I came across this article this week on www.canceractive.com and thought it so important that I have decided to repost it here. This reinforces all that I believe is important to have and maintain good health. Although this is aimed at people who have or have had cancer, it is the very same advice that is needed to maintain good health or improve one’s health so as to remain disease free. I believe this to be the blue print for improving the odds on staying healthy. Prevention through being pro-active. We are not victims of our genes. We can fight back.
There are a couple of things that I didn’t know. I thought that the negatives of an aspirin a day were now thought to outway the positives and even though I knew that it’s important to alkalise one’s body (most diets are very acidic), I didn’t know this could be achieved by drinking a teaspoon of Sodium Bicarbonate in warm water a day. However, I already do most of this list and it just reinforces for me how important it is. Please note how exercise keeps coming up as vital to good health and in particular how beneficial yoga is!
The American Cancer Society produced a ‘watershed’ report in June 2012. This report has now been endorsed by the National Cancer Institute in America.
The report concludes that since 2006 there has been an ‘explosion’ in research into complementary therapies (just as we at CANCERactive have told you frequently) and that there is ‘overwhelming’ evidence that certain complementary therapies – like diet, exercise and weight control – can increase survival and prevent a cancer returning, keeping you cancer-free.
Here we list 20 things you really should consider building in to your own anti-cancer programme.
1. Go for a hour in the sunshine every day: Research centres such as Harvard School of Public Health are quite clear: Numerous research studies show Vitamin D prevents cancer. Critically, other research has shown that it can even correct the effects of cancer and improve survival times. Vitamin D is also essential to your immune system and helps to activate it. If you cannot have an hour a day in decent sunshine think about supplementation with up to 5,000 IUs per day.
2. Eat a Rainbow Diet: Numerous studies have shown that polyphenols, anthocyanins, carotenoids and a host of other natural compounds can positively influence the outcome of diseases including cancer. Beetroot, blueberries, red and yellow peppers, broccoli, garlic, onions, red grapes, cruciferous vegetables and more – the research evidence has been consistent and clear. Your drink should be green tea; there is research linking it to longer survival times.
3. Avoid glucose (and high fructose corn syrup): Again there are over six studies in the last few years which show that people with high blood sugar levels develop more cancer, and if you already have cancer, high blood sugar is associated with lower survival times.
4. Avoid cows’ dairy: milk, cheese, yogurts and so on , if made from cows’ milk, contain high levels of IGF-1 a growth hormone that makes cells grow and divide rapidly. Numerous studies by the Karolinska Institute and others show the links between cows’ dairy and increased risk of cancer.
5. Sleep in a darkened room: About 90 minutes after falling asleep in a fully darkened room, your body produces a most powerful compound, melatonin. It puts you into a deeper sleep. But also it is a strong antioxidant and has the ability to control and reduce levels of both oestrogen and IGF-1, two hormones implicated in cancer. Night shift workers and others with disturbed sleep patterns develop more cancers. EMFs from televisions, WiFi, local masts can also reduce melatonin levels – avoid. You can supplement but do not exceed 3 mgs, as melatonin in excess can cause hallucinations.
6. Take multi-strain probiotics. The microbiome, particularly in your gut, is a collection of over 800 bacterial strains that is essential to your well- being. Damaged or even destroyed by antibiotics, drugs, chlorine, smoking, alcohol, and acid conditions (from pickled food to excess common salt and stress), these friendly bacteria are beneficial and release essential vitamins and cancer-fighting compounds from your foods. You simply cannot nourish your body without them. The latest research shows that their good health is linked to your good health. You can supplement – try several different quality manufacturers of ‘multi-strain probiotics’.
7. Take 75 mgs of daily aspirin: The research has been consistent over the years, whether from the Mayo Clinic or the recent studies by Oxford University and the Radcliffe. This small dose of aspirin helps prevent cancer, reduce metastases and helps people with cancer survive longer. Recent excellent research studies prompted the Oxford researchers to call on NICE to make it an official part of UK cancer treatment. Do not take on an empty stomach and preferably use a soluble product.
8. Drink a teaspoon of Sodium Bicarbonate in warm water a day:
Research from three cancer centres in the USA has shown that alkalising your body by drinking a solution of sodium bicarbonate, can stop new metastases and increase survival times. Clinical Trials are underway. Depending upon how acid the body was, 1 to 4 doses could be used per day.
9. Go and visit a qualified medical herbalist: Research into the anti-cancer effects of herbs has been growing and many drugs companies are studying their properties. Some herbs can attack cancer cells directly, while others can simply boost the immune response to cancer. We have covered astragalus, echinacea and cat’s claw in detail several times.
10. Take grape seed extract: Although many people with cancer rush out to the high street and buy vitamin E and beta-carotene (both usually deficient of more than one component and also synthetic), a major American study (the VITAL study) put the OPC grape seed extract head and shoulders above other immune boosting compounds. Some research suggests pine bark extract, another OPC, is even better. GSE may also have the ability to prevent blood supplies forming to tumours (as may fresh garlic).
