Cancer and Spirit

A patient with lung cancer recently asked my advice about alternative cancer treatment.  The following is a summary of what I shared with her.  It includes research-based advice on diet and prayer.  Reference links are highlighted. 

One important point: To me, if you have cancer, it's an indication that you are ready to learn deep life lessons: What is the meaning of my life? What is most important to me?  Why am I here? People on a spiritual path are often drawn to making healthy choices in terms of diet, exercise and creating balance in their lives.  So, if you have been diagnosed with cancer, it is an opportunity to focus on what's important and a chance to make healthy physical and spiritual changes. Congratulations! I will be saying prayers for you.   

Research: Maintaining a slightly alkaline body pH creates an inhospitable environment for cancer cells. Controlling pH in your body is extremely important to healthy homeostasis (balance).  A poor diet produces an acidic environment (pH <7) in your body.  The best way increase the alkalinity (>7) of your body is to eat a plant-based diet, with loads of greens and very low sugar including fruit sugar.  Drinking fresh lemon water also increases the alkalinity of your body.  After a diagnosis of cancer, you may be motivated to get very serious about eating healthy.  In order to maximize the amount of nutrition you are able to consume you can remove most of the fiber through juicing fruits and vegetables.  You can also make greens and fruit smoothies which makes the beneficial fiber very available to the good bacteria in your intestines.  See my earlier blog post on smooties for a recipe. 

Research - Vegetable and fruit consumption and reduced lung cancer risk.  very high quality, nutrient dense organic fruits and vegetables.  In addition to the known vitamins, foods contain micronutrients that facilitate the action of vitamins.  Manufactured supplements do not contain micronutrients.  Specifically, look at the Gerson Therapy. If I personally was diagnosed with cancer, this is the what I would do to detox the heck out of my body.

Research - Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) seems to show promising results in treating some types of cancer. This treatment has shown promising results and, importantly, HBO shows no harm or increased cancer.

Research - Psychological Stress and Disease - Stress from any source - emotional, physical, chemical - underlies ALL disease processes.  Reduce stress, wherever you can; diet, relationships, self-love, physical exercise.  If you undergo chemo, that's a huge stress, so you have to reduce all other stresses as much as you can. Counteract stress with actively seeking out things that help you relax and be happy.  Strive to make your life about more than cancer, which is difficult, but critical.

Research - Emotions and cancer - Cancer has a way of putting things in perspective.  Life is short - for all of us.  Love and compassion for yourself and others is the ultimate goal, no matter what the outcome.  Work toward completion.  Resolve the deep wounds.  It can only help.  

Research - Can prayer heal?  Believe it or not, there is research that shows that prayer does heal.  Ask everyone you know, to ask everyone they know, to say a prayer for you.  Social media is great for this.  If you aren't on Facebook, I would join. 

Energy work - I have some experience with this, giving and receiving as well as working on myself internally.  We all have this power and I think it can work miracles. It's not unlike prayer.  
Angels -  I am more spiritual that religious, but I do believe there are beings on another plane that offer us help.  Let's call them Angels.  I often ask the Angels for guidance using Angel Oracle Cards.  You can look at this as a way of Angels offering you a message, or your own inner wisdom speaking to you.  The bottom line - it's the same source, right?  The important thing is to seek and trust in a higher power.  The Amazon link has several different types of Angel Oracle Cards, use your intuition to choose the one that's right for you.  

With Love,
Dr. Kelley