Chew your food…and other bites of information from the Appleseed conference

Eating and chewing properly is just one little thing we can do to help make cancer go "bye bye!"

As promised, I am following up with more details from the Annie Appleseed conference.  There was so much information; I’m just going to pass along some “golden nuggets” that stood out for me (not the McDonald’s variety).

“Chew your food until it’s the consistency of oatmeal and drink minimally with meals.”  This was one of the many helpful tidbits from Lisa Alschuler, a naturopath phyisican who presented “Influencing our Internal Landscape.”  It seems pretty simplistic, given all the evidence-based, scientific information at the conference. But it’s something free and easy we all can do. It improves digestion and is key to getting all the needed nutrition to your body. I noticed when I did this at dinner last night, I felt full more quickly.

Dr. Alschuler was one of my favorite speakers at the conference, especially since she validated many of the healthy practices I’ve incorporated. She explained how you can’t destroy metastases with the immune system, as you can with other less volatile diseases, but you can outwit them by increasing the amount of killer T cells with lifestyle changes, such as:

• Reducing stresss (severe stress reduces NK cell activity by 50 percent).
• Exercise – most essential to combat insulin resistance, which produces an overflow of glucose in your blood and then binds to cancer cell receptors and causes them to divide. There is even more benefit if it is done out in nature.
• Diet – colorful organic fruit and vegetables, no sugar or white flour (to combat insulin resistance), whole grains, nuts, green tea
• Decreased inflammation, which brings blood supply to cancer cells like it does for unhealed wounds. Recommended fixes include: garlic, selenium, curcumin, tumeric, rosemary, Vitamin C, D, E, fish oil, and yes, dark chocolate! You have to eat dark chocolate every day because it’s effects last only 24 hours. Yay!

Christine Horner, MD, nationally known advocate, speaker and author of Waking the Warrior Princess;was as entertaining as she was informative. She also stated the importance of diet and getting yourself in balance. She stated how green tea enhances the effects of chemo. Another yay since I drink it twice a day!

She also put forth another golden nugget: “Go to bed by 10 p.m. and get up by 6 a.m.”  The hours are important because that is when our hormonal fluctuations are optimal. Staying up late can lead to inflammation, which in turn leads to cancer and heart disease.

Some of the other presentations were very technical, testing my faulty brain function. And to be honest, I wondered how many of them were swayed by the presenters’ desire to sell their products and services. It was interesting to hear about the therapeutic benefits of mushrooms and hyperthermia and Vitamin C therapies. But I needed an objective party to help sort everything out.

That’s why I was excited to hear Klara Rombauts, a medical chemist from Belgium who represented Reliable Cancer Therapies, www.reliablecancertherapies.com.  The nonprofit organization investigates evidence-based complimentary and traditional therapies so you can make informed decisions. I will share more of her presentation on my next post, as this one is getting lengthy!

Until next time!