Nourishing your Body with Cancer

Posted December 23rd, 2011 in Cancer, Cancer Prevention Strategies by Rebecca Lane

What does it really mean to nourish your body? You feed yourself every day, whenever you feel hunger. But how do the decisions you make about what you eat, how much, the quality of the food, where you eat – affect you?

The diagnosis of cancer is terrifying – it puts most people into the foetal position, where they just want to block everything and everyone out. Feeling that life is over does NOT serve you. So stand up and really take a good look at yourself. Because right now you’ve been offered an opportunity to really make change to how you live your life.

What do you really hunger for? I can guarantee that it has nothing to do with the sweet, highly-processed foods that many of us consume. They contain so few nutrients that our bodies do not call out for them. But they do fill us, all those empty cracks and crevices aching to be filled, for a moment until the next crack appears. I suggest that this hunger has nothing to do with food – it’s an emotional, spiritual need to find meaning in our lives. To feel like an important part of something bigger than this daily, painful grind that we get stuck in.

Nourishing your body is different from feeding yourself. It’s taking the time to really listen to what your body needs. If it hungers, don’t fill it with more empty, sugar-filled calories. Give it life-supporting nutrients in the form of raw, or lightly steamed vegetables.

If food isn’t what you hunger for, take the time and space to find out what is. Meditation can take you deep into the heart of your personal self and will reveal to you the beautiful human being you are. It takes time, and practice, practice, practice, but the rewards far outweigh the initial frustration.

If you find yourself bored with life, then get outside. Experience this world. Enjoy walking around your neighbourhood and peeking through windows into the lives of those around you. You are not alone. Or go to the woods – there you will find real peace and serenity.

I realize this information seems quite intangible, but it is important that you realize that you are being asked to change the way you live your life. It isn’t working. So what’s wrong? Where does your pain lie? Where is your grief or fear buried layer, upon layer deep within your cells? Find it, bless it (for it has served you), and give it to the Divine unifying force for healing and removal. Trust that it is possible and it will be so.

Becoming your Health Advocate

Posted December 21st, 2011 in Cancer, Cancer Prevention Strategies, Cancer Surgery by Rebecca Lane

Helen and I have just started helping a client recently diagnosed with cancer. We wanted to outline the steps that we take as we go, so that everyone has access to the information.

The most important thing to do is to go online and do some preliminary research about your cancer, so that you understand what’s going on in your body and can formulate questions for when you next see your doctor. My go-to place is www.lef.org and in the search box, I type in Protocol for … Cancer. Usually I get lots of information. Print it out and put it aside.

Next, pick up a 2 or 3″ binder and many tabs to go inside it. This will become your Wellness Binder and it’s where you’ll keep everything you’ll need to reference along your journey. You’ll put your preliminary research here (okay, you can put it in the binder now), information about diets, supplements, lifestyle changes, detoxification strategies, contact information about your cancer care team, questions that come up between appointments and whatever else you can think of.

The article below is the next piece that you’ll add to your binder. You’ll find it a valuable tool for helping you to keep track of your health care (especially when visiting the hospital).

10 WAYS TO PREVENT MEDICAL ERRORS
by Karen Garloch, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
10-17-11
 
  1. Expect mistakes and have an advocate with you in the hospital.
  2. Check every medicine. Make sure the dose is right. If you don’t know the correct dose – ASK.
  3. Be assertive. “Being nice can get you killed.”
  4. When in doubt, “say No.” Demand an explanation.
  5. Be vigilant during transitions, from one floor to another, or when shifts change.
  6. Alert the nurse or “rapid response team,” if something seems wrong.
  7. When discharged from the hospital, get detailed instructions and contact information. Know what symptoms might signal a worsening situation or infection.
  8. Hospital doctors may never speak to your primary care physician. Take your records and don’t assume doctors already know what’s in them.
  9. Double-check everything. Don’t assume no news is good news or that test results are always correct. Get copies of lab results in a timely fashion. If something seems wrong, request a repeat.
  10. Take a friend or family member to doctor’s visits. Nearly every error made in the hospital can also be made in the outpatient setting. A second pair of eyes and ears can be very useful in getting instructions and spotting problems.
 
