How to Help During Cancer Treatment

Having a family member, friend or co-worker battle against cancer is one of the hardest and worst realities in life. No one likes to help someone deal with cancer, but at some point almost all of us will have the opportunity to walk beside someone we care about through one of the most difficult times of their life: cancer treatment.

I have had the privilege (and I do mean privilege) of helping out both of my parents and one of my closest friends during their weeks and months of cancer treatments. At first I was quite intimidated and unsure of how to help in such serious and life-threatening situations. I thought because I didn't know the perfect things to do that I couldn't do anything at all. Was I wrong.

Some of the best ways to help out a friend or loved one as their undergo cancer treatment is in the most practical ways. Don't look past how helpful cleaning their bathrooms, doing their dishes, or collecting their garbage can be. It is an amazing thing to get down and dirty on behalf of someone else. Look around and simply see what needs to be done. Mow their lawn, plant some fresh flowers, or get their car cleaned on the inside and out.

Taking care of the family of the one getting cancer treatment is one of the most helpful things you can do, especially when there are children involved. Offer to take the children to school and pick them up, or invite the kids over to your house for frequent sleepovers during the cancer treatment. It will be good for the parents and good for the kids to be separated during such a hard time. Involve the kids in doing something special for their parent who is in cancer treatment. Take the kids to a boutique that allows you to paint your own pottery, for example. Help the kids make something memorable for their loved one. You can do simple things for the family of someone who is in cancer treatment like go grocery shopping, prepare meals or take their family out to special meals.

Far too often people think that helping out during a time of crisis such as cancer treatment that they have to do extraordinary things. The truth is that it is the ordinary things that need to happen long before anything else will be helpful. There is no doubt that dealing with cancer or undergoing cancer treatment is extremely hard. But the support and help of friends and families can make even the worst things in life better.

By: → Martin Stoleman

Tips For Preventing Cancer

Cancer is one of the most feared diseases of all time. There are so many different kinds of cancer that can strike both men and women, even children.

While modern medicine does claim a little success in eliminating some kinds of cancer, its failure rate is dastardly!

The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 1,400,000 will be diagnosed with cancer in 2006. Over ½ million will die of cancer in 2006. In addition, it is believed that 41.28% of men and women born today will be diagnosed with cancer at some time during their lifetime. This is nearly one person in two.

As frightening as the statistics are, there is so much that we can all do to reduce our odds of being a victim of cancer!

Nobel prize winner, Dr. Otto Warburg, found that healthy cells obtain their energy from oxygen, while cancer cells get their energy from fermentation, or the production of sugars! Cancer is caused by an oxygen deficient, glucose-rich (sugar) environment. Cancer cannot exist when the body is flooded with aerobic oxygen!

The body needs to have a proper pH balance (potential Hydrogen) in order to be in optimum health. A higher pH is more alkaline and oxygen rich. A lower pH is more acid and deprived of oxygen. A pH of 7.0 or higher is alkaline. Below 7.0 is considered to be acidic.

Some basic guidelines for eating to help balance your pH include:

• Drink a lot of water.

• Eliminate all soda pop.

• Reduce the amount of meat you eat.

• Minimize your consumption of sugar and sweets.

• Eat a lot of vegetables, including raw vegetables.

Much great information and more detail on balancing the pH, plus guidelines for eating can be found at www.hopeforcancer.com

Other tips that may be beneficial to helping you prevent cancer, I believe, should include the following:

1. Get regular exercise.

2. Get adequate sleep.

3. Consume good quality vitamin and mineral supplements.

4. Reduce stress in your life.

5. Laugh.

6. Have at least one or two pets. Dogs & cats can be wonderful friends to have

around.

7. Do not smoke cigarettes.

8. Use natural cleaning products as much as possible.

9. Avoid excessive use of pesticides.

10. Eat organic foods when possible and fewer processed foods. Fruits, vegetables and meats can all be obtained organically. Foods grown organically have been grown without the use of pesticides and usually have a higher vitamin-mineral content than conventionally-grown foods.

