Bookwormathon : Anti-Cancer A New Way Of Life

I mentioned in my previous posts that I have been reading a lot of Cancer-related books and Im going to share keypoints/funfacts/post-it grabbing parts of the books so you can all have something smart to take out of my blog. This section of the blog will be called Bookwormathon and will be done everytime I finish a book.

Anti Cancer: A New Way of Life
David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD
"All of us have cancer cells in our bodies. But not all of us will develop cancer."

Statistics are information, not condemnation.

Serious illness can be a terribly lonely journey. Gentle, constant, reliable presence is often the most beautiful gift our dear ones can give us. But not many of them know that.

In the US, between 1975 and 1994, cancer rate in women under 45 has risen by 1.6% a year.

Three major factors have drastically disrupted our environment over the last 50 years:
1. Addition of large quantities of highly refind sugar to our diet.
2. Changes in methods of farming and raising animals, and as a result, in our food.
3. Exposure to a large number of chemical products that didnt exist pre 1940

Simple recommendations to slow the spread of cancer:
1. Eat sugar and white flour sparingly. Replace them with agave nectar for sweetening, multigrain flour for pastas and breads.
2. Avoid all hydrogenated vegetable fats "trans fats" and all animal fats. Olive oil is excellent vegetable fat.

Finding out you have cancer is a shock. You feel betrayed by life and by your own body. But finding out you've had a relapse is crushing. It's as if youve discovered that the monster you'd vanquished was still there. It had gone on tracking you in the shadows and wound up catching you again.

Today the word "cancer" is no longer synonymous with death. But it suggests its shadow. This shadow is an occassion to think about our life, about what we want to do with it.

"Yes, I may die earlier than foreseen. But it is also possible that Ill live longer. Whatever happes, Im going to live my life as well as I can from now on."

Cathy's Take: Half of the book talks about nutrition and what to eat in order to prevent cancer. It was explained over and over again how certain foods are particularly bad (including items listed above). Also tells us that being happy will cause less cancer than surrounding yourself with stress. The book also tells us the story of when the writer got brain cancer and how he dealt with it. How he accepted love after getting brain cancer, the pangs of recurrence and the difficulty of choosing what to do next after diagnosis... And I understand where he is coming from. The choices you have to face after being diagnosed becomes a burden - there is never just one solid route to go.

Speaking from personal experience, once I was told that it was MY option between having a lumpectomy or bilat mastectomy, I started falling apart! What do I know!?! You're my surgeon, what should I choose so it doesnt come back? These options were my nightmares, I was not at the right state of mind to decide, I hardly knew what they were talking about and the worst part of it all, what do you mean, after all this shit I gotta go thru theres NO guarantee it wont come back??? So then I read more books, I asked more people, I researched the internet (Ohhh this is the worst!) and you read statistics like, "The rate for women under 30 surviving breast cancer is 68%" (I totally made this up, I cant remember what I read off of google but it was something along these lines - and if you are reading this and you found my site off google, please know this is just an example statistic, don't believe it and dont drive yourself mad ;)). AHHHH! Cancer can drive you just about mad. But do not fret, as with knowledge comes power. Send yourself to the library (I do and they love me there, most especially when they collect late fees, those peeps are worse than Blockbuster and they call you everyday!), read *RELIABLE* internet (not wikipedia *gasp* but ACS, Chemocare, YSC, etc) and ask! Do NOT be afraid to ask!!! I swear my oncologist hates when I ask questions because everytime she answers, she makes this sourface first like "UGH JOYCATHERINE I ALREADY TOLD YOU THIS !@#$%!!" but I have to ask... I dont want to walk around with stupidity on my sleeves and be unequipped like "I dont really know..." I have asked her the dumbest questions like, "why do I have to flush the toilet twice after chemo, its not like anybody ever touches the bowl... ?" and as much as I hate seeing the sourface, Im always glad I asked. :)