Autumn 2014 Wellness News

autumn 2014

Vol. 30 No.1

“When we dream alone it is only a dream, but when many dream together it is the beginning of a new reality� Hundertwasser

24 Hour Cancer Support Line (08) 9384 3544

www.cancersupportwa.org.au

wellness news Wellness News is published by Cancer Support WA and distributed free to members. Wellness News is dedicated entirely to publishing informative, inspiring and helpful articles related to wellness and healing.

The magazine is for people with cancer and other serious health issues; for people who want to maintain their good health naturally; and for integrative and natural health professionals who are looking for a deeper understanding of wellness.

production Editor & Design Mandy BeckerKnox mandy@cancersupportwa.org.au Editorial Assistant Janice O’Keeffe janice@cancersupportwa.org.au Advertising/Sponsorship Adam Bennett adam@cancersupportwa.org.au

art

artwork featured on the cover, above and throughout this edition is by Friedensreich Hundertwasser, 1928-2000.

See inside back cover for details

contact

e info@cancersupportawa.org.au ph (08) 9384 3544 f 9384 6196 a 80 Railway St Cottesloe WA p PO Box 325 Cottesloe WA 6911

social media

www.cancersupportwa.org.au Facebook: Cancer Support WA Twitter: CSAWA1

disclaimer The contents of this magazine should not be construed as medical advice. Cancer Support WA encourages readers to be discerning with information presented and make treatment, dietary and lifestyle choices in consultation with a team of health-care professionals. © Copyright of all articles and images remains with individual contributors.

the circle of giving Dear members and friends, Recently I sought the advice of a lawyer who kindly provided his services on a pro-bono basis. My son was quite curious about the meaning of‘pro-bono’and why a professional lawyer would offer his services for free. I explained that as a charity we rely on community and businesses to give donations of money and services which then enables us to give our services and support to people in the community when they need it.

My son’s response was “that is really nice. It is like a big circle of giving.” I agree that it is nice, and I love the metaphor of a circle of giving. There are times in all our lives when we will be the givers and times we will be in need of receiving.

The lawyer who I visited provided invaluable advice in relation to the legal matter, which can also be applied to life in general. He said “you need to remember the best outcome is not a win/win situation where you both come out on top. The best outcome is when both parties lose something. Each of you needs to be willing to give something up and you will then find your compromise and be at peace.”

So much of the conflict in the world, in our relationships and also within ourselves is created because we are all striving to win. If you have cancer it may be your goal ‘to win the fight against cancer’. To fight against cancer is quite literally to wage a war within the terrain of your own body. If we are at war it is impossible to be at peace. If we are not peaceful, then we are unlikely to truly win or heal anything.

I’ve heard so many people talk about their breakthrough moments occurring after a long struggle and at a point when they were ready to give up. It is in the surrender, in ‘giving up’ the struggle, that we create space within ourselves for life to start to flow again of its own accord – and it is then we find reconciliation and healing.

Surrender is a key practice of yoga and one of the reasons why yoga and meditation brings about such calmness and peace. Each inhalation is a gift of life that connects us to the life force, while each exhalation returns this gift and is an opportunity to release the tension which holds us to our stress and unhappiness – a circle of giving and receiving.

When we surrender we realise how unimportant and futile most of what we are fighting for really is. What is truly important in life is to be present and to be grateful and accepting of life as it is. It is within this gratitude that true transformation occurs.

There are times in everyone’s life which are just so difficult, so uncomfortable and so full of pain it seems almost impossible to move through it. But we do. And we often emerge with a new perspective and a deep sense of gratitude for all of life – even those things we may have previously complained about or taken for granted.

Please enjoy our Autumn 2014 edition of Wellness News.

Mandy BeckerKnox Chief Executive Officer

Cancer Support WA is the only cancer wellness organisation in WA which directly supports people through every stage of every type of cancer.

For almost 30 years, Cancer Support WA has helped and supported thousands of West Australians with cancer to achieve wellness and healing. Cancer Support WA is a pioneer of the “wellness approach” to cancer which integrates wellbeing therapies such as nutrition, exercise and meditation with mainstream treatment.

During 2014 major works will continue on the Wanslea site and will see many of Cancer Support WA’s core services conducted at the nearby Cottesloe Civic Centre and also our Armadale venue, Kookaburra Creek Yoga Retreat Centre.

Information

• Library & Resource Centre • Cancer Wellness Handbook • Cancer Care Packs • Wellness News magazine • Moss Reports • Referral Network

Wellness

• 2 hr Taking Charge of Cancer Seminar • 1 Day Cancer Wellness Workshop • 5 Week Wellness Courses • Guest Speaker Program • Inspired Living Series • Regular Classes and Sessions • Reiki Clinic • Retreats

Cancer in its acute stages can require intensive medical focus and care. When medical treatment ends you may be left wondering ‘what now?’ and feeling quite alone. At Cancer Support WA we are here to help to you. We know it’s what you do for yourself that matters most now and we are here to support you to manage cancer, implement change and help you restore your wellbeing, peace of mind and health. Our courses and programs provide you with the tools to bring about meaningful change. After just a few weeks of yoga, meditation, optimum nutrition and high quality emotional support you start to feel better. Beyond this, you’ll notice the more you commit to a new wellness lifestyle, the more you benefit. This results in three things: you start to take charge of your own journey, you discover the power to effect change is within you, and seeing the positive effects of change gives you hope. And hope itself can be healing.

Support

• Support Groups – Cancer Wellness Support Group – Grief & Loss Support Group – Women’s Healing Circle • Counselling • Home and Hospital visits • Reiki and Meditation Outreach Program • Mentoring & buddy program • 24 hour cancer support phone line • Financial counselling • Advance care planning

Community

• Annual Concert & Events • Healthy Habits Week • You Are Beautiful Exhibition • Meeting of the Minds • Adventure Travel Program

what’s on

at Cancer Support WA Cancer Support WA’s 2014 Program has been be mailed to all of our members. You can download it from our website at www.cancersupportwa.org.au or phone our 24 hour Cancer Support Phone Line (08) 9384 3544 to have a copy posted to you.

Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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INTRODUCTION

remember, healing is always possible...

about mind-body healing integrative therapies inspiring personal stories inspirations lifestyle & environment nutrition & recipes current news & information About Wellness News Wellness News magazine is the quarterly print magazine of Cancer Support WA. Wellness News is unique in that it is an extremely positive, uplifting, intelligent and beautiful publication focusing on wellness, healing and natural and complementary approaches to managing cancer.

Wellness News is designed to offer hope and life-enhancing wellness strategies for people who have cancer or may be seriously ill, and a broad spectrum of information for people interested in maintaining good health.

Wellness News articles are commissioned or sourced from highly regarded journals, publications and websites and are divided into seven key areas including: mind-body healing; integrative therapies; nutrition and recipes; inspiring personal stories; lifestyle and environment; current news & information; inspirations.

Cancer Support WA encourages a holistic and integrative approach to cancer care which includes a balance of medical treatment, complementary therapies, optimum nutrition, emotional and stress management, and lifestyle changes.

The articles published in Wellness News address these areas of wellbeing, and are not intended as medical advice. We recommend that before you embark on any non-medical treatment options you consult with your primary medical care givers.

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Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

contents...

news & information Cancer Support WA membership information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2014 Weekly Timetable. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 7 Redefining cancer to avoid overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 8 Cancer’s favourite sugar . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 10 Researchers find melanomas are addicted to sugar . . .. . .. . .. 10 Low vitamin D levels linked to cancer and heart disease, studies show. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 11 New titles in the Cancer Support WA library. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 22 Cancer Support WA 5 week courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

mind-body healing Taking charge of cancer . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 23 Radical remissions: surviving cancer against all odds . . . . . . . . 24 The 9 key factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Radical remissions: 3 key factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Listen to your life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Thoughts and emotions: the waves and the ocean. . . . . . . . . . . 34 Yoga, healing and cancer: from dreaded diagnosis to healing journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 So hum: meditation on the subtle sound and form of the breath. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 40

inspirations Herbal remedy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Walk away. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 22 Contentment and a quiet heart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Finding time for a cancer-free day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 The inspired art of Hundertwasser. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 55

CONTENTS

integrative therapies Integrative Oncology: A Healthier Way Treat Cancer . . . . . . . . . 12 Anti-cancer lifestyle tips. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 15 A new theory of cancer: exposing cancer’s deep evolutionary roots. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 19

nutrition & food Heal cancer with food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Super alkaline food chart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 8 vegetables you can regrow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Coconut: nature’s superfood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Healing benefits of coconut kefir. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Benefits of wheatgrass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

recipes Lemon coconut balls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Vegan lasagna with lemon Basil cashew cheese. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Summer vegetable brown rice risotto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Homemade chickpea and flaxseed pasta . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 50 Quinoa pizza crust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Raw vegan tiramisu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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Cancer Support WA membership tiers

join online www.cancersupportwa.org.au, in person or phone (08) 9384 3544

Standard membership is $5* per month

Wellness Club Membership is $30 per month

$30 payable 6 monthly or $60 payable annually

$30 payable monthly or $360 annually

What you get

What you get

A place on Cancer Support WA’s Meeting the Challenge 1 Day Seminar (value $100)

ALL THE BENEFITS OF STANDARD MEMBERSHIP PLUS...

Access to these support services at no charge: • counselling (value $50 per session) • home and hospital visits (value $75 per session) • phone counselling

Free attendance at all Cancer Support WA weekly classes (taichi, reiki, qigong, yoga, meditation – value $10 per session)

• Free 1 year subscription to the quarterly Wellness News print magazine (value $40) Cancer Support WA Library Card for borrowing 1000’s of books and resources from our library.

New titles monthly. Online/postal borrowing is available for members from our website (4 week loans).

15% discount on all Cancer Support WA programmed activities and services 10% discount on all Cancer Support WA’s Wellness Shop products including juicers Access to the full series of The Moss Reports

Free attendance at Cancer Support WA’s courses** • 5 week Journey to Wellness Course (value $150) • 5 week Healing Foods for Cancer Course (value $150) • 5 week Yoga Healing Course (value $80) • 5 week Introduction to Meditation Course (value $80) • 5 week Create a Healthy Home Course (value $150) • 12 week Gawler Foundation Cancer Healing & Wellbeing Course (value $400) additional 10% discount on all Cancer Support WA wellness program and services not included in the Services Package (ie 25% total discount) additional 10% discount on all Cancer Support WA Wellness Shop products including juicers (ie 20% total discount) Monthly Wellness Coaching (phone or in person)

* Free counselling sessions are limited to 1 free session per week, fee payable for additional sessions ** Free attendance at courses is limited to 1 free course at any one time

FREE for members

Meeting the Challenge

1 Day Cancer Wellness Workshop

Our powerful, informative 1 Day Cancer Wellness Workshop is the first big step on your cancer wellness journey. The workshop is suitable for anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer and their partners or carers looking for balanced, holistic information on how best to meet the challenges of cancer and integrate wellness strategies, nutrition and natural healthcare into a cancer wellness plan to get your life on track.

1st Friday of each month at Cancer Support WA, Cottesloe. 9.30am-4.30pm.

Includes morning tea. Book online: www.cancersupportwa.org.au

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Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

TIMETABLE

Please check website before attending as venues and times may change Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

9.00am – 4pm Counselling Sessions available

10am – 12pm Cancer Wellness Support Group

9.00am – 4pm Counselling Sessions available

9.30am – 4pm Counselling Sessions available

9.30am – 11am Meditation

12 – 1.30pm Reiki Clinic

9.00 – 10am Gentle Healing Yoga

11am – 12am Tai Chi

1.30 – 3.30pm 5 Week Journey to Wellness Course

9.30 – 11am Gentle Healing Yoga

1 – 3pm Grief and Loss Support Group Second and fourth Thursday

7pm – 8.15pm Reiki Clinic

1pm – 4pm Counselling Sessions available 4 – 6pm Sound Healing 3rd Tuesday of each month 6 – 8pm Special Guest Speaker 1st Tuesday of each month

Cancer Support WA 80 Railway St, Cottesloe

10.00 – 12pm Women’s Healing Circle Free 1pm – 3.30pm 12 Week Gawler Foundation Program 1.30pm – 3.00pm Qi Gong

1.30 – 3.30pm 5 Week Eating for Cancer Recovery Course

Friday 9.30am – 4.30pm 1 Day Meeting the Challenge Cancer Wellness Workshop 1st Friday of each month 9.00am – 4pm Counselling Sessions available

4pm – 5pm 5 Week Introduction to Meditation Course 5pm – 6pm 5 Week Healing Yoga Course

5–7pm Taking Charge of Cancer Once a month.

Check venues on website

Cottesloe Civic Centre 109 Broome St, Cottesloe

Located centrally in Cottesloe, Cancer Support WA is on the grounds of Wanslea, also housing North Cottesloe Primary School.

Located 2 minutes from Cancer Support WA, the Cottesloe Civic Centre is located in tranquil grounds overlooking the sea.

Nearest main intersection: Eric St. Nearest train station: Grant St 15 minutes from Fremantle 20 minutes from CBD (by car)

Nearest main intersection: Eric St. Nearest train station: Grant St 15 minutes from Fremantle 20 minutes from CBD (by car)

Kookaburra Creek Yoga Centre 210 Carradine Rd, Bedfordale

Kookaburra Creek Yoga Centre is a serene and peaceful centre in the hills outside Armadale.

Nearest intersection: Albany Hwy. Nearest train station: Armadale 5 minutes from Armadale 40 minutes from Fremantle 40 minutes from CBD (by car)

Cost: all listings on the timetable including counselling are FREE for Wellness Club members. Counselling is free for Standard members.

Other venues. Check 2014 program.

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WEEKLY TIMETABLE

Monday

weekly timetable

in the news...

Redefining cancer to avoid overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment In July 2013, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article calling for a 20th century definition of cancer. Centuries of scientific records reveal the trials and tribulations of biomedical and alternative medicine in attempts to eradicate this ever-evolving disease. More recent medical advances in cancer screening have led to a tremendous improvement in cancer detection, with the goal of seeing mortality rates decline.

A significant number of people who have undergone treatment for cancer over the past several decades may not have ever actually had the disease, admits a new report commissioned by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI). Published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), this government study identifies both overdiagnosis and misdiagnosis of cancer as two major causes of the growing cancer epidemic.

However, national US data suggest this goal has not been met; in fact, these data show an influx in detection of early stage disease not reflective of a decline in late-stage disease. This is not to say that screening is without merit – quite the contrary. Screening improvements have led to detection and reduced mortality of locally advanced disease in many cases. The issue is in detecting indolent (non-lethal) cancers which often leads to overdiagnosis, and if not recognised in time, overtreatment.

In 2012, the National Cancer Institute called a meeting to discuss overdiagnosis of cancer, which led to the formation of a consortium to address the issues of detection, false-positives, and overdiagnosis. After a year of research and collaboration, three oncologists published a viewpoint article in JAMA which outlined the harms of overdiagnosis, called for a fresh take on defining certain cancers in terms of screening, and also spelled out important steps physicians and patients should take during the cancer screening process.

Overdiagnosis of Indolent Cancer: What’s the Problem?

Overdiagnosis is a serious issue in regards to screening because a patient cannot benefit from a false or unnecessary diagnosis. Consequently, overdiagnosis can cause more financial, emotional, and physical harm to the patient if unnecessary treatment is prescribed (imagine an influx of medical bills and debt collectors badgering you for payment of unnecessary screening, surgery, and other potential means of treatment).

According to the NCI, there are two types of overdiagnosis: 1) detection of a lesion that will not become malignant and 2) detection of a lesion that is so slow-growing that the patient will die of other causes before the cancer becomes an issue.

Furthermore, these overdiagnoses are entered into a national tumour registry, which is used to assess cancer survival rates, incidence, and mortality. Given the influx of unnecessary or clinically insignificant diagnoses, our perception of survival rates is skewed. By including over or unnecessary diagnoses, these data suggest an increase in cancer “survival,” which is often viewed as an important indicator of how far the science of cancer has come and how far it has yet to go, in turn, affecting research aims and policy.

Cancer Defined: When connotation outshines the facts On the surface, “cancer” is an umbrella term used to classify a group of more than 100 heterogeneous diseases that describe abnormal cell division that can spread throughout the body, including some forms that are inherently harmless to the host during the span of a lifetime. But years of research and public hope for a cure that

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Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

An Intervention for the Practice of Screening The working group formed to address the issues of cancer screening and prevention presented the following recommendations to the NCI for consideration and dissemination to physicians, patients, and the general public: 1. “Physicians, patients, and the general public must recognise that overdiagnosis is common and occurs more frequently with cancer screening.” This is particularly true of breast, lung, prostate, and thyroid cancer.

2. “Change cancer terminology based on companion diagnostics.”

In other words, only use the term “cancer” when defining disease that is likely to become malignant and harmful to the patient if left untreated.

3. “Create observational registries for low malignant potential lesions.” Simply put, create a database of low-risk or slow-growing cancers containing information about disease prognosis, alternative treatment strategies (i.e. watchful waiting), disease dynamics, and diagnostic tools which allow physicians and patients to feel confident in less-invasive treatment.

4. “Mitigate Overdiagnosis.” Improve current methods of detection to allow for screening of consequential cancers as opposed to inconsequential cancer.

5.“Expand the concept of how to approach cancer progression.”Don’t cut out every abnormality. Instead, consider the patient as a whole (e.g. age, quality of life, co-morbidities) when exploring less invasive alternatives to managing precancerous or indolent disease.

Patients, friends, and family: Take an active role in your healthcare Of course, physicians do not and should not intend to overdiagnose and overtreat a patient with cancer. The complexities of this disease are multifaceted, with case having specific nuances characteristic of the interplay of disease and the individual’s biological makeup.

The most important thing a patient can do is be proactive in their healthcare and maintain an open, honest, and consistent line of communication with their physician, and if comfortable, also their social network of friends and family. Do your research, double-check your facts, and when unsure of a diagnosis, never underestimate the value of a second opinion. F

From: upstreamdownstream.org, September 2013. The Upstream blog is managed by students in the Interdisciplinary Health Communication (IHC) program at the University of North Carolina, USA.

IN THE NEWS

has yet to be discovered have led to a negative connotation of the word cancer, which often brings with it a feeling of helplessness due to this seemingly obdurate group of ever-proliferating cellular malfunctions, without recognition of the diverse intricate details that separate one cancer from another. This negative connotation has led many patients, and doctors, to prepare for the worst via a battery of unnecessary tests and, in some cases, unnecessary treatment.

