Read more about the other community leaders and health care providers who are being recognized as Health Care Heroes.

How much am I eating?

What am I eating?

Why am I eating?

For individuals diagnosed with cancer, there are often questions about what specific foods should be eaten to help fight cancer and its recurrence. The foods listed below are good to eat for our overall health and everyone can benefit from eating these fruits, vegetables and grains.

- Everyday eat beans, garlic and onions

- Eat cruciferous vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts

- Eat dark leafy green vegetables

- Incorporate ground flaxseed by sprinkling over yogurt or oatmeal

- Eat berries everyday when in season, or incorporate frozen berries into fruit smoothies

Dietary guidelines are just that…guidelines, and we all require different amounts of food and nutrients based on our size and activity level. One size does not fit all when it comes to nutritional needs. An important key to understanding your personal eating style for health and wellness is to pay attention to what, why and when you eat. Most people I work with tell me they really know what they should and shouldn’t eat; they just don’t know how to get there. Understanding why and when you eat may help make help us make better food choices for improving our health. Imagine your body as an instrument in the great orchestra of life. All instruments need tuning and proper care, but thankfully they don’t all sound the same, and that’s what makes an orchestra and life interesting.

To find easy and delicious recipes that help you plan meals with more fruit, vegetables and whole grains visit the website for the American Institute of Cancer Research.

The Gathering Place offers a number of  hands-on cooking classes for individuals coping with their own or a loves ones diagnosis. Click here for a listing of upcoming classes.

Beth Roth, PT, MA, MS, RD/LD, is a registered dietitian and physical therapist. She provides individual consultations and physical assessments for participants, teaches hands-on cooking classes and oversees the exercise program at The Gathering Place. Find out more about Beth and all of our staff.

Depending on your starting point, eating healthy takes time to plan but not necessarily to prepare. Think about what the healthy meal is going to be and make sure you have all the ingredients. Consider how much time it will take to prepare the meal. Get everyone’s buy in by including the entire family in the decision about what you will eat. If possible include everyone in the meal preparation as well.

Consider this; you eat three meals per day, seven days a week. If you eat more healthy meals 75-80% of the time in a week, that’s 16 meals that are healthy. This way there is no feeling of failure if you aren’t eating an entirely healthy meal every time you eat. But you are making at least one healthy choice every time you eat.

Pass the broccoli please.

To find easy and delicious recipes that help you plan meals with more fruits, vegetables and whole grains visit the website for the American Institute of Cancer Research.

The Gathering Place offers a number of  hands-on cooking classes for individuals coping with their own or a loved ones diagnosis. Click here for a listing of upcoming classes.

Beth Roth, PT, MA, MS, RD/LD, is a registered dietitian and physical therapist. She provides individual consultations and physical assessments for participants, teaches hands-on cooking classes and oversees the exercise program at The Gathering Place. Find out more about Beth and all of our staff.

When I work with participants at The  Gathering Place, I recommend they look at their starting point when making changes to how they eat and setting goals. It really has to be about the individual and where he or she is right now and where they would like to be. Much of the information we see in print and on television is more focused on what we should or shouldn’t eat. I suggest more of a focus on where you want to be in six months to a year.

Many people want to eat healthier in order to lose weight. So for six months to a year – which is a realistic time frame- focus on eating in such a way that you can lose 7-10% of your body weight. This helps anyone to significantly improve their health profile. For most people this means losing about a pound a week. This kind of weight loss is more easily maintained over time and when combined with exercise helps retain and build muscle mass.

We’ll be blogging about nutrition all week. Do you have any specific questions around nutrition and cancer? Share them and I’ll be happy to respond.

Beth Roth, PT, MA, MS, RD/LD, is a registered dietitian and physical therapist. She provides individual consultations and physical assessments for participants at The Gathering Place,  teaches hands-on cooking classes and oversees the exercise program at The Gathering Place. Find out more about Beth and all of our staff.

 Forks over Knives based on the acclaimed documentary that looks at using healthy food (forks) to avoid the need for future surgeries (knives),

Thrive Foods by Brendan Brazier, plant-based recipes, and A Life in Balance, by Meg Wolff that also looks at plant-based eating.

Visit our library in Beachwood or Westlake to browse our collection or visit us online by clicking here.

What books are you reading to help you cope with a cancer diagnosis?

Eileen Coan, MA, MLS  is the medical librarian at The Gathering Place and selects all of the books and periodicals available to our participants. She provides support at a critical time and helps participants with technical research about their own or a loved one’s cancer diagnosis. Eileen is passionate about providing people with information so they can make “informed decisions as opposed to desperate decisions”.
Click here to find out more about Eileen and all of the staff at The Gathering Place.

