WHY?

Why? Why would God allow this to happen?

Why?

Why this? Why now?

Almost without exception, when diagnosed with cancer, all people are haunted by two questions. The first question is “why?” The next is, “what can I do to participate in my healing?” Until answered, both of these questions cause deep anxiety and stress. Stress is a major suppressor of the immune system; and, the immune system is the body’s weapon against cancer formation and growth.

Many medical experts believe that stress, caused by emotional suffering and feelings of helplessness, is the key factor in the formation of many chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

To quell this stress you need to find the answer to the question “why?” Why me? This is a two-pronged question. One prong deals strictly with the physical aspect. What is the physical reason that the DNA in one of my cells mutated?

The second prong of the question “why?” is spiritual. Why would God allow this? This is particularly puzzling to those who have made a serious effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle – proper diet, exercise, etc.

Are You Health Savvy? – Quick Quiz

Which would you choose, an apple a day or a multivitamin?

A concept does not have to be complex to be profound. The practical application of the concept is what makes it profound.

You may have an abundance of information and knowledge about a very complex subject but still not have an understanding of how to apply this knowledge. Too often we make things more complex than they need to be. We do this at the expense of not using common sense.

Michael Pollan, begins his bestseller, In Defense of Food: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” He goes on to explain, “That, more or less, is the short answer to this supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.”

This post focuses on nutrition and immunity. The immune system is a complex and integrated system of cells, tissues, and organs that function to guard your health. Your immune system will protect you against the development of cancer. Your immune system will attack and kill cancer cells. Nutritional status effects the actions of the immune system; therefore, the sciences of nutrition and immunology are tightly linked. What do you need to do to maintain the nutritional health of your immune system? Before answering that question, first answer this short health quiz:

 Health Quiz.

Question 1

What is healthier for you, an apple a day or a daily multivitamin supplement?

Question 2

What is best for the health of your immune system, a diet of mostly fruits and vegetables or a daily multivitamin?

Question 3

Vitamin D is important as an anti-depressant and it also provides anticancer activity against breast and colon cancer; therefore, should you take a vitamin D supplement?

 Question 4

Should you take a vitamin C supplement to fight against cancer?

Question 5

Do vitamin and mineral supplements make you healthier?

Answers To Quiz

Easter, Cancer, and Spring Break

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him…Romans 15:13

Spring break used to be called Easter break, or Easter vacation. I, for one, am glad that the two are now separated in their identity. The term “spring break” has become identified more as a college level Mardi Gras.

What does this have to do with cancer? If you have ever been diagnosed with cancer then you know as far as cancer is concerned there is no break – spring or otherwise. Cancer sets your schedule; it has no respect for the plans you have made. Cancer will tell you when you get a break.

What does cancer have to do with Easter; likewise, what does Easter have to do with cancer?

Everything!

Cancer has to do with a healing plan. Easter has to do with the healing plan.

Cancer causes you to ask, what is the meaning of life? Easter answers this question, and points the way to the meaning of life. Easter says, “I am the Way…” John 14:6

Cancer changes your life. It divides your life into a time before and a time after diagnosis; and a time before and a time after treatment. Easter split the calendar. For the whole world time is measured as a time before and a time after Easter.

Cancer is about needing hope, healing, and inner peace. Easter is about providing hope, healing, and inner peace.

What is Easter all about? Easter is about promises.

Easter starts with a promise of everlasting life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

And Easter ends with a promise of eternity without sorrow or pain.

“There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4.

Cancer is a time of soul-searching. Many of those who are in the after treatment time in their journey with cancer will tell you that cancer made them realize they were a little shaky in their faith. Some will admit that cancer shattered their trust in God.

Having faith is being able to believe in the promises of God.

You may wonder; is God trustworthy?

As a young man, Joshua was literally a slave. He heard God’s promises of salvation from slavery and believed them. He heard God’s promise to never leave him or forsake him and believed Him. He saw God’s promises fulfilled. At the end of his life, he said to a nation (and to you and me), “You know, with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” Joshua 23:14

Easter is about promises and hope. Hope propels us into the future. Hope is being able to dance to the music of the future. To have hope you need to answer one question for yourself: what is my why? Why is tomorrow important to you?

Please share this Easter message with anyone you know that has in the past, or is now undergoing treatment for cancer.

Good-Bye To Feeling Down

Do Not Accept a Wilted Spirit as a New Normal

Depression is a normal part of cancer and it can go on many months and even years after treatment has ended. Depression is a normal part of cancer; however, it can be overcome and even sidestepped by following a few crucial steps.

A low or dark mood after treatment has ended is one of the most common side effects of cancer. It seems counterintuitive that a cancer survivor who has completed treatment would become depressed. Why would this be? You would expect to feel elated after completing treatment.

In their book, Picking Up the Pieces, Sherry Magee, Ph.D and Kathy Scalzo, M.S.O.D. report that all cancer survivors express three idealistic wants, regardless of the severity of their cancer or the intensity of their treatment. They want:
• A guarantee that the cancer is gone and won’t come back.
• Reassurance that they are doing the right things to keep the cancer away.
• A definite deadline by which they will feel normal again.

The reassurance that cancer survivors seek comes by understanding how a healthy immune system has the ability to detect, track down, and destroy every cancer cell in their body; and then, by taking the steps to restore the health of their immune system.

Depression suppresses the immune system. It is analogous to driving your car with the emergency brake engaged.