11. Do internal cleanses. Our bodies acquire numerous parasites and toxins. Probably over 90% of our diseases are caused by these parasites and toxins. Your local health-food store should be able to give you good information about various kinds of cleanses.

In summary, if your body is healthy & you rarely get sick because you are practicing good health habits, your chances of avoiding the perils of cancer are excellent!

By: → Judy Thompson

Avoiding Cancer The Natural Way

Despite the billions spent racing for the cure, the overall mortality rate from cancer has not changed in six decades. Though we have launched an attack that has left tobacco retreating, we expect a shortage of oncologists in 2020 to care for the one in two men and one-third of women expected to develop cancer in their lifetimes. In the educated, health-conscious county of Marin, California, one in four women is destined to suffer from breast cancer.

Why? Keep in mind that 80–95% of cancers have an environmental component and may be preventable through awareness and action. Considering the vast number of chemicals we have introduced into our environment in the past 60 years, it is tempting to feel like proverbial “sitting ducks” awaiting massacre by carcinogens. But some of the greatest threats have been there all along, and are easy to eliminate, or at least control.

1. Test Your Home for Radon

Following smoking, radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S, and it is completely avoidable. Spend $20 to purchase a radon detection kit, and have your home vented if needed. Radon has been found in all regions, new and old construction alike.

2. Enjoy the Sun Safely

Nearly 50% of Americans are expected to develop some form of skin cancer during their lifetime. Cover up, use hats and umbrellas, and avoid direct sunlight between 11am-3pm. Pack the sunscreen, but keep in mind that sunscreen has not been shown conclusively to prevent skin cancer.

On the other side of the equation, it is estimated that 24,000 people die from cancer in the U.S. each year from lack of sun exposure (more than twice the number that die from skin cancer). A recent study showed that those individuals who got 2000 IU’s of vitamin D daily had half the risk of breast cancer and only one-third the risk of colon cancer; 10-15 minutes in the sun with 40% of the body exposed can result in the absorption of 2000-5000 IU’s.

3. Practice Safe Sex

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the cause of cervical cancer and is believed to be responsible for 25% of oral cancers in the U.S. as well. Hepatitis C is the leading cause of liver cancer in the U.S. Hepatitis B is the leading cause of liver cancer worldwide. All of these can be transmitted sexually. Fortunately, safe sex in a monogamous relationship has been linked with a lower risk of cancer in both men and women!

4. Open Your Windows

The Environmental Protection Agency has ranked indoor air quality 4th in environmental causes of cancer. Open windows and use good ventilation. Avoid wood burning stoves and fireplaces. Purchase a few house plants. NASA has determined that common houseplants can absorb common household carcinogens like formaldehyde.

5. Be Cautious with Chemicals

Only 2% of chemicals used in commerce have been tested for carcinogenicity. Use gloves, wear masks, read labels, and read Material Data Safety Sheets on chemicals you are exposed to at work. At home, go through your closets and toss conventional cleaning products, selecting environmentally friendly alternatives. The book Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time, provides a list of the most common household carcinogens, and alternatives that are available.

6. Eat Healthily

Eating 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables per day halves your risk of developing cancer. While “super foods” have been studied for their role in cancer prevention, our number one recommendation is to eat a wide variety of foods. This increases the chance you will get the nutrients you need to avoid cancer, while minimizing exposure to possible carcinogens. This can also help you maintain a healthy weight. Obesity is the second leading preventable cause of cancer, rapidly on its way to win the gold medal, as tobacco use declines and obesity soars.

7. Find a Holistic Doctor

Some medications--even a few which are commonly prescribed for minor infections--are listed on California’s Proposition 65 as cancer causing agents in humans. Although most X-ray procedures are clearly needed, ask about alternatives. Women who are genetically predisposed to breast cancer have a 4-fold increased incidence of developing cancer if they are exposed to chest X-rays prior to age 20. Though total body CT scans in individuals without symptoms are advertised for “prevention,” they have not been shown to increase survival by picking up disease at an earlier stage. They do, however, expose you to radiation--equal to the amount you would have received 2.4 km from the center of the Hiroshima atomic bomb blast.