FREE for anyone newly diagnosed

the cancer care pack

The Cancer Care Pack is a valuable resource for people in WA diagnosed with cancer. Thanks to generous donations received from our supporters, the Cancer Care Pack valued at more than $200 is available for free to anyone newly diagnosed.

Each Cancer Care Pack contains: • Gift Card for major retailer • Beautiful plain dyed 100% silk scarf to wear during the period of hair loss or to simply bring colour and comfort.

• Book: Living Simply with Cancer by Ross Taylor.

An invaluable resource written by an author who beat a diagnosis of terminal melanoma.

• Meeting the Challenge Cancer Wellness Handbook for People Diagnosed with Cancer.

• Relaxation and Meditation CD by Cathy Brown.

An aid to help restore peace and wellbeing.

• Gift Voucher to attend 1 Day Cancer Wellness Workshop for People Newly Diagnosed.

• 2 Wellness News magazines.

• Cancer Support WA Program & Information.

If you or a family member or friend have been diagnosed with cancer recently, please get in touch to receive a Cancer Care Pack.

Call our 24 hour Cancer Support Phone Line on (08) 9384 3544 to order a pack now.

Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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Cancer’s favourite sugar A study published recently in Cancer Research shows that fructose is even more of a nutritional villain than previously suspected. More than any other kind of sugar, it appears to trigger cancer cells to divide and proliferate.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles extracted pancreatic tumour cells from patients and grew the cells in petri dishes. They added glucose (another simple sugar long known to fuel the growth of cancer cells) to one dish and fructose to the other. The cancer cells used both glucose and fructose as fuel, but the fructose also activated the cellular pathway that drives cell division while triggering cellular activities that helped cancer cells rapidly metabolise both fructose and glucose.

The main source of fructose in the Western diet is high-fructose corn syrup and other refined sweeteners, such as sucrose, dextrose and maltose. Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup alone shot up 1,000 percent between 1970 and 1990.

Today, the average person eats 70 grams of fructose per day – a number triple the recommended daily limit.

The best way to limit fructose intake is to greatly reduce or eliminate processed foods and sweetened beverages from your diet. But you can further limit your total fructose intake by choosing fruits, like berries and stone fruits, that have lower fructose concentrations, and going easy on fruit juices and dried fruits, which deliver a lot of fructose per serving. Osteopathic physician and New York Times best-selling author Joseph Mercola, MD, suggests no more than 20 grams of fructose per day, with no more than 15 grams coming from fruit.

The Fructose in Fruit Fruits are good sources of nutrients and fibre, but some contain a significant payload of fructose, too. Here’s a low-to-high listing of some commonly eaten fruits (grams of fructose in bold): Low Peaches Mandarins Raspberries

1 cup, 154 g 2 fruits, 148 g 1 cup, 123 g

2.36 g 2.42 g 2.89 g

Medium Pineapples Grapefruit

1 cup, 165 g 1 cup, 230 g

3.50 g 4.07 g

High Bananas Apples Mangoes Pears

1 cup, 150 g 1 cup, 125 g 1 cup, 165 g 1 fruit, 148 g

7.28 g 7.37 g 7.72 g 9.22 g

From: experiencelife.com

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Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

Melbourne researchers find melanomas are addicted to sugar Melbourne cancer researchers have made an important discovery they think may improve the treatment of Australia’s national cancer – melanoma. They’ve found melanomas are addicted to sugar and that starving them of their glucose hit can help kill off deadly cells. Samantha Donovan reports.

Forty per cent of all cases of melanoma are driven by a mutation in what’s called the BRAF gene.

For several years researchers at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre had noticed that those melanomas use more glucose than normal cells.

And when they were treated with drugs known as BRAF inhibitors they stopped feeding on glucose.

Professor Rod Hicks says PhD student, Tiffany Parmenter made the connection.

“In the past we didn’t understand why or how that happened or what it meant to the survival of cancer cells and Tiffany’s work has enabled us to understand that at a molecular level. “ The researchers hope their discovery about the relationship between glucose and melanoma will lead to the development of other drugs that will help the existing treatments work more effectively.

“The BRAF inhibitors block the uptake and use of glucose by cells but that doesn’t necessarily kill the cell. It can go into a state of starvation where it will use other fuels to survive but not grow.

This discovery identifies that if we can further prevent the use of glucose or turning on the glucose use again, that we can enhance the likelihood of controlling melanoma. We think this is a new lead in trying to overcome the resistance that occurs in these BRAF inhibitor resistant melanomas.

It’s a very exciting time in the treatment of melanoma. If we went back five years or so, anyone with metastatic melanoma, advanced melanoma, really it was a death sentence with very few effective therapies.

With the advent of drugs like vemurafenib and a whole range of other related drugs, we’re getting excellent results in melanoma and this research gives us a new clue to try and overcome the resistance of these cells to these targeted therapies.”

The research is being published today in the American journal, Cancer Discovery. F

From AM with Chris Ulhmann, www.abc.net.au, April 4, 2014

Low vitamin D levels linked to cancer and heart disease, studies show Two new studies indicate that low levels of vitamin D are linked to cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses – but only one offers enthusiastic support for supplementation in pill form.

Both studies, published this month in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), were meta-analyses of earlier research that looked at the relationship between various illnesses and vitamin D levels, as well as whether taking a daily D supplement had a positive impact on health.

The studies, which looked at data on more than one million people, confirmed previously reported evidence of the risks associated with vitamin D deficiency: Inadequate vitamin D levels can increase your risk of dozens of serious health problems, including cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, asthma, Alzheimer’s disease, and even the common cold and influenza. And apparently, nearly all of us are at risk of vitamin D deficiency …

“Ninety-five percent of Americans are deficient in vitamin D – that’s how big the problem is,” says John J. Cannell, MD, who heads the nonprofit Vitamin D Council. “It’s very difficult to overstate the seriousness of the situation.” – “The Vitamin D Debate” (Experience Life, December 2011) One of the studies found that adults with lower levels of vitamin D in their blood had a greater mortality risk; they also had a 35 percent increased risk of death from heart disease, and 14 percent increased risk of death from cancer.

This study also looked at supplementation. The researchers found that middleaged and older adults who took vitamin D3 had an 11 percent reduction in overall mortality compared to those who didn’t take the supplement. D3 is the type of vitamin D produced by the body in response to sun exposure and is also found in a few foods, such as wild salmon and shiitake mushrooms. (There was no apparent benefit to supplementing with another form of the vitamin, D2, the researchers found.)

The other study found that evidence suggested that high levels of vitamin D could protect against such illnesses as diabetes and hypertension – but they did not conclude that supplementation had a significant beneficial effect. (Research published late last year also showed that although low vitamin D levels are associated with higher risk of a wide variety of diseases, supplementation had little impact on disease occurrence.)

The researchers noted that exposure to sunshine (for 30 minutes, twice a week, sans sunscreen) and incorporating vitamin D-containing foods could help boost flagging D levels.

With all this information, you’re probably wondering: Should I take a supplement?

And if so, how much should I take?

When we talked to our sources in the aforementioned “The Vitamin D Debate,” they were all in favor of supplementation – especially since most people are deficient.

Here are some guidelines from that piece: Ask your doctor for a“25-hydroxy vitamin D” blood test. Levels below 30 ng/ml indicate a deficiency. The optimal level is at least 40 ng/ml. Surfers, lifeguards and people who spend a lot of time outdoors typically have levels of 70 to 90 ng/ml.

If you don’t currently have a significant deficiency, and if during the summer you spend a lot of time in the sun, with at least your arms and legs exposed, and you are not always covered with sunscreen, you probably don’t need to take vitamin D supplements.

If it’s autumn, winter or early spring, if you don’t get a lot of sun exposure, or if you know you are D-deficient, you should definitely take a vitamin D3, also known as cholecalciferol.

If you have not taken a vitamin D blood test and you’re looking for general guidelines, it is suggested that children take 1,000 to 2,000 IU and adults take 2,000 to 3,000 IU daily.

Follow up with blood tests to monitor your levels. F

By Maggie Fazeli Fard. From: experiencelife. com, April 2014.

the compact juicer The Cancer Support WA Wellness Shop now stocks the incredible new COMPACT JUICERS. These small juicers are slow and quiet and your juice will retain up to 60% more nutrients than conventional juicers and the valuable enzymes remain alive. The Live enzymes are what aids your digestion and helps your body absorb nutrients, boost your energy levels and immune system. Drop by during office hours or order your juicer by phone.

Members price $275 (rrp $325).

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By Pamela Weintraub Deanne Salmon comes from a family plagued by cancer. Her mother died from colon cancer at Integrative oncology age 54. Salmon’s sister died from breast cancer at age 52. It’s no surprise that Salmon became enhances conventional something of a health fanatic, turning to exercise, organic foods and a raft of supplements in order to thwart the disease. “It never occurred to me that after doing everything right, I could treatment strategies. get cancer too,” she says.

And its lessons could But in 2011, right on schedule at age 52, Deanne was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her stage help more of us avoid 2A invasive ductal carcinoma wasn’t necessarily a death sentence, but doctors were concerned after finding a second tumour behind the first. Deanne followed her doctor’s advice, opting cancer entirely. for a mastectomy followed by a short-course chemotherapy regimen to kill malignant cells.

The side effects were not for the faint of heart: high levels of pain, hair and fingernail loss, constipation, diarrhea, unrelenting fatigue, and memory loss.

“I had to do something to help myself through the chemo,” says Salmon.

Her acupuncturist recommended an integrative natural healing clinic, where master herbalist Donald Yance Jr., MH, CN, RH (AHG), has spent decades collaborating with conventional

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INTEGRATIVE THERAPIES

oncologists, integrating botanicals not just to offset the side effects of traditional cancer treatment but also to boost overall immunity.

In the face of a cancer diagnosis, most people understandably head straight to surgeons who cut out tumours and to oncologists who use potent chemotherapies and radiation to root out disease. For many, the treatment ends there. But many experts are now saying that it’s time to take a more holistic, long-term approach to the disease, and to pay closer attention to the overall health of patients suffering from cancer. That is why many practitioners, including medical doctors, have embraced the rapidly expanding field of integrative oncology, which fuses the best of conventional and alternative treatments.

Pursued with care, integrative-oncology strategies such as nutrition, exercise, stress management and targeted supplements can reduce inflammation and boost immunity, which can reduce the risk of relapse.

Even better news? Many of the same protocols integrative oncologists use to protect survivors from a cancer recurrence can help lower cancer risk in the rest of us, too. That’s important because, as integrative oncologist Dwight McKee, MD, puts it, “we are all potential cancer patients.”

Conventional oncology, McKee says, has primarily been focused on finding “better and better ways to kill a tumour – usually with great, and sometimes lethal, toxicity to the host as well.”

Integrative oncology, on the other hand, focuses on the interplay between the tumour and its immediate biochemical environment within the body, often referred to as “the terrain.”

“For almost any chronic disease, inflammation is at the root,” says University of Texas cancer researcher and biochemist Bharat Aggarwal, PhD. “Most cancer starts by the age of 20.” As the body ages, he explains, toxic exposures mount and genetic damage accrues. Depending on inflammation and the overall condition of a person’s terrain, that deterioration may eventually result in a life-threatening cancer, perhaps many years or decades later.

Thankfully, says McKee, a thought leader in the field, “the microenvironment within which tumour cells live is finally becoming a focus for laboratory researchers. We are at the dawn of a new era in helping patients survive.”

As positive reports about integrative-oncology approaches roll in, renowned teaching hospitals are increasingly launching integrative programs of their own. Over the past 15 years, most major cities have established significant integrative programs at mainstream treatment centers, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York City to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to the University of California’s Simms/Mann Centre for Integrative Oncology in Los Angeles.

Many experts are now saying that it’s time to take a more holistic, long-term approach to cancer, and to pay closer attention to the overall health and wellbeing of patient. Many practitioners, including medical doctors, have embraced the rapidly expanding field of integrative oncology, which fuses the best of conventional and alternative treatments.

Along with greater acceptance comes greater accessibility for patients. Many integrative tools, such as acupuncture, nutritional counselling and stress management, have qualified for insurance coverage in recent years because a substantive body of research has validated the methods and results.

Another level of integrative care, more personalised but also more experimental (and thus less likely to be covered by insurance), exists beyond mainstream walls. At the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care in the US, for example, patients are treated with a tailored program that includes therapeutic nutrition, exercise, mind-spirit care, and a variety of emerging anti-tumour therapies. Nutritionist Jeanne Wallace, PhD, CNC, customises a nutrition plan based on each individual’s cancer profile, lab tests and biomarkers of survival.

What all of these integrative strategies have in common is the idea that just attacking the tumour is often not enough because inflammation could, at any time, set the stage for cancer to relapse.

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“Cancer is like a weed,” says oncologist Donald Abrams, MD, director of clinical programs at the University of California, San Francisco’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.

Conventional oncologists try to destroy the weed – even if it means using the oncological equivalent of Roundup.

Abrams, by contrast, sees his job as using a variety of integrative tools to take such good care of the garden that the weed cannot grow back.

Eat to Beat Cancer One of the most critical tools integrative practitioners use to quell inflammation and boost immunity is also the simplest: basic nutrition.

In addition to increasing our consumption of anti-cancer foods such as cruciferous veggies, garlic and onions, one of the most important dietary changes any of us can make, notes Wallace, is to drastically cut down on refined sugars and refined carbohydrates which directly fuel the cancer growth.

In addition to increasing our consumption of anti-cancer foods such as cruciferous veggies, garlic and onions, one of the most important dietary changes any of us can make is to drastically cut down on refined sugars and refined carbohydrates which directly fuel the cancer growth.

Dozens of herbs and spices also have anti-cancer potential (for a full list, see the online version of this piece at ELmag.com/integrativeoncology), but the science around curcumin – a component of the spice turmeric – is the most advanced.

In a study published in the March 2012 issue of Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, Bharat Aggarwal and his colleagues established that turmeric can block cancer-causing metabolic pathways, stopping tumour proliferation. As a bonus, the spice also sensitised tumour cells to the chemotherapeutic agents capecitabine and taxol.

In his latest book, Inflammation, Lifestyle, and Chronic Disease: The Silent Link (CRC Press, 2011), Aggarwal highlights other dietary recommendations, including consuming fresh orange juice (not from concentrate), which has “profound anti-inflammatory effects.”

Other studies point to the potent anti-inflammatory power of resveratrol, found in red wine and grapes, which suppresses dangerous inflammatory biochemicals called cytokines.

One of the hallmarks of integrative oncology is that each cancer patient is unique and needs a specific botanical-nutritional plan for success. DeAnne Salmon sought the counsel of Mark Bricca, ND, LAC, a Chinese medicine expert and naturopath from the Mederi Centre, who has recently moved his practice to nearby Portland, Ore. He recommended a regimen of supplements and smoothies containing, among other things, turmeric; isothiocyanates (chemical compounds found in high concentrations in cruciferous vegetables); greentea extract, resveratrol, grape seed and quercetin; anti-inflammatory botanicals, like frankincense; and immunomodulators, including turkey tail mushroom.

When Salmon’s mainstream oncologist prescribed hormone therapy for her estrogen-positive breast cancer, Bricca treated her with a series of synergistic herbs, including asparagus tuber and wild yam to mitigate the side effects. “At every visit, tests were done and the protocols were changed,” she explains.

Wallace honed her approach to the terrain in the face of a looming tragedy: One day in October 1997, her partner, Cheryl Clark, collapsed and was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. Doctors removed a tumour the size of a lemon, but when it began to rapidly regrow, Clark was given between three and six months to live.

Wallace hit the medical literature, reading everything she could about the metabolic pathways and prognostic biomarkers associated with the disease, reasoning that nutritional strategies to alter these pathways could help improve the chance of survival.

She had Clark reduce sugar and carbohydrate intake, both of which contribute to insulin resistance, which promotes inflammation and can foster tumour progression. She also gave

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Clark anti-inflammatory agents, including omega-3 fatty acids, boswellia and bromelain. Another crucial part of the protocol was berberine, a natural chemical found in the Chinese herb coptis, which can help normalise blood sugar and act as a radiosensitiser – a drug or natural food compound that makes tumour cells more sensitive to radiation therapy.

Thus fortified, Clark went for radiation therapy. She also took supplements, including melatonin and vitamin E, to both magnify the therapeutic force of the treatments and protect the health of the brain.

Defying her deadly prognosis, Clark remains well, and Wallace, who today is considered an expert in integrative care for malignant brain tumours, brought her strategies to the wider world of cancer, where, she says, no two patients are ever the same.

“People ask if I can give them a nutrient to cure cancer, and I tell them no,” Wallace says. “But I can teach them how to create an anti-inflammatory environment within their bodies so it’s less of a conductive host to tumour growth and production.”

De-Stress Your Cells A spate of new research shows that chronic stress, which unleashes damaging fight-or-flight hormones, can be as inflammatory as bad nutrition, leaving cancer patients at greater risk.

Over the past decade, University of California – Irvine psychologist Lari Wenzel, PhD, has played a significant role in clarifying the benefits of stress reduction for cancer patients.

In a 2008 study published in Clinical Cancer Research, for example, Wenzel reported that cervical cancer patients have “severely compromised quality of life” and experience significant stress as a result. She found that by providing counseling over the phone, her team could teach patients coping mechanisms that significantly improved their quality of life, reduced their chronic stress response and improved their immune function.

Keith Block, MD, medical director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care and author of Life Over Cancer (Bantam, 2009), emphasises mind-body care as part of the center’s comprehensive approach to treatment. “Research demonstrates that chronic unrelieved stress can impact patients’ biochemical terrain and, if not addressed, can leave their immune system and biology in turmoil.”

Simple relaxation techniques complement more advanced strategies taught at the Block Center. The starting point of many relaxation regimens is deep abdominal breathing, practiced simply by finding a comfortable position sitting or lying down, and taking deep, slow, rhythmic breaths. The next step generally involves progressive muscle relaxation. Starting with the toes and moving gradually upward to the head, patients methodically

tighten and relax all their muscles, focusing on one muscle at a time until it is relaxed, then moving up to the next. Block often has patients practice a form of guided imagery while in this deeply relaxed state. They might visualise themselves in a quiet, idyllic space they associate with peace.

To the extent that you can leave your anxiety behind, even for a while, says Block, you ease chronic tension and reduce cortisol and other stress hormones that can contribute to disease progression.

In line with this goal, any technique that helps the patient focus on the here and now, drowning out stressors to achieve deep relaxation, can work: yoga, meditation, tai chi and journaling, just to name a few.

