Cancer - Part 2 - RealHealth4Life

More people than ever before are surviving cancer today.

The aim, however, should be to do more than just survive but rather to thrive. Thriving starts by minimizing the negative effects of conventional cancer treatments, achieving remission and then, going on to live a healthy, vibrant life thereafter..

Cancer is considered to be a “man made disease” by some scientists¹, brought about by lifestyle choices and environmental conditions. Dr Rachel Thompson of the World Cancer Research Fund said of this theory: “This research makes for very interesting reading. About one in three people in the UK will get cancer, so it is fairly commonplace in the modern world. Scientists now say a healthy diet, regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight can prevent about a third of the most common cancers”.

It makes sense therefore to pay attention to those lifestyle choices and environmental conditions if one has cancer, eliminating or at least minimizing those that will negatively impact the chances of recovery.
The important thing to realize is that we have ALL overcome cancer many times. Our immune system has protected us and will continue to do so, and even help us to overcome cancer, provided we give it the correct tools (nutrients) and conditions.

The biggest mistake a person with cancer can make is to think there’s nothing you can do to help yourself. The reality is that what you do yourself is more important than all the cancer treatments you’ll get. In this report we’ll give you proven strategies that will help you overcome and survive the cancer and prevent it returning.

One of the most important things you can do is to realize that who you choose to treat you is as important as the treatment itself. Dr Patrick Quillin, formerly Vice President of Nutrition for the Cancer Treatment Centres of America, states that “over 40% of cancer patients actually die from malnutrition, not from the cancer.” ² The cancer and the effects of the treatment (chemotherapy and radiation) make patients so ill that they don’t feel like eating and so they starve to death. Your body cannot fight back if it’s undernourished and your immune system is compromised. It is vital that a cancer patient receive super nutrition and so it is critical that you choose a doctor who is willing to adopt a holistic approach to treating you, one that includes nutrition and supplementation, in addition to conventional medical treatments. There is absolutely no scientific validity in the common approach by oncologists saying that cancer patients should not take nutritional supplements. There are numerous studies showing the benefits of supplementation for cancer patients.³

The next important aspect that will help you overcome and survive the cancer is to understand that cancer needs certain conditions in the body to thrive. Deprive the cancer of these conditions and you make it difficult for the cancer to keep growing, increasing your chances of overcoming and surviving it. Cancers feed on sugars,^4,5 require an acid and anaerobic environment and a compromised immune system to thrive and grow. Changing these conditions in your body makes it harder for the cancer to grow and easier for the treatments to succeed.

Thirdly, your mental attitude will play a vital role in helping you beat the cancer. Stress plays an important role in decreasing the body’s ability to overcome disease by lowering the immune system. In numerous studies it has been found that those individuals with a good mental outlook are more likely to overcome disease than those with a negative outlook. Simply by changing your outlook on life you can make a profound difference in your chances of recovery. This is not to say that changing the thought patterns of a lifetime is easy but it is simple, given the will to do it. Focussing on what is good in your life, being grateful for the good, and seeing the good in those around us, especially those closest to us, will make a profound difference to our mental state. There are many excellent books on this subject available today. (see the list of recommended reading below)

Let’s now look at some specific things one can do to ensure the best possible chance of surviving cancer.

1. Diet and supplementation are vital.

The better your body is nourished the better it will be able to cope with the stress placed on it by the cancer and the cancer treatment.

The first step is to eliminate anything which will compromise the immune system and feed the cancer.

Refined sugars, including high fructose corn syrup (often just listed as fructose on labels), depress the immune system and provide food for the cancer, so they need to be eliminated, or at least minimized.
Preservatives, colourants and additives also affect the immune system negatively.
Alcohol, caffeine, red meat, salt, fats, margarines, hydrogenated fats (trans fats), refined plant oils and processed dairy products all have negative effects on the body.
Processed carbohydrates (white rice & white flour, in pasta, bread, cakes etc.) are rapidly converted into glucose which feeds cancer.
Fried, smoked, cured, processed and micro-waved foods all contain fewer nutrients and/or more carcinogens than baked and steamed foods, which in turn are less nutritious than raw foods

Next, increase the foods that will actively assist the body to fight back.

Fresh fruits and vegetables, especially those high in carotenoids (the red, orange, yellow and deep green coloured ones), cruciferous compounds (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, etc.) and flavonoids (the blue, black and purple ones).
Freshly juiced or pureed vegetables and fruits. Juicing improves absorption and provides enzymes which are destroyed in the cooking process. Carrot, beetroot, celery & apple juices or purees are excellent sources of cancer fighting agents. Purees are better than juices as they contain ±10 times more cancer fighting agents than juice, where a lot of the good gets thrown away with the pulp.
Drink lots of good quality water, min 2lts per day. It helps flush toxins from the body and hydrates the cells.
Consume sufficient good quality protein, it’s essential for rebuilding cells. Use lentils, chickpeas, legumes, fish, free range chicken and organic plain yogurt. You should aim to eat 1 -2 grams of protein per kg body weight every day, e.g. if you weigh 75kg you need 75 – 150g of protein daily. Protein is made up of amino acids and it’s vital that one gets a full spread of the 22 amino acids required by the body to renew and repair all the different cells every day.
Eat lots of whole grains. They contain fibre and many essential nutrients not found in refined grains.
Eat probiotic foods like natural yogurt, fermented cheeses like cheddar & gouda, kefir, sauerkraut,miso and kimchi. Read the labels carefully to make sure they contain “live culures” and avoid any that say “made with probiotics”, it generally means the cultures are not alive. Probiotics are crucial to the health of your digestive system, which in turn is crucial to the proper functioning of your immune system.
Supplement your diet with wholefood, natural, organic supplements – vitamins and minerals, probiotics, phytonutrients and protein shakes.

