John Hopkins Update

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY (‘TRY’, BEING THE KEY WORD) TO ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins :

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2.. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person’s lifetime..

3 When the person’s immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better alternative is Bragg’s aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyedat temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic build-up.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body’s killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body’s normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

1. No plastic containers in micro.

2. No water bottles in freezer.

3.. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Cast le Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Pa per isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved awa y from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons..

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food.. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

Seventh Generation, the company that makes green cleaning products, has a really informative newsletter that you can sign up for as email. There’s lots going on that we might not hear about otherwise. Here’s the link:

http://app.bronto.com/public/?q=preview_message&fn=Link&t=1&ssid=9037&id=1crtqopowl400xrdqced506jhymjs&id2=l3uvw5fc8uzn3vdgpbrxpkrhxnnol

I just checked out my email from RealAge, the health website sponsored by Dr. Mehmet Oz and others, and I saw this interesting article, “The Good Stuff That’s In Organics”, which further confirms that organically grown food is much more nutritionally rich.  Check out the link at the bottom of this post for recipes from RealAge.

The following top ten list was included in the article, which is over a year old, but it made me happy to learn that I already use most of the top ten on a regular basis. My daughter, on the other hand, is a different story. But yesterday, while watching the Eagles game, I cut up some fresh strawberries from California, sprinkled a little sugar on them (I know, I know) and she and her friends devoured the whole bowl. I had not seen her eat a fruit in a long time. She looks pasty and has developed some acne, which I attribute to poor eating habits. It’s so hard with teens because they get angry when parents suggest that they need to change their habits. We’re going to try harder to live with nutritional intelligence this year.

Top 10 Detox Foods

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/learn/blog/raising-daughters-razing-cancer?

The consensus seems to be that hormones in meat and dairy products are giving us cancer.

Be careful which organic products you choose. Someone claims Horizon milk is not purely organic.

Before you go shopping, maybe you’d better read this article by Josh Peterson at planet green.

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/fifteen-common-bad-gifts.html

If you’re like me, you are going to agree with a lot of these suggestions. I am starting to look around my house and notice all of the CRAP that is not environmentally sound and I think we have to realize that we are causing countries like China and Korea and whomever else we are importing all of the CRAP  from to pollute their own country with the coal and resources that it takes to make all of this useless, good-for-a-moment’s-pleasure-here-for-eternity-type CRAP, and then they turn around and sell the  CRAP to us and we pollute our landfills and our homes with this wasteful, unnecessary plastic and chemical toxic junk that we want to throw away so that we don’t have to call Neecy Nash to come deal with our foolishness, but somehow we feel obligated to keep because someone we love gave it to us for Christmas, or maybe someone who really doesn’t like us, but we aren’t aware of it until we get the CRAPPY gift.

Please choose not to participate in this kind of CRAP spreading.

HoHoHo!

Lovya, Maureen

Peterson, Josh. (December 01, 2008). planet green. Retrieved December 13, 2008 from http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/fifteen-common-bad-gifts.html

Gayle King, Oprah’s friend,  just interviewed this young author, Christian Lander, about his book that started as a blog, Stuff White People Like: A Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions.

Here are some of the entries:

• standing still at concerts
• sushi
• the Sunday New York Times

• organic food

• food festivals
• going out to breakfast
• backpacking
• farmers markets
• grammar
• snowboarding
• co-ed sports
• microbreweries
• Toyota Prius
• public radio
• gay friends
• marathons

This is cute, but if Christian is correct, we need to start educating and influencing more people outside the typical sphere. I suppose organic food can seem like an upper middle class, elitist commodity because it costs a bit more to eat healthfully, and people who are worried about making ends meet are not that worried about reading labels. This may or may not be true, but the responsibility lies with the food production authorities–people shouldn’t have to choose between eating safe, non-toxic produce and meat and eating food that is affordable.

I will now get down off of my soap box. Thank you.

