Satay Noodles

Today's post is a recipe from Jenny Phillips who specialises in supporting cancer patients with diet & lifestyle interventions. She herself recovered from breast cancer 10 years ago. This noodle dish is gluten and dairy free, packed full of nutrition and tastes as good as it looks! 

This is one of the most popular dishes we make at Yes to Life cookery workshops. It ticks all the boxes and is really easy and quick to prepare too. Just one essential gadget you may like to invest in, and that is a spiraliser.

If you haven’t yet met one of these, it’s a really fab gadget which in this recipe makes noodles from raw courgette. It’s also good for carrot, mooli and other hard veg, adding a different texture to raw food and salads.

Our next cookery workshop is being held in London on Saturday 4 July, so make sure you are on the Yes to Life mailing list to receive further information (you can sign up on the right hand side of the homepage)

The London Marathon 2015 - The Countdown Begins

Today's post is by Nick Rose who will be taking on the London Marathon on Sunday to raise money for Yes to Life and help us continue to support people in the UK to take an integrative approach to cancer. Good luck Nick! If you would like to sponsor our marvellous Marathon man please click here.

So the count down has well and truly begun and I am less than 4 days away from running 26.2 miles around London!

I actually ran 20.3 miles on Easter Sunday – the thought of a tasty roast dinner cooked by my lovely Aunt Viv, whose house I was running to, I admit was a great incentive – but it's done and was a great mental and physical goal to achieve before the race!

But that’s my last long run as we are now in official Taper Down mode. This is where you slowly lower the intensity, frequency and distance of your running to give your body time to recover and to also refuel ready for the big day. So its all about preparation now, making sure I look after my tired legs and aching & blistered feet so I am as fit as I can be for the 26th April.

The Mail on Sunday, Yes to Life and that ‘quack Vitamin C cancer therapy’

Today's post is from our founder Robin Daly challenging an article written about Yes to Life and Vitamin C. He shares the story of trying to hold the newspaper to account and gives us some the evidence as to why Vitamin C therapy is far from quackery.

Some of you may have seen the article published by the Mail on Sunday, in print and online, regarding Yes to Life and Vitamin C.

Despite giving Yes to Life the opportunity, prior to publication, to respond to the ‘criticisms’ being levelled at the charity - which we did in spades - when it came to publication, the only nod to balanced reporting was

“YTL founder Robin Daly said: ‘The only thing we do is to provide interested people with information.’”

The term that comes to mind for this style of reporting is ‘hatchet job’.

We decided the article was so biased we were not content to just let it go by, and so approached IPSO, the regulator, with a view to getting some sort of redress. In this we have had some degree of success, which is heartening:

'Take Control and Live' by Gillian Gill - A Review

Today’s post is a review of the recently published ‘Take Control and Live – Surviving Ovarian Cancer’, an autobiography by Gillian Gill.

In October 2000, Gillian Gill (or Gilly as she is known) was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Her prognosis was bleak, with her oncologist breaking the devastating news that she had only a few months left to live. Yet here we are 14 years later, reading a very different story. Gilly’s book is the story of her unique journey through cancer; it is a story full of painful truths but also an incredible account of hope and an indomitable will to live.

The book’s title, ‘Take Control and Live’, is a mantra which runs through Gilly’s whole experience of cancer and is what she sees as the fundamental tenet of her recovery:

‘I can sum up my story like this: although different therapies help in different ways, recovery is about trying to give oneself positive healing messages, by natural means and by becoming adept at listening and responding to your body’s needs. It’s a bit like driving a car and being personally responsible behind the steering wheel. Fundamentally, it’s about being empowered to do things for oneself, not about handing it over to others. They can help, yet ultimately it’s only you who can do it’

The London Marathon 2015 – the highs and lows of a long distance runner

Today's post is by Nick Rose who will be taking on the London Marathon on the 26th April 2015 to raise money for Yes to Life and help us continue to support people in the UK to take an integrative approach to cancer. Good luck Nick! If you would like to sponsor our marvellous Marathon man please click here.

This will be my 7th London Marathon! 26.2 miles pounding around the streets of London with 30,000 other runners, cheering crowds, blisters, copious amounts of Vaseline, and being overtaken by runners dressed as rhinos, Elvis, fairies and the occasional superhero! There is certainly something very special about the London Marathon.

There is the crowd mentality of the runners at the start line with shots of “Ogi Ogi Ogi” belting out across Greenwich Park. Your nerves are buzzing and there is a certain amount of trepidation (some even say fear!) at what is to come. Then at 9.15 – you start!

Mindchoice: On silence

Today's post is from Clare McLusky who provides us with an insight into her experience with cancer and the popular practice of Mindfulness. 

Clare has a Masters degree in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy from University of Oxford and teaches Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy to people living with cancer. Clare is also a qualified Occupational Therapist, Yes to Life Helpline volunteer and one of the founding members and facilitators of Oxford Sangha, practising in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. 

Clare will be running a 'Mindfulness for Living Well with Cancer' Course in Oxford for 8 weeks starting on the 23rd April, for more information please see her website.

I am teaching MBCT or Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy to a group of 10 friends.  This has been a very rewarding and enjoyable experience.  Each week my friends arrive in a flurry of activity and chattiness and there is a real cocktail party atmosphere at 10 in the morning, with everybody chatting at once.

Last Thursday I led a silent day of practice and after we had come out of silence gently and slowly and reflected on the experience, the day was then drawn to a close with the bell.  However, we continued to sit and chat for a while.  The difference between the beginning of the day and the end of the day was striking – one person spoke at a time, people listened and then the next person spoke.  It was wonderfully calm and peaceful and nourishing.

Inspired Nutrition and Yes to Life take on Brighton

Today’s post is about our recent Cookery Well-being workshop which took place at Brighton Cookery School last Saturday. The morning was hosted by the wonderful Jenny Philips and Jeraldine Curran of Inspired Nutrition who brought a whole load of tasty recipes, years of expertise, a sunny vibe and plenty of jovial flair to the kitchen. If you missed it we are running two more workshops with Jenny and Jeraldine this year, keep up to date with our events calendar for more info.

Think of that person in your life who has cooked for you, gathered fresh ingredients, laboured over chopping boards and stoves with the passion of nurturing you: a mother, grandmother, sibling, friend, partner…then you have some impression of what it felt like to walk into Jenny and Jeraldine’s kitchen. These women are not professional chefs but they are something far more important, cooks who understand the power of food to heal, support and protect.

Although they are both qualified nutritional therapists, it is Jenny and Jeraldine’s personal experiences as much as any qualifications, which make them both such incredible fonts of knowledge.  Jenny recovered from breast cancer ten years ago and Jeraldine has been a close support for family members with cancer so they both understand the topic inside out and were happy to share their stories. The selection of dishes they prepared were designed to support the body through any stage of cancer diagnosis, and it was possible to tailor each to specific requirements…they were also delicious!