“I am sorry to inform you, your test results indicate that you have cancer”. I cannot even imagine what goes through an individual’s mind, hearing these devastating words and yet thousands of people around the world hear those words daily. Like all illnesses, whether they are mental or physical in nature, cancer too is on the increase, and this, at an alarming rate. Statistics of cancer occurrences, particularly in the middle-aged, are becoming increasingly disturbing. In Great Britain, cancer rates have increased by 20% in one generation. Among women in their forties and fifties, the statistics are even grimmer with a 25% increase in cancer occurrences. In China, cancer has increased by 80% in the last 30 years and according to predictions will continue to do so. This increase in cancer incidences is found in both developing and first-world countries. However, early detection of cancer has contributed to a decrease in the mortality rate, especially in first-world countries.
War on Cancer?
Isn’t it remarkable that whatever we resist persists? Just think of the war on terror or the war on drugs. Are we winning it? No, and the same goes for cancer.
Just a bit of background: The war on cancer began with the National Cancer Act of 1971, a United States federal law. The act was intended “to amend the Public Health Service Act to strengthen the National Cancer Institute to more effectively carry out the national effort against cancer”. It was signed into law by then-U.S. President Richard Nixon on December 23, 1971. In 2003, Andrew von Eschenbach, the director of the National Cancer Institute issued a challenge “to eliminate the suffering and death from cancer, and to do so by 2015”. This was supported by the American Association for Cancer Research in 2005 though some scientists felt this goal was impossible to reach. They were right. John E. Niederhuber, who succeeded Andrew von Eschenbach as NCI director, noted that cancer is a global health crisis, with 12.9 million new cases diagnosed in 2009 worldwide and that by 2030, this number could rise to 27 million including 17 million deaths unless more pressing action was taken.
Well, the pressing action that was referred to, was all about treatment and control, be it early detection, clinical trials, and drug research. What happened to prevention? In some instances, the war on cancer has raised the survival rate of cancer patients; however, the treatments available have increased suffering and stress, whether that is psychological, physical, or financial in nature. After all these years of research, conventional medicine treats cancer with three risky and highly invasive procedures: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. The alarming rates of cancer deaths across the world speak volumes about the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of these treatments, yet they are still regarded as the gold standard of cancer care. Undoubtedly, many people turn to conventional treatments like chemotherapy because they think they are the ONLY option. But perhaps people would feel differently if they knew that a full 75 percent of doctors say they’d refuse chemotherapy if they were struck with cancer due to its ineffectiveness and its devastating effects on the entire human organism.
You may be surprised to learn that, despite its reputation as the go-to cancer treatment, chemotherapy has an average 5-year survival success rate of just over 2 percent for all cancers, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Oncology in December 2004. Chemotherapy is a classic example of a cure that is worse than the disease. Many experts like Dr. Allen Levin (MD) say that cancer patients are more likely to die from cancer treatments than cancer itself.
Cancer is a Money Making Business
Despite the more than $100 billion spent since the war on cancer has been declared by President Nixon, cancer rates have soared. Why? Well, because it is a really good money-making business. Prevention of any disease does not generate money, therefore the research and funding allocated to preventing cancer is minimal. Rather than coming up with actions to keep cancer from occurring, more money than ever is spent to find and treat cancer. I am not going to bad-mouth the medical establishment here, since I do believe that most medical doctors want to see you healthy. However, they are locked into a system that promotes wealth rather than health. If they step out of that system (and many medical professionals have) the self-serving insanity of the system becomes very clear. After all, treatments, made possible by the investment of millions of research dollars, are putting millions of dollars back into the pockets of chemical and pharmaceutical companies.
Prevention is the best way to go
Our efforts in the fight against cancer are best focused on how to avoid these diseases rather than on how to treat them once present. There is simply no cure for cancer and there may never be. Simply removing the tumor does not get rid of the cause of the disease; hence the high percentage of re-occurrence of cancer in once-treated patients. We have known for years that smoking, bad eating habits, excessive stress, alcohol, chemicals, and hormones cause cancer. It breaks down the immune system, which keeps the fast-dividing cancer cells (which we all have onboard) in check. So, keep your immune system optimum by:
- Normalize your vitamin D levels by getting plenty of sunshine (no sunscreen)
- Make certain that you limit your intake of processed foods and sugars as much as possible.
- Get appropriate amounts of animal-based omega-3 fats.
- Get appropriate exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.
- Keep your emotional stress in check. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) states that 85% of all diseases are caused by emotions.
- Eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, these should be organic.
- Stay away from hormone-loaded meat and dairy products.
- Stay away from the contraceptive pill.
- Make sure you are not in the two-thirds of the population who are overweight and maintain an ideal body weight.
- Get enough high-quality sleep.
- Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners, and air pollution.
- Take a daily probiotic.
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