Oprah.com. ( 2008). Oprah & Friends. Retrieved December 12, 2008 from http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahandfriends/gking/20080812_oaf_gking

Look at this YouTube video:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuiUZiUnr0U

Stay Green!  Look at this for a laugh. http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/82539#top

 New Year Countdown Clock

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8m-akQh8Ok&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqwZVw4BLjQ&NR=1

Just a couple of things from the year I was born. Enjoy!

Anyway, Frito-Lay has a Natural line now, including Lays potato chips, Cheetos, Ruffles, and Doritos! (Why am I so happy about this?) Right on the bag it says that these chips are made “with corn grown by farmers that meet the strictest standards for organic agriculture.” Frito-Lay says this organic corn has been certified by “Oregon Tilth“.

Here is their self-description at their web site:

“Oregon Tilth is a nonprofit research and education membership organization dedicated to biologically sound and socially equitable agriculture. Oregon Tilth offers educational events throughout the state of Oregon, and provides organic certification services to organic growers, processors, and handlers internationally.”

Oregon Tilth’s web site with great information on the latest news in the organic food movement. One article of particular interest to me was “USDA Amends Certification Cost Assistance Program” dated Nov. 7, 2008, that will help more farmers, producers, and processors of organic food.

If anyone is in the San Francisco area the weekend of Nov. 14, 15, 16, why don’t you check out the Green Festival? It is sponsored by Green Festival™, a joint project of Global Exchange and Co-op America.

Here is their message:

“We’re celebrating what’s working in our communities—for people, business and the environment. Join us at the nation’s premier sustainability event in San Francisco for 3 days filled with the best in green!

A joint project of Global Exchange and Co-op America, two leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to environmental and social justice for more than twenty-five years, Green Festival is a forum to explore and build sustainable solutions for communities and the environment.  The San Francisco Green Festival will host 150 visionary speakers, 400 local and national green businesses, and dozens of community and nonprofit groups. All exhibitors must meet strict standards set by Co-op America, guaranteeing the highest level of social and environmental responsibility in everything that enters the convention center.” (Global Exchange and Co-op America, 2008)

Go, Green Festival!

Now, I know many of you organic food enthusiasts are already vegans or “health nuts” and the like, but it just makes me happy that a well-known, popular snack food company like Frito-Lay is stepping up to the organic plate and possibly setting a standard in the industry. If that sound too lofty, at least they are making the effort to listen to what the public wants. Go, Fritos! 

Next, Celestial Seasonings Tea has a cranberry pomegranate flavor Green Tea that is yummy, but more importantly, this tea was put in familiar pink packaging with a notation “proud sponsor of the National Breast Cancer Foundation“. The artist that painted the picture seen on the box of tea is a breast cancer survivor, Dagmar Fehlau.

Another plus to this product is that it is stamped with the “Ethical Trade” emblem, with a paragraph below it that says that by buying this product we are supporting ethical trade practices, like fair wages, that benefit the people and areas that grow the tea. 

I just got off the phone with Celestial’s toll free number. I called to find out exactly what country their tea came from. The very nice woman told me that the tea is grown in the likely places in Asia, mostly China and  India. Unsolicited, she told me that they test their products very thoroughly for organic compounds, heavy metals, lead, and something called Aflatoxin that apparently has been getting into the food supply from Asia. They reject any tea with “unidentified compounds” found in it.

I definitely got the feeling that Celestial Seasonings was doing a public relations campaign, probably because China, with its dangerous production methods, has been in the news. This also makes me happy to know that American companies are doing their utmost to insure high quality, safe products reach our tables. Go, Celestial!

Celestial Seasonings, Inc. (2008). Retrieved November 11, 2008 from www.celestialseasonings.com

Frito-Lay, Inc. (2008).

Green Festival. (November 11, 2008). Retrieved November 11, 2008 from http://www.tilth.org/events/green-festival

Oregon Tilth. (2008). Retrieved November 11, 2008 from http://www.tilth.org.