Block also recommends cognitive reframing – an approach that supports patients in shifting the way they typically react to physical symptoms, social interactions, worrisome communications and even negative self-talk.

Fight the Tumour, Nourish the Patient As powerful as complementary tools are in battling cancer, they work best, integrative doctors believe, when combined with conventional oncology techniques.

For integrative oncologist Dwight McKee, MD, this means doing a careful analysis of each tumour. He has learned to reject outmoded and general designations based on the organ or tissue type where the cancer first developed, like breast cancer or lung cancer.

“The important thing isn’t where the tumour started,” he says, “but the tissue it currently resides in, as well as its gene expression, signaling networks and drug sensitivities.” Breast cancer that has moved to the bones is qualitatively different, he notes, than breast cancer that has moved to the brain.

McKee also strives to determine the aggression with which a cancer spreads: “Some tumours are pretty indolent and spread slowly. In such cases, simply changing the terrain – the biology of the tissue surrounding it – can stop it from progressing. Some people do well with nutritional interventions and alternative treatments alone. But on the other end of the spectrum are tumours that are so aggressive they will take over no matter how you alter the terrain.”

Determining the treatment means analysing every tumour in the lab. Mainstream practitioners typically do this through a technique called “target profiling,” which attempts to link gene or protein biomarkers with a statistical potential for drug activity. This is often a crude estimate, leading to trial and error because, despite theoretical predictions, the drugs may not work. The number of drugs tied to gene targets, moreover, is small. McKee’s approach is far more extensive, personalised and precise.

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One strategy McKee uses to keep inflammation down is the small-but-growing practice of tumour ablation, which lacks the extreme pro-inflammatory effects of cutting someone open. Ablation involves getting a needle into every deposit of the tumour that you can find and killing it by either freezing it or heating it. (The only place this can’t be used is the brain.

There, a form of ultrasound may be used for ablation instead.)

Another theoretical benefit of ablation is that it leaves behind tumour antigens, which McKee suspects could create a kind of vaccine effect – an antibody and immune cellular response that would mop up any remaining cancer cells, much like infections provide immunity in the wake of a disease.

“We have seen multiple cases where large tumours were ablated by heating or freezing, and then distant metastases disappeared in the subsequent several months,” McKee says.

Working with laboratory oncologist Larry Weisenthal, MD, PhD, of the University of California – Irvine, McKee tests tumour samples through a technique called cytometric profiling: Tumour biopsies from the patient are exposed to dozens of candidate chemotherapy drugs and targeted agents along with some botanical isolates like artemisinin or oleander extract, immune mediators, and chemotherapy-enhancing drugs. Then the tumour-killing ability of each drug and combo is quantified in the lab.

Using the technique, McKee has often helped patients defy grim prognoses. His wife’s cousin, for instance, was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer and told she had just months to live in 2011. “She was near the end,” McKee explains. “She had fluid pockets in her belly and complete bowel obstruction, a situation that caused vomiting and excruciating pain.”

McKee had the fluid tapped and sent to the Weisenthal Cancer Group lab, where the cancer cells were tested and determined to respond best to a certain combination of chemotherapies and herbs. Conventional chemotherapies using the chemotherapy agents gemcitabine and platinum were found to work best, and Weisenthal found that the cancer cells were also uniquely vulnerable to a lung cancer treatment called Iressa, the antiinflammatory Celebrex and artemisinin, an anti-malarial herbal extract.

“After three to four treatments, her [blocked] gut opened up,” McKee notes. Added to the arsenal was a bone marrow broth and herbs to boost her immune system, a copper reduction protocol that blocked blood vessels feeding the tumour, and a lifelong commitment to anti-inflammatory botanicals and food. This strategy gave her back a high quality of life until she suddenly contracted a severe case of influenza and died unexpectedly in January.

Controlling inflammation is often at odds with aggressive conventional interventions – surgery, radiation, chemotherapy – creating a deadly catch-22. The most aggressive tumours require invasive and toxic treatments. Yet the treatments produce inflammation in the terrain, setting the stage for the cancer to recur up the road.

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Practice the Art and Science of Prevention Integrative oncology has tallied real success in extending mainstream strategies, but its most important advances stem from preventing recurrence once conventional practitioners declare their work done.

“Just because you have achieved remission through elimination of the primary tumour does not mean you are home free,” Keith Block explains. “While conventional cancer treatments often remove much of the disease burden, micro-metastases may already have migrated to and seeded other parts of the body.

“That’s why, for my patients, complete remission does not mean the end of treatment. Instead, it means the start of the containment phase, when we focus on stopping or slowing further growth.”

This post-treatment period, with a focus on monitoring biomarkers and nutritional intervention, is often particularly aggressive. It can also last for years. In the integrative realm, a cancer patient isn’t sent home for watchful waiting – only to be told of the alarming emergence of a malignancy on a body scan after months or years of growth. Instead, the patient in remission continues to pursue a treatment strategy focused on containing inflammation, mitigating stress and promoting overall health.

“The mainstream doctors just give you a stack of prescriptions to deal with the pain and nausea,” says Mark Bricca’s patient Deanne Salmon, who says she got much better results from the nutrient-dense, botanical-packed smoothies that Bricca prescribed for her.

“I had energy and I never had any side effects,” Deanne says of Bricca’s regimen. “In many ways I felt healthier and looked better than before I ever got sick. Mark made me feel like I had an active role in my treatment and control over the disease.” F

From: experiencelife.com, May 2013. Pamela Weintraub is the Executive Editor at Discover magazine and the author of Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic (St. Martin’s Press, 2008), first place winner of the American Medical Writer’s Association book award.

• Reduce intake of vegetable oils, which are high in inflammatory omega-6s.

• Consume more anticancer foods such as turmeric, cruciferous veggies, dark leafy greens, garlic, onions and green tea.

• Replace nonorganic animal products, such as meat, eggs and dairy products, with grass-fed organic animal products.

Limit your intake of red meat.

• Up your omega-3 intake by consuming fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel; grass-fed animal products; and flaxseeds.

• Drink filtered tap water, mineral water or spring water.

• Limit your alcohol consumption to one glass of red wine with a meal.

• Avoid industrial chemicals, such as parabens and phthalates in personal-care products; household pesticides and insecticides; aluminum found in deodorants and antiperspirants; and inorganic phosphate additives found in many soft drinks, processed meats and commercial baked goods.

• Exercise 20 to 30 minutes daily.

• Quit smoking.

• Get 20 minutes of sunshine daily to amplify vitamin-D levels.

• Manage stress through yoga, meditation or another technique that works for you.

In his landmark book, Anticancer: A New Way of Life (Penguin, 2009), the late cancer researcher David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, draws on both conventional and alternative approaches to explain what makes cancer cells thrive and what inhibits them. Here are just some of the little changes that make a big difference when it comes to cancer prevention.

• Acknowledge and accept your emotions, including despair, anger, fear and sadness.

• Keep in touch with a circle of close friends with whom you can share your feelings and experiences.

Cancer Wellness Support Groups

You are not alone on your journey with cancer. Cancer Support WA is here to support all West Australians with cancer...you are welcome to attend our weekly support groups for people with cancer, their families and carers. Bookings not required.

Open Cancer Support Group: Tuesdays 10am-12pm Carers’ Support Group: Tuesdays 10am-12pm Women’s Healing Circle: Wednesdays 10am-12pm Grief & Loss Group: Thursdays fortnightly1pm-3pm

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INTEGRATIVE THERAPIES

• Decrease consumption of sugars, starches and refined carbohydrates.

Professor Paul Davies is best known as a physicist, cosmologist and as a pioneer in the field of astrobiology. A few years ago he was asked by the US National Cancer Institute to provide fresh insights into cancer from a physicist’s perspective. In this groundbreaking article, Prof. Davies argues cancer is an ancient genetic program present within us all, with roots in the dawn of multicellularity over a billion years ago.

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“The miracle of life.”

To a physicist, life does seem almost like magic. Faced with the sheer complexity of the living cell, many physicists feel bewildered. Yet some biological processes are remarkably deterministic. The development of the embryo is one. Cancer is another. Although there are inevitable patient-bypatient variations in the progression of cancer, generally speaking, once it is initiated the disease follows a depressingly predictable trajectory.

When a physical process follows a pattern, physicists can bring valuable insights from their discipline. Recognising this, in 2009 the US National Cancer Institute created 12 centres for physical science and oncology in an effort to identify radically new approaches to cancer research and treatment.

When I was asked to lead such a centre, I knew almost nothing about cancer.

My background in fundamental theoretical physics and cosmology prompted me to start with the basics. First of all I simply wanted to know what cancer is – how it is defined. I then pondered what causes its distinctive hallmarks and predictable progression, and what physical parameters control its properties and behaviour. Meanwhile, I began thinking about why cancer exists at all and what its place is in the grand story of life on Earth.

Such questions are rarely asked by oncologists or cancer biologists, who mostly focus on the human disease aspect and are caught up in the frantic and expensive search for an elusive “cure”.

A disease of the genes?

I soon learned that cancer is widespread among mammals, birds, fish and reptiles, suggesting it has deep evolutionary roots stretching back at least hundreds of millions of years. In fact, its prevalence in multi-cellular organisms implies it is deeply embedded in the logic of life. The genomes of nearly all healthy human cells, containing the entirety of an individual’s inherited information, evidently come pre-loaded with a “cancer sub-routine” that is normally idle but can be triggered into action by a wide variety of insults, such as chemicals, radiation and inflammation.

Once initiated, most cancers follow a pattern. Cells first proliferate uncontrollably in a particular organ (cancers are specific to organ types) forming a tumour or “neoplasm” (new cells). After a time, some neoplastic cells become mobile, leave the tumour and spread around the body, invading and colonizing other organs. This process is called metastasis and accounts for 90% of cancer deaths.

To accomplish their journey, cancer cells mostly hitch a ride in the bloodstream or lymphatic system. In doing so they face formidable challenges – they tunnel through tissues, squeeze through membrane barriers and experience highly varying sheer stresses once inside the vessels. To cope with such trials, cancer cells systematically deploy many specialized properties and functions.

Cancer research is a vast worldwide enterprise, yet there has been little change to patient outcomes over several decades. Clearly some bold new thinking is needed. Amid the frantic search for an elusive ‘cure,’ some basic questions are overlooked. Why is there cancer?

What are its deep evolutionary roots? Why do almost all cells come pre-loaded with a cancer subroutine? Paul Davies describes a new and testable theory of cancer as the re-activation of an ancient phenotype, suggesting a radically new approach to therapy.

Evidence is mounting that the micro-environment at the cells’ destination plays a key role in the success of metastasis. Primary tumours send out chemical cues into the body to “prepare the ground” for the invasion, and metastatic tumours create cancer-friendly niches by recruiting and adapting healthy cells. The disseminated neoplasm can display long-range organized behaviour that suggests a command-and-control, system-wide communication network mediated by various physical and chemical signalling mechanisms. The overall impression is of a carefully orchestrated and pre-programmed strategy Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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– its aim to multiply cancer cells and colonise new sites – which is unleashed when neoplastic cells somehow evade the normal regulatory mechanisms of the organism and embark on their own agenda.

Cancer cells can become mobile and travel in the bloodstream to invade other organs. Image: Annie Cavanagh, Wellcome Images

Single-celled organisms act to preserve themselves, while cells in multicellular organisms act for the greater good. Image: Marek Mis/Science Photo Library)

Whenever one encounters highly organised and efficient behaviour in biology, a ready explanation lies at hand: Darwinian evolution. Orthodox explanations suppose that cancer results from an accumulation of random genetic mutations, with the cancer starting from scratch each time it manifests, and over a period of several years evolving survival traits within the host under the pressure of selection by the body’s defences. Viewed this way, cancer is a disease of the genes that produces an aberration of normal cellular function – rogue cells running amok and developing their own agenda, which conflicts with that of the host organism. And it is true that many cancer cells are genetic monsters, with deranged and sometimes duplicated chunks of DNA, grotesquely malformed and swollen nuclei and wholesale rearrangements of their chromatin (genetic material).

The standard explanation leaves many puzzling questions, however. If the genetic mutations are random then the cells ought to be highly defective and vulnerable, yet paradoxically they are often fitter than healthy cells. There is no obvious reason why random mutational accidents should just happen to confer a whole series of mutually supportive survival traits in the same neoplasm, conveniently manifesting themselves in a period of just years or months. Cancer dormancy is also perplexing; in most cases, cancer (of the same organ variety) eventually returns, sometimes years or even decades after removal of a primary tumour, having somehow lain harmlessly quiescent somewhere in the body. Just what awakens it is a mystery. Another question is why cancer cells deliberately transplanted into certain tissues, or cancer nuclei into healthy cells, often results in normal behaviour. Conversely, normal nuclei implanted into cancer cells often become cancerous.

From a physics perspective, there are clues pointing to cancer as a phenomenon influenced by forces and fields – not one that is purely ruled by genetic instructions. It is fascinating, for example, that the Young’s modulus of cells changes as cancer progresses, sometimes dramatically (they are generally softer), while the stiffness of the tissue that cells touch can affect their gene expression – a process known as mechano-transduction. Even more tantalizing is that electric potentials, across cell and mitochondrial membranes as well as through tissue, serve as an organizing field that affects both healthy and malignant behaviour.

All this adds up to a serious problem for the standard genetic model of cancer.

While nobody would deny that genomic changes play some sort of role in driving the cancer phenotype (i.e. the physical tissue that results from expressing the information in the genes), at least as much weight must be given to environmental factors. This subject is collectively known as epigenetics and encompasses the effects of physical properties such as tissue architecture, elasticity and electric potential.

An ancient subroutine

To address these puzzles, Charles Lineweaver of the Australian National University and I have proposed a very different theory of cancer. Biologists agree that cancer is a breakdown of the contract between individual cells and the organism. This contract dates back to the dawn of multicellularity, over a billion years ago. Single-celled organisms replicate by division and are in a sense immortal. In multicellular organisms, immortality is relinquished and the genetic legacy of the organism is outsourced to specialized sex cells – eggs and sperm – known as the germ line. Although all cells in multicellular organisms have the same DNA, most of them differentiate into specific types – kidney,

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brain, muscle, etc. These are known as somatic cells, and they eventually die, for the greater good of the organism and its germ line. Somatic cells demonstrate this altruism every day in the phenomenon of apoptosis, or programmed cell death, which occurs after damage to a cell or as a result of ageing.

But policing this contract is hard work, and requires complex regulatory mechanisms. If cells start to cheat, abandoning the ancient covenant by refusing to apoptose, then runaway proliferation results and a neoplasm forms.

Lineweaver and I build on this uncontroversial concept, but go much further by bringing insights from evolutionary biology, microbiology and astrobiology. (In this endeavour, we are collaborating with the NASA Astrobiology Institute.)

In a nutshell, we agree that cancer is a type of throwback, or atavism, to an ancestral phenotype. Cells are usually regulated by mechanisms that instruct them when to multiply and when to die. What we believe is that when these mechanisms malfunction, the cells revert to the default option, a genetic subroutine programmed into their ancestors long ago, of behaving in a selfish way. To use a computer analogy, cancer is like Windows defaulting to “safe mode” after suffering an insult of some sort.

Our atavism theory appeals to the fact that the genomes of the organisms we see today retain traces of their evolutionary past.

This is sometimes made strikingly apparent when humans are born with a tail or extra nipples, or dolphins with four fins instead of two, expressing ancestral phenotypes.

Ancestral genetic pathways will be preserved only if they continue to serve a useful purpose. One such purpose involves embryogenesis. When a fertilized egg develops, much of the basic body plan is laid down in the early stages. Because all animals share an evolutionary past, early-stage embryos bear clear resemblances to each other: even human and fish embryos show obvious similarities such as proto-gills and a tail. This is no surprise. Evolution builds on what has gone before (our remote ancestors were fish), and ancient features that have stood the test of time will likely be recapitulated. Altering or abandoning the ancient foundations of the developmental programme would fatally compromise the embryo’s development. Very roughly, the earlier the embryonic stage, the more basic and ancient will be the genes guiding development, and the more carefully conserved and widely distributed they will be among species.

Another feature of embryonic cells relevant to our theory is that they start out “pluripotent” – they remain capable of forming cells of any organ. As the embryo develops, so most cells differentiate step by step into their terminal forms (brain, lung, kidney, skin, etc). Although all cells in an organism possess the same genes, as differentiation proceeds, different genes get switched off and silenced, leading to different cell types being manifested. However, so-called stem cells retain a measure of pluripotency, and are present even in the adult form in order to replenish fully differentiated cells that are lost by ablation, damage or simply by ageing and undergoing apoptosis.

Lineweaver and I suggest that genes that are active in earlystage embryogenesis and silenced thereafter – which, by our hypothesis, are generally the ancient and highly conserved genes – may be inappropriately reactivated in the adult form as a result of some sort of insult or damage. This trigger serves to kick-start the cascade of maladaptation events we identify as cancer. So the “cancer subroutine” is really just a re-run of an embryonic developmental program. We envisage a collection of ancient conserved genes driving the cancer phenotype, in which the metastatic mobility of cancer cells and the invasion and colonization of other organs merely reflects the dynamically changing nature of embryonic cells and their ability to transform into different types of tissues.

The big picture is that we attribute cancer’s survival traits to deep evolution on a billion-year scale, rather than orthodox explanations that point to evolution from scratch with each case of the disease. In our theory, the latter remains true, but is a small perturbation.

Mounting evidence

Evidence for deep links between embryogenesis and tumourigenesis have come from several experimental studies.

Isaac Kohane, a paediatrician who specializes in bioinformatics, and his colleagues at Harvard University have identified a pattern of genes that are switched on in most cancers and shown that this same signature is active in early embryo development.

John Condeelis, a biophysicist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, has demonstrated that invasive cancer cells have a gene expression profile resembling that of embryo tissue development.

Further evidence that supports our theory comes from experiments in which the nuclei of egg cells are replaced with cancer-cell nuclei. Astonishingly, embryos start to develop normally. But abnormalities eventually appear, at earlier stages when the cancer is more malignant (advanced). This inverse correlation of cancer stage with embryo stage is consistent with our theory. Cancer is rarely an all-or-nothing affair. Once it is initiated, it tends to follow a well-defined progression of accelerating growth, mobility, spread and colonization.

Lineweaver and I envisage cancer progression within a host organism as like running the arrow of biological evolution backward in time at high speed. As the complex regulatory mechanisms of the body break down, the cancer defaults to earlier and earlier phenotypes, with the most malignant cells representing the most ancestral forms.