PATIENT CHECKLIST
  • Take a list of your top health concerns/symptoms.
  • Ask your doctor for a recap to make sure you’ve been heard.
  • Take notes or record the conversation so you can remember.
  • Carry a list of all your medicines and supplements.
  • Find out about the most common and serious side effects your medicines may cause (a great resource for chemotherapy drug information is www.chemocare.com).
  • Ask the doctor how confident he is about your diagnosis. Find out what else could be causing your symptoms.
  • Get a second opinion.
  • Ask health care providers to wash their hands before they examine you.
  • Keep track of your progress: Keep a diary of relevant measurements such as weight, blood pressure, blood sugar.
  • Be vigilant when moving from one health care setting to another. Mistakes and oversights are especially common during transitions.
  • Ask how to get in touch with health care providers. Get phone numbers or email addresses, and learn when to report problems.
(c)2011 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.
 
I realize these lists make it seem like the medical establishment is out to get you. That  isn’t the case at all. Most medical staff really care about your health and well-being. But in a hospital there are so many people working with you that important pieces of information can be lost in the shuffle.
 
You are the only one who can be responsible for yourself. And for keeping track of all of the information you need to return to health.
 
Be your own advocate. Make sure that your needs are met however uncomfortable it makes you feel to ask for clarification. Studies have found that the patient who refuses to take NO for an answer is the one most likely to get better (see #3 above).

Cancer care in Brantford, Ontario

Posted December 20th, 2011 in Cancer, Cancer Prevention Strategies by Rebecca Lane

This afternoon I received a request for information about alternative cancer care treatment options in Brantford, ON. I put the call out to all of my online contacts and this is what we have found out to this point. I’m posting it here so that anyone else looking for this help will be able to access it. Thanks to Lee Overton for providing most of this research here!

  1. Nutritionist – Julie Daniluk of the Big Carrot recommended
    Irene Yaychuk-Arabei, DNM
    Holistique
    Brantford, ON
    (519) 752-7373
    shakti1@rogers.com
    https://www.brant.net/holistique/bios.htm
  2. One of the only Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practioners in Brantford is Monica Wecklein.  She’s wonderful and very effective. She recently opened up her own place at her home (converted her garage to a wellness spa equipped with a Hydro Therapy tub).  She also trained in natural therapies and consulted clients for 10 years in Ottawa before moving to Brantford and becoming a TCM practioner.  She also holds a degree in Psychology. Monica Wecklein
    48 Tutela Heights Rd.
    Brantford, ON N3T 1A1
    519 752-0305
  3. Chiropractic
    Harmony Chiropractic recently hired a holistic nutritionist.  I haven’t heard of any others so far or tried this one. However, we have experienced their chiropractic services (Sublaxation) which is the same as the typical Chiropractor treatments. They understand overall wellness and seem to be building their business to support this. https://www.harmonychiropractic.ca/
    124 Charing Cross St
    Brantford, ON N3R 2J1
    (519) 756-1303
  4. Kathleen Gorden is a very experienced yoga teacher who has started a Restorative yoga in her home studio.  I was very happy to see this as it’s hard to find Restorative yoga in Brantford. If you are not familar with Restorative yoga it’s very healing and and a form of gentle exercise. She’s had lots of experience with people living with Cancer.  She is also does wonderful meditationwhich is so healing.  She does private classes too and is very reasonable.kathleen.yoga@rogers.com
  5. Naturopaths
    As far as Naturopaths go I’m currently in transition.  Amy Tweedle my former one moved so I’m meeting a new one in Cambridge this week.  Dr. Reid is his name and I’ve heard great things about him and the centre.  He partners and consults with an MD so they can do all kinds of tests that regular Naturopaths can’t.   They also work with a compounding pharmacy which is sweet and hard to find. They also have a nutritionist on staff.There is also Holistic Healing Arts. Dr. Alfred Hauk the owner would be the one I’d explore as some of the others are pretty fresh out of school https://www.ndoc.ca/about-us/who-we-are. He’s got a pre-med background from Germany and has been doing this for a long time.  We’re also investigating Complimentary Healing Arts (a.k.a The Anello Clinic).  They do have a waiting list but that might be waived in a cancer situation.
    https://www.anelloclinic.com/services/index.html
    401 Laurel Street,
    Cambridge (Preston), ON
    N3H 3Y7
    519 653 3731The Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors also has this listing available of ND’s in Brantford, but no information about their areas of specialty: https://www.cand.ca/Find_an_ND.findnd.0.html?&no_cache=1&L=0&no_cache=1
  6. Acupuncture – Ryan Ess suggests Dr. Tom McChesney who is located in Ancaster nearby. He does Contemporary Medical Acupuncture.
  7. For supplements try Tip Top Health Shop (Colborne and Clarence) or S&H Health Store (in the Galaxy Cinema plaza) as they are the more inexpensive options.  Both will order things in.

