Cleansing

There are many ways to help the body to cleanse, and I'm a firm believer in making this a way of life rather than getting into a regular cycle of over-indulgence followed by a guilt-induced detox. It's important to understand the process of detoxification. We are essentially trying to liberate toxins from the cells, into the lymphatic system, and out of the body via the lungs, skin, kidneys, liver, and finally colon, whilst supporting the whole system. 

Detoxification is a delicate balance of pushing and pulling, and must be done at a sympathetic rate to avoid a healing crisis or herxheimer reaction (traditionally experienced as headaches, nausea or skin complaints). Obviously it goes without saying that processed foods must be cut out and replaced with fresh, organic produce, but here are some other ways to aid a detox.

1. Flush your system by drinking up to 2 litres a day of filtered water daily. Ideally use a Reverse Osmosis filter, which removes not only chlorine and fluoride (both of which are toxic to the body) but also oestrogen, which is a massive endocrine disruptor and is prevalent in nearly every part of modern life (not only from plastic bottles, and BPA in tin cans, but more worryingly in our recycled water supply as a residue of the contraceptive pill). It's beneficial to meter your water intake throughout the day. Gulping pints at a time can actually flood the kidneys and brain, causing hyperhydration. We're currently on a water drive in my house. I've noticed that my children have forgotten how to be thirsty and are drinking very little. We've set an alarm to go off hourly to remind us all to have a drink, and as a result our thirst is increasing! Remember that even green tea is a diuretic because it contains caffeine, which will irritate the bladder and cause dehydration as the body tries to flush it out. 

2. Bathe in Epsom Salts. When I was younger, my best friend's Mum had arthritis. She always had a huge bag of epsom salts in her bathroom. I used to think this a little odd, but now I swear by the power of epsom salts, aka Magnesium Sulphate. Magnesium is necessary for nerve and muscle function in the body, and is great for reducing inflammation. Sulphates are necessary for healthy joints, skin and nervous tissue. The skin is our largest organ of detoxification. During a bath Magnesium and Sulphate are easily absorbed into the blood stream via the skin, replenishing supplies and enabling the body to flush toxins out by sweating. Adults can tolerate 1kg per bath. I buy mine in 25 kilo bags on ebay. You can add fresh grated ginger to your bath to increase the sweat factor, and if you don't have a whole-house water filter add some bicarbonate of soda (make sure it's aluminium free) to negate chlorine and increase alkalinity. For a brilliant body scrub mix epsom salts with coconut oil!

3. During a detox, you're asking your liver to work extra hard. It's always a good idea to support this organ by doing a liver pack. The work of Edgar Cayce proves that castor oil is a miraculous substance. It promotes healing, reduces inflammation and improves immune function by increasing lymphocytes and cell cleansing fluid in the lymph. Castor oil molecules are small enough to be able to permeate the skin, and positioning the pack over the liver is gently stimulating. Coat some unbleached flannel with organic cold-pressed castor oil and cover the area over the liver (from under the breast to the bottom of the ribs on your right hand side front to back). Wrap the area with cling film (castor oil is heavy and will stain clothing and furniture). Finally, warm gently with a hot water bottle, and rest for between 20 minutes to an hour. Ideally repeat this process for 3 consecutive days every week, but avoid during a period. 

4. Use a FAR infrared sauna. I was lucky enough be given a grant from Yes 2 Life to buy a FAR infrared sauna. FAR infrared rays are like those emitted by the sun. These rays easily penetrate several centimetres through the skin, warming subcutaneous tissue and liberating toxins stored in body fat. It's important to shower after a sauna to wash off toxins which will otherwise be reabsorbed. Saunas are safe to do every day, but be patient - take your time to work up to longer sessions and greater heat.  

5. In addition to water, drink herbal tea and green juices. It's not just what you're pulling out, but what you're putting in! If you flood the body with goodness it will become more alkaline and more able to detoxify. Green juices deliver a quickly absorbable, dense hit of powerful live enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Because the fibre has been removed, the body can assimilate this goodness without being taxed. Herbal teas can be a good addition in winter when the body craves warmth. Fennel is particularly helpful in supporting the kidneys, whereas Pau D'arco is great for eliminating candida, strengthening the immune system and supporting the liver (as well as having powerful anti-cancer properties).

6. Improve lymphatic function by dry skin brushing (always towards the heart), rebounding (otherwise known as jumping on a trampoline!) and exercising.

7. Take Coffee enemas. All of the above will tax the liver and liberate large amounts of toxins. Coffee enemas will encourage bile production and aid the liver in processing and eliminating toxins. 

Using some of these techniques will help to avoid or relieve the discomfort sometimes associated with a detox, instead bringing clarity, increased energy, and focus!

The placebo effect

It occurred to me last week that maybe the only thing that every cancer survivor has in common is belief. Pure belief that healing is possible and that their chosen treatment will work, be it down to faith in God or trust in green juice. Whether on the Gerson protocol, having chemotherapy or in spontaneous remission, what if people survive purely because they have an inherent belief that they're not going to die of cancer?