If we are right, the various distinctive hallmarks of cancer ought to map inversely onto the evolutionary tree of life. For example, cells display surface adhesion molecules called cadherins to help them stick together. As cancer progresses, the cadherin gene expression changes to a more ancient type.

There are, in fact, many types of cadherin among multi-cellular organisms, and we predict that this backwards-in-time function of cancer stage will be seen in some of these too. continued...

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...from previous page

There is a quite different additional link between cancer and early forms of life. Cancer cells tend to adopt an ancient mode of metabolism known as fermentation, or glycolysis, which takes place in the cytoplasm of the cell. In contrast, healthy cells mostly use a process known as oxidationphosphorylation, or ox-phos, which is performed within tiny organelles called mitochondria. The characteristics of fermentation are its ability to flourish in low-oxygen conditions (hypoxia), its high demand for sugar (glucose) and a low-pH environment – all conditions characteristic of tumours. Could it be, we wonder, that cancer’s predilection for a hypoxic environment reflects the prevailing conditions on Earth at the time when multicellularity first evolved, before the second great oxygenation event?

Cancer touches every family on the planet and is a growing health and economic calamity. Attempts to tackle it with toxins, radiation and surgery are often little more than a delaying tactic. Life expectancy for someone with metastatic cancer has hardly changed in five decades, despite all the hype about imminent “cures”. It is clear that some radically new thinking is needed. Like ageing, cancer seems to be a deeply embedded part of the life process. Also like ageing, cancer generally cannot be cured, but its effects can certainly be mitigated – for example, by delaying onset and extending dormancy. But we will learn to do this effectively only when we better understand cancer, including its place in the great sweep of evolutionary history. F

From: Physics World, July 2013: physicsworld.com. Paul Davies is Director of the Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. He is best known as a physicist and cosmologist and as a pioneer in the field of astrobiology.

A few years ago he was asked by the US National Cancer Institute to provide fresh insights into cancer from a physicist’s perspective. This led to him being appointed as Principal Investigator at the Center for the Convergence of Physical Science and Cancer Biology at ASU. Paul is also author of numerous best-selling science books, including The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin of Life.

New titles in the Cancer Support WA Library Mum’s NOT having chemo by Laura Bond

In March 2011 Laura Bond’s mother Gemma was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancer. This is Gemma’s story, told by Laura, of the journey she took when she declined chemotherapy.

Living with Cancer by Paul Kraus

In June 1997 when given his original diagnosis of cancer with only months to live, Paul’s fear and hopelessness was compounded by ignorance of lifestyle considerations. Paul Kraus turned to alternative medicine and miraculously managed to halt the spread of his cancer and is now the longest-living survivor in the world of mesothelioma.

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INTEGRATIVE THERAPIES

By Jennifer Jamieson Why should you take charge of your cancer? Why should we take charge of anything?

Taking charge is empowering and ultimately it is a reminder to our physical and emotional body that there is future movement and changes possible. Behaviours and attitudes can and do have an incredible ripple through effect on our emotional state, and a calmer headspace allows many subtle health benefits.

Taking charge of things allows us to feel more in control, and even in moments of fear or pain, if we feel we have some control the pain seems to lessen. Taking charge can allow us to find positive things in many situations. Even noticing things such as “since my diagnosis, I gave up Coca-Cola, and to be honest my sleep is probably a bit better and I’m actually a bit less grumpy in the afternoons”.

In his letter at the beginning of every Moss Report, Ralph Moss says this: I believe that reversing cancer and remaining well is more than just a physical process.

Of course, medical treatments, such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, as well as more natural therapies, have their place in the treatment of this disease, and you need scientific information to make rational decisions about them all. But there is another dimension to the cancer problem. As one long-term survivor put it, “Returning to a state of health is not just about having treatment; it means dealing with the mental, emotional and the spiritual issues that tend to manifest physically. It means asking, ‘Am I on the path that I want to be on?’

Perhaps taking charge is asking yourself if you are you on the right track. Every one’s journey really is different, and some struggle more than others. This is true for life, not just with cancer. F

Today I’ve been thinking about this notion of ‘taking charge’ of cancer. In my role as a counsellor working with people who have cancer diagnoses, the question of how to take charge rather than being carried away with feelings of hopelessness and fear often presents itself.

Jennifer Jamieson is a counsellor at Cancer Support WA. If you are interested in learning more about how to take charge of cancer, join our free monthly ‘Taking Charge of Cancer – 2 hour cancer wellness seminar’ every 2nd Wednesday of the month. The Moss Reports by Ralph W. Moss PhD. provide information on each type of cancer and every treatment available for these cancers and the efficacy of the treatment. Cancer Support WA has the complete updated reports which are available for our members and the public for reading at our library.

Taking Charge of Cancer

NEW 2 hour Cancer Wellness Seminar

FREE for public

A cancer diagnosis can create confusion, uncertainty and a whole new world with a myriad of confusing information to understand. Taking Charge of Cancer, a free 2 hour public seminar provides the essential information to help you understand the non-medical options available to help you: improve your outcome from cancer; manage and understand your treatment regime; know which questions to ask; access support services; and maintain peace of mind.

Once a month at Cancer Support WA and other metro locations. Wednesdays 5pm-7pm.

Bookings essential. Phone 08 9384 3544 for more details.

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By Kelly Turner, PhD

What do you call a cancer patient who tried conventional medicine to its fullest, but her doctors told her there was nothing more they could do – and yet she then managed to heal her cancer using alternative means?

Doctors call this “spontaneous remission”; others call it a ‘miraculous healing.’ I call it ‘Radical Remission. ~ Kelly Turner PhD

A Radical Remission is when someone heals from cancer against all odds. To be more specific, I study three categories of Radical Remission: • People who heal from cancer without using any conventional medicine at all.

• People with cancer who first try conventional medicine, but it does not work, so they are forced to switch to other methods, which do work.

• People who use conventional and alternative medicine at the same time in order to overcome a very serious prognosis (i.e., any cancer that has a less than 25% 5-year survival rate, such as advanced lung or pancreatic cancer).

The problem is I am one of only a few researchers in the world studying these cases. And that’s precisely what I’m hoping to change with my new book, Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds.

I came across my first case of Radical Remission 10 years ago and thought, Did this really happen? Later that night, I did a quick search of the medical literature, and much to my surprise, found that there were over 1,000 cases of Radical Remission published in medical journals – yet I hadn’t heard of any of them. At the time, I was counseling cancer patients at a major cancer research center, so I wondered why none of the doctors I worked with had ever mentioned these cases before.

Having studied Radical Remissions for a decade now, including getting my PhD and conducting around-the-world research on this topic, I now understand the main reason why doctors aren’t studying Radical Remission – it’s because they can’t explain them.

This reason is easy enough to understand – it is inherently difficult to study something that you can’t even begin to explain. However, that doesn’t mean that it is okay to ignore it completely.

In fact, one of the very first things I learned in my statistics class at UC Berkeley is that it is a

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Ignoring these cases is not only scientifically irresponsible, but also foolish, since there is the potential to learn so much from anomalies. For example, some of science’s greatest discoveries – such as penicillin, the pacemaker, and the x-ray – have occurred because a researcher decided to study an anomaly. When it comes to studying the anomaly of Radical Remission, at the very least we will learn about the body’s ability to heal, and at the very best we will find a cure for cancer.

Ignoring Radical Remissions was not an option for me personally, as I have lost loved ones to cancer, but it also was not an option for me as a researcher. Just because you can’t explain why something happened, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t study it. In fact, that is the very reason you should study it.

Dr. Kelly Turner discovered that the people who experienced radical remissions were not passively sitting by, waiting for a miracle. They were making nine significant changes in their lives.

Dr. Turner goes into great detail about these nine key factors in her book Radical Remission: surviving cancer against all odds. In fact, each factor has its own chapter, as well as stories of how patients used these factors to participate actively in their healing journey. Here are the nine overlapping factors her research uncovered: 1. Radically changing your diet.

That is why I have spent the last 10 years analyzing over 1,000 cases of Radical Remission, and interviewing Radical Remission survivors and alternative cancer healers from more than 10 different countries. Because science cannot currently explain why these people healed, I decided to ask them why they thought they healed, and then looked for common themes. Most of the people told me I was the first researcher to ever ask them what they did to heal their cancer.

2. Taking control of your health.

In my research, I have found over 75 different healing factors that Radical Remission survivors use to help heal their cancer. Of those 75, nine factors were by far the most common. Almost every Radical Remission survivor I have studied used all 9 of these key healing factors, which include body, mind, and spirit interventions. Some of these factors you might expect – such as changing your diet or taking herbs and supplements. Others were less obvious, such as working with your emotions in particular ways. You can find an in-depth description of all 9 of the key healing factors in my book, Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds. In addition, my research continues at www.

RadicalRemission.com – where people can quickly and easily submit their own case of Radical Remission, so that we can continue to learn from these incredible healing stories.

8. Deepening your spiritual connection.

While there is still much research to be done on Radical Remissions before science can definitely explain how and why these people healed their cancer, the time of simply ignoring these cases has passed. After all, if we’re trying to ‘win the war on cancer,’ shouldn’t we at least listen to those who have already won? F

From: www.drkellyturner.com, March 2014

3. Following your intuition.

4. Using herbs and supplements.

5. Releasing suppressed emotions.

6. Increasing positive emotions.

7. Embracing social support.

9. Having strong reasons for living.

Cancer Support WA now has 50 copies of Radical Remission by Dr Kelly Turner for anyone with cancer to borrow. These books were donated by Cancer Support WA member Gillian McSwain who has herself experienced a ‘radical remission’ from cancer.

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MIND/BODY HEALING

researcher’s scientific responsibility to investigate any and all anomalies – that is, people or events that don’t fit into your hypothesis or theory. However, when it comes to the anomaly of Radical Remission, most doctors unfortunately just shrug their shoulders and move on.

Radical

Dr. Kelly Turner explains three of the key factors she discovered about patients who experienced radical remission from cancer.

The vast majority of the Radical Remission survivors I continue to research talk about how they reduce or eliminate sweets (sugar), meat, dairy products, and refined foods from their diets in order to help themselves heal. Let’s start with sugar. There has been a lot of talk about sugar and cancer, and for good reason. It is an indisputable fact that cancer cells consume (i.e., metabolize) sugar – glucose – at a much faster rate than normal cells do. This is precisely how a PET scan (positron emission tomography) works: first, you drink a glass of glucose, and then the scan detects where that glucose is being metabolized the fastest in your body. Those glucose “hot spots” are the areas in your body that are most likely cancerous.

While researchers are still not clear whether a high-sugar diet causes cancer, what we do know is that once cancer cells are in your body, they consume anywhere from ten to fifty times more glucose than normal cells do. Therefore, it makes logical sense for cancer patients to cut as much refined sugar from their diets as possible, in order to avoid “feeding” their cancer cells, and instead rely on the glucose found naturally in vegetables and fruits. Knowing that the average American eats the equivalent of twenty-two teaspoons of sugar a day – when we should only eat six to nine teaspoons at most – means there is much room for improvement, whether or not we are currently dealing with cancer.

One Radical Remission survivor who changed his diet – and, in particular, cut sugar from his diet – is a man named “Ron.” Ron was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the age of fifty-four. His blood tests came back positive for prostate cancer (Gleason score of 6 and PSA level of 5.2), and he tested positive for cancer on two out of twelve biopsy samples. Therefore, his doctors recommended immediate surgery to remove his entire prostate. However, Ron had recently heard of someone who had healed his cancer through nutrition, so Ron wanted first to look into that option. There was no integrative oncologist or nutritionist with whom to talk in his rural town, so he started reading books and articles that explained how cancer cells consume lots of sugar and how many typical Western foods, such as white potatoes and white bread, contain it. After a few weeks of intense research, Ron decided to postpone the surgery for a little while and try radically changing his diet instead: Cancer was probably the best thing that ever happened to me, because I was always pretty keen on fitness, but I did not eat that well. I was a big-time sugar junkie. . . . [To get rid of my cancer,] I eliminated sugar and everything white. No white potatoes, no white bread – that sort of thing. And I ate a lot of greens and did a lot of juicing of cabbage, which I still do, but not as frequently as I could. . . . Cancers are anaerobic . . . and glucose is a nitrogen shuttle, which feeds them. So, if you can just cut off that [glucose] shuttle supply, the cancer is not going to make it.

After changing his diet in this way, Ron’s PSA dropped down to a healthy 1.3 in less than a year – and he avoided having his prostate surgically removed, which can have permanent, negative side effects on urinary and sexual function. He has been cancer-free now for more than seven years.

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MIND/BODY HEALING

While the participants in my research laud the benefits of supplements to help a sick body regain balance and health, they are also quick to note that one should not rely on supplements as magic bullets. Unfortunately, we have grown quite passive about taking care of our bodies. Many people think they can treat their bodies however they want and then simply take a pill when things start to go wrong. For instance, when their blood pressure is high, they think first to take a pill instead of reducing their stress and increasing their sleep. When their back chronically aches, they think first to pop a pain pill instead of reducing the amount of time they spend sitting in a chair during the day and increasing the amount of exercise they do.

Similarly, the solution to cancer is not only to take supplements.

Supplements certainly have a place; they make up for vital nutrients and minerals not often found in today’s food supply, and they help the body detoxify the chemicals from our modern environment. Nevertheless, they are not the single solution.

One Radical Remission survivor who feels strongly about this is a natural healing advocate named Chris Wark. At only twenty-six years old, Chris was shocked to be diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer and was immediately rushed into surgery. Although the surgery successfully removed a large tumour from his colon, his doctors still insisted on chemotherapy because the cancer had also spread to his lymph nodes.

Much to their dismay, Chris refused the chemotherapy, saying that he first wanted to try more natural methods of healing. His doctors told him he was “insane.”

Nevertheless, Chris went forward with this plan and radically changed his diet along the lines of what we saw in chapter 1. He then looked for someone to advise him on which supplements to take, which led him to clinical nutritionist John Smothers at the Integrative Wellness and Research Center in Memphis, Tennessee. John was the first person to tell Chris that he had done the right thing by refusing chemo and, instead, changing his diet and lifestyle, and this made John an instant ally and friend. Chris describes his supplement use this way: Along with a strict anticancer diet, my nutritionist recommended many different nutraceutical-grade herbal supplements to address issues common to all cancer patients: liver detoxification, Candida/ fungal overgrowth, parasites, suppressed immune function, and nutritional deficiencies. However, a radical change of diet and lifestyle is foundational to healing; supplements are “supplemental.” The right supplements can provide additional support to the healing functions in the body, but if you are not willing to make necessary changes to your diet and lifestyle, supplements won’t do you much good. In other words, if you keep eating processed food, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and not moving your body, you are not likely to see much benefit from supplements. Taking supplements without a radical change of diet and lifestyle is like fighting a house fire with a squirt gun.

Less than a year after his diagnosis Chris was declared cancer-free, and things have stayed that way since 2004. His doctors were and continue to be baffled, but Chris is not; he is convinced that the major changes he made in terms of diet, lifestyle, and supplements were what led to his healing.

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It is important to acknowledge that spontaneous remissions from cancer do occur. In fact, thousands of cases have been reported in several books such as the Spontaneous Remission Bibliography, compiled by the Institute of Noetic Sciences. The Centre for Integrated Healing in B.C. Canada has summarised the 10 common characteristics of those who have undergone spontaneous healing of advanced, untreatable cancer.

1. In spite of being told that their cancer is incurable they have a deep belief that their body can heal itself 2. They take control and assume a recovery program that is unique to them. They reclaim their own responsibility rather than solely relying on experts.

3. They reconnect with spirit, awakening long hidden desires and aspirations. They reconnect with authenticity to their feelings and values and decide to live them.

4. They deepen and bring honesty to their relationships with others.

5. A compete re-assessment of their lives is undertaken. They are willing to change. This often includes diet, lifestyle, career, goals and relationships.

6. Radical changes in diet have been closely associated with spontaneous remission. These changes usually include decreasing processed, refined foods and animal fats and consuming more fruits and vegetables or becoming vegetarian.

7. They take vitamins and supplements to help support their immune system.

8. They slow down, taking time to relax and fully enjoy the gift of life. Often prayer or meditation becomes a regular practice.

9. They become in tune with their body and ‘listen’ for cues relating to energy, emotions and body signals that are a part of daily life.

10. They rejoin with social networks and experience the joy of being of service to others. Through their own healing, they help to heal others.

In 1993, the Institute of Noetic Sciences published Spontaneous Remission: An Annotated Bibliography. Because there was no standard reference for the field of spontaneous remission before that time, the first task of the Remission Project at IONS was to catalogue the world’s medical literature on the subject. As a result, it assembled the largest database of medically reported cases of spontaneous remission in the world, with more than 3,500 references from more than 800 journals in 20 different languages.

See: www.noetic.org

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The positive emotions Radical Remission survivors try to experience on a daily basis are happiness, joy, and love.

The definitions of the words “happiness” and “joy” most people can agree on, but the use of the word “love” in this chapter may require further explanation.

In this book, I discuss three types of love. The first type is the feeling you get when you love yourself, your life, and others. It is a feeling of love that comes from within you and that you then project outward into your life. The second type of love is received by you from others; it is also called “social support.” I purposefully separated these two kinds of love – that which you give to yourself and others versus that which you receive – because the participants in my research talk about them as two distinct actions, and also because not everyone excels at both. Finally, the third type of love, discussed in chapter 8, is an unconditional and spiritual type of love, which has no sense of separateness, no sense of “you” or “I.” This chapter focuses on the first type of love, which is the love, along with the happiness and joy, you create in your own life and then spread to others. One Radical Remission survivor who really focuses on this first type of love is Efrat Livny. Efrat was diagnosed with stage 3C ovarian cancer at the age of forty-nine, ironically only four years after she had left her high-stress job in order to enjoy life more. While she used a wide variety of both conventional and alternative treatments in order to address her cancer, increasing positive emotions was, for her, one of the most important steps she took: From the very early stages of my cancer journey, it was clear to me that I would not declare battle but rather find ways to accept and befriend this new and unexpected chapter in my life. I knew that in order to do so, what I needed most was to find gratitude, joy, and fun in my life – as often and as much as I was able. Chemo presented a huge challenge for me. I could feel fear and resistance welling up in me as I prepared for my first treatment.

Somehow, in the midst of it all, I thought that the right pair of shoes would make all the difference. So, I got myself a pair of purple Converse high-tops. They made me smile when I walked into that room. . . . It was those things – joy, fun, kindness, and gratitude – that became my true medicine.

