I wanted the theme to be about cancer in this edition of Holistic Living Magazine. With so many ‘famous’ people dying recently of it, I know it is a very hot topic and many people live in fear of having it. Understanding cancer is a key to healing.

Like with any illness, there are things you can do to help lessen your chances of cancer ‘visiting’ you. Now it is true many of us have cancer in our family and have a predisposition to it (we are taught), but is this really true?

We used to think that we could not change our genes, but the study of epigenetics says differently. Believe me, trying to explain this in an article is nearly impossible as it is pretty complex, but do your own research.

Epigenetics does say, certain circumstances in life can cause genes to be silenced, or expressed over time. In other words, they can be turned-off (becoming dormant) or turned-on (becoming active).

Be curious and open to the fact that it may be possible to change your genes.

Another factor we could look at is the environment that cancer thrives in. Otto Warburg was the man who discovered the cause of cancer, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1931 for his work.

He discovered the CAUSE. What does that mean? If there is a cause there must be a solution, right?

His work came to be known as the “Warburg Effect” or the “Warburg Hypothesis” which basically says, that cancer cells live off sugar (glycolysis) and that cancer cells also thrive in an anaerobic environment.

He made it clear that the root cause of cancer is oxygen deficiency, which creates an acidic state in the human body.

His belief was that cancer itself cannot exist in an alkaline environment. Again what conclusion could you draw from this? Foods and drinks that are alkaline are beneficial for helping to remove (or stave away) cancer from the human body.

So if you have cancer, or believe that you are highly likely to get it, wouldn’t it be sensible to change your eating habits to add more alkaline foods?

We all know our attitude, mindset and emotions have a role to play in disease as well. Many studies show that our thoughts effect our cells, which in turn effect our health.

According to Louise Hay, causes of symptoms is a good place to start if you are looking for healing. Illness however mild or severe is an indicator of your emotional state, caused by your thoughts and focus.

She States The Emotions That Contribute To Cancer Are:

Deep hurt. Longstanding resentment. Deep secret or grief eating away at the self. Carrying hatreds.

In traditional medicine our options are few. We know that chemotherapy kills cancer cells but we also know that it also kills healthy cells and lowers our immune system, so is this a good solution?

Whatever treatment you choose is completely up to you, whether you try holistic medicine, traditional medicine or a mix of both.

I believe knowledge is power and our intention with this magazine is to give you options that you can research yourself and find the information you need on a deeper level. We are all different and not one way of healing will suit everybody.

Fighting cancer is one way and understanding cancer is another way. If understanding breast cancer or understanding prostate cancer (or any type of cancer for that matter) is something that you want to learn more about, this magazine is for you.

Throughout the magazine you will be able to read different perspective from different holistic practitioners.

Enjoy.

Cancer as a disease cannot be classed as one of the young or the old, it occurs pretty much to anyone at any time. To illustrate this point, and somewhat as a proxy, we can use the Causes of Death data that is available from The Flowing Data team, led by Nathan Yau [1], and I strongly encourage you all to look at what is a very fascinating interactive chart.

The data is based on causes of death in the United States, but is still indicative of when cancer deaths can occur and shows that the rate of occurrence is highly variable between males and females and the age of death.

As the chart shows, children are highly susceptible to succumbing from cancer in comparison with other diseases and causes, drops for both sexes during early adulthood and then rises to peak at around about 60 for women and 70 for men.

And as the commentary on the page says:

“Keep in mind that this shows percentages and not absolute counts. So while the percentage for cancer decreases with age, it doesn’t necessarily mean that people grow impervious. It’s much more likely that with age comes higher susceptibility to other diseases.”

Which makes the recent Queensland Cancer Council press release all the more disturbing; “Cancers more than triple in Queensland over 31 years” [2].

The release went into a lot of detail about the types of cancers experienced by citizens in Queensland along with highlighting the highly variable survivability rates that cancer suffers experience.

In itself the release doesn’t tell an untruth, the number of diagnoses of cancer in the state have jumped from 8, 8274 cases in 1982 to 26,335 cases in 2013, but there is something underlying that is a little more interesting than the headline number.

And the interesting point is that in the same time period, the population of Queensland has gone from 2,424,586 people in 1982 [1] to 4,651,912 people in 2013 [2], only a near doubling. Now allowing for a slightly higher population increase of people over 45, which could account for some of the difference, there is still the question of why the incidence rate has tripled, instead of the doubling you’d expect.

Could external factors such as diet, exercise or the twin scourges of alcohol and tobacco be possible causes?

Interestingly for Australia, the consumption of alcohol and tobacco over the last two decades has seen a precipitous fall; adult smoking rates have nearly halved between 1991 and 2013 [5] and alcohol consumption has also fallen from a high of over 12 litres per person to under 10 litres per person [6], which makes the increase even more intriguing.

Of course there is direction from the likes of the American Cancer Society that better diet and increased exercise are two major ways to decrease a person’s cancer risk [7], but as we have already shown in earlier issues, diet and exercise are both poor and limited in the western world.

So could it be that this major increase in the incidence of cancer in Australia, and arguably elsewhere, is due to factors such as poor diet and a lack of exercise? Or are there still other factors in our lives and environment that are unbeknown to us and are the root cause?

When looking at disease in your body, it is not easy to pinpoint just one factor. When healing from any disease, especially cancer, you need to look at it from a holistic level.

You need to look at the physical, emotional, spiritual, mental aspects of yourself. Cancer, or any other disease, can occur when and one (or more) of these aspects are out of balance. Cancer & emotions, are there links to playing a role in health?

In my opening article of this magazine, I speak briefly about epigenetics, cell oxygen levels, alkalinity and mindset. These are just a few factors we can look at.

Looking at our mindset and emotions plays a small role in being able to overcome this awful disease. This is the area in which I work with my clients.

Our emotions affect our body at a cellular level. Many studies conclude this fact. We all know that when we look at our mindset, the way we wake up in the morning will affect our whole day.

Sometimes, when we are busy, we may wake up and dread the day ahead, saying something like, “This whole day is going to be awful” and so it is!

We all know that if we are feeling unwell, we have 2 choices: act like we have man flu (sorry men) and succumb to the sickness; or, rise above it, go to work, do what we have to do, not feel our best to get though the day.

What do you think is the factor which makes the difference? Yes that’s right, mindset!

Now I am by no means saying that cancer or getting well after cancer is this simple, but I used this example to help you to see that mindset can help us a at simple level, when we are looking at getting through our day when we have a cold.

So if it is true for a cold then at a small level it will have a factor in more serious diseases too.

So What Do I Mean When I Talk About Mindset?

Here are two examples:

If you have a fixed mindset, you will believe what you have been taught, that cancer is bad, that you are going to feel really sick, that you have to have chemotherapy and that you will probably die.

Now I wonder what would happen if you had a more fixed mindset? A mindset of change, open to the possibilities that cancer has a message for you, cancer is a gift that can help you change your lifestyle to a healthier, balanced way of living.

Open to the fact that if you balance your physical, emotional, spiritual, mental aspects, you can indeed be cancer-free.

Many people have healed from cancer so, if it is possible for them, it is possible for you too.

When you change your mindset, you can change your whole life (this is why I love working with my clients in this area).

You will be able to stick to an alkaline diet because you know it is making you healthy, you will rest because you know your body needs it, you will get enough sleep because you know that when at rest your body repairs itself.

You will meditate because you know it is a great way to relax the mind and get in touch with your subconscious, you will be able to deal with your emotions as you know they are currently keeping you stuck.

This brings me to my next point of holding onto negative emotions.

Holding On To Negative Emotions

With my clients, I like to use this analogy: you will have seen a young child in a shopping centre that was being told-off by a parent. You will have noticed that the child was not feeling powerful in that situation, as the parent was towering over the small child and pointing their finger at him/her.

In that moment, the child realises that if they answer back to their parent, they will get into more trouble or even smacked, so the child holds their emotions inside. You may see the child clench their fists, go red, hold their breath and physically swallow the words they want to say.

In that moment, the subconscious mind has come up with a strategy to keep that child safe. It realised that this is the way he/she can deal with anger.

So next time the child is angry and they don’t feel powerful, the strategy comes into play and they swallow their emotions again and this goes on and on during their whole life, until they realise there is a different way to react.

That strategy served them in that moment, but is it still serving them now as an adult? How do you think that child feels, empowered or powerless? Do you think that the cells feel like they are being fed or shutdown?

