Cancer- You can fight it and prevent it.

Cancer in Kerala - you can fight it and prevent it

 Cancer – cancer –cancer.  Everyday somebody dies of cancer. If it is a lady, she may be a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a friend or someone dear and special  to us.   In fact she wanted to live longer, but she has become prey to an illness unknowingly. We also wanted her to live longer. Can we do something to avoid this untimely  death? When we hear the word “cancer“ it is shocking. Some of us consider this as a terminal illness.  Don’t get scared. There is a lot of hope now. There is a lot we can do. We can reverse it by changing our diet and lifestyle.

"Is Kerala cancer's own country" This was one of the  heading on "Times of  India" dated May 15, 2013. We are trying to bring awareness through this blog. A recent research has shown that last year ( 2012) Kerala has registered 35,000 new cancer patients. The number is increasing at an alarming stage. Kerala had one of the lowest cancer and diabetes rates fifty years back. Now it is skyrocketing. The number of hospitals, schools, colleges, churches, temples have increased. Technology advanced. Knowledge is available on the finger tip. Religion is  supposed to give spiritual energy and mental discipline. In fact, knowledge, technology, spiritual power, mental discipline  and food should reduce cancer , but cancer rate is increasing. Why? Why cancer rate is increasing year after year now? Most of us know how to treat. But only a few of us know how to prevent. Among them a small lot know how to live and prevent cancer. It is time to change our diet, change our life style.

Look at this typical Kerala family history.

#	Generation	Education	Died at the age of	Onset of any dietary illness like  Diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol.	Remarks
1st	Mathachen and wife (  1st  generation)	6th std, and 7 th std	90 &95	At the age of 75 and 70. No cancer	Farmers in Kerala. Lived in village
2nd	4 children (2nd generation)	All graduated	Average age 80	At the age of 60 No cancer	Office Jobs. Lived in cities
3rd	10 grand children (3rd generation present  retired generation)	All post graduated	Living now	At the age of 50 No cancer	Office Jobs. Lived in cities and foreign countries
4th	20 grand grand children ) (4th generation, the present young generation)	All post graduated, Some are  having Ph ds too	Now living in Kerala. One died of cardiac arrest at 37. One survived cancer.	At the age of around 40. One among the twenty grand children  survived cancer	Office jobs. Lives in cities or foreign countries.

 This is a typical of the Kerala family history.  Whether it is Mathachen, Mohammed or Krishnan  the story remains the same. The 1st generation which lived around 50 years back was the most healthy.  They used very less medicines. The next generation  got dietary disease much earlier than the 1st generation. The worst  affected people are  the present generation. The new generation got degrees.   We got all materials.  Why do we get illness frequently. Why do we use more medicines than our ancestors and die faster than our old generation despite all the scientific advancement and superhighway of knowledge. Do we have the wisdom to live a healthy life? Or are we prey to the system that makes the slow killing. Are we the silent partners in this scenario?

Our mission is to provide an awareness and scientific research based education, how to prevent through diet, lifestyle and other immune-boosting approaches.

 Human body is made up of trillions of cells. It is nourished by bloodstream of nutrients from our daily food.  If we eat food without enough nutrients, the cells cannot maintain and it break down over a period of time, and we become prey to cancer or other diseases. The cells have receptacles that  crave for nutrients. When cells won't get enough nutrients it cannot sustain. 

How to prevent cancer:

1. Diet.

We are overfed but undernourished

In Kerala food is in abundance. Nobody is starving. Why cancer is increasing. We are overfed, but the food we eat contains less nutrients, less fiber,  more toxins and more carcinogens.

Researches has shown that lack of nutrition is a major cause for cancer especially breast cancer.  Researches done by  Dr. Dean Ornish, one of America’s  pioneer of self- help disease prevention has shown that food is the best way to prevent diseases. We are overfed but undernourished.

Our current food contains:

1.     More trans fats, like chips and bakery items. We got  approximately 25, 000 bakeries through out Kerala which is one of the highest density in India.

2.      More salt:  eg pickles.
3.    More refined flour, like parotta and white bread. In fact there is no whole wheat bread is available in Kerala?

3.     More white sugar  and glucose.

4.     More pesticides.

5.     And less of fiber, calcium and other nutrients. We get less fiber in our food because we replaced legumes  with chicken and meat. Tapioca and yams are replaced by parotta and white bread. Kanji payaru, puttu Kadala combination is  replaced by puttu,  banana and sugar.
6. More milk

We want everything sweet. We teach and encourage  our children to eat more sweet and crunchy things. We eat vegetables that contain pesticides more than the allowable range. We don’t grow any food at home. We depend on other states for food. They grow with maximum pesticides, and add chemicals while transporting to keep the shelf life.

We eat very less green vegetables and fruits. Very rarely we eat salad.  So naturally our food won't contains the vitamins and minerals required for the cells to survive.

The cancer promoting foods or carcinogens:

The junk foods- easily available, cooked in reused oil

Banana fritters- cooked in reused oil

Parotta- made with refined flour- no fiber

Chips- cooked in reused oil (carcinogen)

 

This is an advt. by New York City, against sugary
drinks that kills 180,000 people in a year

Avoid or reduce

1.     Sugar or sugary  drinks and sugary food

2.     Fried food- chips, cutlets, samosas, vadai, jilebi, banana fritters etc , all bakery products made of white flour, parotta  etc.