Efrat has now been cancer-free for more than twelve years, and she still makes sure that joy, love, and happiness are part of her daily health regimen. F

Excerpted from RADICAL REMISSION by Kelly A. Turner, Ph.D., published by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2014.

a series of courses to introduce you to a new way of living and change your life!

Cancer Support WA is a pioneer of the wellness approach to cancer and has developed a comprehensive wellness program addressing the key areas of health, healing and wellbeing. Our 5 week wellness courses delve deeply into the five key areas of wellness. Each course is 1-2 hours per week for five weeks. If you are a Wellness Club member you can do all five courses over the year for only $30 a month. Please see our 2014 program or website for dates, times, cost and more details.

journey to wellness

This course provides an overview of the key areas of the wellness approach to cancer including: how to cope with cancer; lifestyle; diet and nutrition; developing personal and practical resources; meditation and exercise; integrating natural medicine and complementary therapies. The course also goes deeply into emotional healing. Informative, practical sessions and demonstrations with notes and home practices.

Upcoming dates: 1st July, 7th October

healing yoga This course guides participants through the healing practices of yoga, breathwork, relaxation and meditation. Yoga is a holistic system of wellbeing and health which restores balance, energy and wellbeing to the body and brings peace and calmness to the mind. Yoga also connects the practitioner to their higher self and awakens the body’s innate healing potential. Course includes home practices and notes.

Upcoming dates: 24th July, 6th November

introduction to meditation

Meditation is potentially the single most important aspect of cancer wellness because of the profound healing benefits associated with regular practice. This course structured sessions where participants are guided in practices and taught techniques which help them concentrate better, meditate deeply, replenish energy levels, counter stress, cultivate inner peace and promote healing. Notes and home practices given.

Upcoming dates: 24th July, 6th November

healing foods for cancer

We all know food is medicine, but do you know which foods and how to prepare them for maximum healing effect? This course provides a comprehensive introduction to eating for cancer recovery. Lots of information given on whole foods, raw foods, superfoods, juicing, fermenting, sprouting, organic gardening and more! Practical demonstrations and delicious tastings of juices, sprouts anddelicious dishes! Recipes and notes given.

Upcoming dates: 5th June and 25th Sept

NEW create a healthy home

Art by Ira Mitchell-Kirk

Your home is your sanctuary! Your immediate environment is so important to your wellbeing on every level. There are many steps you can take to ensure that your home is conducive to your healing and recovery. This course shows how to create the healthiest home possible.

Topics covered include: make your own chemical-free personal care and cleaning products; organic gardening and eating; feng shui; aromatherapy; water and air quality control. Practical demonstrations and notes given.

Upcoming dates: 5th August Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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MIND/BODY HEALING

5 Week Wellness Courses

By Alexandra Cain

Josie Thomson was diagnosed with cancer at 24 in 1991 and given 6 months to live. With this prognosis and uncertain future Josie returned to a workplace where she was isolated as people could not relate. 18 years later she was again diagnosed with cancer, this time a brain tumour.

With a new profession and more meaningful connections, Josie’s second experience of cancer was one of love and care.

Sitting at the end of my dad’s hospital bed just days before he died of cancer, I was firing questions at him, desperately trying to extract the knowledge I needed to continue running the family publishing business once he was gone.

He was surprisingly sharp and lucid, although his eyes were closed, no doubt trying to block out the pain he was feeling and at the same time give me what I needed.

So dad pretty much worked up until the day he died.

As the incidence of cancer in our society increases, it’s a state of affairs more businesses will need to manage.

According to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 114,137 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in Australia in 2009. In 2020 this figure is expected to be 149,990.

Josie Thomson understands how hard it is to manage cancer and keep working only too well. She suffered her first bout of cancer in 1991 when she was only 24. She was working for a top Australian company in the tax department, and at the same time teaching aerobics, so she assumed she was fit and healthy.

“But I was stubborn,’’ says Josie. “I had a lump in my throat that was uncomfortable but not painful. My doctor thought it could have been glandular fever, but sent me for an ultrasound anyway.”

The test found that Josie had a tumour in her thyroid and she went in for surgery, which showed it was cancer, and it was stage three malignant.

“I had another surgery the next morning and ended up flatlining twice in intensive care.

I returned home, but when I went to see my doctor he handed me a piece of paper that said I had six months to live. I didn’t go into shock. Instead, I became curious and kept an open mind. I thought what the doctor told me was only words and what would happen depended on how much significance I gave to them.”

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PERSONAL STORY

Josie had been home for two weeks when she received a call from her HR manager asking when she was going to return to work.

“He said, ‘Josie, you need to come back to work or we have to reconsider your employment’. I asked whether he knew what was going on for me, and he just said, ‘Yes, yes’, dismissing me.”

Although she couldn’t bend properly or travel easily, back to work she went.

“When I got back to work there was this sort of invisible communication. People knew what I had gone through, and I knew that they knew. But they didn’t know how to relate to me. They would talk to my throat rather than look me in the eye,” Josie says.

“So I wore turtlenecks for a while, but it became uncomfortable and I decided people would just have to live with what happened to me, just as I needed to.”

Josie’s co-workers gradually became more relaxed and things returned to normal, but it took time.

During her treatment, she was offered a job in Brisbane. Seduced by the sunny climate, she moved up there from her home in Melbourne in 1993.

Then, after 18 years in remission, on Christmas Eve in 2009 Josie was diagnosed with a tumour at the front of her brain. She had surgery in early 2010 and was by that time working for herself as an executive coach in Brisbane, after leaving her old firm in 2000.

Josie shares her tips for businesses that have a staff member suffering from cancer: • Show compassion and relate to the employee in a compassionate way.

• Acknowledge the reality of the situation and don’t pretend nothing is happening.

“My experience with cancer that time was quite different because of the nature of my work. I was used to having deep and trusting conversations with my clients and I received a sudden outpouring from them, asking what they could do to help me. I received so much love and care because I’d been giving them love and care and it was my turn to receive.”

• Clarify the expectations on both sides.

Ask the employee how they would like to continue to contribute in a way that’s meaningful and manageable for them.

This time, Josie went through a lengthy recovery process. “It took me six months to walk without an aid and to speak in a comprehensible way. But I’m really well now.”

• Realise they won’t have the same capacity while they go through such a distressing experience.

Josie has three tips for businesses that have a staff member suffering from cancer (at right).

“Most people do want to continue to work, but often workplace rules prevent that. So the business might need to offer flexible working arrangements so the staff member can continue to contribute in a way that won’t compromise their health,” Josie advises.

• Offer support for a successful reintegration into the workplace, as well as someone the employee can talk to while they go through treatment and recovery.

She attests that meditation significantly supported her full recovery and has recorded a Simple Meditation for Busy People CD that can be downloaded for free from her website josiethomson.com. F

From The Big Idea blog on the Sydney Morning Herald website,14 March 2014: www.smh.com.au.

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By Mark Nepo Listening is a personal pilgrimage that takes time and a willingness to lean into life. With each trouble that stalls us and each wonder that lifts us, we’re asked to put down our conclusions and feel and think anew. Unpredictable as life itself, the practice of listening is one of the most mysterious, luminous and challenging art forms on earth. Each of us is by turns a novice and a master – until the next difficulty or joy undoes us.

In truth, listening is the first step to peace. When we dare to quiet our minds and all the thoughts we inherit, the differences between us move back, and the things we have in common move forward. When we dare to quiet the patterns of our past, everything starts to reveal its kinship and share its aliveness. And though we can always learn from others, listening is not a shortcut, but a way to embody the one life we’re given, a way to personalize the practice of being human.

In real ways, we’re invited each day to slow down and listen. But why listen at all? Because listening stitches the world together. Listening is the doorway to everything that matters. It enlivens the heart the way breathing enlivens the lungs. We listen to awaken our heart. We do this to stay vital and alive. This is the work of reverence: to stay vital and alive by listening with an open heart.

Yet how do we inhabit these connections and find our way in the world?

By listening our way into lifelong friendships with everything larger than us, with our life of experience and with each other.

Our friendship with everything larger than us opens us to the wisdom of Source. This is the work of being. Our friendship with experience opens us to the wisdom of life on earth. This is the work of being human. And our friendship with each other opens us to the wisdom of care. This is the work of love. We need to stay loyal to these three friendships if we have any hope of living an awakened life. These three friendships – the work of being, the work of being human and the work of love – frame the journey. n a daily way, listening is being present enough to hear the One in the many and the many in the One. Listening is an animating process by which we feel and understand the moment we are in, repeatedly connecting the inner world with the world around us, letting one inform the other.

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All of this helps us hear who we are because our identity and the reach of our gifts can only be known in relationship. The wave would not exist if not for the reach of the ocean that lifts it, and the mountain would not exist if not for the steadfastness of the earth that supports it. Listening helps us discover our relationship to all that supports us in life. Listening helps us find our place as a living part in a living Universe. And each moment is a new place to start, no matter how overwhelmed we might feel. For the living Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

It is giving our complete attention to the silence that holds our self that awakens us to both the soul’s calling and the call of the soul.

While the soul’s calling is the work we are born to do, the call of the soul is the irrepressible yearning to experience aliveness. The center of our aliveness doesn’t care what we achieve or accomplish, only that we stay close to the pulse of what it means to be alive.

In doing this, we stay close to the energy of all life.

The deeper we look at listening, the more we find that it has to do with being present, because a commitment to being fully present enables us to listen more to others, to their dreams and pain, to the retelling of their stories. It deepens our compassion. And listening to the history of our heart allows us to hear and feel the sweet ache of being alive.

Each of these ways of listening – to our inmost self, to the silence that joins everything, to the soul’s calling for meaningful work, to the call of the soul to simply be alive, to the complete presence of others that holding nothing back opens in us, and to the tug of life and its sweet ache of constant connection – is a practice that deepens our understanding of who we are and of the precious life we’re given in our time on earth. F

From: www.oprah.com. Mark Nepo is a cancer survivor, poet and the author of 13 books and eight audio projects. He has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for more than 35 years. His new book, Seven Thousand Ways to Listen, is now available from Simon & Schuster in hardcover and as an audiobook and download. To learn more, please visit MarkNepo.com and ThreeIntentions.com.

jason winter’s herbal tea On three different continents Sir Jason Winters discovered three different herbs each with a centuries-old reputation as a powerful blood detoxifier. These herbs have been combined in this tea and act synergistically, each boosting the effect of the other, making this delightful herbal beverage a powerful healing brew.

Ingredients: red clover, gotu kola, chaparral.

available now in the Cancer Support WA Wellness Shop

PERSONAL STORY MIND/BODY HEALING

Universe can be entered at any time by listening to our inmost self. This begins by meeting ourselves and opening our minds to silence. It helps to think of silence as the connective tissue for all life. By listening to silence, we can be nourished by everything that is larger than us.

free cancer counselling Cancer Support WA’s professional counselling service is for people with cancer, carers, children and families dealing with any aspect of cancer.

Adults, Kids & Family Counselling Counselling sessions with a caring, compassionate professional could help you deal more effectively with the many issues, fears and emotions which arise on the cancer journey; gain clarity to make treatment decisions; give you the insight to grow from your experiences; and the peace of mind and heart needed to heal. Sessions are available at our Cottesloe centre, your home or hospital.

Sessions for adults, couples, families and children with fully qualified Counsellors by appointment.

Our professional counselling at our premises or yours is now free for Cancer Support WA members and families.

Counselling Fee Rates Counselling session (one hour duration) Home/hospital visit

$50 members $75 public + $25 travel fee

Counselling sessions are available free to Cancer Support WA members and Wellness Club members.

Free counselling sessions are limited to one session (1 hour) a week per family. Additional sessions can be booked at the rates advertised above.

Phone (08) 9384 3544 Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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By Sogyal Rinpoche When people begin to meditate, they often say that their thoughts are running riot, and have become wilder than ever before. But I reassure them and say that this is a good sign. Far from meaning that your thoughts have become wilder, it shows that you have become quieter, and you are finally aware of just how noisy your thoughts have always been. Don’t be disheartened or give up. Whatever arises, just keep being present, keep returning to the breath, even in the midst of all the confusion.

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In the ancient meditation instructions, it is said that at the beginning thoughts will arrive one on top of another, uninterrupted, like a steep mountain waterfall. Gradually, as you perfect meditation, thoughts become like the water in a deep narrow gorge, then a great river slowly winding its way down to the sea, and finally the mind becomes like a still and placid ocean, ruffled by only the occasional ripple or wave.

Sometimes people think that when they meditate there should be no thoughts and emotions at all; and when thoughts and emotions do arise, they become annoyed and exasperated with themselves and think they have failed. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is a Tibetan saying: “It’s a tall order to ask for meat without bones, and tea without leaves.” So long as you have a mind, there will be thoughts and emotions.

Just as the ocean has waves, or the sun has rays, so the mind’s own radiance is its thoughts and emotions. The ocean has waves, yet the ocean is not particularly disturbed by them. The waves are the very nature of the ocean. Waves will rise, but where do they go? Back into the ocean. And where do the waves come from: The ocean. In the same manner, thoughts and emotions are the radiance and expression of the very nature of the mind. They rise from the mind, but where do they dissolve?

Back into the mind. Whatever rises, do not see it as a particular problem. If you do not impulsively react, if you are only patient, it will once again settle into its essential nature.

When you have this understanding, then rising thoughts only enhance your practice.

But when you do not understand what they intrinsically are – the radiance of the

Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

We often wonder what to do about negativity or certain troubling emotions. In the spaciousness of meditation, you can view your thoughts and emotions with a totally unbiased attitude.

When your attitude changes, then the whole atmosphere of your mind changes, even the very nature of your thoughts and emotions. When you become more agreeable, then they do; if you have no difficulty with them, they will have no difficulty with you either.

So whatever thoughts and emotions arise, allow them to rise and settle, like the waves in the ocean. Whatever you find yourself thinking, let that thought rise and settle, without any constraint. Don’t grasp at it, feed it, or indulge it; don’t cling to it and don’t try to solidify if. Neither follow thoughts nor invite them; be like the ocean looking at its own waves, or the sky gazing down on the clouds that pass through it.

You will soon find that thoughts are like the wind; they come and go. The secret is not to “think” about thoughts, but to allow them to flow through the mind, while keeping your mind free of afterthoughts.

INTEGRATION : MEDITATION IN ACTION I have found that modern spiritual practitioners lack the knowledge of how to integrate their meditation practice with everyday life. I cannot say it strongly enough: to integrate meditation in action is the whole ground and point and purpose of meditation. The violence and stress, the challenges and distractions of modern life make this integration even more urgently necessary.

People complain to me, “I have meditated for twelve years, but somehow I haven’t changed. I am still the same. Why?”

Because there is an abyss between their spiritual practice and their everyday life. They seem to exist in two separate worlds, and not to inspire each other at all.

How, then, do we achieve this integration, this permeation of everyday life with the calm humour and spacious detachment of meditation? There is no substitute for regular practice, for only through real practice will we begin to taste unbrokenly the calm of our nature of mind and so be able to sustain the experience of it in our everyday life.

All too often people come to meditation in the hope of extraordinary results, like visions, lights, or some supernatural miracle. When no such thing occurs, they feel extremely disappointed. But the real miracle of meditation is more ordinary and much more useful. It is a subtle transformation, and this transformation happens not only in your mind and your emotions, but also actually in your body. It is very healing. Scientists and doctors have discovered that when you are in a good humour, then even the cells in your body are more joyful, and when your mind is in a more negative state, then your cells can become malignant. The whole state of your health has a lot to do with your state of mind and your way of being.

Everything can be used as an invitation to meditation. A smile, a face on the train, the sight of a small flower growing in the crack of cement pavement, a fall of rich cloth in a shop window, the way the sun lights up flower pots on a window sill. Be alert for any sign of beauty or grace. Offer up every joy, be awake at all moments, to “the news that is always arriving out of silence.”

Slowly you will become a master of your own bliss, a chemist of your own joy, with all sorts of remedies always at hand to elevate, cheer, illuminate, and inspire every breath and movement. F

From: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying By Sogyal Rinpoche.

Edited from the Section “Bringing the Mind Home” .

Meditation is a powerful self-healing tool with profound benefits. Learn simple, effective meditation techniques in five weeks at Cancer Support WA’s Introduction to Meditation Course held on Thursdays 4pm-5pm. From www.chopra.com Register early to ensure you don’t miss out.

Casual meditation sessions Mondays 9.30am.

Book online: www.cancersupportwa.org.au

Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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MIND/BODY HEALING

nature of your mind – then your thoughts become the seed of confusion. So have a spacious, open and compassionate attitude toward your thoughts and emotions, because in fact your thoughts are your family, the family of your mind. Before them, as Dudjom Rinpoche used to say: “Be like an old wise man, watching a child play.”

By Linda Sparrowe Through the practice of yoga, people learn to love themselves and support each other, particularly when going through cancer. Yoga and meditation are companions on the road to healing, from diagnosis through treatment, recovery and sometimes recurrence. Through the honesty that comes from practice, your heart may break open to reveal a fierce strength and tenderness that allows you to protect, care for, and embrace a self that ultimately is larger than the disease inhabiting your body.

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The moment I drove into Shambhala Mountain Center, high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, I began to worry. I had come to this spiritual retreat center to teach yoga, certainly not a novelty for me. But these women – all 65 of them – had cancer. These weren’t women who had beaten back the disease and needed to replenish their energy or regain their strength and flexibility – I had plenty in my yoga toolkit for them. These were women reeling from a new diagnosis or right in the throes of wrenching treatment – or, in a few cases, dying from the metastasized cells that had taken over their bodies.

Could yoga really help them?

I joined the other Courageous Women, Fearless Living presenters on opening night: Judy Lief, a longtime Buddhist meditation teacher and author of Making Friends with Death, who would teach mindfulness training and meditation practice; Victoria Maizes, MD, executive director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, who would present the latest findings in integrative cancer research and nutrition; and Sofia Diaz, who would offer evenings of dance and expressive movement.

I was eager to meet our guests and still hopeful that my trusty toolkit – poses for stiffness, digestive woes, and lymphedema; breathing techniques for nausea, fatigue, and anxiety – would help them through at least some of their challenges. As we all sat together in the Shrine Room, I met one woman who shook with Parkinsonian tremors brought on by a brain tumour; I listened to another ravaged by not one type of cancer but four; and my heart broke for the woman with uterine cancer who was young enough to be my daughter.

With every tale told, I felt less confident that they would be able to do even the gentlest of my asana choices.

