Before being diagnosed with brest cancer, I considered myself a health nut. I thought I was doing all the right things. Eating well, getting pleanty of exercise and such was what I had learned to do to stay well. Now after a crash course in survival I realize that inspite of my best efforts, I was very ignorant to the realities of many things.
For starters, you can eat all the "healthy food" in the world , but if it is contaminated with hormones, pesticides, and preservative you are fueling the division of cancer cells. Which, by the way, we all have. I would also enjoy a glass of wine (or 3 sometimes) and had no idea that there is a relationship between alcohol use and breast cancer. A 50% increase in risk as a matter of fact.
Today I plan to share a list of the things I do each day, and over the next few weeks I will talk about each one and why I do them. I will aslo try to point you to some good research regarding each item. I generally look for what are called peer reviewed journal articles. Just a fancy way of saying that there has been sound research, which has strict requirements for it to be legit, and that a panel of experts have reviewed the research to check for any possible flaws.
I consider myself a life time student in wellness, and have learned a lot about how to keep myself as well as I can. It helps my mental frame of mind to know I am doing everything in my power to head off another terrifying recurrence. There are several aspects to wellness and within each category there or sub-categories. For instance mental wellness includes, thoughts,emotions, brain function, and beliefs- which enters into the spiritual aspects. Physical aspects include what you fuel you body with, food, drink & supplements as well as movement, which in itself has several different reasons why it is essential. And then you must also consider your environment and the people you spend time with.
Here is the list of things I consider everyday:
Food-organic, and a good dose of those foods known as anti-cancer foods (Look for more on this later. You will be shocked at what I know about our food chain). We will also look at food synergy.
Vitamin supplements ( Later I will explain each one and why they help, and the timing of taking them, in relation to maximum absorption.
Movement- Many reasons, including the essential lymph system will be explained
Light- Sunlight or full spectrum light is essential, especially for cancer patients
Air-I have 78 plants in my house, two aquariums and several fountains for moisture.
Mental-Yoga, meditation, brain exercises, spiritual practices
Skin care- Did you know that toxins also exit through skin?
Cosmetics- You won't believe what is in some of the most common things such as lotion, deodorant and more.
Water- How it has become poisoned, what you can do about it, and how it relates to PH which is very important to well being and avoiding cancer
Environment- Your home is full of toxins, I will talk about how I have been eliminating them one by one.
Medicine-Anti -hormone meds and why they are proscribed to breast cancer patients
Stress-Where do I begin? There is research to suggest that it is a key factor in breast cancer
Immune system- How does it work or not work in relation to breast cancer?
As you can see from my list there are many things you can do to protect yourself. I encourage people to be proactive, as much as we want a cure, no one actually wants to need to be cured from breast cancer. Prevention is the key, we don't want breast cancer to start with.
Tommorow: Anti-cancer foods
Whew! I am exhausted after just reading your essay on how to stay alive! :) By all aspects of what you wrote, I should have been dead years ago!! Sometimes no matter how we try, we get thrown into a life of tremendous stress just caring for others and we don't have time to worry about how poisonous what we eat is. We are just grateful to have something to eat and the energy to cook it for our family. Merilee, you sound like you must be very young. I could write a book about all your thoughts on how to survive to my age but no one would believe it. Only those who know me and what I have survived can actually believe I am still here. One day maybe I will post my secret which has amazed my doctors. Maybe one day when you are older, you may find it, too and it has nothing to do with healthy foods, exercise, and yoga. Thanks for sharing your info. I am always interested in what others "think" it takes to survive. BTW, I do hope the letter campaign is successful!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support and the flattery especially the "you must be young" part.
ReplyDeleteMy mother is 87 years old so long life is in my genes. I plan to stick around another 50 years or so. Looking at all that I do it does seem like a lot of life style changes. I am enjoying the process of learning to be at peak health. I feel great for the most part with the exception of some nerve damage in my right arm from chemo and radiation. I am being coached by an awesome wellness doctor at the Center for Optimal Health. Thanks again for visiting my blog!