Now this is how it works with EVERY emotion in our body, whether it is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ emotion (I believe all emotions are ‘good’ emotions because when we listen to them, they give us a message).

Now I am sure all of us have strategies that no longer serve us in our life. Holding onto these emotions and stories from the past affect us on a physical level and cause dis-ease in our body.

I wonder what that adult is now like who swallowed all of their emotions as a child. Do you think that not speaking up for themselves is serving them in their life right now? How do you think that not speaking up for themselves is affecting them on a cellular level?

Do you think that their cells will feel happy about being suppressed, or be feeling frustrated and upset? Do you think coming up with a different strategy that makes them feel powerful, will serve them better?

Releasing negative emotions, stories and programming is an amazing way to start feeling better to affect the cells of your body.

Check out the study by Dr Emoto on the study of how words affect water (we are made up of 60% water). He claimed that human consciousness has an effect on the molecular structure of water. He explored beliefs that water could react to positive thoughts and words, and that polluted water could be cleaned through prayer and positive visualisation.

In summary, mindset and clearing negative emotions and stories play a role in getting rid of disease in the body, including cancer. You need a holistic approach.

Working on the emotions and mindset alone, if you are still eating toxic foods, putting toxic chemicals onto the skin and living a very stressful life may not be the best choice for you. You need to find what fits you best.

Everything works together and I think the key is finding a balance for you. I hope some of the points in this article resonate with you, whether you have cancer or not. The principles are the same regardless of the title we give the dis-ease.

I have had more experience with cancer then I ever expected, or wanted. But we can’t chose what comes into our lives, we can simply decide to deal with it or not. I have not had cancer, but many people in my circle of family and friends have had cancer experiences, especially many of the women who have had breast cancer.

I have brought shamanic healing energy to those who wished to receive it and care-giving energy only to those who did not. So I will speak to cancer from a shamanic perspective and from the perspective of one with close experiences with cancer.

So, here we go, with some questions many ask. How do we battle cancer when it comes into our physical being? What are the best ways to fight this fiendish opponent? Can we win the war with cancer or only expect to win some battles?

The media, advertisements, drug companies and other sources talk about fighting cancer and how you must battle it with all your strength. But still, how best to do this?

My advice, at this point in our talk together, is to stop fighting cancer as an enemy. Forget about going to war or into battle with some enemy without.

Quit asking if you can win the war. Instead, begin to go into your heart and spirit and start to understand the cancer within you. For some, this is easier than others. And I know it is easier to say than to do.

But it is the way to begin to see the best way ahead for yourself as you work with the cancer affecting you.

For those shaking their heads and mouthing “crazy nut job” as you read this, hang with me a little longer. You can always judge me later.

Any disease we humans can contract becomes a part of us. The spiritual, shamanic means to deal with it is, as I said, accept it as part of you, work alone or with a spiritual guide to feel and understand it and then connect with your ‘inner doctor’ (your spirit, heart, soul, whatever term you use) to understand the best way forward.

Cancer is an especially pertinent disease to use this process and to treat shamanically. Cancer cells are in each of our bodies and sometimes begin to mutate and become the ‘cancer’ disease we all know.

No matter what means we use to treat it, if it goes into remission, it still remains with us. I will give an example of this in a moment.

If we go “into battle” or try to “fight” cancer, we are setting ourselves up for failure. If we begin to make decisions about how we wish to be treated based on understanding the cancer as part of us, we have a much better chance to work with it in a way it again becomes just more cells in our body.

Not only is this so physically, but mentally and emotionally, we are better prepared to deal with these mutating cells more energetically and with less fear. Fear that becomes a true enemy if we let it control us.

Like all diseases that become a problem for us, cancer is a symptom of deeper issues. It is these issues, the true causes of cancer, or heart disease or diabetes, etc., that we need to explore and understand. Often, by doing this, we can eliminate the disease or greatly lessen its effects.

Where do these thoughts come from? First, from teachings given to me by many indigenous elders over the years and by some alternative healers I have worked with.

Also, oddly, from some Western medicine doctors who are beginning to look at how we deal with and treat cancer. And, secondly, through my own experiences and work as a shamanic practitioner and an intuitive psychotherapist. Ugh! Titles.

I hate them, they label me and others, but sometimes are needed for clarity. I consider myself a human being who has been taught many healing ways and is honoured to use them when asked. See? Too long and clumsy.

I have seen many people decide the cancer they battled was too strong for them and so they stepped off the physical world rather quickly. I have seen others I have worked with understand and accept their cancer and live longer, healthier lives.

The decision is for each individual to undertake. There are no givens and no silver bullets. And I have also been taught that, at some time, it is our turn to surrender our physical body and return to our energy/spirit form.

When this time comes, some disease will take us off. That is the circle of existence. But eliminating these areas, I have seen the peaceful work with cancer yield much better results than fear and fight.

My wife prior to Sue, my current partner, Bonnie, contracted cancer of the breast at 45. She was given a year to live. She mixed strong mental and spiritual work on her cancer and Western medicine. An odd mix, but it worked for her. To an extent.

She and I sat and talked at length. Our daughter was still in high school and Bonnie said, “I don’t accept this. I will work with my body, cancer and all, and live another 20 years”. She had surgery, chemo and radiation at that time, methods I saw take a huge toll on her. Her choice.

And… she lived for 20 years with the cancer dormant. Not ‘cancer-free’, that is another disservice the medical community does for us. We are never cancer free. And someone who has their cancer cells become malignant is never again free of them.

But we can work to have the cancer become passive again. After 20 years, the cancer again appeared, the same type.

She again went to Western medicine, which was a huge challenge for me since I know so many shamanic healing techniques I could have offered. But her choice.

After 3 years she decided it was enough and quit all medicines and treatments, allowing us 10 months with her not as affected by the horrible effects of chemo and drugs.

In fact, more and more researchers are finding that chemo and drugs are not only ineffective, but can cause more harm than cancer (i.e. – see Dr. Hardin B. Jones and others).

Other people have come to me in huge fear and panic and have told me they will lose to their cancer and die soon. Some cite their medical doctor’s predictions, another huge disservice of some.

Some of these I have worked with using journeying, dark soul escape, spirit medicine and other shamanic techniques taught to me in the jungles and forests of Central America and they have managed to accept and work with their cancer.

Most of these patients are still alive and minimally affected by cancer. Some died of other causes and a few could not hold their belief in these methods. Others, including a close relative, decided their doctors were right and the end was near, and so it was.

Bonnie, shortly before she passed over, shared with me that the chemo, surgery and drugs were not a good choice, but she was good with having made it. She was very pleased she had chosen to walk from them and have some quality of life at the end.

She apologised to me for not allowing me to bring my spiritual medicine to bear. This was not necessary or part of what we needed. We both talked that through and made peace with it.

Know and understand your cancer. Feel and accept it. Work on losing fear. Then chose the tools you need to address it. And, most importantly, address the underlying causes.

In ancient Greece they practiced ‘wisdom healing’: using food to nourish the mind, body and soul. “Let medicine be thy food and food thy medicine”. ‘Nature itself is the best physician.’ – Hippocrates. Some of this wisdom is explored in this article.

In ancient Greece there were many who lived to over 100 years old. Why is it that in today’s technologically and scientifically sophisticated society, many people cannot achieve longevity?

The ancient Greeks introduced the world to the concept of energy (from the Greek word “energia”) and its effects on humans, animals, plants and one’s health. We are all connected spiritually by energy, whether we choose to believe it or not.

The ancient Greeks would preach that ‘we are all one’ “love is the cause of unity of all things” – Aristotle.

We all form a part of the circle of life that revolves in a circular motion with no beginning and no end, particularly when it comes to cooking and eating and respecting our food and where it comes from.

The ancient Greeks knew that if the food they were cooking had good energy and brought “agapi” (unconditional love), their dishes would be masterpieces, and masterpieces they were.

We are all made up of energy and we therefore require the consumption of energy in the form of food, air and water for sustenance and good health.

In tandem we require an environment and thoughts made up of good positive vibrational energy. The ancient Greeks would “think good thoughts”, live life with agapi, meditate, pray and practice affirmations to assist with this process.

There are many methods for raising our vibration to connect to ourselves, nature and God. This includes eating highly nutritious energetic foods and eliminating unhealthy thoughts and relationships.