This is not a complete list and as we find more treatment options available to people in Brantford, ON we will post them here. Turning Point Nutrition has not worked with any of these therapists but has worked with the people who provided their names to us.

We hope that they can serve you well.

Incoming search terms:

  • holistique brantford
  • irene yaychuk
  • irene yaychuk brantford

Alkalising the body for healing

Two Phases of Disease and Health

A couple of weekends ago, I had the privilege of attending a META-medicine weekend taught by Richard Flook (www.whyamisick.com). META-medicine combines many energetic tools with the research of German New Medicine (https://www.germannewmedicine.ca/). I’m not going to go into a lot of detail, but if you want to learn more about both or either of these methodologies I encourage you to visit their sites and read Richard’s book (Why Am I Sick) for a new way of looking at disease.

From a nutritional perspective, I wanted to discuss the two phases of disease so that you might be able to understand how our body works with respect to the food it craves.

According to both META-medicine and GNM, after the body undergoes a shock, there are two main phases – stress (immediately after the Significant Emotional Experience 2) followed by rest.

During the stress phase, the body is reacting from the Sympathetic Nervous System programming of fight, or flight. The blood thins, the blood pressure increases – the body is in a state of alertness and needs to be naturally acidic. To maintain this state, the cells are working and need energy. We need energy foods, and supplements or drugs that keep the body in this state of alertness. We crave foods like red meat, dairy, high sugar and salt foods, processed foods (quick energy), drinks like alcohol, caffeine, tea, high energy drinks, supplements such as caffeine tablets, drugs such as cortisone, smoking and chemotherapy. These foods both give quick energy and are acidic.

Activities such as sports, watching certain sports, intensive travel, fighting, arguing, worry all increase acidity further.

In the second phase, our body needs to heal and rest. The body is reacting from the Parasympathetic Nervous System patterns of digesting, relaxing and repair. The blood thickens, the blood pressure drops, the body becomes more alkaline.

To heal, the body needs to eat foods that alkalise, such as vegetables, some fruit, beans, grains and nuts, drinks such as camomile teas and fruit teas, supplements like Magnesium and Selenium.

This rest and regeneration phase is assisted by activities such as massage, meditation, energetic healing, yoga, emotional clearing techniques and naps during the day.

Our diets reflect what we are going through in our lives as well. We are naturally attracted to the foods that our bodies require in order to do the job they need to do. In addition, many of us are eating foods through habit, which keep our bodies stuck in the stress phase. The longer our bodies stay in the stress phase the harder it is to remove all of the toxins built up through the energy production and the break down of the cells.

In our current stressful lifestyles, it often takes the combination of an alkalising diet, meditation and mental clearing, and a detoxification program in order for our bodies to be able to regenerate and heal.

There’s a lot of information available online about alkalising diets, but I personally like best the information from Robert and Shelly Young who wrote The pH Miracle. Their blog is an excellent resource: Articles of Health. And you can get a free list of alkaline foods if you sign in at Energise for Life. A vegetarian diet that focuses on lots of raw and steamed vegetables (juicing is great too as long as you’re eating fibre elsewhere in your diet), sea vegetables, protein from the combination of whole grains (brown rice, kamut, quinoa, oats, teff, spelt, bulgur, amaranth), nuts and seeds, and beans, lentils and peas. Small amounts of fish and chicken can be added once the pH of your saliva starts to stabilize around 7.365. The longer you’ve been living a stress-filled lifestyle, the longer you’ll need to alkalise.

One caveat – If you decide to take alkalising supplements, I strongly recommend that you have the support of a naturopathic or homeopathic practioner. Also, your stomach needs to be acidic in order to digest food so you don’t want to be alkalising within one hour of eating.

