A few weeks ago, a friend posted this article on facebook about a holistic approach to healing cancer from the documentary, Food Matters. The article really resonated with me, mainly because I'm taking a nearly identical approach at An Oasis of Healing.
According to the article:
"A comprehensive approach to healing cancer includes at least the following eight factors:
1. Proper nutrition and clean water
2. Detoxification
3. Immune building
4. Oxygen therapy
5. Natural chemotherapies
6. Lifestyle changes: adequate sleep, sunlight & exercise
7. A positive attitude
8. Spiritual cleansing"
I definitely encourage anyone to read the article that is looking to learn and better understand the approach I am taking with my own life. And if anyone is interested in learning more about the documentary, here is the trailer:
Showing posts with label Raw Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raw Food. Show all posts
Monday, March 5, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Lifestyle Restrictions
Diets never work. We all know this.
People do crazy diets like drink nothing but lemon juice and maple syrup or only eat grapefruits and expect to see their dramatic results last. Diets aren't sustainable.
This is why when someone is serious about changing their diet in a lasting way, they call it a "lifestyle change." A lifestyle change is supposed to be sustainable. A new way of life where you don't feel deprived of the things you love.
Everything in moderation. Everything in balance.
You know what I hate about my new "lifestyle change"? Other than the fact that I call it a "lifestyle change" when it sure as hell feels like a diet?
It's that I fear I may never be invited to another dinner party again.
"Does she have any dietary restrictions?"
Umm, let's see: No meat, no dairy, no gluten, no white products, no processed products. Organic food is preferred. Oh, and if you can make sure nothing is prepared above 105 degrees, that would be great. Thanks.
Yeah, I'm totally that girl.
People do crazy diets like drink nothing but lemon juice and maple syrup or only eat grapefruits and expect to see their dramatic results last. Diets aren't sustainable.
This is why when someone is serious about changing their diet in a lasting way, they call it a "lifestyle change." A lifestyle change is supposed to be sustainable. A new way of life where you don't feel deprived of the things you love.
Everything in moderation. Everything in balance.
You know what I hate about my new "lifestyle change"? Other than the fact that I call it a "lifestyle change" when it sure as hell feels like a diet?
It's that I fear I may never be invited to another dinner party again.
"Does she have any dietary restrictions?"
Umm, let's see: No meat, no dairy, no gluten, no white products, no processed products. Organic food is preferred. Oh, and if you can make sure nothing is prepared above 105 degrees, that would be great. Thanks.
Yeah, I'm totally that girl.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Cancer Therapies
Man, beating cancer is time consuming.
I thought, a little naively, that coming to an Oasis of Healing would be more like...well, an oasis. Go to the spa, cure a little cancer, maybe get a mani/pedi -- with non toxic nail polishes, of course.
Turns out, curing cancer is a full time job, leaving little time for spa activities (the nerve!). Here is a list of all the treatments I am participating in during my stay (I've linked each therapy to additional pages with more information):
Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT): This is a low dose targeted Chemotherapy. This involves starving the cancer cells by lowering my blood sugar and then injecting insulin with the chemo drugs. Since cancer cells use 19 times more sugar than normal cells, it helps direct the chemo to those greedy little bastards, minimizing the destruction of my healthy cells. I also get to rock this awesome ice helmet while I go through IPT. This helps protect my hair follicles and reduces the risk of losing my hair. Not going bald would be a huge perk. To most people in the world of traditional medicine, IPT, although controversial, will be the reason I'll be cancer free. I receive this therapy twice a week.
Vitamin C Therapy: Studies have shown that high doses of Vitamin C not only improves the immune system (a necessity when trying to rid your body of cancer), but also kills cancer cells. Essentially, Vitamin C is good for the healthy cells and bad for the cancer cells. Win win. Without a PICC line or a Port, this takes FOR-EV-ER. 2-3 times a week I am hooked up to an IV for hours while 50-100g of Vitamin C is pumped through my blood.
Oxidative and Oxygenation Therapies: Oxygen plays an important role in keeping our body healthy. We all need oxygen to live (duh). Cancer cells, however, like to live in a world without oxygen. There are a number of therapies that increase the amount of oxygen in the body (click on the link to read about all of them). One of these therapies involves taking out some of my blood, inserting oxygen into it, and then putting it back into my body. You'd think just taking in giant, deep breaths would be sufficient, but apparently this is more effective. I have yet to do this, but apparently you feel like you can conquer the world with all that extra O2 in your body.
Lymphatic Decongestive Therapy/Massage: Our lymphatic system is a critical part of disposing toxins and waste in the body, including cancer cells. Oftentimes our diet and lifestyle lead to a stall in this flow. The purpose of this therapy is to get your system moving again to help detoxify the body. The process of this therapy involves me laying on a massage table while the therapist waves little glass wands over my lymphatic system. Basically it feels nothing like a massage and more like moving a vibrating light bulb over my body. I do this about 2-3 times a week, typically after IPT days.
