
August Produce, Recipe, and more
July Produce, News and Recipe
All the sweetness! All the Juiciness! All the AMAZINGNESS! Summer fruits are the best fruits. Sorry Winter – you got all the starchy veggies that I also love. Right now, it’s when summer SHINES! Of course, I also live in Arizona where it is hitting those HOLY CRAP HOT temperatures – so I’m eating all this amazing stuff from air conditioning …. #nocares

Garlic Shrimp and Asparagus Recipe of the month New STUFF happening
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June Produce
OOOHH I absolutely LOVE summer produce! Peaches, berries, baby spinach, baby tender greens, artichokes, just all the sweetness! Have you ever tried grilled peaches with some homemade vanilla bean ice cream? YUM! Berries and angel food cake with frozen whipped topping? SO IN! What are you most excited to tempt your taste buds with this season?
Skin Cancer Awareness Month
This is my story of treating some actinic keratosis on my bottom lip in the fall of 2018. I’ve had several “pre-cancerous” or “suspicious lesions” froze off and even have a 2″ scar on my abdomen of the pencil eraser sized spot they had to remove, and then come back to cut more out when the margins weren’t enough. So I am not stronger to skin cancer scares. This treatment was different. Longer and a little more painful. Use sunscreen people. Every damn day.
Growing up in the sunshine state of Arizona, as a redhead with naturally fair skin, skin cancer seems inevitable. It’s not a matter of “if”, more like “when”. Every trip to my dermatologist (6 month intervals) has him cutting or freezing something off. This last trip, I asked him about my lips – specifically my bottom lip. For the last 4-5 months it has been in a constant state of chapped; dry and cracking, bleed than peel. In that order, just cycling through. I’ve tried all sorts of lip balms, mask, coconut oil, and it still cycles through.
Actinic Ketosis – pre-cancerous lesions – and he pulled out his little silver can and froze a spot. “That should take care of it, but if it starts to flake again we’ll want to treat it with Efudex cream. Maybe in October because it makes for a gorey Halloween costume”. Sounds fun. So of course when the flaking came back, I did some research on the old internet and completely panicked. This is nasty. But here I am. I was prescribed fluorouracil 5%, directions to apply a thin layer to my bottom lip every night for 7 days. And then stop.
Here’s what I didn’t know when I started – fluorouracil builds up, so each application adds a little more. Don’t expect a reaction right away, or even after a few treatments. I was expecting a big reaction – swelling, skin peeling off, Bloody oozey lips after the first two treatments. By the 5th treatment, I still didn’t have much of a reaction. My lips were a little red, and maybe slightly swollen – they felt like I had a bit of a sunburn. Nothing I couldn’t live through. Then day 6 had me a little worried. Day 7 it was hard to talk, my lips were starting to sting all the time, and were red and swollen. Day 8 – I didn’t have to apply the medication which was a relief because I couldn’t go more than 2 hours without applying some sort of lip moisturizer. By day 9, the oozing began.
Fluorouracil works by preventing abnormal cells from dividing, when cells can’t divide they die. As the medication builds up in the cells, they can longer live, and start to slowly die off. This causes the initial inflammation and then the death of tissue. This is what I refer to as the nasty oozing stage – the precancerous stuff is dying, and that’s the reaction. It hurts. Sleeping is impossible for longer than 2 hours, because the Vaseline is absorbed and the lips become dry and start burning again.

