Part of my diet includes no dairy. I miss milk because I love having oatmeal or granola for my breakfast. I tried to reduce sodium intake so I decided to make my own rice milk.
I read years a go that rice milk is very healthy and in the old days in Asia, babies were fed with rice milk all the time. The home made rice milk is very easy and much cheaper compared to the rice milks in the stores.
It only takes less than two hours to prepare and you can do others while preparing it.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup white rice (or brown rice if you prefer)
6 cups of bottled water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp non iodized salt
First, you washed the rice at least three times with lots of water. Rice was processed in different places therefore it is important to wash them thoroughly.
Second, boil the rice with 4 cups of bottled water for about 20 minutes. Add vanilla and salt.
Third, let the rice sit still for about 40 - 50 minutes until it is completely cool.
Fourth, put the rice in the blender with the rest of water, I did it in two batches.
Fifth, strain the rice (now its like creamy puree) to a clean bowl. If you think it is still too creamy, feel free to add more water. I am happy with a thick milk and I do not put any honey or maple syrup. But if you wish, you could put some sweetener.
This milk is good to keep in the fridge for days.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
THYROID CANCER - The beginning and the few lessons I learnt
In October 26th, 2010 I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer which is Papillary Carcinoma. That was shocking because my symptoms were minimal such as short of breath and higher blood pressure. I just moved from a humid place to a dry and high elevated area so my GP thought those symptoms are normal.
Lesson number 1: when your body shows changes, that is the best alert you could get. Do not ignore the symptoms but make sure you get better significantly otherwise keep searching for the cause.
I thought severe pain, breast lump and severe weight lose were the only major cancer signals. How wrong I was.
Luckily I was chatting with a Nurse Practitioner who performed my pap smear and she said I have a nodule in my upper neck. Wow...My mother has a thyroid problem (not cancerous) and I thought you must watch for the gland in your lower neck only. Plus my Thyroid Stimulating Hormone or TSH (=thyroid blood work) has always been good. So I went for an ultrasound, another ultrasound and a biopsy. During the biopsy the doctor mentioned that he noticed the lump nodes are showing some similarity with the thyroid. I was so worried but I tried to be calm.
Two days later, the call confirmed that I have thyroid cancer. They kept saying to me that if you can choose a type of cancer, thyroid cancer is the one you picked. Hmmm....who would choose voluntarily to have cancer. However my specialist is not only smart but he has a heart. He did not mentioned it but assured me that this is curable and we just have to work hard to fight it.
Lesson number 2: Always check for lumps in your neck, breast and other areas of your body. Women tend to check their breast but ignore the neck and thyroid attack more women than man. 1 out of 3 Caucasian woman has thyroid problem. I am Asian but I get it too. I asked my endocrinologist about the correlation about TSH result and cancer. He said there are so many thyroid glands in our body that is the reason many people with cancer have normal or good TSH results. So no matter how good is your TSH, always check for lumps in your neck.
So my surgery was scheduled ten days after my diagnose and it lasted seven hours. They removed my thyroid gland in my neck side and 27 lymph nodes. 7 of the lymph nodes have cancer too.
After the surgery I needed to see an endocrinologist to monitor my thyroid and hormone. Hormone plays a vital role in a human body and it could affect other organs if it is not under control. My cancer is also pretty aggressive therefore he will help me to monitor the other thyroid
He mentioned most thyroid cancer was caused by radiation during childhood or genetic problem.
I could not think of any radiation because I never worked in a hospital, dental office or any radiation exposed places, but I remember my bedroom used to be next to a dental office which was a possible radiation exposures .
Lesson number 3: be aware of radiation exposure. Do not spend too much time in a dental office, refuse x-rays unless it is really necessary, if you must have x-ray in your dental exams, always cover your neck (they usually cover your chest but does not cover your neck).
Though only a small amount of thyroid cancer patients got it from bad diet, it is important to have a good and healthy diet. Too much fish with mercury exposure is not good. Some food such as soy is not good for thyroid health. If you have a good diet, somehow it will prevent the cancer to grow. In my case, the doctor think my relatively good diet and exercise has helped to fight the cancer which probably has been in my neck for more than ten years.
Lesson number 4: Good diet and exercise are very important. I also believe being positive and happy is equally important. Since my move I have been sad many times because I miss my family and friend...and my old life style in Jakarta and this sad episode has not been beneficial to my health.
Well God is so good, He is good all the time. I am counting my blessings and put my trust in the Lord for a complete healing through the doctors, medication and His healing power. I do hope my experience could somehow help others not to get cancer.
Lesson number 1: when your body shows changes, that is the best alert you could get. Do not ignore the symptoms but make sure you get better significantly otherwise keep searching for the cause.
I thought severe pain, breast lump and severe weight lose were the only major cancer signals. How wrong I was.
Luckily I was chatting with a Nurse Practitioner who performed my pap smear and she said I have a nodule in my upper neck. Wow...My mother has a thyroid problem (not cancerous) and I thought you must watch for the gland in your lower neck only. Plus my Thyroid Stimulating Hormone or TSH (=thyroid blood work) has always been good. So I went for an ultrasound, another ultrasound and a biopsy. During the biopsy the doctor mentioned that he noticed the lump nodes are showing some similarity with the thyroid. I was so worried but I tried to be calm.
Two days later, the call confirmed that I have thyroid cancer. They kept saying to me that if you can choose a type of cancer, thyroid cancer is the one you picked. Hmmm....who would choose voluntarily to have cancer. However my specialist is not only smart but he has a heart. He did not mentioned it but assured me that this is curable and we just have to work hard to fight it.
Lesson number 2: Always check for lumps in your neck, breast and other areas of your body. Women tend to check their breast but ignore the neck and thyroid attack more women than man. 1 out of 3 Caucasian woman has thyroid problem. I am Asian but I get it too. I asked my endocrinologist about the correlation about TSH result and cancer. He said there are so many thyroid glands in our body that is the reason many people with cancer have normal or good TSH results. So no matter how good is your TSH, always check for lumps in your neck.
So my surgery was scheduled ten days after my diagnose and it lasted seven hours. They removed my thyroid gland in my neck side and 27 lymph nodes. 7 of the lymph nodes have cancer too.
After the surgery I needed to see an endocrinologist to monitor my thyroid and hormone. Hormone plays a vital role in a human body and it could affect other organs if it is not under control. My cancer is also pretty aggressive therefore he will help me to monitor the other thyroid
He mentioned most thyroid cancer was caused by radiation during childhood or genetic problem.
I could not think of any radiation because I never worked in a hospital, dental office or any radiation exposed places, but I remember my bedroom used to be next to a dental office which was a possible radiation exposures .
Lesson number 3: be aware of radiation exposure. Do not spend too much time in a dental office, refuse x-rays unless it is really necessary, if you must have x-ray in your dental exams, always cover your neck (they usually cover your chest but does not cover your neck).
Though only a small amount of thyroid cancer patients got it from bad diet, it is important to have a good and healthy diet. Too much fish with mercury exposure is not good. Some food such as soy is not good for thyroid health. If you have a good diet, somehow it will prevent the cancer to grow. In my case, the doctor think my relatively good diet and exercise has helped to fight the cancer which probably has been in my neck for more than ten years.
Lesson number 4: Good diet and exercise are very important. I also believe being positive and happy is equally important. Since my move I have been sad many times because I miss my family and friend...and my old life style in Jakarta and this sad episode has not been beneficial to my health.
Well God is so good, He is good all the time. I am counting my blessings and put my trust in the Lord for a complete healing through the doctors, medication and His healing power. I do hope my experience could somehow help others not to get cancer.
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