Is it really possible to beat cancer?
Good news, here. Very good news.
It certainly is beatable -- cancer -- in many cases: not all, for sure (short of Divine intervention), but more than most realize, whether by way of conventional medical procedures, spiritual healing, nutrition and natural medications, or, ideally: a combination of all the above.
"Cancer is one of the most curable chronic diseases in this country today," Dr. Vincent DeVita, former director of the National Cancer Institute, once said.
Curable.
There are no guarantees in life (or death). We all pass on to eternity. Dying is not preventable. We are healed or not healed in accordance with our faith, emotional balance, spiritual health, and the Will of God. Overarching all is the spiritual element.
But one can state this much: of late, there are remarkable and nearly, now, countless reports of folks surviving malignancies that, in years past, were "death sentences."
More than ninety percent of those diagnosed with localized prostate cancer or skin melanoma now live at least five years after diagnosis (and very often a full life span), and just about the same percentage pertains to breast cancer that has not spread.
It's not true (as too many who go to the extreme on the natural-healing end of things proclaim) that conventional medical care, especially surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy (they call it, "slash, burn, and poison"), always does more harm than good. In many cases, it helps immensely.
Some chemical treatments go overboard: no question -- causing more harm than good. It is known among nurses that being around chemotherapeutic drugs increases the chances of birth defects for them. It's why we must discern the treatment suggested to us by doctors, and perhaps get second opinions.
Still, in recent years great strides have been made to enhance the effectiveness and greatly lessen the side effects of chemical and radiological treatments. Surgery ("debulking") is often a key.
But back to the point: it's also true that those who turn completely to God, rid fear and bitterness from their lives, and make major dietary and other lifestyle adjustments, live longest, often watching once-unconquerable cancer vanish or greatly diminish before their eyes.
Despite all the grim statistics (forty percent of Americans will contract some form, if skin cancer is included), malignancies are not inevitable.
And it's time to fight back.
We have written much about prayer (miraculous cures are the subject of a new book we have released, The God of Healing). But we also need to emphasize (as the book points out), that certain factors consistently show up in those with the disease.
One is exercise. As pointed out by nutritionist Patrick Quillan in his highly detailed and often technical book, Beating Cancer With Nutrition, walking just half an hour every other day can reduce breast cancer risk by more than half! (Only fourteen percent of very active Americans get cancer, he claims).
Quillan, who had personally worked with three thousand cancer patients as of the book's writing, and is an expert at cancer treatment via nutrition, points out that there are an estimated seventy trillions cells that exist in the average body -- billions formed every day -- and every day there are mistakes in that replication: cells that are abnormal due to genetic factors, chance mistakes in the DNA, or -- and this is most important -- exposure to various factors in our food and environment (whether chemicals, radiation, parasites, viruses, bacteria, or fungi).
A healthy immune system has no problem ridding the abnormal cells.
Problems arise, however, when something is neglected in upkeep of the body (temple of the Holy Spirit) or when there is repetitive injury and the immune system is below par, usually through poor eating.
Good nutrition not only improves the immune system, buffers our cells against insults from the outside, and prevents faulty replication but fights cancer by inducing malignant cells to commit what is in effect suicide ("apoptosis"). If not causing their demise, eating right reverts cancerous cells back to healthy ones and helps the body wall off (or "encapsulate") tumors, preventing malignant spread.
It's irrational not to improve diet (and not to exercise, unless badly disabled). "In my opinion, aggressive chemo or radiation therapy without aggressive protective nutrition therapy constitutes malpractice in medicine," says this man who worked with so many nurses, doctors, oncologists, and surgeons.
When there is the need for cancer treatment, changes in nutrition can greatly decrease bad side effects (no matter what many doctors, who are not schooled in nutrition, only in the practice of chemical remedies) might say.
First and foremost, when it comes to nutrition, says Qullian, is lowering the intake of refined sugar.
This everyone who studies cancer from a natural standpoint (which unfortunately does not including many oncologists) says: Get rid of most sugars (especially high-fructose). And exercise to dispense of excess glucose while oxygenating the body (cancer hates oxygen).
"You can slow cancer growth by lowering the amount of fuel available to the tumor cells," writes Quillan. "Cancer is a sugar feeder. Americans have become humming birds in our constant consumption of sweet fluids and foods. The resulting constant high blood glucose levels yield many diseases, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and yeast infections. Trying to beat cancer while eating a diet that constantly raises blood glucose is like trying to put out a forest fire while someone nearby is throwing gasoline on the trees."
"The typical diet of the cancer patient is high in fat, while being low in fiber and vegetables -- 'meat, potatoes, and gravy' is what many of my patients lived on," says Dr. Quillan.
It doesn't mean going all "veggie." It doesn't mean you still can't have that occasional donut (and of course chocolate!). But limit it. Balance your foods. Moderate them. Discipline yourself, as God calls us all to do. Through prayer, move gradually but powerfully to a diet that best fits your unique body.
[resources: The God of Healing]