Make sure you are up to date on preventive health care visits. There has been controversy over the benefits of mammograms and prostate screenings, but screening Pap smears and colonoscopies have clearly saved lives. Also, keep a detailed family history and share this with your health-care provider, so he or she can recommend further screening if needed.

8. Avoid Pesticides

Children who are exposed to home and garden pesticides are up to seven times more likely to develop leukemia. Dogs that live in homes where chemical weed killers are used are three times more likely to develop lymphomas. Hand-pull weeds or use alternative landscaping. Go organic, and minimize your exposure to all pesticides.

9. Limit Alcohol Intake

Red wine has blanketed the news for its virtues, but a word of caution is deserved. Alcohol intake is currently responsible for 3.6% of cancer deaths in the U.S. Men should limit their alcohol intake to two drinks per day, and women, one. Resveratrol, the cancer-fighting phytochemical found in red wine, can be found in regular grape juice.

10. Don’t Smoke! (Or Breathe Second-Hand Smoke)

As you know, smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. and a major health risk.

By: → Lynne Eldridge M.D

Prevent Cancer by Eating Berries

It has been well established that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is helpful in preventing many diseases including cancer.

What has also been feverishly investigated is the effects of berries on the body. Some researchers have studied the health benefit of specific berries while others have focused on isolating the health-promoting bioactive compounds that give berries their claim to fame.

Some of the known cancer-preventive agents present in berries include vitamins A, C, and E and folic acid; calcium and selenium; beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and lutein; phytosterols such as beta-sitosterol and stigmasterol; triterpene esters; and phenolic molecules such as anthocyanins, flavonols, proanthocyanidins, ellagitannins, and phenolic acids. Berries contain high levels of a diverse range of phytochemicals, most of which are phenolic molecules.

If you’re not familiar with the majority of these compounds then don’t worry. They are all more or less different types of antioxidants. That berries exhibit potent antioxidative properties is widely accepted, but their biological properties extend beyond antioxidation.

In fact, berries also exhibit anti-inflammatory properties, are able to inhibit cell proliferation, modulate cell cycle arrest, and induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) in cancer cells with little or no negative effects in normal cells.

These traits make berries an awesome addition to any health-minded diet.

For example, a 2006 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that blackberry, black raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, red raspberry, and strawberry extracts inhibit the growth of human oral, breast, colon, and prostate cancer cells.

In 2006, the journal Nutrition and Cancer published a 6-month cancer-preventive pilot study that was conducted by administering 32g or 45g (female and male, respectively) of freeze dried black raspberry powder (BRB) to patients with Barrett’s esophagus (BE), a pre-cancerous esophageal condition.

BE’s importance lies in the fact that it confers a 30-40-fold increased risk for the development of esophageal adenocarcinoma, a rapidly increasing and extremely deadly form of cancer. At the time of the publication, interim findings from 10 patients with BE supported the finding that daily consumption of BRB promoted reductions in two markers of oxidative stress.

So it goes without saying that berries are a blessing. As a rule of thumb, any food (or berry) that has a deep colourful hue will most likely be a high source of antioxidants. The key is to incorporate a wide variety of different colours in order to benefit from all their respective antioxidant properties.

Add berries to your smoothies, to your morning cereal and salads, or enjoy them on their own. Here’s a berry-licious recipe to get your taste buds started:

Berry Fusion Breakfast

½ cup each of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries

¼ cup goji berries, soaked (optional)

4 tbsp shredded dried coconut

1 cup rice or nut milk of choice

•combine berries in a bowl, sprinkle coconut overtop, and top with milk.

Nutrition Expert, Yuri Elkaim and his groundbreaking book, Eating for Energy, have helped thousands of people in over 80 countries regain control of their health and weight. Watch his new You Tube Video and discover a delicious GREEN smoothie recipe that will keep you energized and nourished. For more on his revolutionary healthy eating book visit http://www.EatingforEnergy.ca.

By: → Yuri Elkaim