11. Take fish oils daily: There is a multitude of research studies, including clinical trials, on the benefits of fish oils in aiding longevity and with cancer. Fish oils help reduce cellular inflammation via Cox-2 action; cellular inflammation is often the precursor to cancer and cancer spread. Although this can happen throughout the body, the effect of fish oils is pronounced in reducing the growth of polyps in colorectal cancer.
12. Take Curcumin: this spice (also referred to as Turmeric) has been the centre of attention at more than six top American cancer centres. It seems to affect all manner of cancer pathways from inflammation to metastases. Its use seems particularly relevant in colorectal cancer where it reduces polyp growth and limits microbial activity. However, it seems to have action with all cancers and even crosses the blood-brain barrier. Supplementation seems a no-brainer if you have cancer.
13. Look into Indole 3 carbinol and DIM: Most cancers are oestrogen- driven. Not just breast cancers but many prostate, testicular, brain, colorectal and endometrial cancers too. Maybe, now the existence of cancer stem cells has been proven, all cancers may have the female sex-hormone oestrogen at their root. Indole 3 carbinol is a natural compound in broccoli and cruciferous vegetables. It denatures aggressive oestrogen. It blocks receptor sites on cells from the action of oestrogen. It prevents the worst toxins (dioxins) from damaging cells and helps detoxify cells. Drug companies have been looking to patent it, even dubbing it the ‘new, safer tamoxifen’. I3C denatures rapidly in the body. One of its by-products, DIM, may be easier to control in supplementation volumes. Research has shown several times that they work against oestrogen-driven cancers, AND have a separate action against non-oestrogen driven cancers too via different pathways.
14. Be tested for nutritional deficiencies: Most cancer patients upon diagnosis are nutritionally toxic and/or nutritionally deficient. This might be due to excesses of refined foods, coffee, fizzy soft drinks, junk foods and so on and/or a lack of magnesium and potassium food, a lack of beneficial bacteria resulting in low levels of important B vitamins, vitamin K and sodium butyrate. You can be nutritionally tested these days: Try http://www.cancernet.co.uk/nutritional-tests.htm
15. Take light daily exercise: Forget old fashioned ideas of exercise, running, going for the burn. All the research points to light, daily exercise of about 30 minutes duration, especially first thing in the morning. It helps control blood sugar, releases happy hormones, stimulates the lymph clearing toxins away from your cells, and helps burn visceral fat (the type you cannot see but has collected around your internal organs). Try swimming, T’ai Chi, golf,
brisk walks in the countryside.
16 Reduce stress levels: Research is quite clear: Stress does cause cancer through the Cox-2 and ecosanoid hormone system. So this is where aspirin, fish oils and curcumin play an important role (as do foods like ginger and garlic). This system is worsened by stress hormones such as cortisol. But several research studies from the USA have concluded that Yoga has a strong cortisol reduction benefit. Recent clinical trials also showed that patients employing stress management techniques survived considerably longer than those that employed none.
17. Maintain a healthy weight: Of course exercise helps you maintain a good weight. People who control their weight develop less cancers and survive longer if they have a cancer. Northwestern University showed that if you deliberately lose weight during cancer, your survival times increase. You may even consider Calorie Restriction. The Oncologist Newsletter (Jan 2013) reports that CR (of 20-40 per cent) seems to help certain radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments work better. Certainly CR increases longevity – but ensure you have adequate nutrition, vitamins and minerals.
18. Cut out the possible cause: We all know ‘smoking causes cancer’, but did you know statistically not as much as being more than 7 kgs overweight does! ‘50 per cent of cancers are your own fault – you smoke, drink too much, don’t exercise, become overweight, eat junk food etc’. If you can believe this it still begs the question, ‘What causes the other 50 per cent?’ We do know the answer: Stress, chemicals like mercury and lead in the workplace, asbestos, toxic chemicals, pesticides, nitrites in our water – just look in Cancer Watch.
19. Go toxin-free: If governments are going to ignore all this, you can vote with your wallet. Grow your own vegetables, plant fruit trees, move away from the diesel fumes and the cement factory. Importantly, research shows clearly that the most polluted environment is your own home: So stop spraying the indoor plants, get rid of the ceiling and floor tiles, the chip board and formaldehyde producing pillows. Go toxin-free in your cleaning products, toiletry and personal care products. Avoid formaldehyde, dichlorobenzene (those perfumes that make your toilet smell like a mountain stream), toluene in nail polishes, lead in lipsticks, parabens, and phthalates and BPA in plastics. Find a supplier of toxin-free products.
20. Let your body energy flow: Try a visit to a cranial osteopath. They train for 4 years to sort out the structure of your body so that your energy flows better. Is this mumbo-jumbo? Far from it. It is now possible to photograph body energy and measure it accurately. Good posture helps body energy flow; yoga will also help posture. Why is this important? Because when you have cancer, the organs with the cancer are depleted in energy. In fact it has been concluded that the energy seems to leave the organ in advance of the health problem occurring. Some people use hands-on-healers; others visit John of God in the Brazilian Jungle. One research study from an American cancer hospital showed those people with a God survived up to seven times longer. Sometimes there’s no clinical trial. Sometimes you just have to believe.
Reference to all of the above can be found in Cancer Watch on the CANCERactive website. Each individual point is also covered in much more detail on the CANCERactive website.