Eating high energy foods help us reach higher consciousness and to better connect with our higher source; Universe/God. This is one of the reasons why many ancient philosophers and healers were vegans and vegetarians such as Plato and Pythagoras

When eating fresh fruits and vegetables off the plant, tree or vine the vibrational energy benefit of the food is high. When you eat organic food directly from the plant the plant is rich in nutrients from the sun.

Most fast food restaurants, large grocery food chains, even middle of the line eateries offer food that is of a very low energy vibrational quality thus not adding any valuable nutrients to the body.

Eating high amounts of these foods can result in sickness, obesity, stress, and other health issues. Eating food that has conscious, good vibrational energy does not nourish you only physically but also spiritually and harmoniously.

Many of us have lost touch or forgotten the nutritional benefits and healing qualities of food and opt to solely rely on conventional medication for healing.

Instead, we should be looking at supplementing these conventional methods with holistic approaches, such as eating the right foods for our particular ailment, and using methods such as naturopathy, massage, music, dream therapy, salt therapy, music therapy, sun therapy, chakra therapy, light therapy and color therapy, as they did in ancient Greece.

A way to attain a place of agapi and to lift energy is to adopt an agapi and eco (not an ego) approach to cooking. An eco-approach takes into consideration the environment and other people.

It reminds us that we are not alone and that our choices have consequences not only on ourselves, but on the environment and other people.

When we are free from ego when cooking and come from a state of agapi we lift the vibrational frequency of our ingredients and dishes and we begin to add a healing element to our dishes. Food that is prepared by loving hands adds to the good energy of the dish.

Prepare food slowly, lovingly and peacefully.

Many other rituals from ancient Greece continue to be practiced today to lift the energy vibration frequency of food before it is consumed. There are many songs and dances performed during preparation and cooking time, dishes are kissed and dishes are blessed.

Ingredients are not merely something we consume to sustain us; it is something deeper and more spiritual. But, above all, the Greeks show gratitude by giving thanks to God for his guidance and for the wonderful food they are about to enjoy.

Gratitude, truth and love have the highest energy vibrations.

For good health eat an abundance of food with high vibration energy and nutrients such as organic nuts, fruit, vegetables and fresh herbs.

Keep to a minimum foods such as meat, poultry and sugar and foods that are highly processed, microwaved, chemically altered, genetically altered (GMO), contain chemically additives or have being mistreated by a person.

They have little or no good vibrational energy and nutrition to add to your body. Plutarch tells us: ‘Man is by nature not a carnivorous animal’. ‘It is not natural to mankind to feed on flesh, we first of all demonstrate from the very shape and figure of the body.

For the human body no way resembles those that were born for ravenousness’. ‘Shall we reckon a soul to be a small expense.’ ‘Animal food is injurious: it clogs and confuses the mind’ and the ‘mind weak and feeble’.

It operates unfavorably on character’. ‘If we must eat flesh let it be with sorrow and pity; not tormenting and abusing the poor animal before taking its life. Animals have senses’. ‘Who knows the bodies of animals may contain the souls of deceased men.’

When we eat animal meat where the animal has not been treated with respect or not slaughtered with respect we are also placing the energy of pain into our body. Blessing the meat is imperative.

To lift the energy vibration of your food give thanks and bless your food before eating and even while preparing and cooking it to decrease the negative energy vibration left on these ingredients when eating it is also important to create an ambience of peacefulness.

Think positive thoughts and pour your own energy into what you are eating.

And finally an affirmation to help guide you to make healthy eating choices:I eat high energy vibration food that nourishes, nurtures and supports my body and soul.

I would love to share everything I can about Forensic Healing to the Universe. When asked to write about this month’s discussion on cancer, it immediately brings up the one aspect that I learnt doing this course.

What is the correlation between Forensic Healing & Cancer? If someone is going through this disease, it’s best not to work on the disease itself but work on healing the energy. Why may you ask?

Well, as we all know, energy is everything and everything is energy. With energy healing we are helping the body’s own healing mechanisms to heal themselves, first finding the cause, releasing, then healing following a designed protocol.

This is one definite area that is suggested we not put energy into, as this may cause energy of this disease within the body to flow and expand!

We want healthy healing to flow through the body, not something that is diseased that can then move and continue its damaging effects.

Forensic Healing does not diagnose diseases. We can work on clearing any negative paths, blocks and help the body to regain the calm, balance and peace so that we may function wholly, synergistically as the body is meant to do.

How many of us have been touched by cancer, I guarantee nearly every person on this planet, has either themselves experienced (me included, early stage cervical cancer at age 21) have known someone (father, mother, siblings, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, friends) the list goes on, that has been affected by this disease.

A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It can be interpreted to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs.

External factors such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such autoimmune diseases. Basically, disease is more defined as an imbalance in your body and its environment.

‘Disease’ is often used more generally to refer to a condition that causes pain, dysfunction, distress, social problems and /or death to the person with the condition. – Forensic Healing Physics Manual

I want to share the general information about Forensic Healing and what this amazing modality can do.

There are many modalities available that people can now take upon themselves to be responsible for their health by seeking more methods where alternative changes can assist you in dealing with a disease. Whether that be a disease of the mind, body or soul.

In this moment and time that we are alive, our foods, water and environment plays a huge role in how we carry this vehicle, our body, that is made to last the expectancy of ‘our’ journey.

We can grow our own fresh foods, we can choose the foods we eat, we depend upon the purity of water that Mother Nature provides us (then we have to rely on how to keep our water fresh and pure through treatment processes).

Our environment around us within the air we breath, the contaminants we take (by our own sources or those that we cannot control) into our lungs.

With our mind, if we live in fear, complain, make judgement on others or even ourselves, have negative thought processes, do not appreciate the beauty and splendour that surrounds us in our day-to-day life.

These can lead to your personal energy creating those unbalanced, inharmonious imprints and so your body lives off that imprint, and that’s all it knows.

Within the Physics component of Forensic Healing, we cover aspects such as Dehydration, Toxins, Physical Trauma, Structural, Jaw(TMJ), Nutritional, Disease, Allergy, Genetics, Hormones, Environment, DNA, Neurological and Body Systems.

Now I’m not a specialist in any of these fields, but I’ve been privileged to train and learn how Forensic Healing addresses the connection of a person’s energy by being the conduit to simply work with intention of a person’s condition to reveal the traumas, blocks, conditions they have.

What Can Forensic Healing Do For You?

Forensic Healing is powerful! I love that it has been created so you are ‘digging deep’ in a detective type system. As a practitioner with a client (either one-on-one or via distant healing), we become a conduit, a clear connection to all that exists.

We ask all source energy, all enlightened beings to allow us that the healing that the client has put their intention into, be for their highest of good. Connecting with your energy field, we use energy shifts or muscle testing (kinesiology) and your body reveals the information that we ask of it.

This being a series of precise questions that the client can acknowledge. Sometimes if it’s connected to a past life issue (ancestral) they may not be able to comment, but their bodies energy field holds that information.

Being open and having a clear intention on addressing their condition really allows for Forensic Healing to work its magic. It’s an amazing structure of direct simple, palpable and spot on revelations. We do a profile, collect, analyse, reconstruct and recycle the evidence.

When using the Forensic Healing system, it triggers the conditions to rise that have been well hidden. We develop a story, which will reflect an ongoing trauma, or condition in their life.

We follow a healing pathway designed for that condition where the client may need to engage in physically (i.e. standing for “Shaping The Future Pathway” or “Power Charge Pathway” repeat statements that they imagine, feel, see and all have amazing powerful results).

Why The Forensic Healing System Works…

• Forensic Healing uses Healing Secrets to activate spontaneous healing forces
• Words of Power are used to close down negative forces and open positive energies
• We follow a protocol of Opening and Closing statements to bless, access higher sources and guidance etc
• The Client plays an active part in the identification of life patterns and the emotions that run them
• Identifying the client’s age where the impact with programs, beliefs and patterns occurred
• Embeds Law of Attraction to enhance life changes
• Exposes how are relationships leave imprints on ourselves and others
• Addressing all healing pathways – energetic, physical, emotional and spiritual
• As a Forensic Healer I know exactly what to do – step-by-step for any condition
• Understanding the patterns of clients who heal easily and the clients who don’t
• As a therapist we too are healed with the client, creating good karma and attracting what we need to make your healing experience successful
• A feeling of passion and excitement solving life problems
• I genuinely care about your progress as a therapist

May you always know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that Love will guide you along the way, that everyone’s journey is sacred and unique.