3.     Pesticide infested vegetables.

1.Dietary sugar and cancer-  A sweet relationship.

Many researches have been done on relationship between sugar and cancer. “When we lower blood glucose, we can slow cancer growth” explains nutritionist, cancer specialist and author Patric Quillin.

Weight (obesity) and  breast Cancer-  has a well-established association according to research done in US ( Petrelli et al 2002.

2.Fried food and cancer

The Trans fats in fried food, and reused oil can damage cells. Reused oil contain substance that may cause cancer. Reused oil is carcinogen. When food is cooked in overheated oil its nutrients are getting lost.

3.Pesticide and cancer

According to studies done by cancer research, Vynad has a higher density  of cancer patients in Kerala. The  higher number of cancer patients in Kasargod due to endo-sulphan  shows the relationship between pesticide  and cancer. The vegetables Kerala   imports from other states have more than the allowable range of pesticides. The curry leaves  from Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu exported through Kochi Airport, had been banned in Gulf countries few years back due to higher percentage of pesticides.

Other carcinogenic  substances.
Tobacco smoking, radiation, fumes, asbestos, certain pesticides, arsenic, reused cooking oil etc are  known substances that contain carcinogens. Carcinogen is any substance that produces cancer. When  oil is reheated it makes molecular changes and the properties are changed. 

Click the following:  Heal all cancer with diet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztfi0wLU0Qk

2. Maintain strong immune system by:

1.     Feed your cells with nutritional superstars, that contain less pesticides. Eat daily something fresh and green. Eat salads. Eat local fruits. Add something green into your salad or chutney. Grow some herbs at home like holy basil ( Krishna Thulasi), curry leaves, aloe vera, mint, mustard, fenugreek, coriander, pani koorka etc . All over India and world  people eat fresh leaves, herbs, lettuce etc. In Kerala, only very few eat leaves. Eat a few leaves a day . Make it a habit. Eat food with all colors. Eat food with all tastes. Don't ignore bitter taste. Read Blog on super-foods.  Read blog on Replace junk foods with nutrient foods. Avoid  or reduce refined sugar refined flour, and salt. These three white angels are slow killers.  Stop eating parotta start eating tapioca, and yams.

2.     Exercise. Exercise enhances immune functioning. Move your body or lose it.    

3.     Reduce stress. Stress depletes  energy and  nutrients from the body.

4.     Get sufficient sleep.
5.   Be positive minded.
6.  Control negative emotions like hatred, anger, worry, fear etc . Search for the real spiritual power and mind relaxation.
7.  Reduce  alcohol.

3. Change Lifestyle.  
Change the life style to have nutritional food, daily exercise, positive mind, and less stress. Stress is one of the main reason for more  Do something which gives you happiness. Reduce TV watching more than 2 hours.

4. Learn to reduce stress.
Stress is one of the main reason for more diseases these days.  Read blog on stress.

Here is our lifestyle shift. Earlier we were getting food from the farm. Now we get food from the market. The market forces determines what  we have to eat. From physical work we moved to sedentary life. Instead of outdoor sports we watch the TV sports inside the room.  Now we run after money. We approach religion for getting our things done rather than disciplining our mind and mental relaxation.

 What we don’t learn in the Universities?

University prepares to get a job for 8 hours out of our daily 24 hours. What matters most is not the degree we got, but  what we know about life. University degree is not a complete whole education. We have to learn the art of living from other sources. Our old generation desired knowledge from the universe. They gained wisdom from nature. They experienced the  link between man- nature- God. That is why they lived  a happy long life  than the present generation. There was wisdom in their living. Most of us think that having a paper degree means we got everything. When we study 7 books (7 subjects)  in three years time we get a degree, 14 books (usually 5  to 7 subjects)  in two years we get a post graduate degree. The whole mental state changes after the college degree. We don't like  to do any physical work (no exercise) afterwards.  We don't want to learn anymore. Moreover, we don’t learn the importance of daily exercise,  daily food , and stress free life etc.  We don’t learn the importance of an organic garden  in every home to grow at least some vegetables or herbs. We don’t learn how breath controls the mind? We think we are educated, having degrees, but lacks the basic knowledge of living. Are we   a community with super ego? There is a reason  or reasons  for increasing illness. We should realize that  the more we learn, the more we should realize that we know little. That is true wisdom.

“ The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”                
                                                                                                    Socrates

It is time to learn  areas where we are ignorant or under-educated. It is time to think logically. 

It is a real paradox that the land of Ayurveda and Yoga  has become the citadel of cancer and diabetes. If we look back to our heritage, we can find the solution to our problem.

Why we are prone to more diseases than our fore-fathers. Is there a way out?  Shall we change our lifestyle to save our lives? Which is important: our life or present lifestyle?  We are the  designers of our destiny. Today is the day to change.

 Read other blogs on:  super foods, tastes of healthy  food, sugar, diabetes,

References.  Cancer related books, medical journals, Newspapers and Media.

Related links.

http://www.beatcancer.org/?gclid=CLWjuKmA5LkCFeV7QgodPUwA1w#!Prevention/c10fo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBFIgGP8Em4