Jen's Favorite Things

My diet is under serious renovation. And it's not easy. I was one of many women with breast cancer that had an estrogen-positive tumor, meaning it was feeding its grimy little cells on all the estrogen it could get, including food sources. (This is quite a controversial subject in the scientific community.) The likely number one food source enhancing my tumor growth was SOY. Yes, the conniving soy. If I had known, I wouldn't have eaten all that delicious Chinese food! And edamame! And spicy tuna rolls dipped in wasabied soy sauce... and the list goes on. Frown. Well, I have read my food labels for too many years now, and I've never been too wary of soy ingredients, because, hey, soy was my friend. Soy is healthy, right? That's what I thunked. And it was wrong, for me. That's not the end - soy is just one of the many plants that has natural estrogens... there's an exhaustive list of foods including tomatoes, garlic, apples, carrots, olive oil... I really would have to cease eating to avoid estrogen. But it's not only estrogen foods that affect me ... There is this other important friend I have: sugar...

We try to eat organic and cook at home from scratch as much as possible. But it's not feasible to do 100% of the time. We don't grow our own vegetables. We don't live in a hippie commune. We're quasi-lazy. So, we sometimes eat out (gasp!). And we eat refined and packaged foods (double gasp!). The doctors told me to avoid excess soy. I read this as avoid soy at all costs!! So now I'm the self-proclaimed head of the Anti-Soy Commission (a branch of the Nonclinically Insane Institute). If you're one of those people that reads labels, then you might be aware of the infiltration of soy into our food supply. Soy is the "Made in China" of food. It's everywhere, and you can't avoid it. And I'm not going to place all the blame on soy. Because the other half of the battle is my nearest and dearest: sugar. Without sugar, there is no joy in life. But I've had to compromise and cut back. My sugar addiction is a bit of an exaggeration - I don't sit around all day eating Krispy Kreme. But I have had to considerably axe a lot of sugar from my diet. My newest weapon and favorite new thing is Agave Nectar. Oprah's already got this one covered by Dr. Oz (who is Turkish! Yay, Turkishness!). I was skeptical. I thought it would taste like a barfy maple syrup honey goo. But I was floored when I tasted a little drop on my finger. It tastes like simple syrup! Sugar! All I have to do now is learn how to use it as a replacement in cooking. And as I write, there is a (notably organic) loaf of banana bread baking in the oven, made with agave nectar and a dash of love. I hope all of my dreams come true. Agave, don't let me down!