Let me be a light to help you on your path and with the benefits of incorporating the Forensic Healing system into your life can be profound and empowering.

Research confirms that food has the ability to heal or harm our bodies. Many doctors however, were trained to believe that environmental factors like diet didn’t play a major role in disease prevention or treatment.

The question we will look at here is can food fight cancer?

Today scientific evidence points towards something quiet astounding; not only may nutrition play a key role in the prevention of diseases such as cancer, it may also play a critical role in how our body fights the disease.

Research indicates that diet contributes to 25 – 30% of cancer-related mortality and other studies suggest certain foods are capable of starving cancer cells to death.

Over the past few years I’ve been working with cancer patients, coaching them through a dietary protocol called the ketogenic diet. It is this dietary approach that is getting a lot of attention in cancer therapy and research today.

In laboratories all over the world studies are being performed to test the theory that this diet may starve certain tumours by cutting off the energy supply, glucose, to cancer cells.

In specific types of cancer, such as brain tumours, early results and clinical observations indicate that a ketogenic diet has the potential to be more effective than traditional treatments such as chemotherapy.

The current research is still in the early stages and there is little long term scientific evidence to support this, but clinical studies suggest in some cancers it may stop the progression of tumours, inhibit metastases, and kill cancer cells.

So What Is A Ketogenic Diet & Could It Hold The Key To Better Cancer Management?

A ketogenic diet is a high fat, adequate protein and low carbohydrate approach to eating. The ketogenic diet has been around since the beginning of time and many traditional cultures lived healthy, long lives on this protocol.

For the traditional Inuit, diet was governed by food availability, so they ate very little fruit and vegetables and primarily survived on protein and fat. These Inuit were thought to have one of the lowest rates of heart disease and cancer in the world, debunking the link between dietary fats and heart disease.

The standard western supermarket diet is high in carbohydrates as found in grains, sugars and most processed foods. As your body digests these carbohydrates they are converted into glucose, (sugar), then glucose molecules fuel each cell in your body.

When we reduce our carbohydrate intake to a minimum (usually 5 – 10 % of daily caloric intake) there is no longer enough glucose to fuel the body, so the body seeks out a secondary fuel source, which is fat.

Stored fat cells and/or dietary fats are then processed in the liver into ketones and these ketones become the primary fuel for each cell in your body.

This is called fat-adaptation, and once this occurs your body enters a ketogenic state and is in nutritional ketosis. The side-effects of this state can be extremely positive.

The term Nutritional Ketosis was coined by Dr Stephen D. Phinney some 30 years ago to clarify confusion amongst physicians around ketosis induced by carbohydrate restriction, versus ketosis caused by the absence of insulin in type 1 diabetes (which leads to ketoacidosis).

Ketones in extremely high levels can be a toxic by-product of fat metabolism. However in very low doses they are a useful substrate for healthy fat metabolism and weight loss.

There is no more risk of ketoacidosis in healthy individuals by inducing nutritional ketosis, than there is in inducing a diabetic coma through extreme blood sugar levels in healthy individuals. A healthy body will keep these levels in a safe range.

Sugar, Ketosis & Cancer

Cancer cells do not have the ability to adapt to using ketones as fuel, so if glucose is no longer a source of fuel for these cells, they can literally starve to death. Hence the ketogenic diet has sparked enormous interest in cancer research.

We still don’t know how cancer kills us exactly, but what we do know is that it depletes us of glucose (sugar, our fuel source).

Cancer loves sugar; it robs your healthy human cells so it can use this energy to stimulate tumour growth. Once cancer is riddled throughout a body, it can virtually starve a patient to death, which may be why we see people wasting away with cancer.

Ask any oncologist if their cancer patients are sugar addicts. The problem is that it is not the patient themselves who desire the sugar; it is the cancer in their bodies. By cutting off the sugar supply to glucose dependent cancers, the theory is that this could lead to the death of the cancer cells.

Key Dietary Requirements Of A Ketogenic Diet

When beginning a ketogenic diet it is usually recommended to start with a fast of 1-2 days. Fasting therapy also has its merits and I would recommend you investigate these benefits.

For now suffice to say that intermittent fasting is part of Whole Food Secrets ketogenic dietary protocols because it helps stimulate the production of ketones.

In cancer patients, up to 90% of your daily requirement in calories comes from healthy fats. While this sounds like a lot, keep in mind that fats are nutrient dense.

There are a number of delicious ways to enjoy healthy fats such as dressings; hollandaise, mayonnaise, salad oil dressings, homemade chocolate with cocoa butter and coconut oil. In the average person about 10 to 14 servings (tablespoons) are desirable each day.

Beneficial Fats In A Ketogenic Diet

Carbohydrates are restricted to lower glycaemic foods and in small doses making up to 10% of your daily energy intake. Small amounts of proteins make up to 20% of your daily intake.

I have coached many cancer patients through my cancer ketogenic dietary protocol with great success.

It is quite a technical nutritional approach though, which requires an experienced person to ensure they reach optimal ketone to glucose ratios, while maintaining an alkalised state, which is also important for cancer.

What About Meat & Dairy?

Some types of cancer can adapt to obtaining fuel from glutamine or glutamate which are non-essential amino acids found in protein. These two amino acids are interchangeable, one converts into the other and our body has the ability to produce it even without dietary sources.

Glutamate is not only beneficial, it’s essential for life and the most abundant neurotransmitter in the brain. Glutamate works as a type of stimulator in the brain, and in excess, is linked to ADHD, autism, migraines and chronic inflammation.

Like any stimulant, too much of it is like drinking too much coffee and it poses problems to balanced brain functioning.

Glutamate is also known as the ‘feeding pump’ to certain cancers and can help the spread of metastases. Once it takes hold of these tumours, it has demonstrated to spread aggressively.

This is not to say that we should avoid glutamate or glutamine completely, but a diet low in foods abundant with these proteins could be beneficial.

Fortunately, a healthy and balanced ketogenic diet can easily cater for this.

Foods High In Glutamate & Glutamine

All foods high in glutamate should be consumed in moderation, however many of these foods may also contain anti-angiogenic properties and may be beneficial for fighting cancer as well. This is why so many people are confused about which dietary approach to take and guidance is required.

Angiogenesis & Anti-Angiogenic Foods

Another important approach to nutritional cancer therapies is understanding angiogenesis. Angiogenesis literally means blood creation.

In science, the term angiogenesis refers to the body’s ability to grow new blood vessels as required and to restore them to normal levels when they are no longer required.

We are each born with approximately 60,000 miles of blood vessels, enough to circle the earth twice. As adults, blood vessels don’t normally grow except in a few situations.

In women blood vessels grow each month to form the lining in the uterus and during pregnancy, they form the placenta connecting mother and baby.

When the body is injured, blood vessels have to form a scab to heal a wound and it does this through angiogenesis, with the body releasing angiogenic stimulators to induce growth of new blood vessels to heal and protect a wound.

Once healed, angiogenesis will release anti-angiogenic inhibitors to prune back the excess growth of new vessels to the ‘baseline’ they operated at prior to injury.

In at least 70 known diseases however, there appears to be defects in the system where the body can’t either stimulate growth of new vessels, or prune back excessive growth and angiogenesis gets out of balance.

In cases where there is insufficient growth, diseases such as coronary heart disease, stroke, hair loss, and wounds that don’t heal occur. In the case of excessive growth, we see endometriosis, arthritis, psoriasis and cancer.

Worldwide there is a large movement toward anti-angiogenic drug therapy, which basically act to block what researchers believe to be the root cause of how cancers grow.

However, what researcher William Li has found, is that Mother Nature left a myriad of natural anti-angiogenic drugs in fruits, vegetables and herbs and some are even more potent than some cancer drugs.

These foods could be the most potent way of preventing cancer before it starts, as well as a valid addition to cancer therapies.

In his research Dr Li has also discovered that in combination, these foods seem to have a synergistic effect in anti-angiogenic potency. These anti-angiogenic foods should become the foundational diet for anyone with cancer.

Anti-Angiogenic Foods

While most plant based foods contain anti-angiogenic inhibitors, some have been clinically researched as particularly potent.

Combined with a ketogenic low glutamate diet, this becomes a powerful dietary program that is easy to fit into your lifestyle and is a joy to eat. It also has additional side effects of boosting energy and mental clarity, which has to make life a little easier.