Why spiritual connection is essential for physical health and healing

Posted October 4th, 2011 in Cancer Prevention Strategies, Psychology of Disease by Rebecca Lane

Caroline Dupont will be interviewed on the Health Lady tomorrow!

This Wednesday, October 5th at 4 pm (EST) Nancy Desjardins will be interviewing me to explore: ‘Why spiritual connection is essential for physical health and healing’
  • How are physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health connected?
  • How do emotions affect our health? our health choices?
  • How do we let go of emotions that are no longer serving us?
  • How do we get beyond the stress and worry of our health challenges?
  • How do we connect to the best choices on our unique health journey?
  • Why is it so important to have a meditation practice for our physical well-being? 

I hope you can join us!

 
If you can’t make it for the live call, you will have access to the live replay later.

Something is not quite right

Posted October 4th, 2011 in Cancer Prevention Strategies, Psychology of Disease by Rebecca Lane

Your meditation practice is personal to you. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be!

I just received this wonderful letter from my colleague Caroline Dupont and wanted to share it with my readers too in hopes that you will enjoy the message as much as I did. Sherri Doak and I will be cooking for Caroline at her Deep Healing Retreat in October in Midland and look forward to meeting lots of new people and sharing great ideas there! Enjoy the letter (by the way, the woman to the left is neither Caroline nor me – it’s a pic I found online. I would like to meditate here, but on a cushion!):

“‘Now’ is just what’s happening – minus everything that you think.” Adyashanti

Dear friends,

I hope this finds you happy and well.

One of the things that I’ve noticed in me and others is a fundamental tendency to evaluate our lives on a moment to moment basis with an overall sense that something is not quite right, or even that something is deeply wrong. 

The object of our dissatisfaction, the ‘something’ itself, generally changes from one day to the next, or one year to the next. It could be our weight, our health, our partner, or lack of partner, our job, our financial situation, our children, time constraints, or tiny details like the temperature of the soup, the scratch on our car, the way our hair looks today… no matter how hard we try to make things ‘perfect’  there is always something lacking.

Is it possible to move beyond this existential tension?

Many people have asked this question and the answer most often seems to be a regular meditation practice. Ask Carolyn Myss, or the Dalai Lama, or Deepak Chopra, or  Wayne Dyer.

We need stillness to see the truth.

The beauty of a regular meditation practice is that it gives us a rare glimpse of our lives from the very ground of our being, that sees no fundamental problem and in fact sees from deep and far enough to grasp that no matter what is going on in the physical world, no matter how our mind interprets current circumstances, there is actually never a single molecule out of place. To experience this fully is a deep gift because from this new perspective we cease to move through life from a place of dissatisfaction and problem solving. 

This is not to say that change is not needed because it is, but when we approach change from this deeper place we are engaging an energy that will help us to respond to life’s challenges, not with resistance, but with greater clarity, accuracy and access to appropriate action.

This is how lives are transformed.

In order to experience the best that meditation can offer…

  • Do your best to maintain a daily meditation practice.
  • Incorporate body-based awareness in your meditation practice rather than using techniques to by-pass to ‘spiritual’ states.
  • Regardless of the techniques used in your practice, incorporate ‘no technique’ regularly – put it all down and completely let go for at least some of your practice.
  • If you’re having a difficult time staying with your meditation practice you are likely very close to a significant emotional layer and subconsciously avoiding it. Get some help. This is something that I do in one-on-one consultations in person, over the phone, or on skype.
  • Take a meditation class.
  • Attend retreats. They are one of the most powerful ways to move through significant emotional layers to access your true nature, and transform your life. Each retreat is an opportunity to show up with sincerity and openness to the mystery of the deepening process.

Here are some upcoming opportunities:

“The mind doesn’t rest as a result of getting its questions answered; it comes to rest when we see through the incessant drive to know.” Adyashanti

All blessings to you,
Caroline
www.carolinedupont.com

PS > that last quote really resonates with me. Thank you so much Caroline for adding it!

New research finds fructose may be cancer cells’ preferred fuel source

Posted September 29th, 2011 in Cancer Prevention Strategies by Rebecca Lane

I just finished reading this article from Dr. Mercola’s web site. I think you’ll agree that the information is very interesting. As well the tables showing the amount of fructose available in popular fruit is a valuable tool. Here is the article reprinted in its entirety. (or Click here to link to the article.)