Structural Integration Therapy: This is my favorite therapy. The other patients call it the "hurts so good" therapy. This basically realigns the connective tissue (also known as fascia) by massaging the tissue back into the correct alignment. For me personally, my left leg tissue is totally out of whack, most likely from the all the scar tissue from a childhood injury. Because of the way the tissue is in this one strand, it has thrown off the entire alignment in my body. Also, my ankles are too tight and the tissue needs to be lengthened so that my feet have a full range of motion (which will also improve my poor circulation). The coolest thing? This therapy will fix my bowlegs! Although apparently Kate Moss is also bow-legged so maybe I should leave them alone. The best thing about this therapy? Once you've fixed the tissue, it stays like that forever. I do this about two times a week.
Infrared Sauna Therapy: Another therapy I can get on board with. Basically, I sit in a sauna. The combination of the heat and infrared helps to eliminate toxins in the body. In addition to oxygen, cancer also hates the heat. Maybe I need spend my winters on a tropical island to keep my cancer away? Hubby, are you listening? It's for my health...
Colon Therapy: Oh, the joy of having cancer and choosing a non-traditional path of treatment. I think we all know what is involved here, but if not, I lay on a table while water is flushed in, which then flushes the, um, waste out. Pretty shitty way to spend the hour (pun intended). Just another way to eliminate the crap (oh, I crack myself up) in the body. Someone told me a story of a woman who hadn't eaten corn for over 15 years because of health reasons. During her colonics, they found a kernel of corn. That's how long your shit can stay with you. It's time to let it go. Unfortunately, I have to do this 2-3 times a week, but this will decrease in the upcoming weeks.
Coffee Enemas: This is "do it yourself" version of a colonic. Except instead of water, you use coffee. Yes, coffee. Apparently, the caffeine helps stimulate and cleanse the liver and gall bladder. This is especially important during cancer treatment because of all the dead cancer cells that end up in your body. The enema helps get it out. And no, drinking coffee does not have the same effect. I asked. I'm supposed to do this every day, but so far, I've managed this once with the help of Momma Bear. Talk about a bonding experience.
Yoga: Another therapy I love. Yoga. Calms the mind, exercises and relaxes the body. There are a million articles showing the health benefits of yoga for everyone, including cancer patients. But really, I just like starting my day in a warm room, lit by a fireplace, where at any point I can lay on my mat in child's pose. I do this pretty much every day.
Raw/Vegan Diet: Probably the most important part of this process is my diet. Until I am cancer free, I'll be on a very strict raw, vegan diet. The idea is to strengthen your immune system so that your body can start ridding itself of toxicities, including the cancer cells. This post from another blogger sums it up best. If you want to know what I'm doing and why, definitely read it since it's pretty spot on.
Juice Cleanse: This involves a 14 day fast where I consume nothing but fresh juiced veggies (and minimal fruit). Yep, you read that right. 14 days. Again, we're trying to rid the body of all the toxins that have been building up over the years. I don't care what it does, fasting for two weeks when I'm already a twig seems nuts (mmmm, nuts...). Nevertheless, I'm now on day 5. And like some sick masochist, I've spent the past 4 days looking up food recipes on Pinterest. Who does that? Everyone keeps telling me that Jesus and Ghandi fasted as if that's supposed to help me. Last I checked, I had very little resemblance to either of these men.
So that's it. Piece of cake, right? All of this keeps me so busy, I haven't even had time for retail therapy!
I thought, a little naively, that coming to an Oasis of Healing would be more like...well, an oasis. Go to the spa, cure a little cancer, maybe get a mani/pedi -- with non toxic nail polishes, of course.
Turns out, curing cancer is a full time job, leaving little time for spa activities (the nerve!). Here is a list of all the treatments I am participating in during my stay (I've linked each therapy to additional pages with more information):
Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT): This is a low dose targeted Chemotherapy. This involves starving the cancer cells by lowering my blood sugar and then injecting insulin with the chemo drugs. Since cancer cells use 19 times more sugar than normal cells, it helps direct the chemo to those greedy little bastards, minimizing the destruction of my healthy cells. I also get to rock this awesome ice helmet while I go through IPT. This helps protect my hair follicles and reduces the risk of losing my hair. Not going bald would be a huge perk. To most people in the world of traditional medicine, IPT, although controversial, will be the reason I'll be cancer free. I receive this therapy twice a week.