While each story and every diagnosis were obviously unique, I quickly understood that what connected these women and would hold them close together went beyond the physical manifestations of their disease and cut to the heart of their emotional pain and their fear – for their families and for themselves. I went back to my room that night and put aside my carefully scripted class notes. I set the intention to pay attention deeply and to meet the women wherever they were at any given moment – in other words, to truly teach yoga. From the opening Om of our first early morning practice to the final bow five

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MIND/BODY HEALING

days later, everyone moved, breathed, and cried. They learned to love themselves and support each other, and chose to embrace yoga and meditation as companions on the road to healing, from diagnosis through treatment, recovery, and sometimes even recurrence. And in the end, their hearts broke open to reveal a fierce strength and a tenderness that allowed them to protect, care for, and embrace a self that ultimately was larger than the disease inhabiting their bodies.

In the Yoga Sutra (2.16), Patanjali warns that suffering yet to come can and should be avoided; in other words, anticipate any future pain and just don’t go there. Not so easy when you’re awaiting the results of a biopsy, says Integral Yoga teacher Lynn Felder of Salem, North Carolina, herself a survivor of ovarian cancer.

We all suffer when our minds catapult into the future: “Am I going to die? What will happen to my children? Will I lose my hair?” Or get mired in the past: “If only I had taken better care of myself…If only I had been a better daughter, partner, mum, person…if only, if only, if only…I would not have gotten sick.”

The fear and anxiety a diagnosis triggers can actually make the illness worse, according to Bharat Aggarwal, PhD, professor of cancer medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. “Any time you panic, your body releases hormones that increase inflammation,” says Aggarwal, “and such inflammation can potentially increase tumour size.”

His prescription? Slow down; learn to put your mind at rest; find your breath. In other words, as Patanjali said, don’t go there. And if you have a yoga or meditation practice, do it. Research shows that Aggarwal’s suggestions are right on target. For example, one Ohio State University study (published in January 2010 in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine) shows that doing yoga regularly reduces the level of inflammation – as measured by the amount of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the blood – that normally rises when you’re stressed. IL-6, according to the study’s authors, has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and arthritis.

Even more interesting, the women in the study who had practiced yoga regularly for at least two years not only reacted to stress more calmly (with lower levels of inflammation) when it presented itself, but they had less IL-6 in their blood under normal circumstances, too.

Women from the Courageous Women’s retreat may not have been privy to the results of this or any other study, but they could attest to the power of yoga to help them get through the bad-news phase. One participant, Sarah Michaelson, took refuge in her yoga practice to keep her emotions from spiraling out of control when her doctors told her that her breast cancer may have metastasized and taken up residence in her ovaries. As her yoga instructor counted out the breaths in their pranayama practice that day, Sarah remembers, everything slowed down. “I noticed the inhale filling my belly and lungs. In a single moment, I am as big and boundless as the sky. The fear becomes a tiny droplet that evaporates with the heat of my exhale.” She felt a tremendous relief in knowing “that the stillness and peace were always there” if she could only make the time to access them.

While some women, like Sarah, find pranayama or seated meditation the perfect antidote to their anxiety, others find sitting still simply too agitating. Their nerves amplify the chatter in their minds. They need to get out of their heads and into their feet and feel the ground beneath them. They need to move – sun salutations, standing poses, and forward bends – not as a means of escape but as a way to calmly return to their center. Sarah Trelease, who co-teaches classes for women with cancer in New York, encourages her students to receive what comes their way with the strength of a yogic warrior. Such a warrior can fearlessly meet the present moment, stand strong yet flexible in the face of whatever arises, breath by breath, regardless of the burning sensation in her thigh or the searing pain in her heart.

The fear and anxiety a diagnosis triggers can actually make the illness worse. Any time you panic, your body releases hormones that increase inflammation. The prescription: slow down; learn to put your mind at rest; find your breath. Doing yoga regularly reduces the level of inflammation.

“Yoga brings me back into my breath and my body.

When I do yoga, my body opens into and remembers patterns that intrinsically restore a healing state.”

Anxiety doesn’t abate once treatment starts, of course. Instead it gets tossed in with myriad other concerns, both physical and emotional. Although side effects vary widely – depending on the treatment protocol and the individual – nausea, fatigue, insomnia, foggy thinking, digestive disorders, anxiety, depression, and self-loathing rank high on the complaint list for many patients. Luckily, yoga can help manage these symptoms. And the research bears this out.

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Two small studies at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center used a form of gentle restorative yoga from the Integral Yoga Center’s cancer program. Suzanne Danhauer, PhD, who directed the studies on women with breast and ovarian cancers (61 percent of whom were concurrently receiving conventional cancer treatment), said the women enjoyed improvements in fatigue levels, depression, anxiety, and overall quality of life. After analysing the data, Danhauer said, she noticed that the women who had the hardest time emotionally coping with their illness actually benefited the most from the deep relaxation they experienced.

“Women sit with wigs on, and oversized clothing disguises their bodies. They speak of the shame they feel when they see their bald heads in the mirror or take their clothes off to expose what one woman calls her “bloated, scar-riddled body that obviously belongs to someone else.”

Others complain that they can no longer move, run, dance, or even walk like they used to. They hate what they look like – an ever-present reminder of their illness – and their posture and downcast faces reflect that. But stepping onto their mats they begin to understand yoga’s power to change their relationship to themselves. Yoga asks them to approach their practice and their bodies (just for that day, that moment, or that breath) with compassion, non-judgment, and gentle humour.”

Lorenzo Cohen, MD, professor and director of MD Anderson’s integrative medicine program, has long had an interest in yoga’s effect on cancer treatment side effects. His first study, published in 2004 in the journal Cancer, showed that doing yoga improved sleep quality. Patients with lymphoma who were undergoing conventional treatment reported that they slept longer, fell asleep quicker, and relied on fewer sleep meds when they did yoga just once a week. His second study, in collaboration with Bangalore’s Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, demonstrated that women with breast cancer who participated in yoga classes while undergoing radiation performed better at daily tasks by the end of treatment – tasks like lifting and carrying groceries or climbing a flight of stairs. But equally as interesting, Cohen – whose grandmother, by the way, was world-renowned yogini Vanda Scaravelli – noticed that the women were able “to find meaning in their illness experience,” a variable, he says, that is associated with higher levels of happiness and well-being. In other words, even when scary, unbidden thoughts surfaced, the yoga group had an easier time noticing them and letting them go.

These studies, and more, proved to the medical and science communities what yogis have known for millennia: Yoga works. For the women and men experiencing the harsh side effects of cancer treatment, yoga offers a respite from the emotional chaos and the physical challenges they face. Jeannine Walston, whose own journey with a brain tumour has sometimes thrown her into a state of disconnect, believes that the supportive practice of yoga helped her find her centre. “Yoga brings me back into my breath and my body,” she says. “When I do yoga, my body opens into and remembers patterns that intrinsically restore a healing state.” She takes comfort in the group experience as well and sees it as an invitation “for everyone to move in a collective,” which is in itself profoundly healing.

Integral Yoga teacher Lynn Felder encourages her students to do restorative asana and calming pranayama during treatment. She says so much is going on in the body, and the body is working so hard to deal with it all, that “it’s good to be still, listen, and be with what is.” Sometimes just sitting is enough, she says.

Tari Prinster, the director of OM Yoga’s Women Cancer Survivors program, needed a stronger, more physical practice to get her through her initial rounds of chemotherapy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She hated the anti-anxiety meds her doctors wanted to give her before each treatment, so she said no, thank you, and hired a friend to come over and do yoga with her instead. “We would go through a simple vinyasa practice, sit in meditation, and then I would go off to my treatment,” she said. She used pranayama to calm her anxiety during her chemo and then, immediately following, she made a point to do a little yoga, walk, or even ride her bike. “I wanted the residual toxins to move out of my body as quickly as possible.”

Ann Pendley, an 11-year survivor of breast cancer, says yoga helps her stay focused and present. “I don’t run away from my emotions as much,” she says. “When things come up, they just come up.” Just showing up for class for Ann mitigates the side effects from her drug treatments, whether she does a full 90 minutes of asana or can only muster a 10-minute shavasana. Even a little bit of relaxation helps her be aware and awake the rest of the day.

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Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

Recovery can bring with it a panoply of mixed emotions, bouncing from a deep sense of relief to fear of recurrence as every ache and pain become suspect. Many survivors speak of the distrust they feel for their bodies, and the sense of always being “on guard.” Their cancer may be gone – excised through surgery, chemo, radiation, holistic therapies, or any combination of those – but the residual scars remain, and they are often left with a sense of loss and a constant reminder of how their bodies betrayed them.

On a physical level, yoga can help cancer survivors get their strength back, regain flexibility, improve endurance, increase muscle tone, and restore balance. For breast cancer survivors, lymphedema – a pooling of fluid in the soft tissue under the arm – can be quite painful.

Restorative poses as well as lateral movements, supported inversions, and gentle stretches – like half-downward-facing dog at the wall – can help get the fluid moving through the body instead of getting stuck in one place.

On a deeper level, yoga can help a cancer survivor recover a sense of self, or perhaps discover it for the first time. Ellen Frohardt, who recovered from a very rare form of cancer – chondrosarcoma of the cricoid cartilage, which resulted in surgical removal of her larynx – found yoga to be both her ally and her nemesis. She came to yoga because she knew she had to face her illness from the inside out. Yoga gave her a new way to relate to herself, but it wasn’t always that easy to do. “Mentally and emotionally, yoga has slapped me upside the head for my lack of patience,” she says. Her MO has long been to push through pain and do it faster. “It’s not the physicality of the practice that challenges me,” she says, “but what it reflects in my nature that is so profound and sometimes so difficult to bear.”

Each time a new group gathers at Shambhala, women sit with wigs on, and oversized clothing disguises their bodies. They speak of the shame they feel when they see their bald heads in the mirror or take their clothes off to expose what one woman calls her “bloated, scar-riddled body that obviously belongs to someone else.” Others complain that they can no longer move, run, dance, or even walk like they used to. They hate what they look like – an ever-present reminder of their illness – and their posture and downcast faces reflect that. But stepping onto their mats they begin to understand yoga’s power to change their relationship to themselves. Yoga asks them to approach their practice and their bodies (just for that day, that moment, or that breath) with compassion, nonjudgment, and gentle humour. Their new mantra becomes “Isn’t that interesting?” as they notice how they feel when they can’t balance; when they have to take child’s pose and everyone else looks strong in warrior pose; when they reach for the wall, a chair, an outstretched hand for support when they can’t go it alone. Slowly they begin to practice not from a place of ego but from a sense of devotion. Not from an adversarial place, but a place of patience, kindness, and forgiveness. They learn, as Ellen did, to “kiss and make up” with the being they’re in conflict with.

Inhale, and God approaches you.

Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you.

Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God. ~ Krishnamacharya

at Cancer Support WA A gentle, healing class with a therapeutic focus for people with cancer and carers led by our experienced teachers. These classes emphasise relaxation, breath awareness, gentle movement and meditation, leading practitioners towards self-healing.

Kookaburra Creek: Wednesdays 9.30am-11.00am 210 Carradine Rd, Bedfordale (during school terms) Cancer Support WA: Wednesdays 9.00-10.00am Cost $8.00/$10. Free for Wellness Club members Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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“Yoga teaches all of us that we are perfect just the way we are. No one can promise that yoga or meditation will cure cancer, but for the countless men and women who have made a commitment to show up on their mats and their cushions no matter what, these practices have changed their lives.”

The So Hum meditation is a simple but powerful yoga technique that uses the breath and the repetition of a mantra to quiet the mind and relax the body. This meditation will help take your awareness from a state of constriction to a state of expanded consciousness.

Choose a place where you won’t be disturbed. Sit in a chair or on the floor, using blankets and pillows to make yourself as comfortable as possible.

Close your eyes and for a few minutes and take a few moments to observe the inflow and outflow of your breath.

Now take a slow, deep breath through your nose, while thinking or silently repeating the word So. Then slowly exhale through your nose while silently repeating the word Hum. Continue to allow your breath to flow easily, silently repeating So . . .

Hum . . . with each inflow and outflow of the breath.

Whenever your attention drifts to thoughts in your mind, sounds in the environment, or sensations in your body, gently return to your breath, silently repeating So . . . Hum. Whenever your attention drifts to thoughts in your mind, sounds in your environment, or sensations in your body, gently return to your breath, silently repeating, So . . . Hum. Do this for 20 to 30 minutes. Just breathe easily and effortlessly, without trying to concentrate. When the time is up, sit with your eyes gently closed, taking a moment to rest in the stillness and silence of your meditation. Never rush to or from meditation. Just allow the peace and calm to soak into your body, and you will carry a little bit of this peace and calm with you as you move into the activities of your day.

From: www.chopra.com

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Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

A yoga and meditation practice can be a powerful means for self-reflection, a laboratory of loving experimentation, and an opportunity to let go – of judgments and expectations. For Vikki Wagner, a two-time breast cancer survivor, asana and pranayama gave her permission to be gentle with herself. And as she moved through the classes, she found herself surrendering, releasing what she had been holding so rigidly. Almost immediately, she says, “I found my energy level increasing. Joints that had been frozen from immobility became ‘juicy’ again and I began to feel as though I would be OK.” Through yoga and meditation, she learned what she gave power to – in her case, thoughts and fears of physical limitations – was what was holding her back. “When I was able to release those thoughts, focus on my breath and my miraculous body,” Vikki says, “I was able to reclaim my power and my courage.” Yoga teaches all of us that we are perfect just the way we are. No one can promise that yoga or meditation will cure cancer, but for the countless men and women who have made a commitment to show up on their mats and their cushions no matter what, these practices have changed their lives. F

From: yogainternational.com. Linda Sparrowe is the former editor-in-chief of Yoga International magazine, she has been instrumental in bringing the authentic voice of yoga to thousands of yoga teachers and practitioners who are ready to take their practice to the next level. Linda has written several books including A Woman’s Book of Yoga and Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness (with Patricia Walden); Yoga for Healthy Bones; Yoga for Healthy Menstruation. Linda co-leads Courageous Women, Fearless Living yoga and meditation retreats for women touched by cancer as well as workshops and webinars on body image and aging.

I want us to be the breath that lives beyond the last gasp.

I want us to be the cure not the cancer.

To wear our scars proudly To never be followed by failing light.

Iwantourhope-chestheartstobearthe crush of all things.

Every day, I want us to live lives truly worth living.

Rich Ferguson

At a certain point in all our lives we have to stop and reconsider what is most important. We all want happiness and seek a hundred different ways to find it in our lives. Most happiness we find is temporary so we try a different path. Then perhaps one day we realise the path to happiness is through acceptance.

Acceptance of the fact that we are only here for a brief window of time. Acceptance of the way things are. That our bodies come into being from a minute egg and an even smaller seed then grow into this magnificent vehicle for experiencing each other and the world.

When we are young we have a list of things that we think we need to make us happy. One by one they come to us but there is still a feeling of restlessness and dissatisfaction. We are looking for something other than possessions. Gradually we come to realize that the happiest people are those who want nothing, not those who seem to have it all.

So we learn not to satisfy every desire. Not to always focus on an outcome. I want my salary so that I can buy new shoes so that then I can be happy. Always living unfulfilled in an imaginary future. When we get there we find we are just the same and we substitute the next set of desires. When those desires are met we are frustrated to find that we are no closer to that magical and elusive state of contentment; a quiet and peaceful heart and mind.

Our wellness is both physical and mental. It involves our body and emotions. The two are intertwined. We can own every

luxury we have ever dreamed of for the body but if our minds are restless there is no sense of joy or satisfaction. We keep wanting more and more until the realization dawns that grasping is not the path to happiness and wellness, we crave contentment.

Contentment is not the same as complacency. The opposite is true in fact. When our minds are not preoccupied with striving after some elusive goal we are right there in the moment.

Walking along the road and we see an injured bird and we stoop to pick it up with a heart overflowing with compassion.

We are free to feel, fully in the moment. It is what makes us who we are, our ability to feel. Most importantly our ability to feel love is what connects us all together and connects us to everything else all other life that exists out there.

This is wellness; contentment and a quiet heart. When the mind is quiet there is no selfish grasping, no clinging to what we know must pass. This body is a process with a beginning and an end. When we are present in each moment we appreciate each precious breath and we treat our bodies well. Our joy comes not from looking out for ourselves alone, although no doubt this is important. When we care with mindfulness for ourselves we want to share this gift with others. F

From: Cancer Support WA blog: cancersupportwa.wordpress. com. Robert Becker is an author and the founder and director of Kookaburra Creek Yoga Centre in the Perth hills: www. kookaburracreek.com.

The antidote to unhappiness, the cure for disease and the answers to life’s mysteries are already within each of us. Cancer Support WA’s 5 week courses Healing Yoga and An Introduction to Meditation are an opportunity to deeply experience the practices of yoga and meditation which connect you with your healing potential.

The focus of these courses goes beyond what you will learn in standard classes, looking at the practices which help you heal.

Introduction to Meditation Course: Thursday 4pm-5pm Healing Yoga Course: Thursday 5pm-6pm.

Next course start dates: 24th July, 6th November Cost: $60 (public), $50 (standard members), FREE (Wellness Club) Book: bookings essential. Book online or phone (08) 9384 3544

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INSPIRATIONS

By Robert Becker

heal cancer

with food

By Jennifer Griffin

Vegetables

Eat raw carrots. Harvard researchers have found young women who eat two or more servings of carotenoid-rich fruits and vegetables (oranges, broccoli, carrots, romaine lettuce and spinach) had a 17 percent lower risk of breast cancer.

When television news correspondent Jennifer Griffin was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, she became determined to become healthy and immediately changed her lifestyle. She offers here nutritional advice she follows from Dr. Aaron Tabor, author of Fight Now: Eat and Live Proactively Against Breast Cancer.

Green Tea

Green tea consumption may reduce your breast cancer risk by up to 53 percent. Drink 2 to 4 cups a day – make a pot and drink it cold in the summer, too. A University of Southern California research team found green tea lowered breast cancer risk by up to 53 percent.

Fibre

High-fibre foods lower your risk by 42 percent.

Fish

Omega-3 oils from salmon (wild-caught only, please) reduce your risk by up to 94 percent. I tried to eat salmon once a week. And during the chemo when I was really anemic (low redblood-cell count), I did eat some meat – grass-fed only – beef, liver and veal. My body was craving the iron, so listen to your body. I even drank “beef tea” when I felt really anemic (top sirloin steak extract).