Is this Simple Sugar a Major Factor in the Failure of the War on Cancer? Posted By Dr. Mercola | September 29 2011

There’s compelling evidence and agreement by many experts that excessive fructose is toxic to your body. Unlike fructose, nearly every cell in your body can directly use glucose. However fructose is primarily metabolized in your liver and can serve as a substrate for increasing cancer cell growth.

Fructose Helps Cancer Cells Thrive
ALL forms of sugar are detrimental to health in general and promote cancer, but in slightly different ways, and to a different extent, as I’ll explain later. Fructose, however, clearly seems to be one of the most harmful sugars. A new article in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets reviewed the relationship between increased dietary refined sugar and cancer risk, with specific emphasis on the monosaccharide fructose. The researchers noted:

“Recent observations indicate that cancer cells readily utilize fructose to support proliferation and preferentially use fructose for nucleic acid synthesis.”

They named several ways in which dietary fructose can promote cancer growth, including:

  • Altered cellular metabolism
  • Increased reactive oxygen species (free radicals)
  • DNA damage
  • Inflammation

Research published in the journal Cancer Research also showed that the way the different sugars are metabolized (using different metabolic pathways) is of MAJOR consequence when it comes to feeding cancer and making it proliferate. According to the authors:

” Importantly, fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different … These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation.”

In this case, the cancer cells used were pancreatic cancer, which is typically regarded as the most deadly and universally rapid-killing form of cancer. The study confirms the old adage that sugar feeds cancer because they found that tumor cells do thrive on sugar (glucose). However, the cells used fructose for cell division, speeding up the growth and spread of the cancer.

Why is This a MAJOR Threat to Public Health?
Whether you’re simply interested in preventing cancer, or have cancer and want to live longer, you ignore these facts and listen to industry propaganda that fructose is safe and no different from other common sweeteners at your own risk. The truth of the matter is that fructose may very well be the most pernicious influence in the Standard American Diet, and is virtually guaranteed to cause chronic disease if consumed in excess.

The major problem is, the vast majority of Americans are consuming fructose at levels 3-600% of the upper limit!

Further, most people are seriously confused about fructose and still believe it is a “healthy” type of sugar because it is found naturally in fruits and touted as having a low glycemic index. But this is not a matter of eating an apple or a handful of raisins as a snack. Fructose, in one form or another, can be found in five of the 10 top sources of calories in America, and in some cases (particularly when processed or from a restaurant) may actually be in ALL of them:

  1. Grain-based desserts (cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, crisps, cobblers, and granola bars) 139 calories a day
  2. Yeast breads, 129 calories a day
  3. Chicken and chicken-mixed dishes, 121 calories a day
  4. Soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks, 114 calories a day
  5. Pizza, 98 calories a day
  6. Alcoholic beverages
  7. Pasta and pasta dishes
  8. Mexican mixed dishes
  9. Beef and beef-mixed dishes
  10.  Dairy desserts

If you’re interested in preventing cancer, my recommendation is to keep your total fructose intake below 25 grams of fructose per day, if you’re in good health. Most people will also benefit from limiting your fructose from fruit to 15 grams a day, and, if you need to lose weight, you likely will need to limit your total fructose consumption to 15 grams a day total, including that from fruit.

If you have cancer, however, you’ll want to reduce your total fructose consumption to below 10 grams per day from all sources, including fruit.

Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose
Limes 1 medium 0
Lemons 1 medium 0.6
Cranberries 1 cup 0.7
Passion fruit 1 medium 0.9
Prune 1 medium 1.2
Apricot 1 medium 1.3
Guava 2 medium 2.2
Date (Deglet Noor style) 1 medium 2.6
Cantaloupe 1/8 of med. melon 2.8
Raspberries 1 cup 3.0
Clementine 1 medium 3.4
Kiwifruit 1 medium 3.4
Blackberries 1 cup 3.5
Star fruit 1 medium 3.6
Cherries, sweet 10 3.8
Strawberries 1 cup 3.8
Cherries, sour 1 cup 4.0
Pineapple 1 slice
(3.5″ x .75″) 4.0
Grapefruit, pink or red 1/2 medium 4.3
Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose
Boysenberries 1 cup 4.6
Tangerine/mandarin orange 1 medium 4.8
Nectarine 1 medium 5.4
Peach 1 medium 5.9
Orange (navel) 1 medium 6.1
Papaya 1/2 medium 6.3
Honeydew 1/8 of med. melon 6.7
Banana 1 medium 7.1
Blueberries 1 cup 7.4
Date (Medjool) 1 medium 7.7
Apple (composite) 1 medium 9.5
Persimmon 1 medium 10.6
Watermelon 1/16 med. melon 11.3
Pear 1 medium 11.8
Raisins 1/4 cup 12.3
Grapes, seedless (green or red) 1 cup 12.4
Mango 1/2 medium 16.2
Apricots, dried 1 cup 16.4
Figs, dried 1 cup 23.0