SOURCES: www.ted.com/talks/william_li?language=en#t-782887
www.canceractive.com/cancer-active-page-link.aspx?n=3117

DISCLAIMER: This article is not intended to replace professional advice or offer dietary recommendations. Please consult your healthcare professional.

There are hundreds of trillions of friendly (and a handful of unfriendly) organisms in our intestines – it’s warm, safe, and there’s plenty of food in there, making it a great place for them to call home.

We have evolved with these bacteria, and we need them just as much as they need us – they help us to digest our food, provide us with essential nutrients, and contribute to a healthy, happy belly.

When our microbes get out of balance due to the food we eat, antibiotic use, or other factors, there is evidence that the development and progression of tumours (cancers), and our response to cancer drugs, may be altered for the worse.

The Microbiome Link To Cancer Development – How Does This Work?

There have been several methods proposed for how the gut microbiota contributes to cancer, not only in the digestive tract, but throughout the entire body, and the impacts could be far-reaching.

Bacteria are believed to influence cancer risk and progression via several mechanisms, including bacteria’s ability to metabolise (chew up and spit out) whatever we put in our mouths, combined with their profound influence on the health of our immune cells – our defence system.

There is much debate regarding the true percentage of cancers that are caused by microbes, either directly or indirectly, but it remains true that microbes in one way or another can promote or protect us from cancer.

The positive or negative action depends largely on the microbe, or collection of microbes, present. The specifics of which bacteria does what are not yet known for sure.

Research suggests that microbes can alter our susceptibility to the development of tumours, but also influence the progression of cancers, both for better or worse.

This may occur due to the promotion of or the protection from inflammation, DNA changes, and the production of by-products (metabolites) that may promote or protect from cancer.

How Bacteria Work To Block Or Facilitate Chemotherapy Drugs

Like hungry creatures everywhere, bacteria eat whatever food comes their way. This might be food from our lunch, and as unappealing as it may seem to us, a drug we are taking. Bacteria are not very fussy with their food choices.

Studies have found that some chemotherapy drugs are treated as food by certain microbes, which can result in a toxic or useless compound being thrown back into our system, instead of an active drug.

This naturally means the drugs are less likely to work, and the person being treated could have little or no improvement to their cancer. In a fascinating study, mice pre-treated with antibiotics had little to no response to chemotherapy drugs.

Conversely, those with healthy microbiomes had a positive response to cancer drugs. This may account for the diversity of responses to cancer drugs from person to person.

These studies into chemotherapy drugs and the microbiome are currently only in mice, but in future adding healthy microbes to the diets of those undergoing cancer treatment may be part of everyone’s treatment, along with preventative measures using healthy bacteria.

How Can You Help Yourself?

Keeping a healthy gut microbiome is one of the first steps to not only helping prevent the development of some cancers, but should cancer develop, healthy microbes may assist chemotherapy treatments on their journey through your body to ensure maximum impact.

Between 1998 and 2002, I worked at the Yarra Valley Living Centre, more commonly known as the Gawler Foundation, after its founder, Ian Gawler, who himself was diagnosed with cancer and went through his own personal journey of healing himself.

It was here that I started working with people dealing with cancer.

People from every state of Australia (and from overseas) came to attend programs and retreats and I was honoured to meet hundreds of wonderful people.

One of the main features at the Gawler Foundation was the ten day ‘Cancer Retreat Programs’, which happened, on average, about once per month; with up to 40 people attending each program.

Generally, half of these would be people dealing with cancer and the other half were their carers or support people.

On these ten day programs, there were several main features that were shared, taught and encouraged.

These were: the practice of meditation, a good (vegetarian) diet, good nutrition, a sense and practice of good health and well-being and a very positive mind-set. Lots of fun and laughter was also encouraged!

I was initially employed as the organic gardener to look after the vegetable gardens, orchard and other parts of the 100 acre property, however, I soon found myself involved in many other roles other than gardening.

I deepened my own journey into working with people dealing with cancer each week as I got more involved with the programs.

One of the highlights for me, and there were many, was to build a big bonfire down by the river under the magnificent Manna Gums for each program and facilitate an evening of ceremony, which often included singing, didgeridoo playing, fire twirling, story-telling and some sort of letting go or cleansing processes for all of the guests.

Other highlights over the years were working on a children’s program, facilitating meditation sessions, sharing insights and education on organic gardening, food and nature and offering didgeridoo healings.

Being on the Management Committee for a couple of years and being in the company of, and being a student of several internationally renowned teachers, such as Ian Gawler, Caroline Myss, Rabbi Laibl Wolf and Sogyal Rinpoche, was a wonderful way for me to get a deeper understanding and education about meditation, cancer and other related topics.

Over this period of time, I became a vegetarian, learned how to meditate more deeply, took on more of a leadership role in my work and learned how to be more compassionate, patient and understanding of people’s needs, challenges, fears and concerns.

It was during this time that I started my study to become a holistic counsellor, psychotherapist and trainer. I knew that I wanted to work with people and the three and a half years at the Gawler Foundation was a good platform to do this.

Even though I did not have any physical cancer to deal with in my own body, I became very aware of aspects of my life that needed changing or healing. By addressing many of these issues and challenges I feel that I averted or prevented myself from getting ill.

Working With People Dealing With Cancer Taught Me So Much

For me, the lessons I learned from other people going through their own journey with cancer gave me the insight, courage and determination not to go there myself.

Prevention became my tool. Over the years I have studied, worked with and gained much more understanding of dis-ease.

Now, at the age of 52, and 14 years after leaving the Gawler Foundation, I still choose to live a life that involves a good healthy, mostly organic vegetarian diet, regular meditation, drinking lots of alkaline water and having lots of joy and fun and a very positive mind-set.

These things are the key to my health and well-being and it is partly what I like to teach and use as an inspiration when working with people who wish to improve their life-style.

What I have come to understand about cancer is that it is very individual for each person. Each person has their own unique journey with it and hardly ever is the journey or the results or end game the same.

I have seen very aggressive cancers heal fast and other so called minor cancers take people over the threshold into death. I have witnessed people laugh, cry and scream at their cancer.

I have even laughed and cried with them myself. Cancer is not always a curse, it can also be a blessing and can help people to change their lives for the better, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

One of the things that I liked about Ian Gawler’s approach and philosophy was that it is good to die well. Part of the retreat work for the participants was to be prepared for their death; whether that was going to be a short or a long time in coming.

Getting things into order and preparing for our death makes sense to me and whilst at the Gawler Foundation I was given a huge lesson in this from a young man of seventeen.

This young man arrived at the foundation after being diagnosed with cancer and given only a short time to live. He was a fun, intelligent and ‘enlightened’ soul. He seemed to have worked through the fear of death and was focused on dying well.

During the last few weeks before his death he gathered a few mates and male relatives and built and designed his own funeral ceremony. Right up until the day of his passing he was active, even with his frail and failing body, with his mates on the snow or out on his motorbike.

His funeral was conducted as he instructed, with music and his mates on their motor-bikes following his father’s ute down the road with him inside the coffin on the ute tray.

I was privileged to receive a small container of his ashes several days after the funeral and found the right moment to scatter them around the tall majestic Gum trees down by the river at the Gawler Foundation, where he and I often sat and talked.

There were many other special people that became my ‘teachers’ over the several years of me being there, with Ian Gawler being one of them. His focus and drive and sense of purpose are the things that I remember most and these have been something that I have learned to instil deeper into my own work.

I remember times when I would sit and watch Ian facilitating a group and feeling the longing to do the same myself. This became a reality for me with Ian bringing me in to facilitate some meditation sessions and other group work for the people attending the retreat programs.

My view on cancer now is that it is something to be aware of and not fearful of and something that can arrive in anyone’s life uninvited at any time.

However, I also believe that by living a life with several key principles and daily actions, such as meditating, having a good healthy and nutritious vegetarian diet, being physically fit, drinking lots of good fresh (alkaline) water, having a positive mind-set and having lots of joy, fun and laughter in one’s life can help to prevent it from arriving.

It seems to be more common today than ever before that more family members and friends seem either to be diagnosed with Cancer, or know someone who has been unexpectedly shocked with diagnoses, that Cancer has taken over their bodies.

You can be young, old, a mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, son from any walk of life. It can sometimes be genetic.

So what is going on? Why has there been so much research and charity events raising massive amounts of money to help cure Cancer and there are more Cancer patients than ever before?

You get where I am going? I’m not telling you anything you don’t really know. However, what I am telling you is the truth and often times we don’t want to look at the truth. We fear truth and believe way too much in conventional medicine.

