Jessica was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 at age 22. After leaving her job to focus on her health, she now spends her time learning everything she can about healing. Here are her six tips on helping your body to fight cancer.
“It’s cancer”. These are two words you never want to hear, but with modern day odds pointing out that one out of two of us will get cancer, there is a good chance you will. Even with the so-called “war on cancer” and the latest technology and “advances” in medicine, this disease continues to prematurely rob people of their lives.
I was diagnosed with an incurable cancer in 2008 — one that conventional medicine had no answer for. After the initial shock, fear, anger and all of the other emotions that cancer ensues; I started searching for ways that I could help myself. I found a treatment called Gerson Therapy, which involves two years of strict juicing for intense nourishment (13 times a day), coffee enemas for liver detoxification (up to five a day), and a basic vegan diet to starve the cancer cells of anything they need to grow and feed the body everything it needs to heal. This therapy worked for me, and now it is working for my mother who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
Whether you choose alternative, conventional, or a combination of the two modalities; there are six basic principles you need to address to help your body heal.
1. Detoxification
When you consider that we are literally surrounded by chemicals — they’re in our food supply, in our environment and in our homes — it’s no wonder our bodies are screaming at us to change our ways. Eliminating your toxic load is the first step back to wellness. Do this by cutting out alcohol, drugs, dairy, meat, and refined and processed foods out of your diet. It’s also important to look at everything you put on your skin and everything you use in your household, and making sure they are natural and non-toxic. Then there’re coffee enemas. Coffee enemas help to stimulate the liver (our major detoxifying organ) and increase bile production to excrete toxins more rapidly.
2. Nourishment
Food is the basis of health. It creates our cells, our tissues, our muscles, our organs, our hormones and even our emotions. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we nourish our bodies back to health with the best quality organic, plant-based whole foods. Food is medicine! According to Dr Neal Barnard’s website, The Cancer Project (www.thecancerproject.org), a vegetarian, low-fat, high-fibre diet that includes a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans, is crucial for preventing and beating cancer.
3. Alkalinity
The pH, or acid/alkaline scale of your body ranges from 1 to 14, with the body functioning optimally at a level of about 7.365 to 7.4. The lower the number, the more acidic you are. An acidic body does not absorb vitamins, minerals and other nutrients and it reduces our ability to repair cells. Acidity also prevents the blood from carrying oxygen. Cancer and ill health thrive in an acidic, oxygen-deprived environment. However, if your body is alkaline it will heal readily, be more oxygenated and cancer will not being able to survive. Alkalinity can be achieved by maintaining a clean diet, detoxifying the body, exercising regularly and calming the mind.
4. Vitamin D
Vitamin D affects your immune system, your blood sugar, your mental state, your bones and it regulates many metabolic processes in the body. If you have low vitamin D levels, you greatly increase your risk of cancer and reduce your ability to overcome it.
5. Emotions and stress management
Meditation is one of the most important tools a cancer patient — or anyone else for that matter — can employ. Through meditation, your mind becomes trained to stay in the present moment, without worry or anxiety about the future. Thanks to scientists like Dr Bruce Lipton, the power of the mind is finally gaining the attention it deserves. He discovered that it is not so much our genes that control us, but rather the expression of our genes — how our cells interpret directions from our minds. This means that our beliefs can change our genetic expression.
6. Movement
Exercise speeds up the elimination of toxins, keeps the body oxygenated, improves lymphatic function and builds immunity. If your agenda is to heal, you don’t want to exert yourself with too much strenuous exercise. However, yoga, walking, rebounding on a mini trampoline and tai chi are all great to get your body moving while still preserving your healing energy.
*Jessica Ainscough is a freelance writer, holistic health counsellor and creator of the health and wellness site, The Wellness Warrior (www.thewellnesswarrior.com.au). Prior to being diagnosed with cancer in 2008, she was the online editor at Dolly magazine. Follow her on twitter @JessAinscough or ‘like’ her on Facebook. *
