Naturopathic Newsletter March 2009: CANCER

CANCER: Naturopathic Lifestyle Recommendations

March 2009

UPCOMING LECTURES & WORKSHOPS 

Wednesday nights starting FEBRUARY 18th until March 25th, from 7:30-9pm, I will be giving a 6 part lecture series on the Foundations of Naturopathic Nutrition as part of the Continuing Education Department at John Abbott College. For more info, pls contact Jocelyne Duchesneau at #514 457 6610 ext 5277.

MARCH 9th at 10:30am, I have been invited to discuss Naturopathic Medicine by the Senior Group of Dollard-des-Ormeaux.

MAY 4th at 7:30pm, I have been invited to discuss Cancer Fighting Foods by the West-Island branch of the Cummings Center.

I would like to take this opportunity to share an exciting development in my professional life. I have been invited to be part of the health team at Millennium Health Center in Cornwall, Ontario. I am visiting with patients on Fridays, and I look forward to all the new and exciting experiences that this projects continues to bring.

CANCER & LIFESTYLE

Over recent months, the media has been highlighting more intensly than ever the relationship between our North American lifestyle and the incidence of cancer. Although somber at times, this coverage has been supported by the naturopathic community, including myself, because it has been reiterating what naturopathic medicine has been teaching for decades ... the importance of healthy eating, adequate sleep, regular exercise and stress management.  Although seemingly obvious, we have needed to plug millions upon millions of dollars to fund research that validates the basic tenants of health. The saying does go that the human condition lends to learning the hard way; I hope that we as a society are finally starting to learn.

 

Having completed an undergraduate degree in anatomy and cellular biology, and having attended a naturopathic college that taught primarily through evidence based medicine, I am a sucker for statistics.

 

The causes of cancer deaths can be broken down  into these estimated percentages:

 

35% due to diet, physical inactivity, and obesity

30% due to smoking

25% due to environmental and occupational pollutants

5-10% due to genetic factors (depending on the type of cancer)

 

Considering the millions of people affected by cancer in Canada alone, as well as the billions of dollars spent in cancer treatments and research, I ask you to please take a good look at the statistics above, and to please share them with your friends and family. People can often feel both helpless and hopeless when it comes to understanding and preventing cancer. However, as you can see from the statistics above, we can be proactive when it comes to cancer. 

 

This newsletter will outline some of the proactive steps we can take in our every day lives. Specific naturopathic recommendations will be omitted from this newsletter, as they are specific to the individual case. For alternative and complementary cancer care, I strongly urge you to visit the QANM www.qanm.org website to find a licensed naturopathic doctor in your area.

As most of you know, rarely does a patient leave my office without being encouraged to exercise REGULARLY. If the overflow of studies confirming the link between a sedentary lifestyle and heart attacks, elevated cholesterol levels, elevated blood pressure, and diabetes was not enough, then maybe these research findings will motivate you to get moving.

 

Women who got the equivalent of at least 2-3 hours of brisk walking each week in the year before they were diagnosed with breast cancer were 31% less likely to die of the disease than women who were sedentary before their diagnosis.

 

Compared with women who were inactive during 2 years after diagnosis, women who were physically active to the equivalent of 2-3 hours of brisk walking/week had a 67% lower risk of death.

 

Women who decreased physical activity after diagnosis had a four-fold greater risk of death.

 

Find whatever type of cardio exercise fits into your daily life and make in happen. More importantly, find an activity that is fun and enjoyable, whether it be spinning, snowshowing, cycling or dancing.

Sleep is that sacred time during our day where our bodies relax, rejuvenate, refresh, and replenish. This is the time when our parasympathetic nervous system take over to induce a state of calm and relaxation. This is the time when our immune systems go into repair, anti-inflammatory mode. This is the time when our bodies aim to regain homeostasis, or balance.

 

3.3 million Canadians, or 1 in 7, suffer from insomnia; difficulty to fall asleep and/or stay asleep, not allowing for the recommended 8 hours of deep, restful sleep.

 

A significant percentage of those 3.3 million Canadians rely on prescription or over the counter sleep aids, which often do not provide an ideal, and therefore non restorative, quality of sleep. To encourage you to pay attention to your sleep patterns, here are some stats.

 

Women who slept 6 hrs or less per night had a 62% increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to women who slept 7 hrs dey night.

