Introduction
Dr. Kelly Turner, P.h.D., is an oncologist who began research into cancer survivors who chose to find an alternative healing method to the conventional medical methods. She was surprised at the thousand-plus cases published in medical journals that have been ignored. Furthermore, none of the articles mention what the patients thought might have caused their remission. Dr. Kelly Turner began deeper research into the matter analysing cases, speaking to survivors, and traveling to the corner of the world to seek out traditional healers. She began looking at all the changes and factors patients mentioned as possibly leading to their remission. She identified over seventy-five factors that may hypothetically play a role, including physical, emotional, and spiritual factors. Of those seventy-five factors, she noticed that nine of the factors kept appearing again and again.
In Dr. Turner’s book she details through the nine factors and demonstrate, with research studies, how such factors can make a difference.
Nine Factors
- Radically changing your diet
- Taking control of your health
- Following your intuition (authenticity – to be yourself)
- Using herbs and supplements
- Releasing suppressed emotions
- Increase positive emotions
- Embracing social support
- Deepening your spiritual connection
- Having strong reason for living
This article is an extract of the information detailed in Dr. Kelly Turner’s book, Radical Remission. This article is used for education purposes only.
diet
For the majority of people’s cases that were analysed, one of the nine key factors that consistently comes up over and over again is radically changing one’s diet in order to help heal cancer. Furthermore, the majority of people with the study of Dr. Kelly Turner all tend to make the same four dietary changes:
- greatly reducing or eliminating sugar, meat, diary, and refined foods,
- greatly increasing vegetable and fruit intake,
- eating organic foods,
- drinking filtered water
No sweets, no meats, no dairy, no refined foods
Cancer cells eat sugar
There is an indisputable fact that cancer cells consume sugar – glucose – at a much faster rate than normal cells do. This is precisely how a PET (positron emission tomography) works. Researchers are still not clear whether a high-sugar diet causes cancer, what is known is that once cancer cells appear in the body, they consume anywhere from ten to fifty times more glucose than normal cells do.
It makes logical sense for cancer patients to cut as much refined sugar from their diet as possible, in order to avoid “feeding” their cancer cells, and instead rely on glucose found naturally in vegetables and fruit.
The connection between cancer cells and sugar was first discovered in the 1920’s by a doctor named Otto Warburg, who won a Nobel prize for discovering that cancer cells get their energy and breathe differently than healthy cells do. He noticed that cancer cells get their energy by breaking down unusually large amounts of glucose and that they also breathe without oxygen (known as “anaerobic” respiration). What is interesting is that cancer cells will still breathe anaerobically even when is plenty of oxygen around.
There are two main reasons for reducing or removing dairy
Dairy is the breast milk of another animal, which means it is packed with hormones and proteins meant to make a baby calf grow – not humans. (we are the only species on the planet that drink the breast milk of another animal). Research has show that the main protein in cow’s milk, called casein, makes cancer cells grow, both in petri dishes and in lab rats.
Another reason is the unhealthy chemicals that are sometimes found in (most U.S.) dairy products, such as bovine growth hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides. (U.S. milk and dairy products have actually been banned in Europe because the cows have been injected with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), a hormone that has been linked to cancer).
In addition, dairy products contain unhealthy amounts of omega-6 fats – instead of healthy omega-3 fats – because cows are fed corn instead of their usual diet of grass. The problem with omega-6 fats is that they have been consistently linked to cancer.
We can get just as much calcium from leafy greens and turnips, and just as much protein from beans and nuts.
Regular consumption of meat – specifically red meat – has been link to many types of cancer
The meat, poultry, and fish industries have the same issues as the dairy industry when it comes to the unhealthy additives of artificial growth hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, and omega-6 fats.
Vegetarians can get plenty of protein by eating beans along with whole grains and all the iron needed from beans and seaweed.
If you do choose to eat some meat, make sure it is organic, free-range, hormone- and antibiotic-free, grass-fed, and limit your intake.
Eliminate refined foods, especially refined grain
Refined foods such as bread, pasta, flour, or many quick cook grains, have a very high glycemic index, meaning its carbohydrates are very quickly converted into glucose – which cancer cells love. Eating high-glycemic foods, not only gives cancer cells plenty of glucose to feed on but also carries high insulin levels in your blood, which is another condition strongly linked to cancer.
Beware of so-called “natural” flavours. For instance, the liquid from the anal bland of a beaver – called castoreum – is often used to create a “natural” raspberry flavour in foods an beverages. It is allowed to be labelled “natural raspberry flavour” because it comes from a non-chemical source (a natural source).
In addition, processed food companies add extreme quantities of salt, fat, and sugar to most of their products.
Healing power of vegetables and fruits
Hundreds upon hundreds of studies have shown that eating vegetables and fruits helps prevent you from getting cancer in the first place, while other continuing studies show that cancer patients who eat more vegetables and fruits live longer. One study followed fifteen hundred breast cancer survivors and found that those women who ate five servings of fruit and/or vegetables a day and were also physically active for at least thirty minutes a day, six days a week had fifty (50) percent reduction in mortality compared to those who did not eat as many vegetables or exercised as much.
Also, many studies have shown that specific fruits and vegetables are potent cancer-fighters – such as cruciferous vegetables (e.g., cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower), allium vegetables (e.g., onions, garlic, scallions), and dark berries. Cruciform vegetables alone contain nutrients that help block the growth of cancer cells.
Try to eat all the colours of the rainbow with your fruits and vegetables, since each colour represents a different cancer fighting nutrient.
Eat organic food to detoxify
Researchers also know that certain toxins, such as nicotine, asbestos, and formaldehyde, definitely cause cancer; however, there are many other chemicals we are exposed to every day that scientists are still unsure about, such as pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
In one study, childhood cancers were associated with mothers who used common household or garden pesticides during prenatal period. A similar study showed that breast cancer patients had significantly higher levels of pesticides in their breast tissue compared to the breast tissue of a woman with benign breast tumours.
Brief fasting can help speed up the detoxification process
Fasting or cleansing can speed up the detoxification of pesticides, heavy metals and other toxins from the body. Fasting is one of the oldest medical treatments on record, and it has been documented in nearly every religious and traditional medicine system for the past three thousand years.
It is considered by many health practitioners to be a natural way of clearing out infections and detoxifying the body because it sets off a powerful domino effect of healthy changes in the body.
Studies have shown that brief fasts can help eliminate bacterial infections, reduce cholesterol, and slow the ageing process.
A similar study showed that just twenty-four hours after fasting can kick off a major, internal detoxification process that cleans out entire organ systems and increases numbers of bacterial-fighting immune cells.
One study showed that going on a short fast while having chemotherapy significantly increased the effectiveness of the chemotherapy while also decreasing its side effects.
“with most animals and organisms, when they’re very ill, they stop eating. That’s nature’s way of doing this.”
Drink filtered water
Drinking natural spring water is recommended because of the higher mineral content, and avoiding tap water, as it often contains chlorine, fluoride, and heavy metals, all of which have been associated with cancer in certain studies.
Survivors of cancer choose either drinking spring water from bisphenol-A (BPA) free, at-home water-coolers or by installing home filtration systems for their tap water (e.g., reverse osmosis, carbon filter). However, such filtering also removes all the healthy minerals from the water, so it is wise to take a trace mineral supplement if you filter your water.