What does the word Placebo mean to you? According to the dictionary it's "a medicine or procedure prescribed for the psychological benefit to the patient, rather than for any physiological effect." In other words a sugar pill. But the startling reality of the placebo effect is that people often experience beneficial health due to positive belief or expectation. In short, the power of the mind can actually influence the body.

Many studies have been carried out to try to understand this positive effect. It can be caused by belief in a treatment plan, the relief of being in the capable hands of a trusted caregiver, or the administration of medication. (So we must also ask, how much of mainstream medicine's success is due to the placebo effect?) The allopathic oncologist whom I sought out for my second opinion was frank in his statement that if I was vehemently opposed to chemotherapy, if I believed that it wouldn't work, then it probably wouldn't.

I'm very excited to hear Bruce Lipton speak in May. He's a stem cell biologist who has studied the power of belief and how it is able to change us on a cellular level. If you've been newly diagnosed I would 100% recommend his book "The Biology of Belief". Positive belief has been proven to change the way our DNA behaves, and the micro-environment within our bodies. Equally, negative thoughts, and negative belief can create disease!

Bad habits

Last month I got the results of my latest Minimal Residual Disease test. I take this test annually as a way of monitoring microscopic changes in my circulating cancer stem cell count. And I really do mean microscopic. Until now my results have consistently shown 3.8 cancer cells per 7.5ml of blood. Think about how many red blood cells there are in 7.5ml (around 35 billion I believe) and you will understand that we're talking about tiny numbers of cells. However, when that count starts to increase, or rises above 5, then there are changes happening within the body which need to be addressed.

My last count came in slightly elevated, and I have to be honest; it floored me. My doctor isn't concerned about these changes because certain markers within the cancer cells which predict metastasis are still switched 'off'. However, I'm a proactive kind of a girl (I think this also means impatient!) and watching and waiting are not my strong points. I decided to re-evaluate. What have I changed over the past year? Where have I become lazy? Where am I cheating.

The positives are that I've removed my amalgam fillings (more on this in another post), I've introduced a daily, good quality vegan protein and I've increased my green smoothie and juice intake. So far so good.

However, the negatives, when I really think about them, are shocking. I've been very stressed over the past year with the trials of moving house. The kind of low lying, rolling-wave stress, which over time becomes 'normal', increasing adrenal fatigue and depleting the immune system. Because of the stress and subsequent tiredness I made some lazy food choices. Certain foods crept in, and became 'OK" simply by regularity; gluten free, shop bought bread and 'foodie' sugar in the form of maple syrup, coconut sugar, date syrup and fruit leather. Whereas once I wouldn't even have licked the spoon when making cakes for the kids, I found that I was eating the occasional (who am I kidding) gluten free, 'sugar free' cupcake. I suspect that cancer cells are pretty indiscriminate - they love this high fructose diet. And finally, I'd gone from being a full vegan, to eating butter and eggs, and occasionally having yoghurt and goats cheese when I was craving a quick protein fix. All of these foods were feeding my frenzied lifestyle. Too much convenience, too little time devoted to food preparation. And how quickly the palette becomes accustomed to, and demands more fat, sugar and salt. This was why early on I vowed to give these foods up only once.

I mentally stacked this Not Healthy food onto my kitchen table. It piled up into quite the shocking cancer treat.

So it's back to being more Aware. The first step was to totally eliminate sugar in all its forms. And no more bread, cheese or yoghurt.

I revisited my functional doctor. My blood shows signs of leaky gut syndrome. We're working on this, and in 6 weeks when I'm more stable I intend to have a full allergy test to see which foods I'm intolerant to. I'll also re-take the Nutreval test which is a comprehensive nutritional evaluation test, checking on (amongst other things) levels of vitamins, enzymes, hormones and heavy metal toxicity.

For now I'm back on a high dose vitamin C protocol, combined with Alpha Lipoic Acid (which re-circulates the vitamin C rather than allowing it to be eliminated via the kidneys).

Cheating is only cheating yourself, but there is something else to learn from this. I'm hard on myself, I take responsibility for my actions, but as my functional doctor says, this beating myself up is 'an old way of thinking'. I'm dedicated to getting that cancer stem cell number back down, but I'm also devoted to being less tough on myself when I make mistakes.

Positive Imperfection

Tonight I connected with someone who has chosen a similar healing path to mine. We've read many of the same books, and have been influenced by many of the same people. We discussed the ideal post-cancer world that we're supposedly inhabiting. One with no wine, no dairy, no sugar, and certainly no errors. And we both admitted that it's not always like that, but that we're maintaining health despite the odd slip (be it a single mouthful, or more prolonged self-sabotaging behaviour) What a revelation.

We talked about how isolating it can be (socially) to live, eat and breathe cancer. And we made a pact to become juice buddies; to compare notes about what we have juiced each day in an effort to encourage each other in the right direction. This makes me feel happy! A buddy. Someone who understands how it feels to try hard, but not always achieve. Who understands WHY we should not eat certain foods, yet still sometimes gives in to a craving, stress, or a moment of social pressure. Someone who understands the constancy of cancer, and the need to keep trying. Let's not underestimate the power of support - be it in the form of a practitioner, or a fellow cancer survivor.