Today’s lifestyles have a lot of pressure and stress to be whom and what we think we must be. Are you really living the life you want?

It is easy to develop bad habits and hold old childhood wounds of shame, resentment, hatred or not feeling good enough, too busy pleasing everyone else and putting yourself on the backbench.

And, through it all, we never think, “If I continue holding onto these thoughts, feelings and behaviours, I’ll get Cancer”. I am talking about some of your deep subconscious beliefs that you may not even recognise, or be in denial of.

Can you create your potential illness? Of course you can! Sometimes, shit just happens. We also underestimate the power of the mind and how we can create illness and how we can also heal or cure illness.

Life gets busy, we are living our lives, having good times, bad times, growing, learning having children, getting married, working a 9-to-5 job or developing a career of some sort.

No one asks for Cancer and no one deserves it Period! If you are amongst those who do get Cancer and people tell you that you have created it by how you think or that it is your fault which stemmed from your bad behaviours, that is totally unfair.

However, now that you have had the diagnosis that you have Cancer, you want to have some information to help you deal with it, right? You want to check your mindset.

You would also want to check your daily food intake and, lastly, you would want to be touched with ‘hands on healing’. I will go over these few healing methods with you now.

Your Mindset

What do I mean about a mindset? The dictionary defines mindset as: a fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations.

It refers to habits of mind formed by previous experience, an intention or inclination, your outlook. So, how do you approach “bad news” when you get it:

What is your way of handling a life-changing situation?

Mind Power

Accept it fully!

It is ok to admit you are in fear, sit in the emotion that you are feeling, it is ok to be there for a little while. Make sure it does not consume you for too long, know when to move out of that state. Each day take a step forward and start doing what needs to be done.

Your loved ones are going to be your biggest supporters, they will also need to know how to figure out the best way they can be there for you. They are part of your team. Talk to them about how you feel and how you are fully taking this on.

Reassure each other at times to remind you of your braveness and how you are not allowing the fear to consume you. You are all in this together, loving and supporting.

Always have a support team of friends that make you laugh and lift you up, sometimes you may just want a shoulder to cry on or a big hug. I loved laying in bed with my girlfriend all day just chatting and eating jelly babies.

Whatever your emotions you need to release them whether you are sad, angry, frustrated or happy.

Visualise yourself getting better and better every day!

Many years ago I read a book of a young boy who used loved star wars, he said when he had Cancer he used to play star wars games inside his body. He said the spaceships were fighting inside his body, blowing away all the bad Cancer cells.

Visualising is a great technique to use, as your subconscious mind does not recognise the truth, so it will believe whatever you decide to put into it.

Healthy Foods

Your health and wellbeing is of the upmost importance. Mind, body, spirituality and sexuality are all energies you want to balance and integrate with any prevention or healing of illness. Good healthy fresh foods will help balance your pH levels.

There are so many super foods that are great for helping fight Cancer. I suggest you find an expert in this field to help assist with good healthy eating.

Healing Hands The Power Of “Touch”

We underestimated the healing powers of touch. Remember as a child or when your own children fall over and scratch say their knee, what is the first thing you do? You put your hand on the wound, it feels better with your hand on it than off it.

You are transmitting healing energy from your hand into the wound. If you have a sore tummy and you place your hands on your tummy, it does the same thing. When you cuddle someone it seems to take away all the stress and tension you just felt.

Touch more often, hug more, hold hands. Get yourself some Reiki session with a qualified practitioner.

Reiki for pain control has been in many studies, even though Reiki has not been scientific proven in healing Cancer, it has helped control pain with people with advanced Cancer, in a Canadian study in 2003.

It had a significant pain reduction after treatment with this group. More studies are needed and required for natural therapies over all. Good healthy living, overall, are only going to help Cancer patients live a quality and happy life.

Balance is the key, a great mindset, healthy eating, plenty of touch and lots of laughter with great friends and family around you.

In the last copy of Holistic Living Magazine, I wrote about the healing power of Orgasm. I suggest you grab yourself a copy of the edition and read it. Breath work and Orgasm are great for any illness and your overall health and wellbeing.

Prevention is the best. Look at your body as a temple and treat it with all the best nutrition you can. Be kind to yourself and think good thoughts, learn to love you, remember this is your life, and live it how you want to, not how others would like you to live.

Enjoy your body, love the skin you are in and make sure you take good care of it. Do some self-development work and be a better person tomorrow, than who you were yesterday. We are all here together and we are all alive and living until our last breath.

Sending all my love and healing to everyone out there with Cancer today.

In loving memory of my brother David that passed away to brain Cancer 5 years ago.

I first witnessed the successful alternative treatment of a serious illness way back in 1978, and it literally blew me away. The Mind-Body Connection is so powerful.

I had heard about a husband and wife medical team: Carl and Stephanie Simonton, and knew that they were cancer specialists who had pioneered a 5 day cancer treatment program.

Denounced by many as rebels, mavericks and heretics, the Simontons were truly cutting-edge. As a young man starting out in psychosomatic and psychodynamic transformation, I was inspired by their courage, and their work opened up a whole new world for me.

The Simontons identified a key link between emotional trauma and cancer. They stated that the single biggest emotional factor which was common across all cancer patients, was that they had each suffered a significant loss in the 6 to 18 months before their diagnosis.

However, it was not the loss itself that was the critical factor, but the way it was perceived by the individual.

If the person responded to the event with a deep sense of hopelessness or “giving up”, this caused the patient’s body to suppress its immune system and they were more susceptible to producing abnormal cells.

The Simonton method integrated powerful visualisation together with a very healthy diet, counseling, and meditation. Participants were asked to picture themselves as a knight on a white horse.

They imagined that they were holding a sword and killing their cancer cells; empowering their immune system to overcome the enemy.

For a number of patients, this focus on visualisation and emotional support enabled them to significantly outlive their initial prognoses, and their quality of life was considerably enhanced.

The Mind-Body Connection

The Simonton method has evolved significantly over the years. However, the fundamental premise underlying their work remains unchanged: most disease originates from the mind.

Let me explain in simple terms, how emotional pain affects the body’s healthy functioning.

Let’s suppose you have a family member or boss who constantly criticises or suppresses you over a long period of time.

They could do this in subtle ways: a comment here and there, a certain disapproving look every time you eat too much or make a mistake.

Or, they could do it in humiliating and overt ways, putting you down in front of other people and making you feel small and worthless.

This is known as invalidation.

In many cases, invalidation can come across as well-intentioned concern about your welfare. However, intuitively you know the difference: invalidation makes you feel “bad” about yourself.

Over time, constant invalidation can cause us to contract our muscles.

We hold our body in particular positions so that we can ‘protect’ ourselves, and this causes constant stress reactions in our bodies which can make us sick and eventually (over many years) manifest in the form of chronic pain.

The poison that lies within invalidation is that after a while, without realising it, we start to believe the invalidating statements.

They become deeply entrenched and we give our power away. We lose contact with our self-love, and we start to habitually betray ourselves and the vibrant potential locked up inside our souls.

Break Free From The Invalidation Cycle

The problem is that you may love the person who is invalidating you. However, as hard as it may be, you need to cut the emotional cord between you and them.

The culprit may be threatened by your greatness or might be co-dependent and scared that they’re going to lose you if you pursue your own dreams.

This is your life: It’s yours to claim and, if you stay in this toxic environment, your health, vitality and dreams will all be jeopardised.

Healing The Pain Of Invalidation & Embracing The Mind-Body Connection

Over the centuries, a number of doctors and spiritual teachers have studied and enriched our understanding of the powerful connection between the mind and body. Here is a helpful summary of the main ones. They’ve each written a number of books which are fascinating and shed light on our health and happiness in a holistic way.

Dr Wilhelm Reich – Character Analysis and Life Force

Dr. Reich was the creator of Character Analysis and discovered Orgone Energy. This is also known as Universal Energy, Life Force and the Energy of Life.

Reich contended that as human beings who have been hurt and betrayed at some point in our lives, we all have a raft of “character defences” that we have set as a form of armour, in order to survive in the world. He stated that underneath all of these defenses is a blind, murderous rage and hatred.

When this is suppressed and left unresolved, it causes a complex tangle of psychosomatic illness and pain, including serious illness. Reich said that 7 segments of energy needed to be opened in the physical body before emotional negativity could be released and the energy of life, restored.

