Nutrition and Exercise are Neglected "Therapies"

This post is not specifically targeted at people with OC, although it is valid for OC survivors and that's why I'm posting it here.

Here is what I have my father in law doing:
Every day, an hour-long walk, preferably during the day in indirect sun.
One glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice
Half cup of dried goji berries (in a smoothie).
5 grams of spirulina (in a lemon drink).
*And an otherwise welll-balanced diet

They include some of the foods I've learned to have the highest cancer-fighting nutrients per dollar. He lives in India and I have to ship the goji berries, ironically. I was unable to find an anti-oxidant supplement from a reliable source in any country. Do I believe this diet is a cure for cancer? Not exactly. But I have evidence that it won't hurt and overwhelming evidence that good nutrition promotes good health and longer life. So, I cannot begin to imagine why these facts should exclude cancer survivors. If anything, I was expecting to find more informed people when it comes to these things. But since I haven't, I'm filling in a little bit.

Proper diet and exercise can and do have what doctors prescribe loads of prescriptions for and are just as "therapeutic" or more so as some of the drugs being pushed on the American public in commercials I see on basic cable several times a day.

The vast majority of drugs being promoted right now (just turn on any basic cable channel to get bombarded) are being created in response to the horrific lifestyle of the average American and are mostly preventable or curable using the Big Three. Examples are:

Constipation
Insomnia
Depression
Osteoporosis
Heart Disease
Diabetes
High Cholesterol
Anxiety
Fatigue
Immunodeficiency
Chronic pain
Acid reflux
Obesity
Indigestion
Inflammation

These are the Big Three:

1. Proper nutrition
2. Good sleep
3. Regular exercise

It is no coincidence that most of the ailments I listed above can be caused and/or significantly exacerbated with improper diet, sleep, and exercise.
But the USDA and FDA regularly ignore the research and fail to prevent the pollution of misinformation by corporate and private interests.

I know some here already do practice the Big Three very carefully, but that is extremely rare.

It is of no coincidence that certain foods are proven to reduce certain types of tumors, and it is well known that alcohol, tobacco, and many substances used in food are linked to various types of cancer.

I'm not advocating you do anything in contrary to a doctor's advice or make sudden changes. I'm not claiming these are the cause nor the cure for OC. But what I am saying is that you need to take responsibility for your basic wellbeing, because most doctors do not have time for that, especially the ones helping you to battle your cancer. And I don't see most people doing that.

I urge those of you who can to seek out a family member or friend to help you ensure you are doing the basics for yourself by doing the Big Three, in addition to whatever treatment plan your doctor has already given you. Or you can even send me a message and I'll help if I can. Don't forget to get regular checkups at your regular doctor, and don't neglect the basics like vitamin supplements and physical activity when it�s approved by the doc (ask!). If you are presently in recovery, keep the ball moving by getting on track with the basics.

The insurance industry (I.E. US government) doesn't line the back pockets of personal trainers and dieticians as much as it could because it's too busy getting IT'S back pocket lined by corporate interests and Big Pharma. And it's a viscious cycle from there. That is not my theory, that's a documented and verifiable fact.

So, I hope I haven't given you just one more thing to worry about, but hopefully lit one additional branch of a path towards wellness.

I just want to add one more thing: I am also put off by the superjuice freaks. But let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Anti-oxidants are good for health, and in a few cases are linked to reduction in tumor growth.

That DOES NOT mean this is a cure for OC, but merely a sensible, researched category of food abundant in a healthy diet.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutriti.../vegetables-full-story/index.html#cancer

