Nature's Answer to Cancer

Cancer? Not Me!

Sad news on the prevention front……and I somewhat expected this. According to a survey conducted for the BBC’s Newsnight Program, two thirds of people have not changed their diet or lifestyle to reduce the risk of cancer.

Despite evidence and public health campaigns that highlight diet and lifestyle as a cause of between a third to a half of all cancers, people aren’t making those changes.

Many choose to bury their heads in the sand instead—men being almost twice as likely as women to do so. The poll of 1,000 adults found over a third said that they tried to ignore cancer or hardly ever think about it.

I give prevention talks all the time – and it continues to sadden and amaze me when people make a conscious decision to continue to eat and move and live with abandon until they have a health crisis before they’ll do something for their own health.

Why wait for a diagnosis?

Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD

www.naturesanswertocancer.com

Shut Down Complementary Medicine Research - Take Away Hope for Cancer Patients and Others

Broadening access to health care should not mean closing the door on complementary medicine, yet that is precisely what is being proposed by a group of scientists who believe that the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health is nothing more than a cash cow for poor science.

Working with cancer patients for the past twenty years, I have seen how much difference that modern, traditional medicine can make in the treatment and recovery of cancer. I have also seen its limitations. In fact, it was because of my own allopathic limitations that I sought a degree in holistic nutrition—so that I could deliver more to my patients. The results have been quite profound and I can’t imagine going back to strictly conservative dietetics.

The idea for shutting down NCCAM, as reported in the Washington Post, came about because the Obama transition team felt that NIH was funding pseudoscience and there needed to be a redirection of funds for real science. The proposal generated 218 comments, most of them in favor, before the notice closed on Jan. 19.

Research in alternative medicine is done elsewhere at NIH, notably in the National Cancer Institute, whose Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine has a budget of $122 million.

Those who oppose alternative medicine say the vast majority of studies of homeopathy, acupuncture, therapeutic touch and other treatments based on unconventional understandings of physiology and disease have shown little or no effect. Further, they argue that the field's more-plausible interventions -- such as diet, relaxation, yoga and botanical remedies -- can be studied just as well in other parts of NIH, where they would need to compete head-to-head with conventional research projects.

That leads me to another concern: If American medical professionals are being taught “cure with medicine “ rather than “prevention” tactics, and if researchers obtain larger amount of funding from pharmaceutical companies, how in the world can dietary interventions (or for that matter, relaxation studies) compete?

At the end of the day, we have harmless alternative interventions that may help someone to feel better or extend their life.  I’ve certainly seen an impact in my own practice.

Why would our American government not want to study options to care for those who are looking for more than one way to win at the wellness game?

Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD, LD

www.naturesanswertocancer.com

 

 

Thinking Thoughts Can Make you Sick.....or Healthy?

This could be an unpopular blog….but I am moved this morning to write it because I have a chronic illness and it seems the more I focus on it, the more ill I feel.

I just read research from psychiatrist Simon Wessely, a man who studies the cause of conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome and other difficult to diagnosis conditions and hypothesizes that our thoughts can cause illness.

I’m not suggesting that just because we think about cancer that we end up getting it, nor am I suggesting that negatives thoughts or emotions can cause a life-threatening illness. Still, I am intrigued by Wessely’s work primarily because I do believe that if I think of positive, good things can happen. Conversely, then….if I dwell on the negative….you get where I am going with this, I think.

In any given day, you probably experience several examples of how what's going on around you affects the way you feel—your wellness. Most people instinctively know that when bad things happen, they affect your body. After all, if you just got bad news, you find that you can't sleep, you feel anxious, you've got butterflies in your stomach... you feel awful.

So when do thoughts turn into an illness?

According to Weesely, such symptoms only become a problem when people get trapped in excessively narrow explanations for illness - when they exclude any broader consideration of the many reasons why we feel the way we do.

So what’s my advice?

Realize that to be truly empowered in your wellness quest, I believe it is important to ask tons of questions and search for alternative ways to feel better, think healthier and be stronger. That requires a commitment beyond going to a traditional physician for advice about how to help you with your diagnosis—you must begin to look for solutions on your own too. And, it probably wouldn’t hurt to think HEALTH instead of dwelling on DISEASE.

Respectfully submitted,

Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD, LD

www.naturesanswertocancer.com

From Powdered Sugar to Powdered Slopes

I just returned from my home state of Utah after a weekend of skiing the Wasatch Mountains. "Now these," my son who grew up here in Chicago noticed, "are real mountains!"

After two days of making my way through powder (slowly, I might add) it finally dawned on me: I did not see one single overweight person on the slopes either day. I'm not sure why that struck me as interesting, because it does make sense that you would see more fit individuals engage in sporting activities.

So, what am I getting at then? Well, I think that we can improve our health by looking at the people we hang out with. Aren't you more likely to be active if you befriend someone who loves to ski, or swim, or walk? Aren't you more likely to eat healthy food if you hang around someone who is a vegetarian?

I'm not suggesting dumping your friends who are couch potatoes....but maybe today is a great day to look for someone new in your life who will prompt you to be the best you can be!

Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD, LD

www.naturesanswertocancer.com

Breathe in.....get healthy

Last night in Michigan I talked about cancer as being a multifactorial disease and that the environmental toxins plyed an essential role in the development of cancer. This morning, a new study led by researchers at Brigham Young University confirms that it makes a difference what you breathe in.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that over the last two decades, while changes in smoking habits and improved socioeconomic conditions are the biggest reasons why Americans are living longer, cleaner air counts too.

