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January 13 HEALTHY DIETSThe 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating
 Maybe you should be eating more beets, left, or chopped cabbage. (Credit: Evan Sung for The New York Times, left
(This post was originally published on June 30, 2008, and recently appeared on The New York Times’s list of most-viewed stories for 2008.) Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/the-11-best-foods-you-arent-eating/?em You can find more details and recipes on the Men’s Health Web site, which published the original version of the list last year. Thank goodness I live in Australia and pumpkin forms part of our diet on a regular basis. I ate enough beetroot as a child in Irleand to last me a lifetime. In my own house, I only have two of these items — pumpkin seeds, which we nibble on watching late night movies and put on salads, and frozen blueberries, which I mix with milk, yogurt and other fruits for morning smoothies. Pomegranate juice frequents the fridge when the health binge hits the household. Needless to say the kids think they are about to be poisoned. How about you? Have any of these foods found their way into your shopping cart? January 05 DIFFERENT KIND OF JOURNEYJOURNEY FROM HOME TO HOME
My smooth twenty-one hour flight from Ireland got me into Brisbane on Friday morning with Singapore Airlines. Emirates still rates as number one for hygiene and catering. Celebrated the New Year, two hours into the trip, somewhere over Germany: Mother earth was suddenly sparkling with radiant colour. It was an awesome feeling: viewing fireworks from the other side. My three days and three weeks in Ireland just seemed to melt into oblivion, yet so much got done.
I arrived in Cork city on a cold windy Winter's morning, December 6. Mum, my sister in law Maria and my soon to be wonderful companion, three year old niece, Alya, met me at the Airport. Raced off to see Dad in hospital. Yes, I cried when I saw him. I met a fragile and frail yet chatty old man. Dad was suddenly transformed from the strong man I knew to a very unhealthy shadow. Our four hour daily trip to the hospital would last for five days: a day after the visit from the Oncology Consultant. Dad very bravely and acceptingly confirmed with the Consultant that he knew he had cancer.
A biopsy was not necessary at this stage and Dad didn't want it anyway. Neither did Dad want an operation or chemo. The Consultant assured him that these were not an option either. Steriods were the suggested course to make Dad comfortable. Pain is something that Dad has a very high threshold with. The manner in which the doctor spoke to Dad about the pain associated with pancreatic cancer made us all realise how lucky our father was so far. He doesn't have any pain, yet has other nasties to remind him of his terminal illness. One of the side effects of the steriods is fluid retention in the feet.I massaged his legs and feet once a day to ease this. My younger brother continues with this. Dad massaged them himself at other times when they were really swollen.
"I don't believe that life is supposed to make you feel good, or make you feel miserable either. Life is just supposed to make you feel."
- Gloria Naylor Dad's sense of independence, politeness and privacy added a beautiful touch to our constant exchanges. His sense of humour shone quietly. He assured us he would do the napping for us whilst we added the finishing touches to the spring clean that had taken hold of the household.
His sense of self awareness enabled him to ask for quiet time in the afternoon when the drugs hit hardest. He remarked that he felt like he was eating tablets. I thought to myself; "I guess if you're swallowing twenty seven tablets a day, your already disintegrating digestive system was working hard. Even though Dad has cancer of the pancreas, lungs and liver, he still has alot of spark left. And yes the two month lifespan that he is left with was further confirmed by the doctor before I left.
"Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives."
- A. Sachs This time around we talked and talked, better than ever before. Visitors just poured through the door from 11.00am to 11.30pm: that was at the peak of things. For two weeks people traffic through the house made it impossible to find a quiet corner. Pots of tea and cake were a constant. This was not helping la figure, one bit, and resisting temptation of this sort is not one of my fortes. And I adore the strong aromatic mug of Irish tea that comes from a bottomless pot. Our visitors cheerfully remarked on what an interesting, intelligent, strong and positive man Dad is. This reassurance made our peaceful acceptance of this shocking and tragic event a little smoother. Dad's outlook in conjunction with nightly family prayer gave everyone a sense of relief and resilience.
"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
- Abraham Lincoln Yes, we had our moments when we cried together. Our tears were shed often times for the suffering cup that our father was holding bravely. We also had our moments of hilarity and fun. Nine of us slept at home for a week. My brother and sister from New York and London arrived three days after me. My other brother, from Brisbane, arrived on Christmas Eve. Michael, my brother who lives nearby and is married to Maria, came down most mornings. He later returned at night time to sit with Dad. One of us was almost always comfortably perched in the sitting room chatting by the peat fire with Dad.
The quiet little country home was soon the hub of activity from 7.00 in the morning when Dad awoke to 3.00am when my two brothers, sister and myself would decide it was time to grab a rest. Oh, my two nephews could sometimes continue watching satellite TV or playing the PS3 for another hour. Irish teenagers sleep in until 12.00pm. What a luxury! The chats we shared around the place enabled us to unmask the real self. We were truly living in the NOW and surrendering to what is, in a graciously strong kind of way unbeknown to oursleves. We take with us moments that we will cherish forever.
"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up our enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."
- Samuel Ullman For me, the swinging concepts of immortality and mortality interplay in a perspecitve coloured with a further affirmation that we die the way we live. We call upon our true values and virtues as we perceptively attempt to tackle our solitary fate. "I have no regrets...always tell the truth...hyporcisy doesn't pay...drive safely, avoid the ditches...get there on time...such is life...there is no point in being bored...that is how it is...," were some of my Dad's famous last words to me as I sat by his side holding his paper thin hand as I uttered my final Good Bye.
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