Cancer Prevention

After years of telling people chemotherapy is the only way to try (key word) to eliminate cancer, Johns Hopkins is finally starting to tell you there are alternative things you can do to reduce your risk. The following is a cancer update from Johns Hopkins:

- Every person's body has the ability to create cancer cells. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their body after treatment, it usually means that the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached a detectable size.

- Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

- When our immune systems are strong, the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors. Conversely, when a person has cancer it indicates that the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetics, environment, food and lifestyle factors.

- To overcome these multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and adding supplements daily will assist in strengthening the immune system.

- Chemo involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract, etc. This can cause organ damage to the liver, kidneys, heart and lungs.

- Radiation, while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissue and organs.

- Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation does not result in more tumor destruction.

- When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation, the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

- An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to grow and multiply.

Cancer Cells Feed On:

• Sugar - it is a major cancer feeder. By cutting off sugar, it cuts off one of important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc. are made with Aspartame and it is extremely harmful. Much better alternatives are Manuka honey, Agave Nector or molasses but only in very small amounts.
• Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color.  A better alternative is Bragg's Amino's, sea salt or Trocomare organic seasoning.
• Milk causes the body to produce mucus. By eliminating milk and substituting with unsweetened Soy, Rice or Hemp milk, cancer cells are being starved.
• Cancer cells thrive in an acidic environment, always drink alkalized water when possible or add lemon to purified water.
• A meat based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish and chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.
• A diet made of 80% fresh vegetable and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans.Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells, try and drink fresh vegetable juice and eat some raw vegetables 2-3 times per day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F, so it is always good to eat some raw vegetable whenever you can.
• Avoid caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea and chocolate. Green tea is a much better alternative and has cancer fighting properties or just fresh water is always the best!
• Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. The majority of people do not have sufficient digestive enzymes due to eating too many processed foods, so a lot of undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic build-up.
• Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from eating meat, it frees the body's natural enzymes to attack these protein walls of the cancer cells and allows the  killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
• Cancer is a disease of the mind, body and spirit. A proactive and positive attitude will help keep the cancer at bay. Anger, unforgiving and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Therefore it is extremely important to learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.
• Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily with deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means used to destroy cancer cells.

Please Read On

1. No plastic containers in the microwave.
   
2. Do not put water bottles in the freezer
3. No plastic wrap in the microwave

Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them, as the plastic releases Dioxins, which are know to be carcinogenic. Also it is not a good idea to heat food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. The combination of fat, high heat and plastics releases the Dioxin into the food and then ultimately into the cells of the body. Try using a glass dish such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic microwave safe containers for heating foods. It is also dangerous to place Saran Wrap over foods as they are being microwaved, the high heat causes the poisonous chemicals/plastics to actually leach into the food. Cover with a paper towel instead.

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Hormones - The Balancing Act

We all think of women or PMS when someone mentions hormones, right? Well, surprise, they can also affect men as well! Stay with me, I'll have more on that later....... Did you know that hormones play a major role in our overall well being? Has your doctor prescribed estrogen or progestin (Provera, contraceptives, etc.) pills or patches to treat your GYN problems?

If you are anything like me, I have suffered for years with the typical symptoms of PMS, weight fluctuations, irritability, sleep disturbances, allergies and the list goes on... Well the good news is after several doctors later, tons of reading as well as an all new generational awareness of our "female issues" by baby-boomers like Suzanne Summers, bringing these issues to forefront and giving them some relevance. I like Suzanne have found true relief from Bio-Identical Hormones. Yes, estrogen dominance may be the true culprit with symptoms of weight gain (despite great diet and exercise), irritability, irregular periods, thyroid dysfunction, fibroid tumors, PMS, fatigue, loss of sexual desire, migraine headaches, cold hand & feet and in some cases infertility and or the ability to maintain pregnancy.

Why do these symptoms occur?

Most physicians typically prescribe pharmaceutical synthetic estrogens to treat many of these conditions, which may make the situation worse. It is quite possible that your body already has more estrogen that it needs and what you really need is another hormone called progesterone (not to be confused with pharmaceutical progestins which can  make symptoms such as abnormal bleeding worse). Natural progesterone (is available over the counter in the form of creams or by prescription at compounding pharmacies) can effectively reduce the symptoms of hormonal imbalances and the conditions that it causes by restoring the body's natural hormone balance.

If natural progesterone is so great, then why don't more physicians routinely recommend it to their patients?

Progesterone is a natural substance and natural substances cannot be patented for sale at profit, which makes pharmaceutical companies uninterested in marketing and promoting natural products such as progesterone. And if pharmaceutical reps don't market a product to physicians, many will simply be unaware of it's existence.  Most prescription estrogens such as Premarin, are chemically altered so they can be patented and sold as a drug. While we should not discount the use of estrogen replacement, we stress that caution should be used when using estrogen urging that only estrogens that chemically equal to the estrogen produced naturally by the body be used in the smallest effective dose. Even women who have had hysterectomies, who experience surgical menopause, need to use progesterone to balance the estrogen on their body. Natural estrogens are available as pills, creams and patches.

Now, as for the subject of men and hormones. Men can typically go through a sort of "menopause" we have all come to know as the cliche mid-life-crisis as well as some hormonal side effects like low libido, erection problems and stamina, which could well be the result of very low Testosterone. 

Testosterone is a natural hormone the body makes that contributes to libido, muscle tone, energy stores and an overall feeling of well-being. When this hormone is low in men (or women too), it can have some real effects on how we feel and perform daily. Testosterone can also be obtained by prescription from a reliable hormone specialist (ask the Nutrition Chick for more details on this) and a compounding pharmacist can prepare it in a cream form that is simply rubbed on the forearm or inner thigh.

For more information on finding a hormonal specialist, contact the Nutrition Chick at healthycleanbeauty@gmail.com.