Tuesday 210921

Ups and downs – almost certainly linked to the medication (now stopped) and bloating reduced to the level caused by my enlarged spleen and liver, have made way for a familiar sensing of what’s going on in my body. With the swelling in lower limbs gone, being more aware of the passage of food and drink through my beautiful natural processing system called my body, has become the ‘new’ (actually old and familiar) , mostly subconscious focus mode.

An important step, thanks to Annie, is no longer eating obvious carbs in – the same meal or within a short interval – as protein-rich food, which I did before so as to gain energy and help rebuild lost muscle mass. Apparently (and in retrospect logical, having read the book mentioned below) the basic digestive response to intake of food through the mouth, carbs and proteins triggers a different set of gastric juices and gut flora to get the job done efficiently.

The accompaniment to either carbs or proteins to provide variety, much-needed food fibre and a feeling of comfortable fullness, is now vegetables (partly raw, predominantly steamed). This seems to be working very well for me, especially since veggie intake had diminished in my quest to stock up on proteins. Advice from biomedical doctor (also orthomolecular approach) was to follow a paleo-keto diet to provide nutrition and immune system health during the chemo protocol.

Healthy fats are a crucial part of this diet, since they provide energy without resorting to carbs, amongst many other functions such as cardiovascular health (lowering cholesterol, yes! – please don’t be fooled by the ’light/lite’ fat and ‘cholesterol lowering’ claims made by food producers and marketeers) and nervous system, including the brain.

Without going deeper into the material, I strongly recommend reading and understanding/applying the insights into our biggest ‘brain’ – the intestines – beautifully presented in the book ‘Gut’ by Giulia Enders. Dutch title: De mooie voedselmachine.