Oh, boy.

A dear friend just forwarded this update from Johns Hopkins, that bears reading. And if implemented, boy, oh, boy, what a lifestyle change this would mean. I live on chocolate and rare steak and Jack Daniels. Just about as bad as can be for cancer...

CANCER UPDATE FROM JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY (TRY THE KEYWORD) AND ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.

Cancer update from Johns Hopkins:

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable amount.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's life time.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer, it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle (lack of sleep) factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract, etc. and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc. (and people wonder why I'm opposed to chemo!?!)

7. Radiation, while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs. (and again, why don't I want to undergo radiation??)

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation does not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications. (can succumb?? oh good - go thru all the torture and then succumb to complications? ducky. but there is that drug, just another drug, that supplements the white blood cells so the immune system doesn't suffer as badly.)

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding them with the foods they need to multiply.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

A. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar, it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc. are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt. (I do use sea-salt and have for years, thanks to the Hawaiian way of cooking!)

B. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinaltract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soya milk, cancer cells are being starved. (I'm lactose intolerant, so I'm sorta safe on this one!)

C. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic; it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer. (I do love rare steak and pork - oh dear.)

D. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruit, help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food, including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells, try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C). (Fruit and veggies are good, but 80% of my diet?? That'd be a toughy!)

E. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water -- best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tapwater. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it. (Avoid chocolate? that's like giving up breathing!)

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup. (Eeeuuw, yuck!)

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat, it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs, etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements, like vitamin E, are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells. (Supplements are good!)

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life. (Positive attitude - I can do that part!)

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells. (Exercise is tough, since I have trouble walking, but I have some breathing exercises - I just kind of quite doing them. Guess I have to get them out again!)


1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well.

Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer.

Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies.

Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.

Recently; Dr. Edward Fujimoto (Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital), was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.

This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as CorningWare, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else.

Paper isn't bad, but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, CorningWare, etc. He reminded us that a while ago, some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as SaranWrap, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.


Life style changes - whoopee - not only do I look funny in the mirror, and none of my clothes hang right, now I'm told to change the way I eat and cook. This is making me grumpy on a gorgeous Arizona spring day.