Friday, October 24, 2008

Cancer Alternative Medicine(CAM)

I have subscribed to one mailing list, that is cancercaregiversareus is a yahoo mailing group. While reading the list I suddenly had this urge to write this article.

In the mailing group there are real people with real experience with life and cancer. Most people suffer uncannily from the cancer treatment alone. Be that chemotherapy, radiation, monoclonal antibody therapy or anything modern medicine can offer. Some of them incapacitates people for the rest of their lives and the quality of life is suddenly snatched away from them. I was wondering can we not try an alternative approach than going straight to our oncologists who have no idea about nutrition and healthy life style? I have read most of the stories where the doctors prescribe people to have some energy drinks that are available in stores. They have no clue that those drinks are full of preservatives, sugar and other unwanted stuff..

There are numerous examples where people have cured their own cancer by sheer will to survive and taking their treatment to their own hands. One such example is in Oprah show where Randy Pausch and an aspiring model Kris were featured together - both had cancer[ A link here]. Where she is stable with her vegetable juices, Randy passed away with all the great treatments he received. The point I am trying to make here is to create some kind of awareness among people to eat right, change life style to keep cancer at bay. Even those that are not having cancer need to adopt a healthy life style that will give them immunity from cancer.

Here are a few points I would like to suggest people with or without cancer:

1. Avoid Sugar completely.Cancer is known to feed on sugar.
2. Avoid trans fat - instead eat good fat(uncooked olive oil, flax seed oil, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed etc.)
3. If you can grow wheat grass and barley grass at home. Consume at least 1 ounce juice every morning.
4. Eat raw or half cooked vegetable that are highly pigmented.
5. Do regular exercise - atleast 5 times a week for at least 30 minutes.
6. Do yoga to relieve stress - atleast 3 times a week.
7. Try sweating everyday.
8. Try avoiding meat in all forms if possible stop eating dairy and wheat.
9. Drink plenty of water.
10. Avoid drinking, smoking.
11. If you can buy Essiac tea. They are very good for your immunity.
12. Avoid caffeine.
13. NO canned food, No packed food.
14. Resort to freshly cooked meal. Don't have those energy drinks, or drinks that are readily available in stores.
15. Stop eating outside: The food cooked outside have the least food value.
16. STOP SODA ALTOGETHER.
17. NO ICE CREAMS.
18. Try eating 3-4 colorful fruits a day.
19. Eat wild rice and vegetables regularly.
20. Meditate if you can.

These are surely going to reduce your cancer risks as well as help you get rid of your cancer if you already have it.

I was very happy to know that NIH is now funding CAM(Cancer alternative medicine)

Here is the announcement:

NEW COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE RESEARCH CENTERS TARGET
STRESS-RELATED ILLNESSES, OBESITY, CANCER, AND OTHER CONDITIONS

The National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary
and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has added four new Centers of
Excellence for Research on Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(CERCs) to its research centers program. The new centers will add to
knowledge about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches
and their potential in treating and preventing diseases and conditions
that are common among Americans.

In NCCAM's CERC program, highly accomplished researchers across a
variety of disciplines apply cutting-edge technology to projects in CAM.
The new centers and their projects are as follows.

WISCONSIN CENTER FOR THE NEUROSCIENCE AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF MEDITATION
Principal Investigator: Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D.
Institution: University of Wisconsin, Madison
Dr. Davidson's team will examine the impact of two forms of meditation
-- loving-kindness/compassion meditation and mindfulness meditation --
on the brain and body, focusing on the regulation of emotion and on
emotional reactivity. Potential applications in health include
biological and behavioral processes linked with emotions and/or stress,
such as recurrent depression.

METABOLIC AND IMMUNOLOGIC EFFECTS OF MEDITATION
Principal Investigator: Frederick M. Hecht, M.D.
Institution: University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Hecht and his colleagues will study a program combining mindfulness
meditation, mindful eating (the practice of awareness and attentiveness
in the present moment while eating), and a diet and exercise program,
for use in obesity and metabolic syndrome. They will test whether this
program helps alter participants' hormonal responses to stress and helps
enhance and maintain weight loss. Metabolic syndrome involves a cluster
of abnormalities--including increased cholesterol, high blood pressure,
and insulin resistance--that increases one's risk for developing
diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

CAM AS COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST INFECTIOUS AND INFLAMMATORY DISEASE
Principal Investigator: Mark A. Jutila, Ph.D.
Institution: Montana State University, Bozeman
This center will study biologically based CAM therapies and their
effects on immune system function in infectious and inflammatory
diseases. One project focuses on effects of botanical extracts--from
apple polyphenols, which are concentrated in apple skins, and from
yamoa, which comes from the bark of an African gum tree -- on white
blood cells, using models of infection and inflammation of the
intestinal mucosa. A second project examines two compounds in licorice
root -- glycyrrhizin and 18-glyrrhetinic acid--for their potential
antiviral effects in models of influenza and stomach virus. A third
project will focus on bacterial products to see how they treat
autoimmune diseases, like arthritis, which may also help build
understanding of probiotics' action.

CENTER FOR HERBAL RESEARCH ON COLORECTAL CANCER
Principal Investigator: Chun-Su Yuan, M.D., Ph.D.
Institution: University of Chicago
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer and the third leading
cause of cancer-related death. Dr. Yuan and his colleagues will examine
the anti-tumor effects of different preparations of the herbs American
ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) and notoginseng (Panax notoginseng). They
will seek to learn more, through laboratory and animal studies, about
how these herbs act upon cellular and molecular pathways of the
mechanisms of cancer inhibition.

"The new CERCs, all based on strong preliminary work, apply
natural-product and mind-body CAM approaches across a range of health
conditions that affect the American public," said Josephine P. Briggs,
M.D., NCCAM director. "Their multidisciplinary, collaborative structure
increases opportunities for improving health and discovering insights
into important aspects of human biology."

The grants provide five years of support and bring the total number of
CERCs to 11. To learn more about NCCAM's research centers, go to
.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine's mission
is to explore complementary and alternative medical practices in the
context of rigorous science, train CAM researchers, and disseminate
authoritative information to the public and professionals. For
additional information, call NCCAM's Clearinghouse toll free at
1-888-644-6226, or visit the NCCAM Web site at .

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research
Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal
agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational
medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures
for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and
its programs, visit .

CONTACT: NCCAM Press Office, 301-496-7790

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