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Showing posts with label cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cancer. Show all posts
10.08.2013
Preventing Breast Cancer: Your 5-Step Action Plan
1. EAT AN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET!
Studies have shown that a diet
full of whole natural foods including lots of greens, veggies, fruits
and good quality fats are effective against cancer. The key players?
Your Brassicacae family, which includes kale, broccoli, collard greens,
brussel sprouts and cabbage, helps detoxify and eliminate estrogen as
well as other toxins. And don’t be afraid of the good fats, which
include olive oil, omega 3s from fish, as well as coconut oil.
2. DON’T BE A SUGAR MAMA!
With any cancer prevention,
it’s super important to manage your blood sugar balance and healthy
weight. Sugar is a major culprit in so many diseases, but sugar leads to
insulin spikes, leading to storage of body fat and stressing out your
liver! This means excess estrogen and toxins… Make sure you keep that
blood sugar in check by avoiding sugar and processed carbs, while eating
fiber rich foods, good sources of protein and quality fats.
Remember —you’re sweet enough! :)
3. SHAKE WHAT YOUR MAMA GAVE YOU
Movement and exercise is huge!
Exercise not only keeps your weight in check, but it increases your
detox ability thru sweat, keeps your blood sugar and insulin levels in
check, gets rid of excess hormones and improves sleep. And that’s just a
short list of the benefits! So find your favorite way to move your body
and do it everyday.
4. SLOW THE FAST TRAIN: DE-STRESS AND REST
In our fast-paced world, most
of us are constantly on the go-go-go. Well here’s a good reason to slow
down and rest—it prevents against cancer and so many other diseases!
Have fun and explore what de-stress and rest means to you… find
stillness with meditation and breathe work, dance to your favorite song,
take a hot Epsom bath with lavender and some green tea. There’s just
one caveat: make sure you do it regularly!
5. DETOX THE STICKY ICKIES!
I said it once and I'll say it
again: Balance is our true nature. But the barrage of toxins we face on a
daily basis (and even before we are born!) get in the way of achieving
that balance. In a recent article from the Chicago Tribune,
a study shows the rise in breast cancer among young women. Experts are
looking at environmental factors, including carcinogenic chemicals, the
use of hormonal birth control, lifestyle habits such as diet and lack of
exercise, and increased body fat as potential culprits.
So for prevention, it's super
important to make sure we are optimizing our body's detoxification
systems to give them the best chance of doing their job. Doing a safe
cleanse or detox routinely can be really helpful, and of course reducing
your exposure to toxins in every area of your life is a must.
8.29.2013
6 TREATMENTS THAT FOSTER SELF HEALING
I’m
a hardcore believer in self-healing. I’m not saying we don’t need
doctors and practitioners by any means - that would be ridiculous. What I
AM saying is that I believe we all have the power to heal ourselves and
prevent illness to a very large degree.
My role as a holistic health coach is to be a partner to and guide for my clients - not to dictate how and when they heal. This is why I was stoked to read about Dr. Kelly Turner’s work on cases of spontaneous remission of cancer - or as she calls it “unexpected remission” of cancer.
My role as a holistic health coach is to be a partner to and guide for my clients - not to dictate how and when they heal. This is why I was stoked to read about Dr. Kelly Turner’s work on cases of spontaneous remission of cancer - or as she calls it “unexpected remission” of cancer.
I
first stumbled across Dr. Kelly Turner’s work in the book Mind Over
Medicine, then again in readings from the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
Dr. Turner is a researcher, lecturer, and consultant in the field of
Integrative Oncology. Her specialized research focus is the “unexpected
remission” of cancer—a remission that occurs either in the absence of
Western medicine or after Western medicine has failed to achieve
remission. Turner spent ten months traveling the world in search of
fifty nonallopathic cancer healers. She found twenty unpublished cases
of unexpected remission and conducted phone interviews with the
survivors.
How frickin cool is that?
The American Cancer Society provided partial funding for her study.
Side note: American Cancer Society also paid for my mom’s flight and hotel stay in Arizona when she was seeking alternative treatment. Nice work ACS. But I digress...
How frickin cool is that?
The American Cancer Society provided partial funding for her study.
Side note: American Cancer Society also paid for my mom’s flight and hotel stay in Arizona when she was seeking alternative treatment. Nice work ACS. But I digress...
In her research, Dr. Turner found 6 top treatments used by her interviewees to heal themselves of cancer.
Perhaps you’re asking why I’m focusing on cancer remissions... I want
to make clear that the techniques listed below may be used just as
effectively for the PREVENTION of cancer, or any disease for that
matter. And I’m allll about prevention.
Now
this is not a prescription as to what YOU should do, this is simply a
compilation of treatments that Dr. Turner identified as the top ones her
interviewees followed and that worked for them. So here we go...
6 TREATMENTS THAT FOSTER
SELF HEALING
SELF HEALING
1. DIET CHANGE
Radical diet change was a top factor in fostering self healing among those who had experienced “spontaneous remission” of their cancers. So what did that look like? Elimination of meat, dairy, sugar, and refined grains. The majority of interviewees ate a diet consisting of whole vegetables, fruits, grains and beans.
