Cinco Vidas

Your doctor has told you to “eat a balanced diet,” but when you’re going through cancer treatments, sometimes food just doesn’t taste right. You can lose your appetite, easily get sick to your stomach, or find that eating most foods is similar to chewing cardboard. Maybe you’ve seen a nutritionist, and you’ve got a list of vitamins and minerals running around in your head, but no idea how to start turning that information into something you’d actually like to eat.

Enter Rebecca Katz, your personal culinary translator. Consultant, teacher, speaker, author, and first and foremost—cook—Rebecca has created (with co-author Mat Edelson) a book just for cancer patients and their caregivers. It’s called Cancer-Fighting Kitchen, and inside, she shares delicious recipes sure to get you eating again, as well as tips on what foods battle various side effects.
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It’s hard to imagine that our own thoughts or emotions could have any real affect on creating disease, but that’s just what author and teacher Louise Hay—and many others—believe.

Ms. Hay asserts that disease is caused by mental thought patterns—particularly patterns of criticism, anger, resentment, and guilt. In her book, Heal Your Body, she talks about different diseases and the mental patterns associated with them. When she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, she put her money where her mouth was, and embarked on a regiment of therapy, (as well as nutrition and reflexology), working through her own resentments over being raped when she was 5 years old. She says she rid herself of the cancer. (more…)

Five-time cancer survivor and author Donald Wilhelm is the first to admit that finding “happiness” while battling cancer is a bit difficult. However, he definitely advocates positive thinking.

“You have a choice,” he says. “You can be negative, or you can be positive, make some changes, and make the most of it. My question to people is, why would you choose negativity?”

Diagnosed in 2000 with Hodgkins 4A, Donald has gone through a long journey of cancer treatments. Total up the chemo he’s had and you’re talking over 24 month’s worth. His journey has been a series of remissions followed by recurrences, more chemo, remission, recurrence, chemo, rinse, and repeat. To say the least, it’s been grueling. (more…)

I'm so grateful for my husband!

Watching the “Hope for Haiti” broadcast Friday, January 22nd, I couldn’t help but realize how very blessed I am—how blessed we all are to have food, clean water, shelter, and our loved ones around us. Sometimes it takes tragedies like these for us to realize that all the little things we worry about, complain about, and stress about aren’t really that important. We have what we need. And so much more.

Did you know that after September 11, 2001, researchers noted a surge in feelings of gratitude? Such feelings help us better manage the negative effects of stress. In fact, gratefulness can do a lot for our health. Robert Emmons, author of Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, reports in his book on several studies that he and his colleagues have conducted at the University of California at Davis. (more…)

Who doesn’t enjoy a nice foot rub now and then? It’s soothing and relaxing, and can ease aching muscles and joints. However, according to recent studies, a certain type of foot massage—called reflexology—can do a lot more than that. Researchers from Michigan University found that reflexology was the most effective complementary therapy (when compared to scalp massage and self-initiated support) for breast-cancer survivors, reducing depression and anxiety, and increasing quality of life.

This isn’t the first time reflexology has been shown to benefit cancer patients. A British study found that compared to regular foot massage (in which reflexology pressure points weren’t stimulated), reflexology improved quality of life in 100% of the participants, compared to only 33% of the regular massage group. “Not only did the patients in this study enjoy the intervention,” said the researchers, “they were also ‘relaxed,’ ‘comforted,’ and achieved relief from some of their symptoms.” (more…)

Three out of four deaths from colon and breast cancer could be prevented. That’s approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer, and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year. How? By increasing vitamin D levels in the blood.

That’s the conclusion reached by a group of researchers who examined epidemiological findings and over 3,000 research studies on vitamin D and cancer. According to their published paper, “It is projected that raising the minimum year-round serum 25(OH)D level to 40 to 60 ng/mL would prevent approximately 59,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three fourths of deaths from these diseases in the United States and Canada….Such intakes also are expected to reduce case-fatality rates of patients who have breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer by half.” (more…)

“People who have fought cancer and won may expect to go back to their ordinary lives. But life after cancer can be anything but ordinary.”

So writes John Casey for WebMD. If you’re a cancer survivor, you probably know exactly what he’s talking about. Surviving cancer was your main goal for months, maybe years. Now, maybe it’s in remission, or the doctor has given you a clean bill of health. Suddenly that battle you were using all your resources to fight is gone from your life. And strangely enough, you feel the gap.

“Once you finish treatment, says Susan Nessim, author of Can Survive: Reclaiming Your Life After Cancer, “people start moving away from you because they assume you’re fine now. But it’s not that easy. Many of us are not prepared for the fact that everything isn’t going to be the same.” (more…)

No one likes spending time in a hospital. Fortunately, most people are in and out within a few days—a week at the most. But many cancer patients find themselves walking the white hallways for several weeks at a time, even months. After so much watching television and playing board games, boredom sets in, and boredom leads one to think too much—usually worrisome and anxious thoughts.

“There’s a lot of time with nothing to do,” said Yolanda Toth, adult recreation center director at Sloan Kettering. “After you’ve counted all the holes in the ceiling of your room…and watched enough television, you’re pretty bored. And then you start thinking—what’s going to happen to me?” (more…)

“There’s nothing like an illness to make you prioritize your health.”

So says Dawn Mellowship, author of Toxic Beauty: The Hidden Chemicals in Cosmetics and How They Can Harm Us. Having battled with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, Dawn firmly believes that exposure to toxic ingredients—whether through the food we eat or the daily personal-care products we use—has a negative affect on our health.

“Cosmetic products contain toxic chemicals that have been linked to cancer, endocrine (hormone) disruption, allergies, asthma, birth defects and other health problems,” she says. “Women, in particular, have a skin-care regime that exposes them to around 500 chemicals every day, and that doesn’t include other chemical exposures from furniture, environmental pollution, household products, etc.” (more…)

Cancer treatments got you feeling negative about your appearance? Want a quick and easy way to diminish wrinkles, improve skin tone, and reduce stress? Put on your favorite comedy DVD, read a book of jokes, or head out to your local comedy club. Laughter, as you may have heard, is good for you—not just for your body and soul, but your complexion as well.

“Laughing improves skin tone and appearance by absorbing more air, therefore oxygenating the cells” says healthy-living spokesperson Laurel House, writing for Planet Green. “Just as smoking restricts oxygen to the body’s tissues and causes aging, an increase of oxygen invigorates the skin and brightens skin tone.” (more…)