Marma

thanks for giving me a very good laugh, It is amusing to see paranoid rants against the US government which you equate with insurance companies with no apparent logic. Plus where on earth did you ever get the idea that the OCF posters who exercise, eat nutritious foods and sleep are "extremely rare"? Certainly not from bothering to read any of our posts. Read DavidCPA's signature line or EricS posts or even mine to see that doing all three of your "therapies" is Zero protection against getting oral cancer. My exercise and diet were without a doubt far superior to anything you even dream of (weight lifting three times a week, running marathons, organic vegetarian diet, yoga, pilates, juices, karate, aikido, biking, hiking, meditation, plus unconditional LOVE from my family, wife and friends) yet I got oral cancer twice.
No argument that people are better off if they exercise or eat right, but the tone and tenor of your post certainly make me worry that anyone who does private message you will be soon wasting their money on goji and spirulina as if they were magical. We all wish that diet and exercise have some magical properties but they don't. Take a look at my "doncha just hate it thread" in the coping forum to see how OC patients feel about being told to eat blueberries etc, Did you even notice that your link to Harvard spells it out:
[quote]Cohort studies, which follow large groups of initially healthy individuals for years, generally provide more reliable information than case-control studies because they don't rely on information from the past. And data from cohort studies have not consistently shown that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables prevents cancer in general.[/quote]
The sad truth is that oral cancer strikes physically fit and very healthy people regardless of their diet and exercise (with the exception of smoking tobacco or alcohol abuse, neither of which you mention). It's nice that you make yourself feel better this way, but please tone down the preaching especially when you mix it with paranoia and conspiracy theories.
charm

Marma,
This is very good advise and consistent with what is promoted at my CCC and most if not all other (great) CCC's in my area. So much so that my CCC (Sharp Foundation) holds classes and encourage all their cancer patients to attend.

Also Diet was the subject at our last OC Support Group meeting and it was very well attended. An Oncology Nutritionist from 'The Scripps Institute' gave an excellent presentation with lots of handouts, including Avocados! Spirulina came up as did blueberries and the like -- some of this may be iffy, but none of it is bad. I know several long term survivors in the group that swear by it.

Diet was also a significant part of another recent and great presentation to the group from a 'Kaiser Permanente' Swallowing and Speech Therapist and she had an excellent and extensive diet plan for those with swallowing difficulties (of which we have several).

PS just got a bad email that a Support Group friend has had a recurrence and is at the 'UCSD Moore CCC' for surgery So we need to cover all the bases - good diet, exercise, a great CCC team and a little luck Sadly, still too many of us don't make it.

Charm, my sentiments exactly. I didn't know you studied akido, which is FUN and beautiful for a japanese style, which I normally find rigid and stylistically challenged when compared to fluid movements of the chinese and korean arts. Not that they are ineffective...just not as flashy as kung-fu or Tae Kwon Do usually.

Nutrition and exercise are great and I would challenge anyone to adhere to my old nutrition plans or exercise program, trust me when I say P90X had nothing on me. I never touched tobacco products, illegal drugs and rarely alcohol (never when training). Cancer didn't seem to care about any of those things, but I will say that it was probably my physical condition that helped me live to this point.

Marma, since your father-in-law is in India I'm sure he's already injested (regularly) one of the most potent anti-oxidants known in curcummin, which is found in tumeric, commonly used (excessively so) in curry. Tumeric though should never be taken during chemo without consulting your oncologist first as it can interfere. I also felt as Charm did in the tone and probable outcome to the happless PMer. Genetics are a motherFer that I don't believe diet and exercise alone can fully compensate for.

Eric

Nice catch on tumeric. Your post made me smile also but in a different way. Never thought I'd see indirect references to Tony Horton and Morihei Ueshiba in this forum. One reason I "patrol" this forum is that simplistic assertions that nutrition and/or exercise can "cure" or "prevent" cancer are almost always from people who did not have a good diet nor workout religiously. Then when they push some "magic food" or pill, it hits a sore spot with me, even more so than the "did you smoke?" crowd, because at least the latter are right that smoking does indeed cause cancer no matter what your diet or exercise. Now that my tests came back HPV negative, I am more convinced than ever that genetic susceptibility is an important factor in getting OCF. That said, I also feel that it was my physical shape that allowed me the first time around to avoid surgery and take the 40 radiation "licking and keep on ticking". I wonder sometimes how healthy my exclusive Jevity 1.5 diet is, and watched enviously while my wife ate her scrambled tofu or curried lentils on our vacation.

Charm,

Although I respect your opinion, might I suggest you give "Anticancer - A New Way of Life" by Dr David Servan-Schriber, MD, PhD a read.

This book has come up at a number of presentations I have attended from my OC support group, Scripps Institute, Sharp Foundation, Kaiser, and the like

The book references a lot of interesting studies that are available and well documented in reputable journals(such as the New England Journal of Medicine).

The book is several years old, but at a recently presentation the presenter (I believe she was with the Salk Institute) said it is still worth a serious read even though some of the material is now outdated.

