MORE ON PROSTATE CANCER

UPDATE ON MY APPROACH TO PROSTATE CANCER

By RICHARD AVON

I last posted a blog about dealing with Prostate Cancer on the 7^th May this year so I thought it was about time to post an update. My latest PSA reading last week was again 0.4 and I seem to be getting younger every day! No doubt this is in part due to the fact that I now manage a full allotment which I took over in a state of utter neglect. One quarter of it covered in weeds almost as tall as I am! I spent last winter digging almost through to Australia to remove these one by one and my plot is now burgeoning with giant onions and garlic, carrots, lettuce, spinach, turnips, parsnips, calabrese, purple sprouting, courgettes, squash, marrow, pumpkin, dwarf French beans, runner beans, broad beans and some HUGE sunflowers. (Remember I eat a lot of sunflower seeds!)

Someone once said that if you have an allotment, you don’t need to go to a gym and after all the digging and weeding followed by carrying two large watering cans over several trips during these dry spells I agree with him.

A friend suggested that it might be useful if I gave a bit more detail about what exactly I eat but before that I will tell you about my wife’s and my 25^th anniversary celebration.

We had read in the local paper that a restaurant in a small market town near us had been judged the best restaurant in the UK so we thought we should try it. We made the booking and told them it was for a 25^th anniversary.

We found the prices reasonable as far as food was concerned but the wine list started at around £14 for plonk and went up to £400 for the top Champaign. We decided on water!

We both ordered crayfish on a pasta salad with balsamic vinegar for a starter and this was quite nice with some subtle flavours. For the Main we both chose a fillet of bream on spinach with boiled tomatoes and capers. The waiter arrived with:

‘Who’s having the mushroom risotto?’

This of course went back and the two bream dishes arrived. Reasonable, but nothing special. For Desert My wife had ordered Cheddar Cheese and biscuits with grapes and I ordered Strawberries and Cream. A waitress came to lay the cutlery giving us both a fork and spoon! My wife pointed out that she was having the cheese so her place setting was renewed. Then along came my wife’s cheese with an apple and blackcurrant crumble for me! This went back and I eventually received my strawberries. The biscuits with my wife’s cheese were of two sorts, one was rubbery and appeared to be past it and the others resembled the hard tack eaten by sailors in Nelson’s day. I half expected to see Weevil Kinevil jumping out of one!

I wouldn’t have bothered to have written this except for the fact that the Good Food Guide rates this as the BEST in the UK! I have a feeling that the person who sampled it on behalf of the Good Food Guide was lubricated with the £400 bottle of Champaign which may have clouded the judgement somewhat.

So what sort of food do we eat? Well here are two examples based on published recipes but adapted to our passion for vegetables.

First, Soy glazed salmon on a bed of spinach and garlic with toasted sesame seeds.

Those are the complete ingredients for the published version. My version is as follows and this is a very quick dish with a total cooking time of 8 minutes.

Seves 2

Ingredients:

2 Salmon Fillets

Pack of baby spinach

3-6 cloves of garlic chopped.

Sesame seeds

Tamari (Wheat free soy sauce)

One medium carrot

6 broccoil florets

6 cauliflower florets.

Method.

Pre-heat the grill on high and place the salmon fillets on the grid in the pan and sprinkle with the Tamari.

Lightly toast the sesame seeds in a small frying pan and set aside.

Wash the spinach in a colander and peel and slice the carrot and cut the broccoli and cauliflower florets. Place the carrots in the bottom tier of a two tier steamer and place the broccoli and cauliflower in the top tier.

Pre heat a large wok which has been sprayed with an olive oil spray.

When the three minute timer pings place the top tier with broccoli and cauliflower in steamer.

One minute later place the chopped garlic in the wok and stir. After one minute place half the spinach in the wok and cover. About a minute later put the rest of the spinach in the wok.

At the end of the full eight minutes place two servings of the spinach and garlic on the plates, remove the salmon from the grill and place on top, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and some more tamari then garnish with the steamed carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. I will also often add some sliced tomato and grapes for good measure.

The Second recipe is based on a Butternut Squash Risotto with Brown Basmati Rice in place of the normal risotto rice.

(Brown rice is far more nutritious than whit rice and also lower in acidity)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Half a medium sized butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes.

1 Large onion quartered and sliced.

6-8 Cloves of garlic.

4.5 ozs of Brown basmati rice.

¾ pint of Vegetable stock.

½ Large carrot sliced.

½ Large parsnip sliced.

10 slices of courgette

1 tin of Plum Tomatoes

4 Chestnut mushrooms quartered.

¼ Red pepper chopped.

2 oz Frozen peas

6 Broccoli florets

6 Cauliflower florets.

Tumeric, Garam Masala, Ground Coriander and Olive oil.

Utensils, Larger Wok and a Steamer.

This is one of our favourite meals. It is a LARGE meal and you will feel completely satisfied but not ‘full’ or heavy. It is highly nutritious and very alkaline in balance.

Method

Prepare all the ingredients as above and heat the wok on high and start to heat the water in the steamer.

When the wok hot add a splash of olive oil and stir fry the cubes of squash and the chopped carrot for about three minutes until softened.

Then add the onions, parsnip, courgette and garlic and continue stir frying until all the onion is softened and golden.

Sprinkle on the spices to taste and add the rice and stir to blend the rice into the mixture. If too dry add a splash more olive oil.

Then add the tin of plum tomatoes and blend in.

Set your timer to 12 minutes and add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer for twelve minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. You continue to stir this as needed.

At this point add the frozen peas and fold in the chopped mushrooms and red pepper and reset the timer to five minutes and add the broccoli and cauliflower to the steamer.

At the end of five minutes divide the wok mixture between two plates and garnish with three florets of broccoli and cauliflower on each plate. I like to add a splash of tamari and some very hot chilli sauce and my wife prefers some tomato sauce.

And some people seem to find it difficult to eat five portions of fruit and veg. in a day!

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