cancer

This is a very interesting story, I heard about ten years ago.

A woman in Vancouver, BC had Melanoma. It had spread to the bones, and she was given 3 months to live. I’m not sure why, but she went to Nepal to die. A Buddhist monk there taught her to save lives. She went back home to Vancouver, and started saving the lives of animals
She went to the docks and bought shrimp and saved them. She saved animals at the pound. She saved 100 lives a day. After some time her cancer went away.

After getting well, she got busy again, started eating meat again. A few years later developed cancer again. So she started saving lives again and the cancer disappeared again. That is all I know of the story, but it sure is interesting.

My guess is that for it to work, you can’t go out saving lives in the hope that your life will be spared. It has to be a true act of compassion. There is a similar story from a few hundred years ago in Tibet. A monk was doing a practice of taking on others’ suffering and offering his wellbeing back to them. He taught the practice to lepers and many were healed. The practice was not meant to heal their bodies, but their minds, and to give some meaning to their lives.

So go out and have a compassionate day. There might be some positive side effects, especially if you aren’t looking for them.

Sunshine is is the best way for us to get vitamin D, a vitamin that scientists are learning is even more important than we thought. Traditionally, we were taught that we needed vitamin D to keep our bones strong. Now they are finding that it reduces the risk of Multiple Sclerosis, at least in White people, and lowers the risk of certain caners, including colon, breast and ovarian cancers.

So how to get enough vitamin D? If you live in a sunny area of the planet, just get out in the sunshine and bare at least your arms, legs and face to it, unprotected by sunscreen, for fifteen minutes a day. Of course, too much of a good thing is a bad thing, so don’t spend too long out there. If you have a high risk of skin cancer or, like me you live in a place with very little sunshine much of the year, you need to get your vitamin D from your diet. Fatty fish, eggs, fortified milk, and liver are good sources. I am not a fan of vitamin supplements as I explained in a previous post, but you could supplement with cod liver oil. 2 teaspoons a day would get you in the ideal range for resisting cancer and MS. If you are a pure vegan, move south, and get it from the sun. Otherwise you may need to take a pill to get enough. As I said earlier, too much of a good thing is a bad thing, so if you are supplementing, look at your entire intake and keep it well below 2000 IUs a day. Around 1000 IUs a day is good.

Prostate problems are much more commonly talked about, these days, than they were 10 years ago. There are basically four problems you can have with your prostate. Younger men are more likely to get acute or chronic prostatitis, and older men, benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH or enlarged prostate) and prostate cancer. If you have any urinary symptoms, such as difficulty starting or stopping or weak flow of urine, it is important to get your prostate checked by your doctor. Once you know what you have, it may be better to go with alternative medicine than western.

For acute prostatitis, if you are not a frequent user of antibiotics, and your immune system and digestive system are in good shape, antibiotics are probably the fastest and best way to treat your condition. Be sure to take a probiotic, such as acidophilus, after the antibiotics, to rebalance the intestinal flora. For other men with acute and for all men with chronic prostatitis, I recommend Chinese Herbal Medicine. For the chronic condition, antibiotics have a very poor success rate, and you will have to be on them far too long for the health of your gut and immune system. Chniese herbs are very effective at killing the bacteria in the prostate, with a much lower impact on the good bacteria in the intestines. However, you will still want to take probiotics to keep the intestines healthy. Chronic prostatitis will take many months to resolve, and your herbalist may recommend various lifestyle changes to help the process.

For BPH there are several excellent herbal formulas available now. Ask your health food store to recommend one, if you do not have a herbalist. At the very least, take saw palmetto for the symptoms. It is not a bad idea for any man over 50 to take saw palmetto to keep the prostate healthy.

Cancer is a scary subject for most people, and often a difficult condition to treat. Luckily most prostate cancer is very slow growing. In fact, more men die with it than of it. However, there are some faster growing ones, which seem to be on the rise. Also, with men living longer than before, even the slower growing ones are life threatening. Older men would do well to get their PSA levels checked regularly. Personally, I would choose Chinese herbs at the first signs of potential cancer, but I would certainly not rule out Western Medicine. If you have a slow growing cancer and Chinese herbs work, you will be a lot better off than if you treat it with Western Medicine.

Finally, unresolved emotional issues can be a contributing factor in prostate problems, especially chronic prostatitis and BPH. For younger men, I would ask myself if there were any childhood messages about sex being bad or dirty, or if you are aware of any guilt or shame around sex. For older men it is more likely to be feelings of losing manliness along with virility. Working through those issues can be very helpful in reducing symptoms and overcoming the disease.

Pterostilbene, with a crazy name like that, it must be a chemical. It is found in blueberries, grapes, and other berries. It fights breast cancer and heart disease. Check out these articles about it here and here. The reason I’m telling you this is not so you can go find pterostilbene in a pill, but because I want to remind you that we still don’t know all the protective chemicals in fruits and veggies.

In an article from last month, we learn of new research that shows eating tomatoes and broccoli, together reduces the risk of prostate cancer, more than either separately.

Every day new research is showing us the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Vitamin pills will never replace real nutrition. If you are having a hard time eating enough fruits and vegetables, there is a whole food supllement that is the next best thing. Check it out: Juice Plus.