It is the author's position that we can learn to protect ourselves from about 85% of cancer and he uses "Identical Twin" studies "Denmark's Adopted {3rd World} Children" studies and the like to build his case for conclusions that about 85% of cancer is likely due to environmental/nutritional factors.

I believe this book, like most, refects the author's bias, but it is pretty good brain food and the referenced studies do raise questions.

Duck!!!!

Don

Having a graduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh,I am familiar with that book by a Psychology Professor who teaches there and consider it more brain "junk food". The usual miracle story:French doctor gets brain cancer, does conventional treatment which cures him, then gets superstitious in trying to avoid a recurrence, so "discovers" food with magical properties which prevent cancer. But let me tell the story with quoted excerpts from the very book you recommend. At least he is gentleman enough to admit that it was standard treatment that cured him. [quote]It must be stated at the outset that there is no alternative approach to cancer that can cure the illness. It would be madness not to use the best of conventional Western medicine such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and soon molecular genetics.[/quote]
Too bad he fell victim to a childlike attribution of a culinary totem that wards off the cancer coming back with his list of "superfoods".
Actually, getting a recurrence was liberating as it is so clear to those of us whose cancer came back, just how frightened and willing to believe almost anything our first time brothers and sisters are. David Servan-Schreiber is particularly amusing in that he touts super foods and warns of pesticides; he then basically says stress and improper breathing cause cancer also.
[quote]A significant number of brain tumours such as mine are sensitive to xenoestrogens, such as the pesticide atrazine, which is so powerful that it is capable of changing the sex of fish in the rivers it ends up contaminating. Between 1963 and 1970 from the age of two to nine, I played in cornfields sprayed with atrazine surrounding our country house in Normandy[/quote]
[quote]The mind-body connection
It usually takes anywhere from ten to 40 years for the �seed� of cancer in the form of a cellular anomaly to become a detectable cancerous tumour. No psychological factor has been identified as being capable of creating that cancer seed. However, stress profoundly influences the soil in which that seed develops. Most patients I�ve known remember a period of particular stress in the months or years preceding the diagnosis of their cancer. These situations don�t spark off cancer, but, as an article published in Nature in 2006 observes, they can give it an opportunity to grow faster. Stress causes the release of hormones which trigger inflammation and slows down digestion, tissue repair and the immune system. A study of more than 10,000 women at the University of Helsinki in Finland has shown that the loss of an important emotional relationship doubles the risk of breast cancer.

The factors contributing to cancer are so varied that no one should blame themselves for developing the disease. But anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer can learn to live differently. After my relapse and a year of chemotherapy, I had to stop working. My wife Anna and I couldn�t agree on our son�s upbringing and we were having problems in our marriage. I was losing my wife, my family, my work and my health. I could feel my life slipping through my hands. Then I met Michael Lerner, a sociologist and psychotherapist. He helped me to focus on what gave me the most satisfaction rather than what was going wrong.

Health does not depend on any one organ or function but on relations between them. Everyone can learn how to foster that balance. All of the great medical and spiritual traditions in the East � yoga, meditation, t�ai chi, qigong � teach people how to take over the reins of their inner being, concentrating the mind and focusing on the breath. This mastery is one of the best ways to reduce the impact of stress and helps re-establish harmony in a person�s physiology and stimulate the body�s natural defenses.

The body is a huge system in equilibrium. Alter just one thing � diet, exercise, stress � and the whole is affected.

[/quote]
So in the end, I have to agree with him that there is no one cause of cancer, and just shake my head and wonder how he then can ignore his own insights. His web site blog is entertaining also, ranging from agave syrup to lack of sleep causing cancer. Oh, and don't forget his other (even better selling ) book: Healing Without Freud or Prozac" just in case these "foolish hobgoblin" of consistency drive you crazy.
Charm

Charm
Dr. David Servan-Schreiber is a PHD, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and a Neuroscientist (not a Psychology Professor).

It was after his recurrence of brain cancer that he began his anti-cancer research.

Apparently his lecture last month at MD Anderson was well received. They have his presentation audio and slides up on their web site www.mdanderson.org/anti-cancer.

The individual from MDA introducing Dr. Servan-Schreiber says they are recommending that all their patients read his book.

When MDA speaks, others listen.

cheers