Do not believe the myth that supplementation can adversely affect conventional cancer treatments. There is no scientific basis for this and there are, in fact, studies showing that supplementation with non-synthetic (i.e. organic, whole food based supplements) can enhance the effectiveness of treatments³. At the same time supplementation provides the body with the nutrients required to fight the cancer and overcome the negative effects of the treatment.

Below is a list of just a few of the many studies showing the benefits of supplementation to cancer sufferers.

Daily doses of fish oil improve the efficiency of chemotherapy, may contribute to increased survival and help prevent muscle and weight loss….⁶
Low vitamin C levels allows endometrial tumors to grow faster. ⁷
Cruciferous ingredients in watercress, broccoli & Brussels sprouts prevents breast cancers cells from developing ^{8, 9}
Jefferson researchers provide genetic evidence that antioxidants can help treat cancer¹¹(see Part 1 of this report “Preventing Cancer” for additional studies showing the benefits of supplementation)

2. Eliminate or reduce exposure to toxins and pollutants as much as possible.

If you smoke – quit!
If you drink alcohol, tea, coffee, softdrinks etc, cut down and preferably stop. Drink herb teas, green tea, rooibos and fresh fruit juices instead.
Use natural deodorants instead of antiperspirants.
Stop using air-fresheners, odour neutralizers, pesticides and other poison sprays in your home.
Don’t use aluminium and non-stick cookware and don’t store food and drink in plastic containers or plastic wrap. Use stainless steel and glass cookware and containers.
Invest in a water purifier or distiller.
See Part 1 of this report “Preventing Cancer” for more info on reducing your toxic load.

3. Increase the oxygen content of your blood.

Cancer thrives in an anaerobic (without oxygen) environment. Increasing the oxygen content of your blood means that there is more oxygen available to the cells, reducing the cancer’s ability to grow. There are three simple ways to do this –

Practise deep breathing techniques. Most people breathe very shallowly, utilizing only a fraction of their lung capacity.
Increase the amount of exercise on a daily basis. Admittedly when one is very ill one does not feel like exercising but not only will it increase the oxygen content but it releases endorphins (feel good hormones) that lift the spirits.
Vitamin E increases the blood’s capacity to carry oxygen. Supplementing with a natural, full factor vitamin E supplement will reduce cancer cell proliferation.¹¹

4. Increase your body’s Ph level.

Cancer requires an acidic environment to flourish. Reducing the acidity in your body will reduce the cancer’s ability to spread.

pH is the scale used to measure acidity and alkalinity, with 1 denoting very acidic, 7 = neutral and 14 = very alkaline. A healthy pH for the human body is ±7.5. A simple way to get an indication of your body’s pH is get litmus paper and put some of your saliva on it. Ask your pharmacist for more details.

A diet of mainly red meat, sugars and refined carbohydrates, plus lack of exercise and poor breathing habits will contribute to a disease prone (acidic) pH. To rectify this, increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in the diet, exercise more and practice deep breathing techniques.

One of the simplest and most effective things you can do to increase your body’s pH is to drink a large glass of water with a tablespoon (±20ml) of freshly squeezed lemon juice first thing every morning.

Once you have completed conventional cancer treatments (chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment) it’s vitally important to detoxify the body of the after-effects of the treatments. Chemotherapy treatments contain many highly toxic compounds, such as heavy metals, which leave residues in the body’s tissues. Likewise, radiation remains in the tissues after treatment. Both can cause secondary cancers to develop,¹²so following a good detox programme is a necessity, especially for children whose immune systems are still developing.

Hopefully the information above will have given you a basis for making informed choices about what you can do to help yourself survive. Your survival depends on you (not your doctors) and the more you know, the better the choices you’ll be able to make.

There is overwhelming evidence available today that shows that it is possible to survive cancer and go on to live a healthy life thereafter. As already stated, the choices you make are critical to ensuring your body has the best possible chance of overcoming the cancer. Diet, supplementation, mental attitude and exercise are as important as conventional medical treatments. Make certain that the oncologist you choose to treat you uses all of these strategies and if not, find another one who will. It is, after all, your life!

References

¹ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1320507/Cancer-purely-man-say-scientists-finding-trace-disease-Egyptian-mummies.html

² P. Quillin. Beating Cancer with Nutrition, p 9

³http://www.realwealth.co.za/archives/2006

⁴Warburg, O., Science, vol. 123, no. 3191, pg 309, Feb 1956

⁵Demetrakopoulos, GE, Cancer Research, vol. 42, pg. 756S, Feb 1982

⁶ ^{https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-03-fish-oil-fatty-acids-benefits.html}

⁷ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/…

⁸http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/…

⁹http://cancerpreventionresearch.aacrjournals.org/content/early/2010/06/24/1940-6207.CAPR-09-0213.abstract

¹⁰http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-02/tju-jrp021011.php

¹¹http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com…