Vitamin C Therapy: Studies have shown that high doses of Vitamin C not only improves the immune system (a necessity when trying to rid your body of cancer), but also kills cancer cells. Essentially, Vitamin C is good for the healthy cells and bad for the cancer cells. Win win. Without a PICC line or a Port, this takes FOR-EV-ER. 2-3 times a week I am hooked up to an IV for hours while 50-100g of Vitamin C is pumped through my blood.
Oxidative and Oxygenation Therapies: Oxygen plays an important role in keeping our body healthy. We all need oxygen to live (duh). Cancer cells, however, like to live in a world without oxygen. There are a number of therapies that increase the amount of oxygen in the body (click on the link to read about all of them). One of these therapies involves taking out some of my blood, inserting oxygen into it, and then putting it back into my body. You'd think just taking in giant, deep breaths would be sufficient, but apparently this is more effective. I have yet to do this, but apparently you feel like you can conquer the world with all that extra O2 in your body.
Lymphatic Decongestive Therapy/Massage: Our lymphatic system is a critical part of disposing toxins and waste in the body, including cancer cells. Oftentimes our diet and lifestyle lead to a stall in this flow. The purpose of this therapy is to get your system moving again to help detoxify the body. The process of this therapy involves me laying on a massage table while the therapist waves little glass wands over my lymphatic system. Basically it feels nothing like a massage and more like moving a vibrating light bulb over my body. I do this about 2-3 times a week, typically after IPT days.
Structural Integration Therapy: This is my favorite therapy. The other patients call it the "hurts so good" therapy. This basically realigns the connective tissue (also known as fascia) by massaging the tissue back into the correct alignment. For me personally, my left leg tissue is totally out of whack, most likely from the all the scar tissue from a childhood injury. Because of the way the tissue is in this one strand, it has thrown off the entire alignment in my body. Also, my ankles are too tight and the tissue needs to be lengthened so that my feet have a full range of motion (which will also improve my poor circulation). The coolest thing? This therapy will fix my bowlegs! Although apparently Kate Moss is also bow-legged so maybe I should leave them alone. The best thing about this therapy? Once you've fixed the tissue, it stays like that forever. I do this about two times a week.
Infrared Sauna Therapy: Another therapy I can get on board with. Basically, I sit in a sauna. The combination of the heat and infrared helps to eliminate toxins in the body. In addition to oxygen, cancer also hates the heat. Maybe I need spend my winters on a tropical island to keep my cancer away? Hubby, are you listening? It's for my health...
Colon Therapy: Oh, the joy of having cancer and choosing a non-traditional path of treatment. I think we all know what is involved here, but if not, I lay on a table while water is flushed in, which then flushes the, um, waste out. Pretty shitty way to spend the hour (pun intended). Just another way to eliminate the crap (oh, I crack myself up) in the body. Someone told me a story of a woman who hadn't eaten corn for over 15 years because of health reasons. During her colonics, they found a kernel of corn. That's how long your shit can stay with you. It's time to let it go. Unfortunately, I have to do this 2-3 times a week, but this will decrease in the upcoming weeks.
Coffee Enemas: This is "do it yourself" version of a colonic. Except instead of water, you use coffee. Yes, coffee. Apparently, the caffeine helps stimulate and cleanse the liver and gall bladder. This is especially important during cancer treatment because of all the dead cancer cells that end up in your body. The enema helps get it out. And no, drinking coffee does not have the same effect. I asked. I'm supposed to do this every day, but so far, I've managed this once with the help of Momma Bear. Talk about a bonding experience.
Yoga: Another therapy I love. Yoga. Calms the mind, exercises and relaxes the body. There are a million articles showing the health benefits of yoga for everyone, including cancer patients. But really, I just like starting my day in a warm room, lit by a fireplace, where at any point I can lay on my mat in child's pose. I do this pretty much every day.
Raw/Vegan Diet: Probably the most important part of this process is my diet. Until I am cancer free, I'll be on a very strict raw, vegan diet. The idea is to strengthen your immune system so that your body can start ridding itself of toxicities, including the cancer cells. This post from another blogger sums it up best. If you want to know what I'm doing and why, definitely read it since it's pretty spot on.
Juice Cleanse: This involves a 14 day fast where I consume nothing but fresh juiced veggies (and minimal fruit). Yep, you read that right. 14 days. Again, we're trying to rid the body of all the toxins that have been building up over the years. I don't care what it does, fasting for two weeks when I'm already a twig seems nuts (mmmm, nuts...). Nevertheless, I'm now on day 5. And like some sick masochist, I've spent the past 4 days looking up food recipes on Pinterest. Who does that? Everyone keeps telling me that Jesus and Ghandi fasted as if that's supposed to help me. Last I checked, I had very little resemblance to either of these men.
So that's it. Piece of cake, right? All of this keeps me so busy, I haven't even had time for retail therapy!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Sugar, Oh Honey Honey
I feel like an addict who's going through withdraw.