The librarian reads a favorable review in a cancer-related journal, newsletter, or website. Recently that was the case with the following titles. A new series of easy to use books on all types of cancer, published by Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD.

Titles include Patient’s Guide to Brain Cancer, Cancer in Older Adults, Cancer of the Stomach and Esophagus, Head and Neck Cancer, Leukemia, Lung Cancer, Lymphoma, Ovarian Cancer, and Pancreatic Cancer.

Come browse our selection of books, CDs and DVDs. All are available to check out!! To browse our collection on line click here.

Are there particular books that you or a loved one have found helpful in coping with a cancer diagnosis? Please share the name of the book and why you found it to be helpful.

Eileen Coan, MA, MLS  is the medical librarian at The Gathering Place and selects all of the books and periodicals available to our participants. She provides support at a critical time and helps participants with technical research about their own or a loved one’s cancer diagnosis. Eileen is passionate about providing people with information so they can make “informed decisions as opposed to desperate decisions”.
Click here to find out more about Eileen and all of the staff at The Gathering Place.

A conference aimed at helping professionals enhance or create programs to help children cope with a parent’s serious illness.

The conference will:

- Aid professionals in developing an all-inclusive child & family program

- Teach new tools that can help enhance an already existing program

- Provide written support group outlines, tools for assessment and evaluation and a detailed manual of psychotherapeutic activities to use with children’s groups and family groups

Who should attend this conference?

Child Life Specialists – Social Workers – Nurses

Clergy – Counselors – School Psychologists

Key Note Speakers:

Wendy Harpham, MD: Wendy is a doctor of internal medicine, best-selling author, long-term cancer survivor, and mother of three. Throughout her career as a practitioner, author, lecturer and patient advocate, Dr. Harpham has fulfilled her mission, “To help others through the synergy of science and caring.”

Kathleen McCue, MS, LSW, CLLS: Kathleen pioneered the care and treatment of children stressed by a parent’s grave illness. Kathleen founded and continues to direct the children’s program at The Gathering Place, a support center for individuals and families touched by cancer in Northeast, Ohio. She is the author of How to Help Children Through a Parent’s Serious Illness which was recently released in a new edition and Someone I Love is Sick: Helping Very Young Children Cope with Cancer in the Family.

Click here to download a Conference Save The Date Card

Catastrophizing: always imagining the worst case scenario and thinking things are worse than they really are.

Black and White Thinking: thinking in extremes, it’s all or nothing, good or bad, right or wrong, no in between.

“Yes, but…”: You ignore or discount the positives and focus on the negatives.

“Should” statements: Telling yourself “I Should”, or “I Shouldn’t” be doing something. (This puts unneeded pressure on you).

To counteract negative thoughts, here are some strategies to take care of your SELF:

Support yourself: say to yourself what you would say to a friend who was feeling this way.

Evaluate: when focusing on a negative statement, look for the evidence AGAINST it. Prove it wrong by finding the examples of good things in your life and choices that you have made.

Look for the Positives: It is easier for the negatives and stress to feel overwhelming if you lose sight of the positives, big or small in your life. Think about the things you are grateful for and what you can focus on in the future.

Focus on what you can control and take action: Anxiety comes out of feeling overwhelmed, out of control, or helpless. Breaking a problem down into smaller parts may help you feel like there are things you can do to manage the situation. If not, then focus on what you can do for yourself. Exercising, crafts, watching a game, music, lunch with a friend, going for a walk, and reading are all activities that can help you to focus back on yourself and something positive. Look for supports around you to help you cope with this difficult time.

Erin Rafter is a psychologist and a member of the program staff at The Gathering Place. She works primarily with children  and teens but also with adults. Click here to read more about Erin and our other staff members.

An example: You picture yourself on the beach. You SEE the waves lapping at the shore, sand stretching out before you, sea gulls slowing gliding overhead. You HEAR the gulls calling out, the waves rhythmically flowing up to the shore and then retreating, a child laughing while making a sandcastle. You TOUCH the sand between your toes, or dip your feet into the cool and refreshing water; you feel the warm sun on your skin. You SMELL the salty air in your nose, and the smell of popcorn from the boardwalk drifts through the air. You TASTE ice cream as you relax on the beach and feel safe, relaxed and at peace. You can imagine yourself walking around or sitting still and taking in your surroundings.

During your imagery, you may not notice all of these senses, and that is ok, just try to make it as realistic to you as you can. While you are imagining these details, try to take deep breaths in and out, and focus on how relaxed your body feels, breathing the tension and stress out of your body.

Erin Rafter is a psychologist and a member of the program staff at The Gathering Place. She works primarily with children  and teens but also with adults. Click here to read more about Erin and our other staff members.