Improvements in air quality have added 21 weeks to the life of the average American.
Top changes: reducing fine particles given off by automobiles, diesel engines, steel mills and coal-fired power plants which have added as much as 15 percent of the 2.72 years of extra longevity seen in the United States since the early 1980s.

When it comes to health, we need to focus on outside influences as well as those inside our “growing environment”.

Dr. Kim Dalzell

www.naturesanswertocancer.com

 

No Wonder Women are Fat!

Turns out, when women are faced with their favorite foods, they are less able than men to suppress their hunger!

This may explain why women have higher obesity rates than men. Researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory were trying to figure out why some people overeat and gain weight and others don't. They performed brain scans on 13 women and 10 men, who had fasted overnight, to determine how their brains responded to the sight of their favorite foods.
They found that the female brain scans and cognitive inhibition tests clearly demonstrated that women reacted to food stimuli in different ways than men.

I could have told you that! Think about how many times we hear women say, “that brownie just called to me last night.”

Perhaps the first step in weight management is simply realizing that if food is present, we are more likely to indulge. Perhaps today is a good day to check your cupboards and make plans to rid your pantry of highly sugared, fat fried snacks that send “eat me” signals to you!

Kim Dalzell, PhD, RD, LD

www.naturesanswertocancer.com

Ignoring it won't make it go away

I just ran into a man today (a financial advisor...so we know he is under some stress!) who was diagnosed with a cholesterol of over 300, sky-high triglycerides and some other pretty serious health issues.

His doctors told him he needed to get on some medication

He refused. And did nothing

"I feel okay....so it must not be that serious," he said to me.

I reminded him that heart disease, like some cancers, are "silent killers" and the effects of years of insults to the body add up to create the final blow that causes most people to end up in the hospital.

Not taking medication is anyone's prerogative, but what about doing SOMETHING, ANYTHING to help yourself? Turns out, nutritional therapy can make a huge difference for someone with these kinds of cardiac risk factors. And the truth is, ignoring the problem rarely makes it go away.

Here's to being aware and doing something about it!

Dr. Kim Dalzell

www.naturesanswertocancer.com

Steve Jobs' Health - What it means to me

I don’t pay much attention to the technology world. I don’t own an iPhone and if it weren’t for my husband, I wouldn’t have an iPod either. So when Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, Inc., made his surprise announcement on Wednesday that he would be taking a leave of absence until June to focus on treating health-related issues, my ears perked up. I did a little investigation and after chatting with a friend, was told that Mr. Jobs was diagnosed some years earlier with a rare form of curable pancreatic cancer. I certainly can’t be the only one speculating about Mr. Jobs' current health condition.

Life is precious and we have much to be grateful for. Regardless of whether or not we are a multi-billionaire in the bank or at home, news like this serves to remind us of what we truly have.

Perhaps today, Mr. Jobs would not mind if we jump off the fast track for a moment, disconnect ourselves from cell phones and laptops and spend a little time reflecting on things that we tend to take for granted—like good health.

Dr. Kim Dalzell

www.naturesanswertocancer.com

Put that Food Down!

Stop eating so much and it can save your life, literally. We have new research to be published in the Jan 2009 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion to drive home that point. Researchers from Brigham Young University reported that the middle-aged women who don’t cut back on the calories have more than twice the risk of significant weight gain. The researchers followed 192 middle-aged women for three years and compiled information on their lifestyles, health and eating habits. The analysis revealed that women who didn't practice more restraint while eating were 138 percent more likely to put on 6.6 pounds or more, the news release said. While weight gain of 6 pounds might not seem like a lot, continuing to overindulge and not set a restricted pace of eating while aging brings about a cascade of further weight gain and subsequent disease risk. And we have several studies that link a lean physique and calorie restriction to increased cancer survival. So where to start? How about those late night snacks? Make yourself a food “curfew” and stick to it. No eating after 7:30 pm. I have personally found this strategy effective. Kim Dalzell,  PhD, RD,  LD www.naturesanswsertocancer.com

Lessons from your Laptop: How to Stay Healthy

A recent study found that chronic illnesses are rising in America, and often adults have more than three diseases at a time. Based on government survey data, 44 percent of Americans in 2005 had at least one chronic medical condition, which could include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, cancer, arthritis, heart failure and others. That compares to 41 percent in 1996.

Why is that?

Simply put, the body is whole entity—we are not just our pancreas, or our heart or our brain. We are, and everything that makes us up, interrelated. Think about a computer system. While there is be a hard drive and soft drive, they work together. When one crashes, the other can’t function very well. If left unattended, soon everything begins to break down.

The conventional medicine solution?

Call in the repair man “doctor”. He or she will fix what’s wrong and most likely give some drugs. The problem with this solution is that it often creates more of the same. One drug leads to several side effects, and to treat those side effects, another drug is prescribed. The cycle continues

My computer has Trend Micro PC-cillin, a program designed to diagnose and treat computer problems. But I can do my part too. If I notice a suspect email attachment, I don’t open it up. I remember to shut down my computer each night properly. And, I try not to throw my laptop out the window when frustrated. I call these actions “prevention” and essentially, making daily choices that impact your health will do the same thing.

While better diet and exercise may not keep us away from the doctor forever, it is a wise investment to keep those visits and potential need for prescription medications at bay.

Wishing you wellness and wholeness!

Dr. Kim Dalzell

www.naturesanswertocancer.com