His methods are facilitated today by trained Reichian therapists and some Core Energetic, Bioenergetic and Somatic therapists. It remains a deeply powerful option for people who want to take their power back and restore their emotional and physical health.

Dr. John Sarno – Emotions & Pain

Dr. Sarno is a famous back pain specialist from New York. He was as conservative a western medical physician as you can get. Then he noticed certain inconsistencies in the treatment of back pain.

His theory is that pain stands as a “distraction” which helps us to repress deep, unresolved emotional issues. Effectively, the mind distracts us from unconscious emotional pain by withdrawing circulation from certain areas of the body. The resulting pain and chronic illness can lead to life threatening illness.

Sarno states that chronic pain is most common in people who are perfectionists or people pleasers or both. His solution is to get patients to identify the unconscious anger, shame, guilt and self-hatred that they have been avoiding. When the patients perceive their illness and symptoms for what they are, the symptoms no longer hold any purpose and the physical symptoms disappear.

Eckhart Von Hochheim and Eckhart Tolle – Attachment is the source of all pain

In the 13th Century, Meister Eckhart, world renowned mystic and theologian, declared that detachment is the highest state one could achieve. Our attachment to this temporary, physical world is the cause of all pain, suffering and illness.

His answer to the suffering of humanity is that we must learn to detach ourselves from the outer world. He explained that this could only happen if we emptied our hearts and souls of all the turmoil and worry.

In doing this, we would then be able to access our divine “inner most being”: Our souls would be ignited, and by leading from this place, we could share our soul’s greatest gifts and talents with the world.

Similarly and more recently, Eckhart Tolle focuses on the ego’s attachment to the mind, and how this forces us to live in the pain of the past which we then project into the future.

He teaches us eloquently about the “Power of Now,” and how it is only in the present moment can we live a life of fulfillment, high energy, optimum health and creative expression.

Honouring The Bridge Between The Body & The Mind

I believe all of these great teachers have given us a piece of the pie that is part of the bigger picture. The starting point for maintaining optimum health and preventing disease, is knowing and accepting that we are all perfect in our imperfections.

The source of all creation is unconditional love, and by recognising that our emotional pain deserves to be held to the light and healed, we can all take the first critical steps to restoring and retaining wholeness and balance within ourselves.

Use Food As Medicine

According to Anand P. et al. (2008) ‘Only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle.’

Nutrition plays an important part not only in the prevention of cancer, but also in its treatment. Inadequate or poor nutrition provides a favourable environment for cancer to grow and develop.

By consuming nutrient dense foods and changing the body’s environment, you deprive cancer of the nutrients it strives on. Thus, good nutrition supports the immune system, starves cancer cells and provides micro and macronutrients.

Nutrition and physical activity are the two most important aspects that can be modified to prevent cancers occurrence.

A healthy diet does not guarantee a life free from cancer. Other risk factors such as genetics, spirituality, and lifestyle are involved in cancer development. The following recommendations can help reduce the risk.

Eat a well-balanced diet. (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 2010) Whenever possible select food that is locally grown free of hormones, pesticides, herbicides and antibiotic residues.

Eating food grown without pesticides may protect against unhealthy cell changes associated with pesticide use in animal studies. When selecting food, select quality, balance, moderation and variation.

Select the food of highest quality, all natural, biologically grown, fresh, unprocessed, non-irradiated, and without synthetic chemicals. It is also beneficial to avoid frying, broiling, and microwave use.

Consider The Following Dietary Suggestions

Add healthy choices to your diet.

Eat foods rich in antioxidants such as berries. Blueberries are packed with anthocyanins, which reduce inflammation and are one of the most powerful antioxidants. Strawberries are rich in antioxidants such as vitamin C and ellagic acid.

Other types of berries, all rich in flavonoids, are raspberries, blackberries, and cranberries. (AICR), 2015)

Eat cruciferous vegetables that are powerful protective foods containing Indole-3-carbinol (an indole) and sulforaphane (an isothiocyanate) that have been researched for anticancer effects (Hayes JD et. al. 2008).

They are also rich in nutrients, including several carotenoids (lutein, beta carotene and zeaxanthin); vitamins C, E, and K; folate; and minerals.

Include the following cruciferous vegetables: ‘Bok choy, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collard greens, Horseradish, Kale, Radishes, Turnips, Watercress, and Wasabi’ (National Cancer Institute 2012).

Eat beta-carotene containing foods, they are an immune system booster and protect cell membranes from toxin damage.

Include green leafy vegetables such as spinach, Swiss chard, apricots, beet greens, Kale, Mustard Greens, Collard Greens, Turnip Greens, Swiss Chard, papaya and Pak Choi (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 2015).

Lower the intake of saturated fats (ACNT, 2010).

Eat lots of vegetables, and fresh fruit (Mayo Clinic, 2010) more than 5 cups a day. They contain Vitamin C, to support immunity, and provide antioxidant activity. (Bone, K, 2010) Eat whole fruit rather than drinking fruit juice. Whole fruit reduces calories, adds fiber, and increases feelings of fullness.

Include vegetable juices for its nutrients and antioxidant activity (Bone, K. 2010).

Include whole grains, and legumes (ACNT, 2010).

Add garlic, onions, and mushrooms (ACNT, 2010). In the International Journal of Cancer 2006, the study by Gonzalez CA, et. al. they investigated the effects of nutrition on cancer. In the study, higher intakes of onion and garlic were associated with a reduced risk of intestinal cancer.

The Cancer Council (2010) recommends increase the intake of protective Omega-3 fats found in oily fish like Atlantic salmon, swordfish, sardines mackerel, and canned fish such as sardines, salmon and tuna also including flaxseed oil, sesame and pumpkin seeds.

Eat dietary fibre it is important for a healthy digestive system and overall health (The Cancer Council, 2010).

Drink clean pure water or unsweetened beverages (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 2010).

Eat Shitake and Ganoderma mushrooms (Bone, K. 2010).

Include both black and green teas in the diet as they help protect against cancer (University of Maryland, 2010). Green tea it is an antioxidant and may selectively inhibit the growth of cancer (National Cancer Institute 2010).

Eat fish (preferably oily) they contain healthy omega 3 fatty acids at least two times per week such as Salmon, sardines, swordfish, gemfish and Spanish mackerel (Cancer Council, 2015).

Things To Avoid:

Limit sweet foods and drinks as sugar increase the release of insulin and suppress the immune system.

Avoid fried, greasy, creamy or rich or spicy, refined foods. (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 2010) junk foods (ACNT, 2010).

Avoid Trans fatty acids (Trans fats) that are found in foods that are made with or cooked in partially hydrogenated fat. Hydrogenation is the changing of a liquid vegetable oil into a solid.

Some crackers, potato chips, baked goods, deep-fried fast foods and margarines contain trans fats. Swap all Trans fats for healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, raw butter, and coconut oil.

Avoid xenooesterogens (ACNT, 2010).

Avoid processed meats. This includes items such as bacon, ham, salami, sausages, frankfurts. Processed meats are high in salt and fat they also contain additives and preservatives (Cancer Council, 2016) and nitrates.

Limit the consumption of red meats. Eating red meat exposes us to dietary carcinogens such as N-nitroso compounds and heterocyclic amines (WCRF, 2007). Choose leaner cuts of meat and remove visible fat.

Avoid alcohol as this increase the number of free radicals (ACNT, 2010).

Stop smoking. (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 2010). Cigarettes, according to The Cancer Research United Kingdom (2014), contain many different chemicals that damage cells’ DNA.

They further confirm that ‘smoking is by far the biggest preventable cause of cancer.’ Therefore, if you are still smoking, consider stopping for your health and the health of the people around you.

Reduce exposure to environmental carcinogens, toxic substances, and radiation (PSR, 2016).

Life Style

Choose the healthiest lifestyle options possible, to empower yourself and reduce your risks.

Maintain a healthy weight through a combination of a healthy diet and regular exercise (Mayo Clinic, 2010). Consider adding meditation to your routine still the mind and reduce stress (Mayo Clinic, 2010).

Include more physical fun such as dancing, aerobics, swimming, tai chi, walking, and yoga. Give yourself lots of breaks throughout the year so you have fun things to look forward to. Above all enjoy what you do and live life to the fullest.

Cancer is a topic that brings up all kinds of feelings for me, from sadness, to fear, anger, regret and more. Amongst other things, I lost my mother to breast cancer a number of years ago.

