it’s hard to eat healthy just cooking for one. It’s just easier to eat the way you do. I have a couple of healthy eating cookbooks but I’ve never cooked anything out of them mostly because of not having the ingredients they called for.
I had to look up Proustian memories to see what it meant. I learned something new today.
@happyathome The problem is, it would be just one person — me — cooking for me. Not worth it, combined with no interest in cooking. So I just throw a few things together and pop something in the microwave. Been doing it this way pretty much for the last 50 years. Habit?? Lol!!🥹
Warning Comment
WE share the necessity for that undignified procedure every 3 years. My father had colon cancer 5 times so I’m really at risk. So far, so good but who knows . . . I’m trying to get into the groove of the Mediterranean diet (The Mediterranean diet is a way of eating that’s based on the traditional cuisines of Greece, Italy and other countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. Plant-based foods, such as whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, are the foundation of the diet. Olive oil is the main source of added fat. Fish, seafood, dairy and poultry are included in moderation. Red meat and sweets are eaten only occasionally.) They found moderate plaque buildup on my last CT scan which scared me to death, so I’m determined to either halt it in its tracks or else reverse it. I got a couple of books out of the library with meal plans & recipes. Now trying to get organized to really get into it.
Yes, the vicissitudes of old age . . . 😖
@ghostdancer The Mediterranean Diet is indeed ideally sensible and smart. If I could stand to cook even a little bit, I might be able to get into that, but as of now the thought of preparing meals just for myself is irksome and intolerable even to contemplate. Instead I throw together a veritable hodgepodge of fresh veggies, canned and frozen veggies and entrees, canned tuna and salmon, whole wheat bread, and lots of oatmeal, berries, banana, and nuts every morning, plus oat milk.
I take some solace in the fact that I thankfully feel pretty good most of the time, have no pain issues, and can still walk very briskly at 72. Moderation in everything is really the key here. I don’t think it matters what diet you are on. My weakness is sweets, but I try to eat very little at a time: a little piece of dark chocolate, a third of a cinnamon roll with my coffee at breakfast, a single cookie at a time, etc. I use Stevia as a sugar substitute whenever I can.
My great health problems over a lifetime (as far back as 7th grade) have been mental health issues, namely serious episodes of clinical depression. Also, when I was younger especially, very serious OCD, but we never knew what to call it back then. I think a lot of this is inherited based on family history, particularly on my father’s side.
So basically I’ve been focused much more on keeping depression at bay, and now maintenance treatment of that horrible scourge, than worrying excessively about my physical health, although I do have mild hypertension and concerning bad cholesterol levels. That has only been in the past five years, and only in the past two years with the cholesterol. I can tolerate well my blood pressure med, but I tried a statin and had terrible side effects — muscle pain they almost immobilized me ( the stain was Lipitor).
I can do much better, of course, if I really wanted to, or HAD to, but with my history of depression, I’m simply grateful to be here at all, and to have overcome so much.
@oswego I understand where you’re coming from — I don’t do much cooking any more and I’m trying to change that habit. In my case, I’ve developed plaque in my arteries which is the result of too much fat & sweets in my diet. So I’m working towards more veg, less meat, less fat and no conventional sweets (I can bake or cooks with almond flour & monkfruit sweetener but not with wheat flour & refined sugar.) It’s going slowly but at least I’m trending towards where I should be. I have another CT scan next week, so let’s see what they say about my atherosclerosis. Hopefully it at least hasn’t gotten any worse.
My doc also put me on Lipitor & within a week my legs felt dead so I quit taking it.
I do hope you are able to beat the depression back. I also struggle with it, but am taking buproprion (generic Wellbutrin) which helps. I also meditate and listen to music & try to banish unhappy thoughts with happy ones — which helps. I also think my mother was depressed & I inherited the tendency from her (she came from an extremely dysfunctional family, so it’s no wonder.) Being physically active also helps although I’m currently not able to do much of that, and that’s one of my goals for 2023!
Warning Comment