What Makes Sugar so Appealing to Cancer Cells?
In 1931 the Nobel Prize was awarded to German researcher Dr. Otto Warburg, who first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. Malignant tumors tend to use a process where glucose is used as a fuel by the cancer cells, creating lactic acid as a byproduct. The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to your liver.

This conversion of glucose to lactic acid generates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid buildup.

This is a very inefficient pathway for energy metabolism, which extracts only about 5 percent of the available energy in your food supply. In simplistic terms, the cancer is “wasting” energy, which leads you to become both tired and undernourished, and as the vicious cycle continues, will lead to the body wasting so many cancer patients experience.

Additionally, carbohydrates from glucose and sucrose significantly decreases the capacity of neutrophils to do their job. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that help cells to envelop and destroy invaders, such as cancer. Meanwhile, fructose appears to be preferred by cancer cells for cell division, which contributes to its growth and spreading throughout your body. Even though the theory that sugar feeds cancer was born nearly 80 years ago, most conventional cancer programs STILL do not adequately address diet and the need to avoid sugars and fructose if you have cancer.

As Patrick Quillin, PHD, RD, CNS wrote more than a decade ago:

“During the last 10 years I have worked with more than 500 cancer patients as director of nutrition for Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Tulsa, Okla. It puzzles me why the simple concept “sugar feeds cancer” can be so dramatically overlooked as part of a comprehensive cancer treatment plan. Of the million[s of] cancer patients being treated in America today, hardly any are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy beyond being told to “just eat good foods.” Most patients I work with arrive with a complete lack of nutritional advice.”

Artificial Sweeteners are NOT a Safe Sugar Alternative
You may be tempted to swap sugar for artificial sweeteners, but these can damage your health even more quickly than fructose. In fact, there are already hundreds of published studies linking artificial sweeteners like aspartame, which is widely used in diet soda and many other diet foods, to serious health complications. Cori Brackett’s documentary film Sweet Misery is an excellent summary of the problems with aspartame.

You can also view my interview with Victoria Innes-Brown, who over a 2.5-year period performed a set of meticulous and detailed experiments, documenting the effects of using aspartame liquid comparable to diet soda on mice. This included not only large tumors but also neurological effects, paralysis, skin disorders and symptoms of cerebral palsy.

Recent research has also linked diet soda consumption to higher rates of strokes, heart attacks and other lethal vascular events as well as metabolic syndrome.

There is literally enough evidence showing the dangers of consuming artificial sweeteners to fill an entire book — which is exactly why I wrote Sweet Deception. If you or your loved ones drink diet beverages or eat sugar free foods, this book will explain how you’ve been deceived about the truth behind artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose.

For times when you want to add a bit of sweetness to your food or beverages, try using the herb stevia instead. It’s a safe, natural plant that’s has been around for over 1,500 years and is ideal if you’re watching your weight, or if you’re maintaining your health by avoiding sugar. It is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar and has virtually no calories.

Alternatively, you could use Lo Han or pure glucose (dextrose) as a sweetener. It costs about $1 a pound and does not cause many of the adverse biochemical disasters that fructose does.

It is only 70 percent as sweet as sucrose though, so you’ll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than sucrose—but still well worth it for your health as it has ZERO grams of fructose. Glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is far safer than the metabolic poison fructose.

Solid Nutrition is Paramount if You Want to Beat Cancer
You’re probably well aware of the link between the foods you eat and your risk of cancer. But if you’re not then please understand that virtually everything you put into (or onto) your body can either help or hinder your natural healing mechanisms, and thereby influence your risk of cancer and your ability to heal from it.