When cancer survivors speak of the desire to feel normal again, they are usually speaking of the lingering fatigue, lack of interest, and loss of concentration that subdues them. We all expect serious injury or illness to have physical effects that need a period of rehabilitation. But this longing to feel normal has more to do with the emotional part of life – the desire to get over the emotional fatigue that takes away the “spark” of daily life. It takes away the joy and hope that should be a part of each day. There is no reason to justify accepting low mood and depression as part of the “new normal.”

Fatigued? Has Your Immune System Been Ambushed?

Ambushed by Depression

The majority of people, understandably, experience significant emotional distress after learning they have cancer. This emotional distress is more than just the initial shock. Cancer pulls you out of your life. Cancer sets your schedule. Cancer is the harbinger of change. Change and uncertainty and the rigor of treatment wear on a person – not just physically, but also on their soul. This is where cancer ambushes you and your immune system. Cancer and depression go hand in hand and depression suppresses your immune system.

“Chemo brain” is a common term used by cancer survivors to describe their loss of concentration and memory problems. Chemotherapy, and other cancer treatments, are also blamed for the lingering fatigue that daunts cancer patients – sometimes for months or even years after they have finished treatment.

Many of the symptoms of depression such as fatigue, lack of energy, memory impairment, sleep changes, and loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities already strike cancer patients because of the disease and its treatment. It can be very difficult to spot depression. Under-recognition of depression in cancer patients is common. The American Cancer Society estimates that three of every four people suffering from “chemo brain” symptoms can actually attribute these symptoms to depression and other medication side effects. Chemotherapy is taking the rap for the effects of depression.

Can Positive Thinking Stop Cancer?

What is your why?
What is it that gives your life purpose and meaning?

If you have been diagnosed with cancer, then what you need in order to stop cancer is the very latest of Western medical treatment and a healthy immune system.

There is a vast amount of research that proves a healthy immune system fights cancer and is capable of stopping it in its tracks. Your immune system is the ultimate arbiter in your fight against cancer.

There is conclusive research that chronic stress suppresses your immune system. Stress causes the hormone cortisol to be released into your bloodstream. Cortisol then sets off other stress hormones that cascade throughout your body. One of the functions of these stress hormones is to curtail or suppress your immune function. [For further explanation. click here]

In most cases, the diagnosis of cancer brings with it feelings of shock, fear, anger, guilt, dismay, and often depression. This is not uncommon. All of these are stressful emotions that suppress your immune system.

It is faulty logic to assume that positive thinking creates the opposite effect – that positive thinking fortifies your immune system.

Be Aware or Beware – Immune Cell Health or Cancer

You Were Knit Together In Your Mother’s Womb

It is your immune system that stops cancer in its tracks.

It is the job of your immune system to keep you healthy.

It is your job to keep your immune system healthy.

In order to keep your immune system healthy, it helps to know the basics of how your (immune) cells function.

I once won a lamb at a charity silent auction. That was an experience because I didn’t know the first thing about how to take care of a lamb. It would have helped if I had known at least a few basics. After a few weeks, I gave the lamb to a local 4-H club. The point in mentioning this incident is to illustrate the importance of knowing at least a few fundamentals about how your cells operate.

The starting point is to be aware of three key facts about all of the cells in your body. First, all of your cells are packed with intelligence – your DNA contains all of the instructions (genes) for what that cell is supposed to do. Second, each cell has thousands of receptor sites on the outside of its cell membrane. Through these receptor sites the cell receives messages from other cells. Third, each cell is acutely aware of its environment, which includes your every thought.

The genes in each cell tell that cell what to do. However, all the cells in its environment tell each cell what to do next. The wonder of this is demonstrated in the development of a single “first” cell into a complete living human body.

Cancer Healing and Your Core Beliefs

“Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man.” ~ Albert Einstein

Every cell in your body is packed with intelligence.

At the center of each cell is a nucleus. The nucleus contains your body’s chromosomes. Your chromosomes contain your DNA. Your DNA contains all of your genes – the specific set of instructions for making you; for keeping you going; and for living in community with all of the other cells in your body.

The complexity of a single human cell is staggering. The evidence of the mark of intelligence within a cell is undeniable. The most important question you can ask yourself is: “How did it get there?”

Healing and the Art of Communication

Can you hear me?

I am in absolute awe of a single human cell.

I am in wonder of the body’s ability to heal itself.

I am amazed at how our cells communicate with each other at a level that staggers the imagination.

All the cells in your body are in elaborate communication with each other. In the immune system there is one particular immune cell (the macrophage) that can detect the presence of a single cancer cell anywhere in the body. When it detects a cancer cell, it will signal other immune cells and together they will track down and destroy all cancer cells as they find them.

How can it do that?

Six Sure Steps to Accomplish Your New Year’s Resolution

Will the Elephant always go where the Rider wants?

Here we go again. It is time to make your New Year’s resolutions.

Most New Year’s resolutions have to do with health: lose weight, eat healthier foods, exercise, stop drinking sugary or caffeinated drinks, etc. Meaningful New Year’s resolutions involve making lifestyle changes.

To make a lifestyle change, you need to replace a bad habit with a good habit.

To be successful, pick one significant lifestyle change that you want to accomplish and follow these six steps to success.

Step 1.

Understand that a lifestyle change is a commitment with yourself to change your life for the rest of your life.