What I want to share with you here are a couple of very powerful but simple interventions you can bring to the fore right now to improve your own chances of staying ahead of cancer.

If you’re not already convinced that this is a fight worth having, I want you to consider the fact that, according to the World Health Organisation, cancer is now the world’s number one killer, having surpassed heart disease in 2011.

It strikes me as paradoxical that we live in a time when there has never been more known about this disease and, therefore, if logic were to prevail, more opportunities to avoid it.

So given that cancer has shot ahead of heart disease, I want to share what I think is actually going on here.

My sense of this is that many people default to the path of least resistance because there is so much conflicting information out there. The path of least resistance, essentially, involves hoping for the best.

And if the best doesn’t pan out, then the path of least resistance involves jumping on to the conveyor belt offered by the ‘cut, poison, and burn’ approach of conventional medicine.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are definitely times when I would take myself to a conventional doctor. In fact that’s exactly what I did when I recently broke my ankle. But there are other times when I would definitely cast the net further afield.

Needless to say, cancer is one of those times. I feel this way because I see the intersection of the interests of patients, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and governments as being highly problematic. This issue is a whole can of worms that I don’t have space to fully open up here.

So for now what I’m going to focus on is empowering you to take proactive steps to minimise the likelihood of ever having to make decisions around survival in the face of a cancer diagnosis.

Firstly, I invite you to take a look at what you can do in relation to the food you eat. I know that people who subscribe to a magazine like this will already be aware of the benefits of eating an antioxidant rich, plant based, whole food diet.

So I’m going to drill-down into the ‘why’ of this proposition to provide added motivation for you to be hyper-vigilant in relation to what you put into your mouth.

Basically, it just makes sense to maintain a diet that doesn’t result in your body becoming excessively acidic because it’s well known now that cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment.

The problem is though, that most of the food that most people base their diets on these days, does result in their body becoming excessively acidic. The kinds of foods I’m talking about here are the common staples like meat, grains, and sugar.

Not to mention the way the processing methods used to increase the shelf-life, economy of scale, and addictiveness of the products on supermarket shelves, turns otherwise healthy ingredients into unhealthy food.

And it’s not only the chemical additives that are problematic here, but also the processing methods themselves that result in the production of advanced glycation end products or AGEs.

These toxic substances lead to oxidative damage to our cells and, therefore, accelerate the aging process, and the development or worsening of many degenerative diseases.

One of the core principles the human body operates on is homeostasis. To this end, when our blood starts to become too acidic, a process to transfer the acidic substances into our cells kicks in to ensure that a healthy level of alkalinity is maintained in our blood.

The problem is that this in turn causes our cells to become too acidic and therefore toxic, which leaves them vulnerable to damage at all levels, including at the level of our DNA.

This is a big problem because the resulting ‘abnormal’ cells are the ones that grow indefinitely and without order. This is essentially how cancer plays out in the body.

Food can be either friend or foe in relation to our quest to stay well. Gerson Therapy for example is a detoxifying nutritional program that many cancer survivors attribute their survival to.

It’s based on the understanding that the body can be cured by removing toxins, boosting the immune system, and replacing excessive salt in the cells with potassium.

For this reason, Gerson Therapy involves a strict diet, dietary supplementation, and enemas. This is something I personally would look into myself, if I ever had to weigh-up my options in relation to a cancer diagnosis.

What I want to touch on briefly now, before I wrap this article up, is the impact of external environmental toxins known as xenoestrogens. The bottom line here is that you should limit your exposure to these substances to the very best of your ability at all times.

I say ‘to the very best of your ability’, because these man-made synthetic chemicals that mimic the action of the female sex hormone estrogen are in all kinds of places that you might never have expected to find dangerous substances.

For example, xenoestrogens can be found in the building products used to construct the houses we live in, and the offices we work in, as well as being in some brands of carpets, furniture, cosmetics, cleaning products, feminine hygiene products, plastics, tap water, electronic devises, and the list goes on.

So given that our body needs to exist in a state of homeostasis, and given that our hormones in particular rely on balance to do their job well, adding chemical estrogens into our system can’t possibly be a good idea.

Hormones are incredibly potent natural chemicals that can work in a concentration as small as one part per trillion. In other words, it only takes one molecule of a hormone in a trillion molecules of blood to have an effect.

The scary thing is that synthetic chemicals are defined as being at ‘safe’ levels in terms of parts per million by governments in many first world countries.

This is a problem because these ‘safe’ levels could in fact result in xenoestrogens being introduced into your body at a concentration thousands of times higher than your natural hormones work at.

We’re wading into highly contested territory here, and you might have heard arguments to the effect that these toxic chemicals aren’t a problem because they’re easily flushed out of the body. But clearly the truth is not nearly as simple or as comfortable as this.

The fact of the matter is that these chemical toxins are stored in our fat. So people with an excess of visceral fat in particular are literally bathing their organs in a sea of pollution if they’re exposed to a heavy load of xenoestrogens on a daily basis.

The female breast is an obvious area of fatty tissue that’s worth considering here. It seems pretty clear that environmental xenoestrogens are contributing towards the staggering statistic that one in eight women will experience breast cancer at some time in their life.

The Global Cancer Burden

Cancer has become the curse of modern society. This is one disease that causes not only physical and emotional pain, but the suffering it brings upon families, near and dear ones is incalculable.

And when it comes to kids, what can be more painful to see a kid handling this deadly burden?

The World Health Organisation estimates that by age 50 1 in 3 males and 1 in 2 females will have a diagnosis of cancer. This is a huge number. Among the top ten deadliest cancers in the world, three have their origin in the gut: Colon, Pancreatic and Stomach cancers.

Despite all advances in developing new drugs for chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery, the incidence is only on the rise.

The other reality is that less than 5 % of these cancers can be attributable to genetic factors. The rest involve external factors, particularly our diet.

What Causes Cancer?

Although cancer is considered to be multifactorial, there are only very few direct associations, as far as cause and effect that apply to cancer.

As surgeons and treating doctors, we have the ability to cut out or destroy (by chemo or radiotherapy) a cancerous growth.

When possible, however the question that perplexed me the most, when an individual, after having their cancer treatment would want to know, what they could do to prevent the cancer from coming back?

“Work on your lifestyle” is what I would have answered, gently nudging the patient to speak to their dietitians …until now!

I consider myself to be better educated and well equipped to answer that question today.

Inflammation & Cancer

What is now becoming more and more recognised is that long standing “inflammation” and chronic activation of the immune system are important factors contributing to cancer development.

Scientific studies have also linked Gut inflammation to cancers outside the gastrointestinal tract.

One study looked at the link between gut inflammation (dysbiosis) and breast cancer and (although this was done in mice), researchers discovered that breast cancer developed within 4-6 weeks of infection with a particular type of harmful gut bacteria.

An article published in The Lancet summarised it very well – If genetic damage is the “match that lights the fire” of cancer, some types of inflammation may provide the “fuel that feeds the flames”.

Are our gut bacteria able to influence our cancer risk and potentially our response to chemotherapy drugs?

This may sound too bizarre, however indicators are that the intestinal microbes modulate the effect of certain chemotherapeutic drugs. Not only this, the gut bacteria also influence the response of chemotherapeutic drugs on cancers by influencing the internal chemistry of these tumours.

In 2013, a team of scientists, from National Cancer Institute, made a surprising observation: The team treated a group of lab mice with a heavy dose of antibiotics, which damages their gut microbiome.

These mice were subsequently assessed for their response to a variety of cancer therapies typically effective in rodents. The results were starkly in favour of the mice that did not have antibiotics hence, had a healthy Microbiome.

It showed that chemotherapy drugs of different variety, shrank a variety of implanted tumour types with improved survival in mice with intact microbiomes, who had not been treated with heavy antibiotics.

In recent years, research has demonstrated that microbes living in and on the mammalian body can affect cancer risk, as well as responses to cancer treatment. Although the details of this microbe-cancer link remain unclear, investigators suspect that the microbiome’s ability to modulate inflammation and train immune cells to react to tumours is to blame.

“It is exciting to think that a form of ‘personalized’ medicine could be applied based on “Gut bacterial identity” of the individual. For instance, one could imagine that, in the future, we could determine the degree of cancer drug responsiveness based on microbiome composition. Sounds exciting doesn’t it!!

In our own practice, we have allowed for this “New Science” to percolate into our patient management pathways. This has led to the birth of Integrative Medicine and Surgery.