Flaxseed

Flaxseed may reduce risk by 54 percent, according to recent studies – eat your lignans! If you don’t know about Chia seeds, get to know them fast. They are like flax on steroids (high in anti-oxidants, fibre, calcium). They are a whole food, and they make you very strong.

Walnuts

A handful of walnuts per day reduces your risk.

Fruit

A few apples a day may keep breast cancer at bay – eat them with skins. Pomegranates may reduce breast cancer risk by up to 87 percent, according to another recent study.

Broccoli and Cabbage

Broccoli actually kills cancer cells, according to some studies. I used two cookbooks that were life savers: Rebecca Katz’s The Cancer Fighting Kitchen and One Bite at a Time. The second one is for chemo patients. It has amazing tips and basically shows you what cancerfighting quality every fruit and vegetable out there has. So you start realising you need to eat a lot of kale and you find yourself buying a lot of cabbage because “Cancer hates cabbage.” I sometimes had coleslaw for breakfast – it got that crazy. But I had it easy. My friends banded together to have a personal chef, Christine Merkle, deliver healthy vegan food twice a week.

Sugar

Studies show diets high in sugar (processed sugar and high-glycemic index) cause spikes in insulin and stimulate tumours to grow and can contribute to breast cancer – especially triple negative breast cancer. I immediately cut out all processed foods and began buying organic. I

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NUTRITION

cut out all white sugar and “white” starches (pasta and bread), because there are some studies that show that triple negative is related to insulin levels, and that therefore a low-glycemic index diet is helpful in preventing a recurrence.

A low-glycemic index diet may lower your risk by 253 percent. Extra stored fat produces estrogen, and glycemic foods cause a cascade of hormones. Eliminate now: desserts, candies, cakes, sweets, soft drink, ice cream (ugghh!), white bread, sugar, honey, jelly and alcohol – yep, alcohol. You may ask, “Why live?” But I can tell you there is truth to this.

Alcohol

Drinking alcohol increases your risk of breast cancer. One drink a day increases your risk by 7 percent. Alcohol also increases your estrogen. A study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that survivors who have one or more drinks per day have a 90 percent – 90 percent! – increased risk of recurrence.

Vitamin D3

Low vitamin D3 levels (the vitamin we get from sun exposure) can increase your chance of getting breast cancer by 70 percent. One study found low D3 led to a 200 percent chance of your cancer progressing and 73 percent greater risk of death. Get your D3 tested now – it is a simple blood test, and if it is below 50ng/mL, do something about it – now. Test it a few times a year. You need 50 percent of your body in the sun for 30 minutes a day.

Exercise

Survivors have a 200-600 percent chance of developing a second cancer, compared to others. A study done on triple negative shows that exercising four times a week or more reduced the rate of recurrence. So I exercised nearly every day of chemo – even if it was just a walk for a few kilometres.

The fresh air also helped keep the nausea at bay.

And exercising kept me strong through the chemo. I took up Pilates – on machines with coach Joshua Dobbs. We met twice a week, and what I love about Pilates for breast cancer patients is that it strengthens every little muscle in your arms and body.

It lengthens and strengthens and works on your core – all key for mastectomy patients – and has helped me bounce back quickly from the mastectomy. They are gentle exercises, and yet they pay off big-time. They are gentle enough that you can do them even when you aren’t feeling great – it is not the pounding of some exercises.

I ran when I had the steroids because you need to do something to get all that energy and anxiety out. A few kilometres when I wasn’t doing Pilates. Many times there were tears streaming down my face, but I kept running and found it very therapeutic. F

From: www.oprah.com/health/Fight-Cancer-withFood#ixzz2kFldnQ1vnvincible.

from: themissfitmama.com Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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If buying organic vegetables is costing too much, you may want to consider regrowing some of those vegetables. It’s easier than you think and can be done indoors and on small balconies...

spring onions

You can regrow spring onions by leaving an inch attached to the roots and place them in a small glass with a little water in a well-lit room.

coriander

The stems of coriander will grown when placed in a glass of water. Once the roots are long enough, plant them in a pot in a well-lit room.

garlic

bok choy

celery

carrots

When garlic begins to sprout, you can put them in a glass with a little water and grow garlic sprouts. The sprouts have a milder flavour than garlic.

Cut off the base of the celery and place it in a saucer or shallow bowl of warm water in the sun. Once leaves grow in the middle of the base, transfer to soil.

Bok choy can be regrown by placing the root end in water in a well-lit area. In 1-2 weeks, you can transplant it to a pot with soil and grow a full new head.

Put carrot tops in a dish with a little water. Set the dish in a well-lit room or a window sill. You’ll have carrot tops to use in salads.

lettuce

Put romaine lettuce stumps in a 1cm of water. Re-water to keep water level.

After a few days, roots and leaves will appear and you can transplant into soil.

basil

Put clippings from basil with 6-10cm stems in a glass of water and place in direct sunlight. When the roots are about 4cm, plant in pots.

From: healthybodynow.net

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nature’s superfood Coconuts offer a wide variety of nutrients through its water, meat, and milk.

It has become one of the most diverse superfoods in terms of using these different components in food application.

Aside from being rich in vitamins and minerals and an excellent source of saturated fat, coconut is also very antibacterial, viral, and fungal, which are components that you definitely want to incorporate into your diet everyday to develop a strong immune system. Nutritonal properties of coconut include: • Excellent source of fatty acids, two-thirds being medium chain fatty acids (MCFA), which are absorbed quickly by the intestines and used for energy.

• Contains lauric and caprylic acid, which destroy bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

• Good source of B-complex vitamins such as folates, riboflavin, niacin, and thiamine.

• Excellent source of copper, calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, and zinc.

• Loaded with electrolytes and enzymes.

• Great source of fibre.

With healthy fats generally lacking in our diet, as well as minerals and enzymes, coconut can definitely start to fill a void that your body is most likely craving for optimal performance.

lemon coconut balls Ingredients

1 1/2 cup almond flour (+ 1-2 extra tablespoons to thicken, if needed) 1 tablespoon organic raw coconut flour 3 tablespoons organic liquid sweetener (maple syrup, coconut nectar, raw honey, etc) 1/4 cup organic lemon juice (+ 2 extra tablespoons, freshly squeezed) 1/8 teaspoon organic lemon zest 1/4 cup organic coconut oil 1 teaspoon organic vanilla bean powder (or 2 teaspoons of organic vanilla extract) 1/4 teaspoon pink himalayan salt

Due to its healthy fats, minerals, enzymes, as well as its antibacterial, viral, and fungal qualities, coconut is very good for digestive and immune system.

Directions

Coconuts have no shortage of ways of being consumed or utilised. The majority of its use comes through coconut water and oil, as well as the soft meat you can find in young thai coconuts. Each one of these can be used in a variety of applications, including: Coconut oil – can be used in smoothies, as well as baking and cooking.

Check the consistency and add an extra 1 – 2 tablespoons of almond flour until they are firm enough to roll into a ball.

Coconut water – drink it straight up (makes an excellent sport drink), use it in smoothies, or ferment it to make coconut kefir.

Step 1 Put all ingredients into a food processor and process until well combined.

Take out about a spoonful at a time and roll them in the palms of your hand into a ball shape.

Coconut meat – can be eaten right out of the young thai coconut, added to smoothies, or fermented to make coconut yoghurt.

Leave them plain or roll in shredded coconut flakes, raw cane sugar or almond flour.

If you want to incorporate it into other areas of your life, it has also been used as a moisturiser, sunscreen, toothpaste, conditioner, and deodorant.

Put them in the refrigerator to firm for about 10 – 15 minutes.

From: www.healingthebody.ca

Keep them in the refrigerator until ready to serve because they will get soft if left out at room temperature as the coconut oil melts.

www.thehealthyfamilyandhome.com

Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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(and how to make your own)

Kefir is a magical drink that is produced through the fermentation of milk or coconut water that renders a powerful probiotic that can heal the body in ways you have never imagined.

Consuming this elixir everyday can provide a renewed sense of life that is unparalleled by any other beverage. We share here and the steps to making your own coconut kefir to ensure you make a high quality version drink

One of the first things you want to do is source a high quality coconut water to make this coconut kefir recipe as potent and medicinal as possible.

For those who would like to make it from ‘scratch’, simply venture to your local supermarket or health food store and secure some fresh young thai coconuts (not the mature, hard shell coconuts). The water contained within these coconuts is the primary raw ingredient in making your coconut water kefir delicious and healing to the body. If you choose this method, make sure you strain the water to remove any foreign material.

If you are unsure of your supply of young thai coconuts, or simply how you get into them to get the water, you can instead purchase high quality coconut water which is easy to obtain from most supermarkets.

Gently warm coconut water and add sweetener

Once you have secured your source of coconut water, your next step is to put in in a clean pot and gently warm it to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (which will be ‘warm’ but not hot to the skin). At this time you can also add a natural sweetener (honey, coconut sugar, cane sugar) to the solution to facilitate a strong fermentation, and therefore reproduction of the friendly bacteria you are going to cultivate.

Add probiotic cultures to coconut water

The real magic in this coconut kefir recipe happens once you add your starter culture to your existing solution above, which creates an environment for the bacteria to ‘eat’ the existing sugars, which creates the fermentation process that will eventually result in a bubbly probiotic beverage that is highly bioavailable and healing to your digestive system.

Simply follow the instructions on your culture starter (simply adding it to the warmed solution above typically will suffice) and add it to the solution and stir vigorously. No coconut kefir recipe is complete without adding the culture! Place in airtight container for 24-72 hours

Fermentation process

Your next step is to place this warmed beverage into an airtight container so it can begin to ferment and turn into a bubbly probiotic beverage that is filled with healthy strains of beneficial microflora. Ideally choose a glass or BPA-free plastic container, make sure it seals properly and it sits between 22-25C to allow proper fermentation. * At times fermentation can become so vigorous that it threatens the very casing it is in due to pressure. If using plastic bottles, you can ‘measure’ this pressure by flexing the bottles to see how tight they become with pressure. If they become very rigid, it’s a good idea to relieve some of the pressure by unscrewing the cap at that time to let some pressure off,

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Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

NUTRITION

then retightening and putting the bottle into the refrigerator to slow down the fermentation, and make it available to drink at any time. ‘Kefir bombs’ have been known to occur from vigorous fermentation left unchecked, so please ensure you monitor to avoid having kefir ‘rain’ in your kitchen!

Refrigerate and consume

After the initial fermentation is complete, you can now place your coconut kefir in the refrigerator to slow down the process. The coconut kefir will continue to ferment, and you will want to consume in 4-7 days to avoid further fermentation and destruction of the flavour that is coconut kefir.

Coconut Kefir Benefits

The benefits of coconut kefir are comprehensive and very healing to the digestive system and the liver, and creates a strong immune system that is ultimately responsible for your good health.

In your digestive system, coconut kefir will enhance hydration and recolonise your gut and mucous membranes with healthy strains of beneficial microflora. It has been compared with yoghurt, but coconut kefir is superior when it comes to the wide variety of microflora and therefore has a more potent effect on the digestive system than any yoghurt.

Coconut kefir also contains beneficial yeasts that are known to hunt out and destroy pathogenic yeasts in the body. These beneficial yeasts are considered the best defense against dangerous yeast organisms like Candida. They clean, purify, and strengthen the intestinal walls and help the body become more efficient in resisting dangerous pathogens such as E Coli, Salmonella, and intestinal parasites.

Keep in mind we have 10x more bacteria in our body than cells, so creating an optimal environment for bacterial balance is paramount. Poor bacterial balance can cause blood sugar imbalances, sugar cravings, weight gain, poor immunity, low energy and digestive disturbances. Coconut kefir helps heal all of these problems by restoring balance to the microflora of the body. It also helps assimilate nutrients in the gut & enhance the usage of certain trace minerals & B vitamins.

homemade coconut kefir if you don’t have the time or the inclination to make your own kefir, you can purchase Babushka’s readymade coconut kefir from many health food stores. Please note this brand contains dairy.

Coconut kefir’s excellent nutritional content offers healing and health benefits to people regardless of condition. The regular use of it can help relieve intestinal disorders, promote bowel movement, reduce flatulence and create a healthier digestive system.

The bottom line is that coconut kefir cleanses the body and balances the inner ecosystem for greater health and longevity. This is just the start to creating a whole new you.

Coconut kefir in your daily routine

The most simple way to ingest coconut kefir is through a straight shot or add to your smoothie first thing in the morning. You can also add it to other beverages that can create a ‘sparkling’ effect (like juice), which enhances your ability to get others to consume it who may have initial resistance to drink it (even though the taste is not offensive, and for many, very enjoyable over time).

If you are new to coconut kefir, 30-50 grams a day is a good start. Some people take it first thing in the morning to wake themselves and their digestive systems up, and before bed when the friendly bacteria often do their best work (which also helps withs sleep). Others drink it before each meal for optimal digestion. There is really no bad time to take it, but the benefits will be enhanced for you if taken during one of these times, or all of them! F

By Derek Henry. From: www.healingthebody.ca Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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In winter, Italy is not known for its health foods, and in fact these are relatively hard to find. After a month in Italy feasting on an array of traditional dishes such as pasta, pizza, risotto, paninis, pastries, cheeses, thick pudding-like hot chocolates with shots of amaretto, gelato and the infamous tiramisu, I came home almost 6kg heavier (6kg of joy as a colleague said!) and an unsustainable desire to keep eating in such an indulgent and slightly reckless manner.

What if there was a health food that cleansed your blood, detoxified your liver, made your body more alkaline, built up your red blood cell count, contained 17 amino acids and 80 different enzymes, contained all known minerals, oxygenated your body systems, and provided a good boost of energy? Wouldn’t you want to consume this everyday?

Wheatgrass juice, also called “liquid sunshine” is a superfood made up of 70% chlorophyll. It is about as close as you can come to hemoglobin, the compound in your blood that carries oxygen. It’s easy to digest (taking less than 5 minutes), and it can provide a boost of energy much more healthful than downing a can of Red Bull.

Wheatgrass is unique. It builds and destroys simultaneously. It builds up your immunity and your red blood cell count, while it destroys (or neutralizes) toxins. It purifies and cleanses while strengthening and providing super-charged nutrition. One of the popular contemporary theories of disease is based on inflammation. Wheatgrass juice contains P4D1, a “gluco-protein” that acts like an antioxidant, reducing inflammation. There are a myriad of maladies that wheatgrass has been used to treat. Among those diseases and conditions that people have treated with wheatgrass juice are skin disorders, digestive disorders, arthritis, asthma, insomnia, kidney stones, ulcerative colitis, cancer, fatigue, allergies, diabetes, urinary tract infections, and many others.

If you’re ready for some wheatgrass, “the ultimate blood purifier,” you have the option of sprouting some of your own homegrown specimens or buying a swill of it every day at your local health food store.

Wheatgrass is one of the more popular seeds for sprouting, and it is quite simple to grow on your own.

Wheatgrass juice can have an effect on some people almost immediately, so it is recommended that you ease into your new habit of healthy wheatgrass shots for a period of a couple of weeks, at least. Because of the many enzymes it contains, wheatgrass juice goes to work almost immediately, and if your system is the least bit toxic, it may do too good a job in eliminating those toxins. F

From: www.organiclifestylemagazine.com

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Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

It doesn’t take long to change a habit and to change your tastebuds’ expecatations, and my body soon got used to the extra carbs and the sweetness of the food.

To make the transition back to healthy eating, I looked for and created healthy alternatives to the Italian classics and I’d like to share some of what I’ve found with our Wellness News readers.

To sustain good health and a clear, focussed state of mind, a clean wholefood diet is essential. It is possible and enjoyable to eat a pure, clean diet that is also delicious. These twists on the Italian classics will appease the most discerning tastebuds. F

~ Mandy

These spices may have preventive or even anti-cancer potential, according to Bharat B. Aggarwal, PhD. Amchur Asafetida Basil Bay leaf Black cumin seed Black pepper Caraway Chili Cinnamon Clove Coconut Coriander Cumin

Fennel seed Galangal Garlic Ginger Horseradish Juniper berry Kokum Lemongrass Marjoram Mint Mustard seed Nutmeg Onion Oregano

Parsley Pomegranate Rosemary Saffron Sage Sesame seed Star anise Sun-dried tomato Tamarind Thyme Tumeric Vanilla Wasabi

RECIPES

vegan lasagna with lemon basil cashew cheese Ingredients dried or freshly made lasagna sheets* tomato pasta sauce 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 sweet onion, chopped (2 cups) 2 small zucchini, chopped 1 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced 1 large capsicum, chopped 1 large handful spinach Lemon Basil Cheese Sauce (see below) pine nuts

summer vegetable brown rice risotto

Directions Preheat oven to 400F. In a large skillet, sautee onion and garlic over low-medium heat for 5 minutes. Now add in the rest of the vegies and sautee for another 1015 minutes. Season well with Herbamare or himalayan salt and black pepper.* This is key or you will have bland tasting vegetables in your lasagna.

Ingredients 1 tbsp Olive Oil 1 cup uncooked brown rice Approximately 3 cups water 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1 cup squash, chopped 1/2 onion chopped kernels from 1 ear of sweet corn 1 capsicum chopped 1 tomato, chopped fresh herbs

Meanwhile if using dried lasagne sheets, bring a large pot of water to boil. Boil lasagna sheets for 8 minutes, drain, and rinse immediately with cold water.

Directions Preheat a large skillet over medium heat.

Add 1 Tbs olive oil. Add the onion and the garlic. Saute about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook a couple minutes more.

Add 2 cups water to the skillet. Bring to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer and cook until liquid is almost absorbed. Add 1/2 cup water. Cook until liquid is absorbed. Continue to add 1/4-1/2 cup water until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed.

When most of the liquid is absorbed but a little remains add the squash, capsicum, and corn.

Cook for about 10 minutes. Add the tomato and cook a couple minutes. Add fresh summer herbs such as oregano, basil, thyme and chives.

Add 1 cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of your casserole dish. Add a layer of lasagne, one third of the basil cheese sauce, half the vegetables, more pasta sauce, another layer of lasagna sheets, another third of the cheese sauce, the rest of the vegetables, more pasta sauce, and finally a top layer of lasagne sheets with the remainder of cheese sauce and a sprinkle of pine nuts.

Cover with tinfoil and prick with fork a few times. Bake at 200C for 40-45 minutes and then remove tinfoil and broil for 5 minutes on medium. Watch closely so you don’t burn the edges. Remove and serve. * look for organic and gluten free premade lasagne sheets or use the chickpea and flaxseed pasta recipe on the following page to make it from scratch

Lemon Basil Cashew Cheese this luxurious spread can be used in your lasagna, on homemade pizza or your favourite sandwich.