Day 10 and 11 the dead tissue has started to peel away, because I’ve kept the area moisturized, it’s less like flaking skin and more like ooze. And when I speak, the dead ooze sticks to the upper lip and pulls off. This is not a pleasant sensation. If the tissue starts to dry out, it gets crusty (not unlike a scab) and is beginning to crack and bleed a little. These are good signs, I’m laying down fresh healthy tissue under this mess. I’ve gotten subs for my classes the last three days, because talking is painful. If I didn’t sweat and talk while I worked, I’d probably be able to work through this stage. The other positive here is that no one seems to really notice the yellow crust that is my bottom lip. Or if they do notice, no one has said anything or even stared at it.
Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 2 weeks after beginning treatment Day 15
Chances are I will have to use efflux again, probably not on my lip, but on another area. I have had other pre cancerous lesions burned off, and even cut out. In the meantime, I’ve complied a list of things I found helpful during my experience. I’d also like to point out, that for my first time, I probably got off lucky. I have heard stories of people who have undergone the same treatment, but more aggressively; applying the cream multiple times a day for many more days than I did. And in other body area – the entire face, the neck and chest, back of hands… I can just imagine how uncomfortable a bigger treatment area would be!
Wear sunscreen every day. And make sure your lip balm has sunscreen. Wear sunglasses with polarized lenses. Don’t forget to put sunscreen on your ears and back of head. Wear sunscreen even when it’s cloudy. Avoid direct sun exposure when possible, and make sure you wear sun protective clothing when you are outside. And if you really need a tan, the science has come a long way with self tanners – its safer.
Helpful hints:
Advil – pain management and anti-inflammatory
Cold compress – either ice packs, or even wet frozen paper towels, feel amazing and takes some on the sting out of the burning sensation and helps the inflammation a bit.
Aquaphor and Vaseline – I found it worked best when I alternated the two. But applied every 2 hours, or more frequently if you are eating and talking. Basically, never let the area become dry. Dry equals pain.
Drinking straws – the less stuff touches your lips the better. Even food should be cut into bite sized pieces for consumption.
Face Mask (for sleeping at night) – yes, the SARS kind. During the treatment phase, this keeps the medicine on your lips and off your pillow cases. And during the oozing phase, it contains the ooze and keeps it off your pillow cases. Also, the mask prevents the Vaseline/Aquaphor from drying so quickly (more time trying the sleep)
May Produce
Look for these at your local farmers markets throughout the month! YAY Spring is HERE!

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COOKBOOK IS COMING
Hey there!! If you’ve been following along on any of my social media channels, you probably have heard I wrote a cookbook! As I have spent the last 20 years going through my own fitness and health journey, I slowly realized that the holidays can be a true test of living the healthy lifestyle. Many of our family traditions, as least when it comes to food, Continue reading COOKBOOK IS COMING
Warm Kale Salad with a spicy peanut ginger dressing
One of my favorite things to do is take a pretty basic salad recipe – kale, onion, and ginger – and add a ton of other season vegetables to elevate it to the net level. This recipe is fine as it was, but it was lacking some extra crunch. The hearty kale gives way to the crunchy red peppers, cucumbers and spicy onion. The saltiness of the peanut butter in the dressing is a gorgeous contrast to the tangy ginger. And being warm, its a good salad for cooler months. Makes a great side salad, or vegetarian entree, or add some protein (I personally like salmon baked with a touch of sesame oil and Chinese 5 spice served on top). Continue reading Warm Kale Salad with a spicy peanut ginger dressing
October Produce
Eating seasonally provides our bodies with exactly what it needs at the right time of year. In fall, we start to get away from the juicy water based produce, and into the fleshy, starchy produce. More carbohydrates, denser flesh to allow our bodies to increase energy stores for the cold winter months. Less zucchini and more butternut squash. Less peaches, more pears. Did you know the rind on acorn squash is edible? Totally is.
If you are training, this is a great time of year to add endurance drills to your training – conditioning your body to use energy stores effectively on long slow runs.
Apples
Artichokes
Arugula
Bananas
Beets
Blackberries
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Butternut Squash
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Collard Greens
Corn
Cucumbers
Cranberries
Cucumbers
Dates
Eggplant
Fennel
Figs
Garlic
Grapefruit
Grapes
Honeydew Melon
Kale
Kiwi
Leeks
Lettuce
Limes
Mushrooms
Pears
Plums
Pomegranate
Potatoes
Pumpkins
Rutabagas
Spinach
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Turnips
Winter Squash
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