There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.
——Orison Swett Marden
Grilled Halibut with Orange Ginger Sauce
Hot and Sour Soup with Mushrooms
Chicken with Apricots and Chickpeas
You’ve reached the end of the day. Now is the time when you can breathe, relax, and break “bread”with loved ones. It is the meal most traditionally associated with coming together and the security of family. Sometimes we simply need the comfort dinner provides at the end of the day.
Dinner is a meal that replenishes glycogen stores in the liver and prepares you for the overnight fast.
Dinner promotes good sleep. Deep sleep is essential to healing and immune defense. During sleep you produce important antibodies and cytokines necessary to ward off infections and also to build immunity. You also produce growth hormone. In adults, the primary purpose of growth hormone is to promote repair and restoration of tissues. It helps to restore blood counts that may have taken a hit with chemotherapy and radiation.
Dinners, traditionally, have been on the heavy side, but during treatment we recommend meals high in nutrient content but light in calories to promote stable weight and to decrease symptoms associated with digestive complaints. Team these main entrees with one of our side dishes to round out your meal.
My relationship with food changed after my breast cancer diagnosis, and with the more I read and learned about the effects of my diet and cancer. I became more aware of the source and origin of the foods I purchase and consume; I read labels more; I choose organic more often; I limit my intake of fried foods, red meat, and sugar. I enjoy fruits and vegetables as a snack and substitute whole wheat and grain wherever possible. “Eating clean” is my new focus.
—K. Carhee