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for 30 mins or overnight 2 garlic cloves, peeled 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1 tbsp Dijon mustard 1/4 cup vegetable broth or water (or more as needed) 1.5 cups fresh basil leaves (lightly packed) 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (gives the cheese flavour) 3/4-1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste) + freshly ground black pepper 1/2 tsp onion powder (optional) Drain and rinse soaked cashews. With the food processor turned on, drop in your garlic cloves and process until chopped. Add in the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed. Makes 1 cup.

From: ohsheglows.com

Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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italian style recipes RECIPES

homemade chickpea & flaxseed pasta

quinoa pizza crust Ingredients 2 tablespoons ground flax seed 6 tablespoons warm water 1-3/4 cup chickpea flour (plus more for rolling) Directions In a small bowl, whisk together the flax seed and warm water. Set aside for 5 minutes, or until thick and gelled.

On a large baking board, pile chickpea flour and make a well in the middle. Pour in flax seed mixture in the well.

Begin gently mixing the flour with the flax seed mixture until well combined. Form dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.

After resting time is up, bring a pot of salted water to a boil.

Divide dough disc in halves or quarters (depending on how big your rolling surface is) and roll out to very, very thin on a floured surface.

Trim dough into desired pasta shapes.

To cook, drop pasta into rapidly boiling water.

Cook for 2-3 minutes or until all pasta is cooked through. Keep a close eye on it, because it’ll overcook quickly. It is still delicious when overcooked, just fragile.

Drain and serve with your favourite homemade pasta sauce or pesto.

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Ingredients 1 cup quinoa, soaked for at least 8 hours, rinsed and drained 1/4-1/2 cup water 2 TB. coconut oil 3/4 tsp. salt 2 clove garlic, sliced 1 TB. Italian seasoning 1 TB. nutritional yeast Directions Soak the quinoa in filtered water for at least 8 hours. Rinse and drain the quinoa. (If you plan this for dinner, just soak the quinoa in the morning before leaving for work or soak it overnight, rinse, drain in a.m. and put into a sealed container and keep in fridge till you get ready to make – this is what I did.) *This step is crucial as the recipe won’t work with dry quinoa.

Add all of the ingredients to a food processor or a high-speed blender and combine until the dough resembles pancake batter. Adjust the water as needed.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and coat either a cast iron skillet or an 8-inch round cake pan (I used a cast iron skillet) with 3 TB. coconut oil.

Allow the skillet or cake pan to heat up in the oven for about 10 minutes (this is good to do while you’re preparing the dough and chopping the veggies). Remove skillet/cake pan from the oven and immediately add the quinoa “dough,” using a spatula to even it out as needed. Place the dough in the oven to bake for 20 minutes. Flip the dough and bake for another 10 minutes, or until brown and crispy.

Add whatever toppings you want and feel free to be creative.

I used roasted peppers/onions/mushrooms (left overs), homemade marinara sauce, fresh tomato slices and chevre goat cheese.

I then place the pizza in the oven under the broiler after adding the toppings just to heat everything up a bit. (About 5 – 8 minutes).

When pizza comes out, top with fresh basil leaves, Serve and enjoy.

From: www.onegreenplanet.org

raw, vegan tiramisu RECIPES

You may take one look at this recipe and wonder how exactly a relatively basic list of wholesome ingredients can come together to form something of such a royal level of visual appeal and tastiness? Whatever it is lets just give THANKS for the blessing that is this raw vegan tiramisu made with organic cold-pressed coffee. Serve it alongside a mug of medicinal mushroom tea with a splash of hazelnut milk.

Directions

Start with the cake layer...Drain almonds, place them and remaining ingredients for the cake layer into a food processer. Pulse repeatedly for several minutes until mixture is crumbly and moist. Crumble size should be somewhere between sand and kosher salt. In a small glass rectangular dish, or even individual ramekins, gently press half of the cake mixture into the bottom. Don’t flatten it too much, you want it to be light and airy. Cover dish with plastic wrap and place in the freezer while you start on the coffee layer. Set aside remaining half of the cake layer in a bowl on the counter.

Next is the coffee layer… Drain the cashews. Stir the espresso powder into the hot water until dissolved. Place the cashews, espresso mixture, and the remaining ingredients into a blender. The easiest way to melt coconut oil is to set the jar into a bowl of hot water for several minutes, the outer layer will melt and you can pour what you need the mixture to thicken in the fridge later. Blend ingredients until the mixture is thick and creamy, starting on a low setting until the cashews really start to break down then working up to a higher setting. Ideally you want it to be the consistency of marscapone. If mixture seems too thick, add more coconut milk. If it seems to thin add more coconut oil. Take the prepared dish out of the freezer and evenly spread half of the coffee mixture over the cake layer.

Return dish to freezer. Put remaining coffee half into the fridge to keep cool. You will need to clean your blender now as the cream layer also needs to be whipped up in it. Please be sure to dry it well. Make sure the coffee layer has a good 20 minutes in the freezer.

Finally the cream layer… Again drain the cashews, add them to the blender, reserving one cashew. Halve the vanilla bean lengthwise and place it, cut side up, on a work surface. Hold a knife perpendicular to the bean, then run the blade over each cut side, bearing down to scrape out the seeds. Using the reserved cashew, scrape the vanilla seeds off of the knife and onto the cashew. Place cashew with vanilla into the blender. Add remaining ingredients. Blend ingredients until the mixture is thick and creamy, starting on a low setting until the cashews really start to break down then working up to a higher setting. If mixture seems too thick, add more coconut milk. If it seems too thin add more coconut oil. Take the prepared dish out of the freezer and very carefully spread half of the cream layer on top of the coffee layer. Again, return dish to the freezer. Please let it sit for at least 30 minutes or even longer.

Now you need to repeat the layering process starting with the cake layer. Be gentle when adding the cake layer over the cream as you don’t want to flatten any of the layers below. I use my fingers to sprinkle it on and gently pat the top until it’s fairly even. Return to the freezer again for another 15 minutes. Then spread remaining coffee mixture over top. Return to freezer again for a minimum of 20 minutes. Spread remaining cream mixture over the top, making sure to smooth it out or swirl it up so that it looks pretty, dust top with cacao powder. Cover with dry plastic wrap and return to the freezer for another 30 minutes. After that move it to the fridge. It will be better the longer you wait. Try to give it at least a few hours for the flavours to meld before serving. Dust with more cocoa if needed or for presentation and enjoy! Makes 4-6 servings.

Raw Vegan Tramisu

Ingredients cake layer

1/2 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight in water 1/3 cup raw pecans 1/3 cup raw cashews 5 dates, chopped 1/4 tsp salt

coffee layer

1c raw cashews, soaked a minimum of 6 hours or overnight 1/4c coconut milk (I used SoDelicious unsweetened) 2 Tbs hot water 3 tsp instant espresso 2 tsp agave syrup 1 tsp coconut oil, melted 1 tsp raw cacao powder, or cocoa powder 1 tsp carob powder, or more cocoa powder 2 good pinches salt

cream layer

1and1/2c raw cashews, soaked a minimum of 6 hours or overnight 2/3c coconut milk 2 tsp agave 1 tsp coconut oil 1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice 5cm section of vanilla bean 1/8 tsp salt Cacao or cocoa powder for dusting

www.rawfoodrecipes.com

Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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We’ve heard about how the French diet and lifestyle help protect Frenchwomen (and men) from the obesity epidemic that plagues other countries like Australia. But what about Italy, where obesity is rare despite an abundance of pasta and other delectable dishes? Are there Italian diet secrets we could learn from as well? Studies show that a Mediterranean-style diet has many health benefits, from reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer, to living a longer life. But something must be getting lost in translation.

Italians really know how to live. They take three hour lunches, eat pasta at almost every meal and maintain gorgeous figures. They are truly the most beautiful looking people in Europe and not because of their fashionable clothing. Most Italians strive to cut the una bella figura (a fine figure) and are careful, but not obsessive, about what they eat. The sight of an obese Italian is rare.

Shortly after moving to Italy, I adopted the Mediterranean diet and style of living. It paid off. I ate anything I wanted and was healthy. I couldn’t be happier – or healthier!

Breakfast Breakfast is never the eggs, ham, bacon, toast, or pancakes ritual you find in America.

In fact, trying to find all the ingredients to make such a breakfast is difficult. Yogurt or a croissant with a cappuccino serve the Italians well. At 11:00 am, Italians take a coffee break and eat something more substantial, such as a pastry or small sandwich (panino), which is made with a single, thin slice of ham (prosciutto) and a single slice of cheese served on dry bread; there is no slathering of condiments between the slices. This snack staves off hunger and gives them a bit of energy until the larger lunchtime meal is consumed.

Many of our favourite Italian foods, like

Lunch

cheese-laden pizza and fettuccini alfredo, are

Lunch is typically the biggest meal of the day. Many courses are served over a period of time.

anything but healthy. So what is the secret of an authentic Italian diet?

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When I first arrived in Italy, I cursed the three hour lunch break that seemed to shut down most of the cities. I couldn’t sit still in a restaurant for three hours, yet I wanted to fit in. After I started lingering, I observed not only what Italians eat, but how they eat. They consume a lot of food, eat every morsel and they do it slowly.

Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

The second unusual sight is the size of the pasta courses, approximately 2 ½ cups per serving, tomato or olive oil based with a plethora of vegetables. Cream and cheese sauces are rare.

You may hear the occasional ordering of a dish in a heavier parmigiana sauce, but also expect to hear a bit of teasing from the other guests. Bread is also served and consumed, but without butter. You would think all that starch went straight to everyone’s hips. Italians are not concerned with such folly.

The vegetable is next, if it is not served with the pasta dish.

The salad arrives at the end of the meal.

Beer and water are the most popular choices for beverages, with a large bottle of water being entirely consumed. Wine or soft drink is almost never served until dinner, which is after 8 p.m. in Italy. Several minutes pass between each course before the next one arrives. The servers know the table rarely gets turned (meaning they will only have one guest at a table for the entire lunch period), so there is no need to present the courses simultaneously.

Dessert is usually saved, if consumed at all, for the evening meal. Italians would rather take a gelato (ice cream) break at the end of the day than consume a desert in the restaurant.

Exercise Most Italians eschew a formal exercise plan. They do not have time (see “Shopping”).

After lunch, they walk. Italians are always in a rush to get somewhere unless it is just after lunch, then they all (finally) slow down. Since workers traditionally have a three hour break, the walk back to work can be leisurely and long. This is the way to stay fit after eating all that food! Rome is built on seven hills, so walking those hills keeps the inhabitants fit around the clock.

Shortly before dinner, Italians take the evening passeggiata (walk). Women will walk arm in arm, as will men sometimes.

There is much talking and much socialisation, by 8:30 p.m., most are back in their homes preparing dinner.

Dinner Dinner is served very late. Most restaurants close after lunch and reopen at 8 p.m. The typical family dinner is still a tradition throughout Italy.

Lighter than lunch, dinner will usually consist of a pasta dish and at least two vegetables. Meat is consumed only a few

times per month and may be made into a raga sauce (which is typically of the Emilia-Romagna region) or as a side dish, such as veal scallopine. Meat is usually only a main course at a holiday dinner. Fish is more commonly served than meat. The cost of fresh fish (even salmon) is less than red meat which is probably why the Italian diet has always contained more of the sea inhabitants than the land rovers. Wine is typically served as the evening beverage along with a large pitcher or bottle of water on the table. Fruit is the dessert. If a richer dessert is desired, portions are very tiny. A small canoli, a third of the size as those found in America, is typical as is a thin slice of a fruit tart. Tarts are sold in pastry shops by the single serving.

Water – Bottled over tap Although tap water is very drinkable, bottled water is most often consumed. Many Italians would never consider drinking anything other than bottled water with the choices being natural or sparkling. Italians also believe very cold beverages reduce the gastric fire and cause food not to be digested properly or completely, so they do not refrigerate their water, nor do they drink it with ice. Most Italians drink at least one litre of water per day if not more.

Shopping – A daily ritual Food is very fresh in Italy. Many organic food products can be found on the supermarket shelves and most of the produce is grown locally without pesticides. This keeps toxins out of Italian bodies and helps prevent weight gain. A few produce items are always stocked in cans such as peas and corn, but most Italians favour fresh over canned or frozen. As produce has little preservatives or chemicals sprayed on them it rots after two days therefore Italians must shop every day or every two days for their fresh ingredients. Daily shopping trips keep one’s legs and arms in shape as grocery stores are not numerous and walks to them can be long. Italians are forced to consume a wide variety of food because very little is imported. Imports would have to be sprayed with preservatives and Italians would rather eat their food in its natural state.

Beginning and End of the Day Italians begin their days later than most Australians with many arising after 7 a.m. They also end their days much later, usually midnight. The extended days make their calorie burning sessions longer. The mid-day break seems to add to their overall energy level. There is no falling asleep at one’s desk or collapsing exhausted into bed at 9:00pm. The food and reduced preservatives and chemicals keep their bodies healthy and energetic as does the high consumption of water.

After adopting the eating and walking practices for 3 months, is it any wonder I lost weight, look great and feel healthier than I’ve ever felt? F

Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD. From WebMD.com Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

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NUTRITION

One rather strange phenomenon occurred when an individual ordered a pizza. They ate the entire pizza without sharing it.

The pizzas came in two sizes -- large, which is the same size as an extra large by our standards, and small, which is about the size of a small pizza served only to children. Their pizzas are made with 1/4 the dough we would use and 1/4 the toppings.

The sauce and cheese are spread thinly over the crust. The vegetables are cut larger.

By Mike Sowerby A cancer diagnosis is a point of profound change in our lives and for most people hearing the news ‘You have cancer’ is the start of a journey that takes over, at least initially, in all areas of our life – not just personally but also our family and social life will be impacted.

Cancer diagnosis often means a cascading series of tests, specialist visits and treatments that become the defining story of our lives.

Not everything is meant to be solved. Sometimes these moments are intended to be our teachers. Things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together and fall apart again. It’s just like that.

The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy ~ Pema Chödrön

Treatments will mainly involve some sort of medical intervention such as surgery and/or combinations of chemo and radiotherapy plus attending appointments with complementary practitioners and other support workers. It will be extremely busy and our familiar daily lives are taken over. This can be quite overwhelming and become a significant stress to our body, mind and spirit leaving little time for anything other than a scheduled existence.

We may have the need to stop work and experience significant loss of time for social contact with friends and family due to feeling tired or unwell.

The word cancer starts to dominate our thinking, planning, and conversations, and defines our sense of freedom or spontaneity to life. This need not mean that all joy or meaning in our lives stops, or that we don’t participate in our healing in meaningful or life changing ways.

But it is true to say that partners, parents, friends and siblings will take on the numerous roles of carer/caring with much of the intimacy of relationship absorbed in this process and our conversations will be centred around our cancer situation. It is a time of transition as treatment and recovery for most people will be experienced over many months, not weeks.

Cancer starts to dominate our life experience in many ways. It redefines our personal story and we need the opportunity to remain the authors of our story about our illness and to reconnect with a familiar sense of self, our true essence that is separate from illness, and the effects of illness.

We need to reconnect with our community, family, friends in familiar ways that move us from survival to thriving, to reconnect with the “wonder of life rather than worrying for one’s life.”

Our pre-cancer life is gone and we are not that same person or family again. We need time to reflect, to redefine.

This process of coming to terms with the distress, the exhaustion and the upheaval requires a need to release and also a way to move forward and heal. This becomes part of how we develop and evolve through our experience of cancer into creating a new life for ourselves.

On a day to day, week to week basis we need ‘cancer free time’, no matter what’s going on.

No talk of treatment, illness or appointments. Some peaceful, restorative time – walking in the bush, café time, dinner out – whatever speaks to the sense of ‘my life’, not ‘my illness’.

In the bigger picture when the intensity of treatment, check- ups and upheaval have subsided, the opportunity to rest, reflect and redefine our priorities is critical to our long term recovery and peace of mind. So remember to make time for “a cancer free day along the way.” F

From: Cancer Support WA’s blog: cancersupportwa.wordpress.com. Mike Sowerby is a Support Group Facilitator and Counsellor at Cancer Support WA

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Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au

INSPIRATIONS

the inspired art of Hundertwasser Featured throughout the pages of this edition of Wellness News is the inspired graphic art and paintings of Friedensreich Hundertwasser who was an Austrian painter, architect and sculptor. Born in Vienna, he became one of the best-known contemporary Austrian artists, although controversial, by the end of the 20th century.

Hundertwasser’s original and unruly artistic vision expressed itself in pictorial art, environmentalism, philosophy, and design of facades, postage stamps, flags, and clothing (among other areas). The common themes in his work utilised bright colors, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism, rejecting straight lines. His architectural work is comparable to Antoni Gaudí in its biomorphic forms and use of tile. He was inspired by the works of Egon Schiele from an early date, and his style was often compared to that of Gustav Klimt. He was fascinated with spirals, and abhorred the straight line.

“I believe, and I am absolutely certain, and therefore I believe, that painting is a religious occupation, that the actual impulse comes from without, from something else that we do not know, an indefinable power which comes or does not come and which guides your hand.

People used to say in earlier times that it was the muse, that it is some kind of illumination. And the only thing one can do is to prepare the ground, so that this extraterrestrial impulse or however else one might describe it can reach you.

That means keeping oneself ready. That means eliminating the will, eliminating the intelligence, eliminating “wanting to do better”, eliminating ambition.

I should perhaps like to be known as the magician of vegetation or something similar.

We are in need of magic. I fill a picture until it is full with magic, as one fills up a glass with water.

“The colourful, the abundant, the manifold, is always better than mediocre grey and uniformity.”

Everything is so infinitely simple, so infinitely beautiful.” F

~ Hundertwasser

In loving memory of those who have shared part of their precious life journey with us...

Jean Walker Monica Coughlan Leesa Smith Terry DeJong Elizabeth Anderson when my voice is silenced in death, my song will speak in your living heart

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~Rabindranath Tagore Autumn 2014 WELLNESS NEWS

“When we dream alone it is only a dream, but when many dream together it is the beginning of a new reality� Hundertwasser

We are here for you, even when our centre is closed. Western Australian individuals and families with cancer are invited to call the 24 Hour Cancer Support Phone Line for practical and emotional support from a qualified and specialised cancer counsellor at any time the need arises. Our new website is also a source of information and support.

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www.cancersupportwa.org.au

Cancer Support WA www.cancersupportwa.org.au