Cancer

That is the scariest word in the English language. Almost everyone in the US has been touched by it in some way, either personally or through a close friend or family member. Families can be financially ruined by the medical costs associated with cancer, with or without the patient surviving.

Cancer is present in every human body all the time. They are actually our own cells where something has gone wrong in the reproduction process. Our immune systems are programmed to search out cancer cells and destroy them. We 'get cancer' when the body makes more of these cells than the immune system can destroy. This can happen either when something goes wrong where more than normal are produced, or when our immune system is compromised and is unable to keep up the job of search and destroy.

What has found with Cancer was that given the right nutrients the body can sometimes heal itself. This doesn't always happen, but then “modern medicine” doesn't have a 100% success rate either. Most Wholistic healers attack cancer on two fronts, detoxification and regeneration.

Many of these experts recommend going on a juice fast for 6-8 weeks. This involves replacing at least two, preferably all, meals with juiced fruits and vegetables. Fruits should be confined to the morning and vegetable to the evening. This frees up the body from the process of digestion. Your body uses up to 60% of the calories eaten just to digest the food. Using juicing (not store bought/pasteurized juices) gives your body the energy and nutrients it needs, while cutting back on the energy needed to secure those nutrients. Fruits are especially known for their detoxification of the body.

Epson salt baths, clay baths and ionic foot baths are also forms of detoxification. There are also many products on the market that are listed as ‘cleanses’. These range from clays that you drink to products made with a lot of fiber to empty and clean the colon. With any internal cleanse you will need to drink plenty of water to make the product work properly. You can also get colonics or enemas, especially coffee enemas. These can be used by themselves or in addition to some of the others mentioned here.

Once you are on the path of detoxification you can think about regeneration. This is simply providing your body with the proper building blocks to rebuild itself while your immune system does the work of destroying the cancer cells. Both aspects need increased nutrition, but not necessarily increased calories. Sometimes a little supplementation is in order.

Plant Enzymes are recommended because they ensure that what you eat is actually digested and made available for the body to use. With today's growing techniques, packaging, transportation and irradiating of our fruits and vegetables many of them just don't contain the enzymes they are supposed to. Modern cooking methods also reduce the amount of enzymes in our foods. Add to that the fact that the human body produces less and less of its own enzymes as we age and you can see the need for a good quality supplement.

Plant sterols (plant fats) are found in plant sprouts. Look for ones that contain the whole sterols including the Glucosides. Together they cause the T-cells and other immune system cells to proliferate and grow faster and stronger. The T-cells are our soldiers against cancer. The more you have, and the stronger they are the better chance your body has of rooting out and destroying cancer cells in your body.

Then you need your antioxidants. These are the ammunition the body uses to fight disease. You have all heard of free radical damage. These are caused by cells that are lacking an electron, thus making them unstable. In order to regain its electrical balance the free radical (unbalanced) cell will swipe an electron from any cell it comes in contact with. With less damage in your system there is less inflammation, and your immune system is free to seek out and destroy the cancer cells.

Because these three things are lacking in today’s food supply you may want to look to supplementation on them. They will help you build a good nutritional foundation. With a good foundation the rest of your nutrition should be more stable.

Sometimes the type of cancer you have can be an indicator of what nutrients your body is lacking. Other times you have to look at things like other ‘symptoms’ or characteristics that you have. These can even be quirks in your personality indicating a nutritional imbalance. If you are unsure of what you need to be focusing on there are now tests that can tell you. Some of them you need to go through a doctor, others are available on line.

One test that may be helpful is a hair analysis. This takes a small bit of hair and looks for the minerals and toxins that are in it. The hair is one place the body shoves things when it feels it is harmful, or there is just an overabundance in your system. This can be a good starting place in designing both your nutritional plan as well as what type of detoxification would be beneficial. Another test is a blood test that looks at your vitamin reserves. This is actually one you can order off the web, without having to see a doctor. The report should help you determine what nutrients you need to get more of in your diet. It may indicate you need to supplement in some areas.

Whether you decide to fight cancer by yourself, or with the help of medical professionals getting good nutrition can only help. This is because whether you are fighting the cancer itself, or the cancer and its treatments your body needs all the nutrition it can get. Cut out the junk food, especially anything sugary. Sugar is one of the things cancer thrives on. Cut out the foods that have additives in them. Chemicals are also known to feed cancer. They don’t feed our bodies.

Our thought lives can be just as important in this fight as our foods. Having a positive attitude, putting away grudges and bitterness and being thankful for the good things in our lives can have a positive impact on our health. Negative thoughts and emotions can be just as toxic to our bodies as poisons and radiation. Feed yourself with positive thoughts and emotions just as you feed yourself with good healthy foods.

These steps sound too simplistic to fight something as scary as cancer. There are now clinics where you can go and get help without having to totally depend on chemotherapy and radiation. Some of them use a mixture of modern medicine and natural methods. Others are weighted more heavily toward the natural ways of doing things. One group that comes to my mind is the Gerson clinics.