This is not an “alternative” view at all. Rather, even the conservative American Cancer Society states that one-third of cancer deaths are linked to poor diet, physical inactivity, and carrying excess weight.

However, cancer rates are escalating because modern medicine is in no way, shape or form addressing these underlying causes of most cancers. If ever there was an area in which an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure it is cancer. I strongly believe that if you are able to work your way up to the advanced health plan, you will virtually eliminate the risk of most cancers. What is often overlooked, though, is that if you already have cancer it is also crucial that you use nutritious foods to help boost your immune system and heal, and this includes avoiding fructose and other sugars.

The Gerson Research Organization maintains a collection of reports documenting the research behind one nutritional approach, the Gerson Therapy, as well as the role of diet on cancer, and you can hear anecdotes from patients who have improved using this nutritional therapy here.

Many of the success stories include people whose conventional doctors gave no hope for recovery, who were able to overcome their disease against all odds using not toxic cancer drugs but natural fruits and vegetables. The system is not a miracle cure for everyone, and even the Gerson Institute states that “No treatment works for everyone, every time” … but most conventional physicians offer only ONE route for cancer treatment — drugs, radiation and surgery — while ignoring or discounting alternative options such as the power of dietary modifications using healthy foods.

What Else Can You do to Prevent and Fight Cancer?
Along with limiting your intake of sugar and fructose, there are several other things you can do for yourself, right now, not only to prevent cancer, but to make sure you have the best chance of recovery if you do get it. Because cancer is almost wholly a man-made disease, it’s especially important to recognize that you do have power over many factors that could cause you to get cancer. Taking control of your health will put you in a position to make the best health decisions possible if you do get cancer.

Here’s a list to get you started on a cancer prevention plan:

  1. Radically reduce your sugar consumption. Normalizing your insulin levels is one of the most powerful physical actions you can take to lower your risk of cancer, and in order to do so, cutting sugars and grains out of your diet is a must.Eliminating fructose is one of the most important sugars to initially concentrate on. Again, if you have cancer, you’ll want to reduce that to below 10 grams per day from all sources.
  2. Optimize your vitamin D levels. There’s overwhelming evidence pointing to the fact that vitamin D deficiency plays a crucial role in cancer development. Researchers within this field have estimated that about 30 percent of cancer deaths might be prevented each year simply by optimizing the vitamin D levels in the general population. On a personal level, you can decrease your risk of cancer by MORE THAN HALF simply by getting optimal sun exposure year-round.Alternatively, you could use a safe tanning bed, or, as a last resort, an oral vitamin D3 supplement. Remember the BEST way to raise your vitamin D level is by sun exposure. If you are being treated for cancer it is likely that higher blood levels—probably around 80-90 ng/ml—would be beneficial. To learn the details on how to use vitamin D therapeutically, please review my previous article, Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency.
  3. Exercise regularly. There’s compelling evidence indicating that exercise can slash your risk of cancer, primarily by reducing elevated insulin levels and normalizing estrogen. For example, women who exercise regularly can reduce their breast cancer risk by 20 to 30 percent compared to those who are inactive. I prefer to view exercise like a drug that needs to be carefully prescribed and performed at a high enough intensity to achieve its maximum benefit.It’s important to include a large variety of techniques in your exercise routine. Additionally it is likely that integrating exercise with intermittent fasting will greatly catalyze the potential of exercise to reduce your risk of cancer and stimulate widespread healing and rejuvenation.
  4. Get appropriate amounts of high-quality animal-based omega-3 fats.
  5. Eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, they should be fresh and organic. Cruciferous vegetables in particular have been identified as having potent anti-cancer properties. Seriously consider vegetable, not fruit, juicing.
  6. Use a variety of relaxing tools such as meditation, yoga and social support to manage and relieve emotional stress in your life. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed.
  7. Maintain an ideal body weight.
  8. Get enough high-quality sleep.
  9. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners, air pollution, and plastic toxins like BPA.
  10. Reduce your use of cell phones and other wireless technologies, and implement as many safety strategies as possible if/when you cannot avoid their use.
  11. Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them.
  12. Avoid artificial sweeteners, which are actually worse for your health than sugar, and have been linked to brain tumors.