You’ve just received the diagnosis – cancer. You sit in a cold office, with your mind spinning while the doctor’s words are lost in the fog. Endless questions flood your mind and you feel very alone. Soon after, you were swept into the system as your calendar was filled with appointments and you felt powerless to make choices for your own benefit.
A friend of mine experienced this last year and her cry for help came in an email to me. She reported that she had a full outline of her treatment protocol and all that was recommended for nutrition was to “drink Ensure.” She knew of my work as a health coach and wanted me on her team.
My heart sank at the thought that this friend and other cancer patients were being told to drink something that really doesn’t qualify as nourishment and could actually work against them in their battle. I felt the spark of a calling to not only help my friend but many others – including you – through their battle.
Your medical team is focused on the tumor, but not on the rest of your body. In my book Thriving Through Cancer: A Whole-istic Approach for Your Journey, you will learn there is a lot you can do to support the rest of your body – the part that doesn’t have cancer.
Can “thriving” and cancer really go together? When you consider the definition of thrive is “to grow, to advance,” I firmly believe they can. And it is in nourishing the rest of you – body, mind and spirit – that you will find the secret to “thriving.”
Yes, there will be days that are harder. When your system cannot keep up with the chemicals and toxins you are exposed to in normal daily living plus what is added through your cancer treatment, it gets sluggish. Your body will slow down, symptoms will become more pronounced, and you will feel worse. The treatment is intended to kill cancer cells, and once that is done, those dead cells and excess toxins need to be removed from the body.
While I provide a lot more guidance in my book, there are three easy tips you can incorporate today to help flush toxins from your body and limit cancer’s ability to spread. These are gentle detox baths, hydration and drinking fresh-brewed green tea.
A simple detox bath in Epsom Salts can help relieve aches and pains, reduce inflammation and aid digestion. Epsom Salts is magnesium sulfate in crystal form; the magnesium eases the symptoms, while the sulfate helps to flush toxins from your cells. Adding baking soda to the detox bath further enhances the ability to clear toxins from your body. Laying in hot water opens your pores and creates a reverse osmosis effect, drawing minerals in and toxins bound to salts out. Bonus tip: listen to mindful guided meditation while you soak.
To prepare your detox bath:
- Run the water in your bathtub as hot as is comfortable for you, and deep enough to submerge most of your body.
- While filling add 2 cups of Epsom Salts and 1 cup of baking soda under the water stream.
- No bathtub? Use a large bowl with ½ cup Epsom Salts and ¼ cup baking soda to soak your feet.
- Soak for 15-20 minutes.
- Stand up and rinse your body to clear toxins off your skin.
Another key to helping your body flush toxins out is having plenty of water in your system. It is important to drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day. This will support organ function and help lymph fluid move more readily through your body to remove waste and toxins. Not keen on water? You can squeeze lemon juice into your water for flavor and to aid in clearing the liver, but don’t float the squeezed lemon wedge in your water as the lemon skin holds agricultural pesticides.
Another beneficial beverage for your body is green tea. Most tea is made from the Camellia Sinensis plant, and its epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is one of the most powerful nutritional molecules that fights angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels to feed tumors. While black tea is more common, it is made by a fermentation process that destroys the valuable EGCG, so it is important for you to drink green tea.
Green tea must be steeped for 10 minutes to release its beneficial components. Once it is steeped, drink it within an hour before those components are lost. Drinking 2-3 cups a day will provide sufficient levels in the blood to be spread by capillaries to each cell. When EGCG settles on the surface of cells it blocks the signal that allows the penetration of neighboring tissue by cancer cells and hinders angiogenesis.
By the way, bottled green tea, though convenient, does not have active EGCG, and is more likely to have added sweeteners, which are another area of concern. You won’t get the desired benefits unless you brew your own green tea.
The day you heard that diagnosis, you were swept up into a treatment process that seemed to strip your power and control. My friend experienced this, and wisely sought out support to help her nourish her body through the process. She is now cancer-free and celebrating life.
I have shared just a few ways to bolster better function in your body so that it is able to handle the stresses of cancer treatment. It is your whole being – body, mind, and spirit – that is in this battle. Mindfully supporting each of these areas with each bite you eat, the activities you choose and cultivating your thoughts will set you on the path to thrive through treatment.