Is it the case of the cancer personality to always assume that everyone else is doing better, being stricter, more perfect?

And what if Belief was the main component of healing? Pure belief that it IS possible to heal, no matter which modality we choose?

So I'll tell you something which is not a secret to those close to me; my diet is not always perfect, my thinking not always positive. I make mistakes. Then I alter my path, listen to my body and make changes.

Never suppose that you know what everyone else is doing! Resist the urge to compare. 100% perfect does not exist (and our needs are all different anyway). Our being human does not fail us. Maybe the lesson is to be gentler on ourselves. And to find a buddy!!!!

Happy New Year

My short and simple post this New Year's Day is that you not WISH for a better year ahead, filled with love, health and happiness, but that you MAKE it happen. 

All of these things are available to us if we are conscious about what we want. Saying I WANT to be healthy creates a want, a desire, but does not necessarily create health. For many months following diagnosis I told myself "I want to live". Finally I realised that I AM living. I AM alive. I shifted my thoughts from desire to gratitude, and in the process I got happy.

BEING love attracts love. Conscious eating, being present, enjoying the now (and gently being open to the lessons in the harder moments), these are the thought patterns which create happiness. 

Happiness

After a long and sometimes painful disengagement from London, I finally find myself living in the town of my hopes and the house of my dreams. I've landed in a place of happiness. Over the first few weeks I recognised my tension in the gentle faces of strangers; my pace too fast, my sense of urgency fictitious. Since being here I've met like-minded people, and have explored the vastness of the South Downs, a huge smile on my face, tears on my cheeks. Finally I can see the horizon and feel small under a big sky, something that my heart has desired for many years.

And so to the point of this post. How could I hope to fully heal when I felt such dis-ease in London? Here, I feel happy and this is reflected in my alkalinity. Even though I've yet to get into a juicing routine, I'm off-the-scale alkaline. This is the magic of contentment. Importantly, I BELIEVE I can heal here, and the power of belief has an overwhelmingly positive effect.

When it comes to healing there's no doubt that nutrition and exercise are imperative. Supplementing and monitoring are sensible protocols. But it's so important too to find peace. Following the heart, manifesting positive change and living the life we want are equally the keys to wellness.

Happy Christmas. Peace and Love.

What does cancer look like?

These days "You look well" can feel like a loaded compliment. 

What does cancer look like? Scrutinising photos of me on my 40th Birthday, just weeks before diagnosis, you would never have known that my world was about to change. Too often we confuse what cancer looks like with what chemotherapy looks like. Someone with early stage breast cancer will most likely look perfectly 'normal'. Maybe the more pertinent question is "What does cancer feel like?"

This photo was taken on my 40th birthday, a month before diagnosis.

For me it felt like a little grain of rice just under the skin. A second, smaller tumour resembled a piece of grit. Surprisingly, these two tiny, painless lumps measured a combined 2.4cms! But breast cancer comes in many guises. Inflammatory breast cancer may manifest as a hot, swollen breast. Nipple inversion or puckering can be a sign of disease, as can a hard, moveable lump, dimpling or discharge. Pagets disease of the nipple can rarely been seen, and invasive lobular cancer is difficult to palpate. There are many forms of breast cancer, varying in location (ductal, lobular, nipple) and hormone status (oestrogen and progesterone positive being the most common, with HER 2 positive cancers being generally more aggressive). Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) can present as tiny calcifications within the breast, and is generally deemed a pre-cancerous condition.

Beyond the tangible, cancer patients often talk about feeling slightly 'off', sensing that something is wrong, but without knowing exactly what. A poor immune system, recurrent candida and simply feeling tired all the time were unread clues to my early stage cancer. Weight loss, night sweats and persistent aches and pains could point towards more advanced cancer.

It's empowering to be pro-active with breast health. Get to know your breasts. Examine yourself at the same time each month (it's best not to check during your period when breasts can typically be tender and lumpy). Know what's normal for YOU. If you feel changes or are concerned, a good first call for monitoring would be a thermo-scan, which is non-invasive and can show changes in breast tissue years earlier than traditional mammograms.

Despite knowing that we should be breast aware, how many of us actually are? Unfortunately tragedy is usually the catalyst for change. SInce most tumours have been growing for around 7 years before being large enough to feel, what would I say to the 33 year old me? I would tell myself  "It's time to overhaul your life. It's OK to put yourself first." I would cut out sugar and swap my processed, fast food diet for greener, whole foods. I would learn to read my body better - to see how I felt after eating gluten (bloated, itchy) or dairy (like I had a constant low-level cold and heavy chest). I would stop rewarding myself with a glass of red wine at the end of a long day or a bar of chocolate on meeting a tight deadline. I would rest when I was tired, rather than pushing through with a cup of coffee or a can of coke. I would stop those sabotaging negative thoughts which were slowly destroying me. And I would tell myself how fantastic I would feel for making these simple changes.

So lately when someone tells me I look well, then pauses, the unspoken question "ARE you well?" hanging in the air, I think about how great I really feel, inside and out, and reply "Thank you, I AM well!"