In
my recent visit to Costa Rica, I took a guided hike through the
rainforest and had some great conversations with my guide Felipe, a
native of the area (and whose family still lived in the rainforest).
We talked a lot about the environment, toxicity from pesticides, cancer and diabetes - which many of his friends and family are now dealing with - and diet. Felipe has considerable knowledge about medicinal herbs and is a “go-to” person for helping people in his community overcome certain illnesses. When asked about diet and disease, Felipe told me that the very first thing he tells someone with such diseases who come to see him is stop eating meat, dairy and sugar. Non-negotiable.
Now
I’m not an advocate that one diet fits all - by any means! And I am not
against consumption of meat and dairy, or the occasional chocolate
cupcake ;). I do however believe that when your body is severely
compromised, elimination of inflammatory or acidic foods such as the
ones indicated above will help your body to heal more rapidly.
Not to mention give your body a well deserved break for those who are
sensitive to these foods! This is why I base my detoxes and programs on
the elimination diet to start - giving your body a break from these
foods can be profoundly healing and eye-opening.
Shameless plug: For anyone who’s interested, I’m working on my fall detox program coming up soon, so be on the lookout! :)
2. TAKING HERBS & VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS
The majority of her interviewees took various herbs and supplements that they believed would help boost their immune system, detoxify and help facilitate healing in their bodies. You might be wondering which supplements worked best... and the truth is they were all over the map. There was no single “super” supplement in common with any of the interviewees - which brings up 2 very important points:
First,
everyone is biochemically different - because of this bioindividuality,
one person’s healing herb may not be so good for another.
Pathologically, each person’s disease or ailment was also unique. So
making the claim that any one specific supplement would work for
everyone would be irresponsible and misinformed.
The
second point is that the interviewees believed their herbal and
supplement regimen was healing them. Don’t get me started on the power
of belief and the placebo/"nocebo" effect (I’ll get into that in later
articles) but the importance that your belief carries is substantial.
Check
in with your beliefs about your body and ailments... what is the story
you are living by? If it’s not serving you, then maybe it’s time to
rewrite that story.
3. SURRENDER - RELEASE SUPPRESSED EMOTIONS
Turner remarks that most of her interviewees discussed the importance of being at peace with both dying and living - to truly surrender and release repressed negative emotions such as anger, fear and grief. It does not serve us to hold onto any emotion, even happiness as happiness can easily turn into nostalgia, then longing, etc if not released.
LET THE SHIT GO. Let go of fear. Let go of resentment. Let go of any emotion that you’re harboring so you can focus on healing!
4. FEELING LOVE, JOY, HAPPINESS
This is different than positive thinking... Turner found that her interviewees all believed in the importance of joy & love in your life for facilitating healing.
Laugh every day. Do something you love each and every day. Show gratitude and be of service. Find unconditional love in your life.
5. EXPERIENCING A DEEPENING OF SPIRITUALITY
Most of the people Turner interviewed talked about having an internal sensation of spiritual energy - they felt the experience of divine, loving energy in their body, which they achieved through various ways such as meditation, prayer, gardening, energy healing, etc.
We’re not talking about the feeling you get when you see Brad Pitt take off his shirt in Fight Club (altho it seems pretty damn close to a transcendental experience for me). It’s also not about deepening one’s beliefs about spirituality. But rather, it was having an actual internal feeling/sensation/transcendent experience of loving, divine energy in their body.
And finally, #6. This last one is probably my favorite of them all (...and you thought it was diet change, didn’t you?)
6. USING INTUITION TO HELP INFORM TREATMENT DECISIONS
I’ll tell you why this one is so great to me. It puts the the patient, the person, back into the driver’s seat of our health. It shows that we know our bodies better than anyone else. It empowers us to trust our intuition and listen to our bodies. Any healthcare provider you have - whether they’re a doctor, chiropractor, acupuncturist, health coach, etc - is your partner in your health journey, not the boss of it. Remember that.
Here’s
a story from one of Turner’s interviewees, “Unexpected Survivor #7”,
who overcame recurrent metastatic breast cancer after conventional
medicine had failed to work:
[The
Tibetan healer] took his finger and with a pinpoint accuracy touched
every spot on my body where I had had cancer, or where I had cancer
presently. It was amazing! He could see what scans couldn’t see. I had
predicted my cancer four times. I had led [my doctors] to it with a
pinpoint of accuracy before the scans could even pick up the collection
of cells. [The Tibetan healer] could do what I could do with my own
body.
HOPE FOR SELF HEALING
I love Dr. Turner’s work because it not only demonstrates that we absolutely have the ability to heal ourselves, but the stories she collects provide HOPE to those who are going thru life altering diseases.
Having had a front-line experience with my mom’s cancer journey, I can undoubtedly say that the above treatments and stories from Turner’s research are invaluable. If you’re interested in checking out more stories or work from Dr. Kelly Turner, be sure to visit her website at www.radicalremission.com.
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