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Feel really good now and the last week or so, though a little tired. Not sure if the tiredness is a function of the cancer or something else. But when I was really tried at one point, it struck me that I had forgotten, for the moment, that I have or had cancer, and the issue is not resolved. It's easy to forget. CT scan coming up, and then a week later, the surgeon's evaluation. So worried. It's impossible to make plans with this hanging over my head.
In terms of diet and spiritual development, I am not the same person I was several months ago. I was vegetarian but I was still eating dairy, eggs and sugar. All of that has changed with the reading of Dr. Will Tuttle's World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony. Sounds like a stupid title, I am sure, to some people, or like a fad. But it's not. I won't go on and on. I would encourage everyone to read it. It's really an important book, full of references to other books, as well.
The really good, legitimate books I've read state that traditional therapy (surgery, chemo, radiation) should be used, but to keep cancer from reforming (or forming in the first place), one should (in no particular order of importance):
Learn to manage your emotions so that you're not feeling hopeless, stressed, angry all the time;
4-5 cups of green tea/day;
Every day: a vegan diet with broccoli and a large assortment of fruits & vegetables, tumeric (with black pepper), cinnamon;
Avoidance of sugar;
Avoidance of white flour, white rice (sourdough bread is apparently alright, and basmati rice);
Avoidance of alcohol;
Stress management via yoga & breathing exercises;
Olive or canola oil;
Avoidance of exposure to chemicals;
Organic if available and affordable.
I'm omitting a lot w/r/t the diet, but it's all available in the books I've mentioned up the thread. This is a very different approach than the usual, if you avoid smoking and asbestos, do what you normally do because nothing else helps.
The book by the French doctor is pretty convincing (he has brain cancer, or had), with a lot of studies to back up his statements.
This may not be very P.C. of me but I'd rather live a shorter life than follow a vegan, sugar-free, alcohol-free diet.
I think a healthy diet is beneficial, but getting cancer seems to be luck of the draw. I've seen plenty of people live a completely unhealthy life and be perfectly healthy well into old age, and plenty of people who exercise and eat really well and have all kinds of health issues. I wouldn't try to dissuade anyone from eating healthy - I'm just not nearly convinced to make any major changes for myself.
SD - wow, firefighting! That has to be intense!
Trying to mentally prepare for a unilateral mastectomy next month. Talk about feeling distracted. And moody. I don't know how my co-workers or husband can deal with me right now. And trying to do my schoolwork is next to impossible. I'm getting it done but it's rough.
>> This may not be very P.C. of me but I'd rather live a shorter life than follow a vegan, sugar-free, alcohol-free diet.
I really appreciate your honesty. Probably the majority of people feel as you do, but few of them have the courage to articulate it. I can understand how you feel. For me, however, I've gone through this long learning curve of learning how to cook vegetarian, shop, and increase awareness of what factory farming does to the planet and the animals. I actually eat more, by volume, and the food is easier on me, on animals, and on the environment.
I don't know about it being PC; the politically correct view is pressed on the public by the powerful meat & dairy industries; I think, actually, the opposite is true: veganism and AR (animal rights) has only barely entered the mainstream and is still a huge source of conflict.
I guess what's important is to distinguish between fake science and real science. This can be determined, not by the end result, but by the methodology: fake science starts with a premise and then tries to prove it by research; real science starts with the research and lets the conclusion be whatever it may be, but based on facts, not wishful thinking or any opinion. This is particularly hard to do, given human character, but it's an important distinction, I think.
However odd or unlikely it may seem now, I suspect history is going to be on the side of moving away from factory farming and eating animals. Only the future will tell, and none of us will probably be around to see it. It's very meaningful for me, though; cancer is, among other factors, a function of our diets, as evidenced by the relatively recent cancer epidemics in the Western world. Kind of hard to dispute that.
I would add one more thing: it *is* harder, at least initially, to follow the food recommendations published by legitimate cancer researchers. For most people it represents a huge change. And not a change particularly welcomed by family members, either, quite often. For me, however, I live alone with a cat and can do as I like. I find I feel much, much better doing these things, and much, much worse when I don't.
Here is a list, garnered from the Anti-cancer Foods chapter of Dr. Servan-Schreiber's book:
bananas
blueberries (can be frozen)
broccoli & tomatoes (more effective, together w/ tomatoes cooked in olive oil)
celery
cherries
cinnamon
citrus fruits
dark chocolate (no sugar): 1/5 bar/ day
flax seeds (grind in coffee grinder, add to salads, soups, homemade bread)
flour: brown, multi grain, whole wheat
garlic
mushrooms, $hitake
oatmeal
olive oil: cold pressed, virgin
onions
parsley
pecans
pomegranite juice (1 cup/day)
raspberries or black raspberry extract
rice: brown or basmati
Salad greens
seaweed: nori, komba
soy: tofu, soy milk, meat substitute products from soy
spices: mint, thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil, rosemary
Stevia - "Truvia"
stone fruits (peaches, nectarines, plums)
strawberries (can be frozen)
tea, green: decaf (2-5 cups/day)
tea, Japanese: gyokura, matcha or sencha
tumeric (1/4 tsp/day), eaten with black pepper and/or ginger
Vinegars
vitamin D3 (have levels checked)
vitamin E
walnuts
wine, red: Pinot Noir, not more than 1 glass/day
Note that this alphabetized list is not printed in the book, but rather, I took notes on the chapter, and then made the list in Excel, and alphabetized it. I would add (and he mentions) legumes, which play a very important role in a vegetarian or vegan diet: split peas, beans of all sorts, and also things like hummus from garbonzo beans; I have found that anything I like, or which represents comfort and home, can be made in a vegan version.
Last edited by mvintar; 07-16-2012 at 09:08 AM..
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