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GOAT DANCE Steaming In Colorado i want to dedicate this pc "column" to dr. roland ward jones III, of danforth plantation, lula, miss., who never denied medical care to anywone regardless of whether they could pay, and who died this past jan. 8, at age 56 after an apparent heart attack; and to dr. carl schiller., who still practices caring, cutting-edge medicine in aspen, and who alerted me to my prostate cancer, gently persisting against my negative attitude about doing anything about it.  I had my first stumblebum
encounter with "proper nutrition" when all this started with me, about
three years ago. Now I do a lot of steaming in food preparation, seasoning
stuff like fresh spinach heavily with red pepper in hopes of getting at
least a shell of a pleasurable kick.
I boil up lots of dried vegetables such as pintos, black-eyed peas, navy beans, English peas for at least two hours. Before serving, I mix the pintos with salt, cooked fresh tomatoes, cooked fresh cerano peppers and onions then sprinkle the whole thing with shredded raw garlic, which is optional. Sometimes doing all this shit just to eat a meal really gets to me. Other times I feel real smug about how smart I've been during this whole goat dance. Both feelings are extremes, which fortunately are short-lived and easily shrugged off. Phony Baloney I don't consume any animal or dairy products, which makes being exciting with a meal a difficult chore. I ate processed soy baloney 'til my blood pressure all of a sudden wasn't on the low side for the first time in my life (my parents reared me to go easy on processed food). For a while, I made baloney sandwiches with soy; they came to taste like the real thing. And there was a chicken dish from White Wave that tasted so much like chicken that I felt guilty eating it, and quit. Actually, I was getting vegan years before my diagnosis but was not nearly so strict as now. I try to keep my fat grams at less than 10mg. daily. I drink all the cokes, beer etc., that I want still, though I find myself wanting less. For two years I lived practically fat free, apparently beating the shit out of my cancer but screwing myself up vascularly in the process. So I started doing some walnuts, pumpkin seeds etc., measuring them out in a cup so as not to exceed ten grams. My blood pressure fell and my PSA last December 29 was undetectable on a .04 assay and my PAP was 0.6. A Different Track When I get off this strict vegan regimen, my PSA jumps sharply, perhaps due to the release into my system of a heavy sexual hormone binding globulin (shbg) buildup. I also get excessively turned on sexually when I break training. The vegan diet, coupled with a fistful of supplements daily, that do only god knows what, keeps me always looking. I just turned 57. Some days I get really bummed with this whole program and want to just say fuck it, but I never do. Part of the reason I don't is that that I'm too stubborn to put up a white flag and submit to chemo as was suggested two years ago in light of my tumor volume and high Gleason focals. And I'm too chicken to abandon all therapies.  Treating
prostate cancer, for me, is like getting up for a track meet in high school.
After the meet we'd all go get wasted until the coach told us to straighten
up for more upcoming competition, which meant rigorous training. I've found
unlearning this track attitude has been my biggest barrier.
For instance, on New Year's I had a goal, like with a track meet. I wanted my blood tests to be a certain level, and some other stuff I won't bore you with. It all worked out. But on January 2, I couldn't reward myself like after a track meet. The Great American Dessert I'm rambling off on a tangent. Your original question was about recipes. Last night I cut up strawberries and, breaking my rule, put them in some fat free vanilla yogurt that I got at the grocery. The thing tasted heavenly, particularly sprinkled with sugar, but that sucker was fat free. I don't know how much you're willing to gamble with these kinds of desserts. My background professionally is journalism; and though I've written little about prostate cancer in the public prints, I have written 80,000 words toward a novel in which the main character eats just like I do. A year and a half ago, I submitted my idea to a literary agent who remarked sarcastically, "Why don't you write about hemorrhoids? It would be no less interesting." Six months ago a prestigious New York agent agreed to work with me. Just picture Huck Finn or Holden Cauldfield getting prostate cancer, but with sex scenes enhanced by Caverjet. © Sterling Greenwood January 27, 2000 All Rights Reserved. Sterling Greenwood publishes The Aspen Free press and is building a website at: http:// www.aspenfreepress.com. Reach him by e-mail at [email protected] |
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