Sunday, March 19, 2006

Fighting Back

So what do we do? I mean the statistics show us that cancer is coming; it is the wave of the future. One way or another (us or our loved ones) we are going to have to fight the dragon. So how do we protect ourselves? What can we do?

There are two angles to come at this from. What do we do globally? What do we do locally (read: for ourselves and our own bodies)?

Globally – well, this is where I still get all confused and feel powerless and get frustrated. Do I donate money? If so, to whom? Cancer is big business these days. Do I really have the same goals as the organizations I donate to? Let’s face it, if we come up with a cure, the very organizations I donate the money to in order to find the cure, will be out of business, plenty of people out of a job. So, how do I find the organizations that are in line with my values, which are committed to what I am committed to? I don’t know the answers to this; it is part of what drives me so crazy. At a global level, how do I make a difference? ARGH. (Any comments on this are most welcome, let’s get a discussion going about this, because that is how we will all learn.)

Locally - And so, I always take a look at what I can do locally, for myself and for my loved ones. How can I prevent a recurrence, how can I support and educate others to help them prevent a diagnosis? What are the little things I can do, each day, that make a difference. What are the important micro-movements? I guess it is the stuff they write up on all the cancer literature, so why don’t I do it? Habit. Disbelief that it makes a difference for my body. Regardless, there comes a time when I just need to start. For my own body, and as an example, an inspiration to others. These things have to happen in my life.

1) Exercising – this is huge!!! The only thing that moves our lymphatic fluid through our lymphatic system (that being the system that helps us clear out toxins, and keeps our immune system hopping) is moving our muscles. Unlike the circulation system that has the heart to keep things going, if we aren’t active, we set ourselves up for Trouble. Besides which, sweating out toxins, that is bound to be good too. Get those toxins OUT. Of course, that begs the question, how did those toxins get in to begin with.
2) The food we eat – there is so much evidence that the food we eat makes such a difference to our health. When we eat pesticide, hormone ladened food we put ourselves in harms way. We overload ourselves with toxins, toxins that are way more complex than the kinds of toxins our bodies were originally designed to process, not to mention just way more quantity of them. When we eat at restaurants that aren’t conscious and intentional around the quality of food, we put ourselves in harms way and support companies that aren’t supporting our health. When we don’t eat fresh, unprocessed, organic food we confuse our bodies, when we need to be working with them.
3) The environment – Another excellent source of toxins. Just going outside our front door (well, we probably don’t even need to leave home, but for the sake of drama) we get exposed to a huge number of chemicals. From car exhaust to weed killer fumes to extra estrogens from micro waving food in plastic containers. Well, that is out of my control, what can I do to prevent some of that stuff, you say. You can cut down personally, the more organic gardening techniques you use the better for all of us. You can also educate others around different choice they can make, because half the problem is people not even knowing something is an unhealthy choice for them.

There is so much more to say about these and other things, I have barely scratched the surface here, but for the sake of posting this now, rather than waiting until I have done all the perfect research, and have all the best places to point you, I will stop writing on this for now and post what I have so far. And I will keep looking at these and other areas of prevention and write about them at a later date. And anyone who has something to say or add or contribute, please do so, this needs to be a community discussion; we need to start doing what has to be done to help ourselves fight this disease.

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