In this recap blog, I want to share with you some natural health care measures to prevent this difficult disease and/or protect and care for our bodies.
Nutrition/ food recommendation:
- Eats lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, raw nuts and seeds, cruciferous vegetables (the cabbage family), dark green leafy vegetables, yellow/orange vegetables (carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes…). Buy organic local fresh produce as much as you can.
- Consume fiber rich food. Fibers are the body’s broom, they regulate colon motility and function, and bind toxins and excess hormones and cholesterol in the intestine preventing their re-absorption into our body. Psylium husks could be supplemented if your diet is low on fibers.
- Add garlic and onions to your diet, they greatly enhance immune function.
- Brewer yeast (not baker’s yeast) is a great source of B vitamins. It can be found in health food stores and big supermarket chains, and used as a savory spread on toasts or bread.
- If available, add shaiitake and maitake mushroom to your diet, they have proven anti-cancer potentials; and sea weeds like kelp and nori leaves, they are valuable source of minerals
- Live culture yogurt and buttermilk ensure healthy bacterial flora in your intestines which fight candida and supply many valuable nutrients.
- Drink herbal teas like ginger, green tea, peppermint and red clover.
- Integrate herbs and spices into your everyday cooking. Many spices and herbs have valuable phytoestrogens (natural plant compounds that have the ability to block the damaging effect of extra estrogen in the body), anti-oxidants and anti-cancer compounds like ginger, turmeric, mustard seeds, fenugreek, purslane, black seed, cinnamon...
- Soy products (soy beans, soy powder, tofu, tempeh…) contain a compound known as genistein that have cancer fighting ability.
- Eat fresh apples, cherries, grapes, plums, berries
- Sprinkle freshly ground flaxseed on your salad and add flaxseed oil to your diet, great source of essential fatty acids.
- Drink freshly prepared raw vegetable and fruit juices. Include the cabbage family vegetables, dark green leafy vegetables, apples, carrots, plums and peaches, pineapples and papayas, berries, spirulina powder and wheat and barley grass (the last three could be found in health food stores)
Supplement recommendation:
- Essential fatty acids (EPA, flaxseed oil or borage oil) are essential for controlling inflammations and ensuring proper cells reproduction.
- High quality multivitamin and mineral complex to ensure nutritional balance and supply. Avoid the ones containing iron as cancer cells need iron to grow and divide.
- Anti-oxidant complex containing beta carotenes, vitamin C, E and selenium. Selenium is also shown to kill tumor and protect cells.
- Shark cartilage is used for cancer treatment as it inhibits tumor growth and stimulate the immune system.
- Co-enzyme Q10 essential for proper cells oxygenation
- Vitamin B complex improve circulation and regulate metabolism and hormone production
- Vitamin C with bioflavonoids both are powerful anti-oxidant and anti cancer agents
- Ginseng has shown good action against cancer growth
Please note that every one of us has her specific needs. Not all these supplements are necessary (nor recommended) for each and everyone. Please consult your health care provider before taking any supplements especially if you are on medication.
Food to avoid:
- Refined sugars and grains, processed, deep fried, charred, and fatty foods especially saturated fats.
- All products containing chemicals: preservatives, synthetic colors and flavors, or synthetic additives of any kind.
- Eliminate pesticides, herbicides… from your home, environment and food.
- Check the source of the food that might contain hormones like meat, poultry and milk
- Do not use plastic containers in the microwave, the plasticizers leak into your food and pause serious health risks
- Limit caffeine consumption.
Life style recommendation:
- Breast self examination: perform it regularly, each month during the first week after the end of your period. Stand before a mirror and raise both of your hands over your head. Check your breast for any unusual signs (irritation, lumps, nipples different shape, swelling, pain, itching…). Then, with one arm above your head, use gentle touches to firmly check each breast at a time. Begin at the outer periphery and in circular motion gradually work towards your nipples. Check your armpits as well. Perform the same check up while laying down on your back. Squeeze the nipples to check for any discharge.
- Practice breathing exercises and relaxation techniques to manage your stresses
- Regular physical exercises. Aerobic exercises are preferably performed outdoors to get your share of sunlight that supplies vitamin D. Stretching exercises like yoga and Pilates are also great for physical and emotional health.
- Journaling is good practice to explore your emotions and vent off your negative feelings
Energy pattern:
Breast cancer is associated with the heart chakra, our fourth energy centre. Breast cancer sufferers usually have a history of repressed love, mothering too much or too little, losing a loved one or being betrayed by a loved one. In most cases, they have a history of over nurturing others while neglecting or rather denying their own needs for love and care.
At the end, I want to share with you the story of Samira, an amazing woman I know, as I related it in my book, The True Secret:
"Samira is a working class lady; she was a single mother of three school-aged children when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. She was working very hard to support her family. Her children had no one else to depend on and they had no other income except the tiny wage she was getting cleaning houses all week long. Since she wasn’t insured, Samira could not afford proper medical treatment. “Either I pay for my chemotherapy or feed and educate my kids--- This is not a hard choice to make, is it?” She told me.
Samira put her priorities straight: her primary role is to take care of those children and provide them with good education so that they won’t face the same difficult life she is leading; and that she will do till her last breath. She had a mission to live for and had sincere faith, amazing determination and belief that empowered her to carry on with a deep meaning and purpose. She assumed responsibility for her health as much as she could afford and carried on with her life in total satisfaction and surrender to the Divine.
Today, Samira is a grandmother, her daughter is happily married; her elder son is a successful engineer working to support her and his younger college-student brother. No sign left from her cancer!!"