I was recently contacted with the request to talk to someone with stomach cancer, the assumption being that I would know something about alternative strategies to beat that disease. I don't know much about that, but it struck me that just receiving this request speaks to how desperate people are to find health and how little the medical establishment offers them in terms of real hope. In any event, my heart was touched and I began researching, fortunately finding a fascinating book, CANCER RECOVERY GUIDE by Jonathan Chamberlain.
Reading this book, I was struck by the parallels in his presentation of ways to beat cancer and our diet and program for beating MS. Like us, he notes that everyone is different and that each person has to listen to his or her body to see what he or she reacts to both positively and negatively. Stress is described as a factor that fuels the disease. A dietary approach is advocated that includes mostly vegeatbles and fruits--the goal being to make the body alkaline. It is recommended that attention be paid to healing the digestive system. Sugar is described as fueling cancer cell growth. Fats are listed as harmful, but the essential fatty acids, the oils, especially Omega 3s, are curative. Sound familiar?
More articles are appearing about the importance of the terrain ( the body itself ) and having it maximally healthy and functioning, rather than on the particular disease agents, in maintaining health. The one area where I am not confident is the recommendations to take a lot of supplements. Again, more articles are being published that show that out of the context of food, these isolaated chemicals are of questionalbe benefit. An example is glutathione, a super antioxidant, which some studies have shown not to be effective as a supplement. The chemical make up of our food is complex and we don't know what other compounds are needed to make the one we've identified effective. Like everything else, we have much to learn.
Like our diet and program, these cancer beating strategies are outside the medical infrastructure and suffer because research is not being funded. If you know of someone who is fighting cancer, it would be worth their while to take a look at this man's writings.