I’ve spent three days on a completely raw, vegan, sugar free diet and all I want is a cheeseburger.
And a milkshake.
And I would seriously consider giving my left arm for a Starbuck's Chai Tea Latte. And my right one for a Chipotle burrito. It wouldn't even matter that I would no longer have arms to eat the burrito. I'd dive face first into that burrito and devour it like a champion in a pie eating contest.
I'm literally addicted. And when you give up an addiction, the first three days are the worst, right?
That's all bad food is to most of us: an addiction. We get addicted to the sweet high of fructose corn syrup (mmmmm, Sugar); to the excess fat in our burgers (mmmm, saturated fat); to all the processed packaged crap that fills the majority of the aisles in grocery stores.
But we're not just physically addicted, we're emotionally addicted as well.
Just think about it. What would Thanksgiving be without turkey and mashed potatoes? And how many times have you gone through a break up and immediately reached for that pint of your favorite ice cream? And when you hang out with friends, how often do you meet in a restaurant, catching up over dinner? So much of our experiences, traditions, and social norms revolve around food.
When you give that up, your body doesn't just go through physical grief, but emotional turmoil as well.
I have to admit, I have a hard time thinking about not having turkey on Thanksgiving. But that's how it works when you give something up. You mourn the loss in your life. You think about all the good times you had together. You think about how satisfying that McDonald's double cheeseburgers was after a night at the bar. How delicious that pizza and beer tasted during the championship basketball game. How these foods were always there to satisfy or comfort you in your time of need; in your time of want.
And then you get over it. You remember you have cancer. You remember why you committed to this lifestyle change. And you remind yourself that we are talking about your life. A life that you intend to live a lot longer than the 28 years you've had so far. And if you want to make it to your goal age of 94, you better start finding another way to satisfy those cravings and realize it's just fucking food.
The cravings actually weren't so bad the first couple of days. Since "checking in" to An Oasis of Healing, I had my meals delivered to me by a professional raw foods chef while I was busy with my other treatments. Honestly, there wasn't much time for the cravings. Or maybe I was too nervous about the unknown to worry about things like cravings. Either way, it helped make the transition to this new diet relatively painless. I actually thought this will be easy.
Oh how naive.
Then I had a free day. A day without my own chef to prepare my meals. A day where it was on me and only me to eat meals that had no meat or dairy or gluten or sugar (not even fruit sugar!). And once I found these rare, “un-American” foods, I couldn't even cook them above 115 degrees. (Is it even possible to be on a raw food diet in the Arizona summers? Your food gets hotter than that sitting outside in the farmers market stalls).
As much as I was looking forward to a free day from IVs and tests, my first one, day 3 on the diet, was tough. The treatment at Oasis includes all fresh green juices and meals Monday through Friday. Which means by the weekend, I'm the only one holding myself accountable (well me and Momma Bear who is also sticking to the diet).
On the weekends, it is so easy to cheat. And it would be a lie to say I didn't think about it. A lot. In fact, this is a pretty accurate example of what is continuously going on in my head:
Mmmmmm, SUGAR.
But instead, I cut up another avocado and add it to another pile of greens. Then I start gnawing my arm just to remember the taste of flesh.
They say the third day is the worst, right?
But when you're life is on the line, you put down the chicken wings and decide to value your life more than a bunch of empty calories. Then you grab yourself a wheatgrass shot and cheers to your upcoming health. And then you pray that you have the willpower to stick to your commitment.
But if there's one thing I know about my stubborn, persistent self, it's that I have serious willpower.
When I was in middle school I became a vegetarian. At the time I told everyone it was because I loved animals too much and could no longer eat these innocent creatures. Also, I had a friend -- a much cooler friend – who was also a vegetarian. I guess I figured that I too could be just a little bit cooler if I became a vegetarian.
The reality is, I did love animals and I did have a desire to be cool, but the real reason I became a vegetarian? The hard truth? Momma Bear's pork chops (sorry mom!). I hated them and refused to eat them. And in the typical parent response, Momma Bear said to me, “If you want to get up from the table, than finish your dinner.” But I had made up my mind. I wasn’t going to eat these pork chops. And the only logical way out of it? To announce myself a vegetarian. So I did.
And I stayed one for TEN fucking years. Mainly because my whole family, sitting at the table, witnessing this act of teenage rebellion, all told me I wouldn't last a week. It wasn't until I graduated college that I finally felt I had proven myself and started eating meat again.
Cancer? That's a good fucking reason to prove my persistence and give up meat. And dairy. And sugar. And cooked foods. Because as much as I love that chipotle burrito, I'm pretty sure I love my life more.
Besides, I hear day four is a breeze.
(Not exactly a chipotle burrito, but surprisingly good zucchini alfredo)
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