Friday, November 2, 2012

Powerful Purple Pzazz Smoothie



November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month!

And November 10 is World NET Cancer Day! 
(NET is the acronym for NeuroEndocrine Tumors)

The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network has chosen purple as the designated color to increase awareness of this deadly cancer.  Please see their website at www.pancan.org to learn more about pancreatic cancer and how you can become involved in raising awareness and participate in raising funds for research.  It is the only type of cancer that has not seen an improvement in the 5 year survival rate in 40 years.  

My type of cancer is a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, which is the same type that Steve Jobs died from, and comprises only 5% of all pancreatic cancers. 

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) is the umbrella term for a group of unusual, often slow growing cancers, which develop from cells in the diffuse endocrine systems.  They are found most commonly in the lung or gastrointestinal system, but they can arise in other parts of the body, such as the pancreas. 

November 10 is World NET Cancer Day!
For more information about this exciting event, see 
http://netcancerday.org/

The World NET Community was established in March 2010, in Berlin, and works to provide worldwide awareness of NET cancer. 

The zebra is the logo for NET cancer. I will explain more about this another time.  
On November 10 I will be wearing my zebra scarf with a purple blouse!  
Pzazz for sure! 

NET cancers are frequently misdiagnosed and patients are treated on average for 3 - 7 years  for the wrong disease.  There are a number of different types of NETS and they all have a different way of expressing themselves in terms of symptoms as well as how they look under a microscope. 

The Carcinoid Cancer Foundation provides comprehensive and remarkably useful information about NET cancer for the newly diagnosed. 

The Caring for Carcinoid Foundation is another remarkable foundation that focuses on raising funds for research for NETs, as well as providing support for individuals with NETS.   

So, to kick off this important month, I made a Powerful Purple Pzazz Smoothie for my breakfast. A recent addition to my smoothies has been black raspberry seed nutri-powder. Black raspberry (which is different than red raspberry) has been shown in numerous scientific studies to be a potent anti-tumor agent. See below for citations..And while I firmly believe that no extract from any food will ever be as powerful as the synergistic effect derived from eating a variety of nutrient-dense foods, I am eager to add to my cancer "survivorship" in whatever ways possible.  Thus, this smoothie is a Pzazzed and Powerful way to continue to blaze my trail to longevity in November!


Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Black Raspberry Seed Nutri-Powder (Botanic Innovations is the source I use to purchase my black raspberry seed powder. Other on-line resources are BerriHealth, and there are probably others, too) 
1/2 cup frozen triple berry mix (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries)
1/4 cup frozen blueberries  (I still have some in the freezer from summer 2011!)
1/2 frozen banana, sliced 
1/2 cup Westsoy Organic unsweetened soy milk
2011 Garden Blueberries

Preparation:
Blend in a MagicBullet or blender to desired consistency. 

Nutrition per serving:
Servings per recipe: 1
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 151                                                      
Total Fat: 3 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 26 mg
Total Carbs: 30 g
Dietary Fiber: 9 g
Protein: 6 g

Citations of some studies supporting anti-angiogeneis and anti-oxident properties of black raspberry extract:
1.  Liu Z, Schwimer J, Liu D, Greenway FL, Anthony CT, Woltering EA. Black Raspberry Extract and Fractions Contain Angiogenesis Inhibitors. J Agric Food Chem 53; 2909-3915,

2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3184418/

3. Fatty Acid Content and Antioxidant Properties of Cold Pressed Black Raspberry Seed Oil and Meal, J. Parry, Liangli Yu, PhD. et.al.
4.  Inhibitory Effect of Chardonnay and Black Raspberry Seed Extracts on Lipid Oxidation in Fish Oil and their Radical Scavenging,  J. Parry, Liangli Yu, PhD. et.al.


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