 

In a prospective study of prostate cancer incidence among 22,320 Japanese men, sleep duration of 9 or more hours was associated with lower risk. 

 

There are a number of naturopathic options that can help with improving sleep. This is to be discussed with your ND, and perhaps the topic of an upcoming newsletter.

How many of you have you heard that stress is the #1 killer? Probably most of you, because it's true. Since I have discussed stress and its effects on the body in past newsletters, I will not go into detail here.

 

Countless studies conclude the positive effects of relaxation techniques on the body, including the immune system.

 

Whether it be meditation, tai chi, knitting, or chi gong, find what works for you and do it! There are ample resources at your finger tips from yoga classes to guided imagery psychotherapy to meditation CDs. Stop putting yourself at the bottom of your priority list; you deserve to feel balanced with healthy stress coping mechanisms, and well in both body and mind.

Similar to a discussion about the importance of exercise, rarely does a patient leave my office without their body mass ratio (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (W:H); two critical markers for overall health.

 

Your BMI is a measure of the relationship between your height (inches) and weight (kg), with the healthy range being between 20 and 25. I strongly encourage you to identify your current BMI to have a sense of your healthy weight. BMI charts can easily be found online.

 

Although we tend to criticize the standard American diet, these stats now apply to Canadians too.

 

2/3 of Canadians are overweight, with 1/3 being obese.

Excess weight accounts of 17% of all cancer deaths.

For men, being overweight increases the chances of dying from prostate cancer by 34%.

For women, being overweight almost doubles the chances of dying from breast cancer.

 

Among those with double the normal BMI, men's chances of dying of cancer increase by 52% and women's by 62%.

 

Attaining and maintaining a healthy weight free from diet fads and calorie counting is a reality for many of my patients through naturopathic dietary recommendations.

There is no secret in the community as to my advocacy of healthy dietary habits. You are what you eat, and if you are eating a standard North American diet filled with saturated fats, refined carbs, simple sugars, preservatives, and coloring agents, then you could be making much healthier choices.

 

Recent books have hit the newstands listing the same highly nutritous, cancer fighting foods that NDs have been teaching their patients to each for decades. This makes me extremely happy, because now I have patients coming to my office asking me about ground flax seeds and kale, instead of looking at me like a deer caught in headlights!

 

I will simplify matters here by saying that the MOST beneficial food compounds are phytochemicals, mainly flavonoids. Phytochemicals are compounds found in plants that plug into virtually each step in the development and progression of cancer to stop it dead in its tracks.

 

Some exampls of these phytochemicals include:

 

capsaisin found in red chiles

catechins found in green tea

curcumin found in tumeric

ellagic acid found in pomegranate

allicin found in garlic

genistein found in soybeans (controversial in cases of estrogen dependent cancers; to be discussed with your ND)

indole-3-carbinol found in cruciferous vegetables

cabbage, broccoli, kale, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, ...

limonene found in citrus fruit

lycopene found in tomatoes

resveratrol found in berries

6-gingerol found in ginger

lignans found found in flax seeds 

Aside from using the herbs and spices, as well as eating the fruits and veggies mentioned above, here are some practical cancer fighting dietary tips.

 

Drink at least 2 cups of green tea daily.

Go organic!!

If you are sensitive to the caffeine, then pour out the first infusion. Repeated use of the same leaves pulls out the anti cancer compounds (this is desirable).

 

Sprinkle 1-2 tbsp ground flax seeds over your food.

Eat 2 gloves of garlic daily (roast in the oven with the skin/shell still on).

Eat 6 servings of veggies daily. Aim for variety in color.

Keep animal products (with the exception of fish) to a MINIMUM.

Focus on nuts, nut butters, fish and legumes/beans as protein sources.

 

AVOID refined carbs by eliminating all white carbs. And as my saying goes, just because it's brown, it doesn't mean that it is good for you. Avoid refined wheat while focusing on alternative grains, such as quinoa, brown rice, kamut, buckwheat, oats, and spelt.

 

AVOID simple sugars.

 

When you see hydrogenated fat  and corn syrup in the ingredients listing, drop it and run in the opposite direction!

 

*Read your ingredients lists; you will be amazed as to how you are feeding yourself and your family.

 

For more details on healthy food choices and a balanced diet, please see my previous newsletter.