Eating raw kale morning noon and night is not the cure for cancer, and even if it was, some might think that was a fate worse than death. But there are four major ways fruit and veggies can help, without your dinner tasting like dirt, leaves and twigs.
First, some phyto-nutrients (chemicals found in plants) have real cancer-fighting power, whether that means reducing inflammation, boosting your immune system, fighting tumors, etc. These chemicals are being incorporated or mimicked in many new cancer medications. It’s solid bio-chemical science, not new-age nuttery. I’ll provide more information on these soon.
Second, fresh produce raised without toxic chemicals and grown in nutrient-rich soil brings quality vitamins and minerals without additives, preservatives, pesticides or fertilizers that may add to your body’s list of things to fight. Give your body the strength, energy, and immune support it needs to handle the cancer cells, and keep other substances out of the mix.
Third, your treatment itself can mess with your digestion, your appetite, your energy level, red blood cells, sense of smell/taste, oral health, and more. Whichever treatment you choose, your body needs all the help it can get. Give yourself something full of flavor, color, zip, and wellness to offset the other stuff you are going through.
Fourth, have something to look forward to that lifts your spirits and refreshes you. Treat yourself! Give yourself glorious food! Healthy food doesn’t mean deprivation or bland, boiled, pureed, icky stuff – not at Produce with a Purpose, anyway! Fresh food should make you feel good all over. Take this opportunity to have some culinary adventures, improved comfort food, and a bit of fun.
For more information:
Mount Sinai Medical Center: Nutrition in Cancer Care
American Institute for Cancer Research
Beans, squashes, and tomatoes are having their annual resurgence, with straggling plants greening up miraculously and even producing late fruit. It’s an unpredictable phenomenon, terrible for planning, when early fall weather whip-saws between summery days and almost wintery nights. Do the fruits and veggies of this short reboot taste better because the growing conditions are less extreme than mid-summer, because the plant is older and wiser, or is it because I know the supply is ending and I’ll have to wait another year for sun-ripe tomatoes? While I have fall-winter seedlings nearly ready to plant, it seems so ungrateful and merciless to tear out plants that are offering a last taste of summer foods. But I must do it soon!
As I have said before, eating mostly produce from small, non-toxic, earth-friendly farms is one way to push back firmly against climate change. Eating that delicious food with other people may help revive our humanity and give us a break from the extremes.
blue-ribbon pickles, pie-eating contests, fiery chili-contests and bake-offs, show chickens and fresh eggs, hand-churned butter (replaced in some places by butter sculpture now), and of course the sweet treats we craved. Even back then, we ate cotton candy and drank sodas and then shook it all up on the rides. I remember vomiting it all out the rear window of the station wagon on the way home. Today’s fair foods are almost 
synonymous with the junkiest of junk foods such as deep fried twinkies, a Krispy Kreme hamburger, buckets of soda, neon blue slushies, chocolate-covered bacon, and the dreaded corn dog. But the fresh farm products are harder to find. So between my grown-up, health conscious palate and my mixed-bag of cherished/regrettable memories, I headed into the California State Fair on a quixotic and idealistic quest: find something reasonably healthy to eat at the fair. I’m not looking for a booth with kale-and-quinoa-on-a-stick and beet-flavored shaved-ices. Just…something for everyone.
I opted for the veggie version with marinara, and it had plenty of garlic, color, crunch and heartiness! William described the difficulty of bringing fresh food to the fair, saying there is no time to shop for local produce after 15-hour days, and gluten-free and other health foods are too expensive for fair-food pricing. “All I try to do is make something that people can feel good about. Who knows, they may push it and have an ice cream afterward, but… they’re at the fair, that’s what you are supposed to do,” he laughs. “I’ve run across some serious vegetarians, serious people watching my food coming out, and I have to tell them ‘We’re at the fair. It’s not ideal and gourmet,’ but if they eat that way, I can help.” Asked about the connection between the fair and farming, William said, “We’re from Fresno, so we know that fresh tomato taste. But where is that tomato? Maybe in the exhibits, but you can’t eat that one.”
Following signs to the farm area, where beautiful raised beds produce food that is donated to local food banks, I located the farm stand, where fresh peaches and juicy grapes were on display. Manager Angela Anderson said that they had tried a farmers’ market on the site, but it was too much for farmers to stay for the long hours for 17 days, so volunteers have taken on the work of providing fresh alternatives. She explained that some folks seek fresh fruit so they could offset that corn dog while others say “this is something I was looking for.” Fair employees and other vendors make the stand a daily stop. Families come for jumbo slices of watermelons and fruit bowls, sit at the picnic table to share as a family, hang out and cool off. What do you eat? Angela said, they are all about quality control and eating fresh fruit, but “We did have some of the calamari, and we like the garlic fries, and the wine slushies…”
Produce with a Purpose 