April 23, 2006 -
Day 5 - Week 3 - Advice for Optimum Health
Recommendations as to how I
might handle the challenge of cancer have come from
a variety of individuals, and every one has been
intriguing, though not all equally weighted by me.
This outpouring of advice reminds me of years ago
when terminally ill cancer patients might have been
advised to go to Mexico for apricot pit treatment.
Science might laugh, but the human being is
intensely curious about a cure for any and all of
our maladies from the sublime like baldness, to the
ridiculous like halitosis. I am all ears
regardless of the category of advice because others
find truth in all sorts of places.
Holistic, traditional or far
out medicine may contain the key to a long term
healthy life, but people’s choices vary greatly.
Last week one acquaintance pulled me aside in a
crowded space to whisper in my ear she knew of a
little village in Brazil where she had gone to be
cured of breast cancer. The website confirmed the
reality of the place, but the crystal strewn rooms
and the personal testimonies caused me to delay the
purchase of the plane ticket. This is neither a
denial of her experience or a rejection of her
truth, but it was perceived to be not for me at this
time. A long time ago I learned that truth does not
come in one package, but from the totality of the
experience, books, and conversations we have through
life. Her story to me illustrates the power of
one’s own experience and that is always worth
listening to.
Diet has been the primary arena
others have offered to me for its curative effect on
declining health, or degenerative disease. In
addition, Katy and I have explored the book Healthy
Healing. In it are many alternative therapies for
all types of challenges. We have altered our eating
habits through the years and have not eaten beef for
approximately 16 years, but we can not call
ourselves vegetarians for we eat fish and organic
poultry. However, our diet has been fairly healthy
for years. In addition, we have always looked to
this book for headache remedies, sore muscle
palliatives, and the ordinary cold or flu cures.
Now we are all ears when it
comes to dietary choices to strengthen the immune
system and help in the healing process. Along our
journey of just a few weeks have walked a variety of
very thoughtful and interesting people. One
individual who has adopted an alternative lifestyle
for years and a longtime friend sent me a care
package consisting of seaweed, organic miso soup,
and a strange paste of some unknown origin.
Combined they provide a salty soothing soup that is
rich in minerals. One bit of advice, do not eat the
seaweed without first soaking in the watery miso
soup. Sea vegetables are extremely high on the
nutritional bang for the buck scale. Daily I take
an oral supplement that packs the nutrition into a
pill.
Perhaps the most intriguing and
challenging dietary concept is postulated by a
gentleman who has written two books based on what he
refers to as a human beings primal diet. In my
brief conversation with him, and he has recommended
I read his book before our next visit; he extols the
virtue of a raw diet. Others have suggested this
before, but he suggests we eat all meats and plenty
of them, raw as well. He explains the molecular and
strategic reasons behind this and swears that it
will restore every one to optimum health. The only
foray into raw meat absorption was as a kid when mom
and dad would offer steak tartar on a cracker laced
with salt and pepper. We did not think anything of
this, but according to my new acquaintance I should
have stuck with eating steak, hamburger, chicken,
pork and lamb raw. Not sure I’m quite ready for
this but he claims to have cured 240 out of 245
clients of their cancer with this primal diet.
The moral of the story is
clear. Well meaning people will likely continue to
share their stories and experiences with me in an
attempt to help me heal. Perhaps one or all of
these will provide part of the truth that along
with my treatments will get me well. In the
meantime, my own dietary review is on-going. Cancer
must be affected by diet.
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