NEW BOOK: Defeat Cancer: 15 Doctors of Integrative & Naturopathic Medicine Tell You How

Paperback, 443 Pages, $39.95

JUST PUBLISHED IN MAY, 2011!
In this groundbreaking new book, 15 of the world's most competent integrative cancer doctors invite you to explore their treatment strategies and discover their healing protocols. Why buy a book on just one treatment ideology when you can discover treatment strategies used by 15 doctorsءll inside the same book?
 
Just over a year ago, health care journalist and author Connie Strasheim set out to write one of the most important cancer books of our time. She identified 15 top cancer healers from the United States and five other countries, then spent the better part of the past year interviewing them. After the interviews, she dedicated countless grueling hours to compiling their most effective treatment methodologies into this clearly written and well-organized 443-page paperback book.

Defeat Cancer: 15 Doctors of Integrative & Naturopathic Medicine Tell You How is just the resource you have been waiting for. The book puts modern, cutting-edge treatment strategies in the palm of your hand. Interviewees included fifteen medical doctors, osteopaths and naturopaths who treat cancer either exclusively or as a major part of their practice. (Read the press release).

During the interviews, the doctors were asked difficult and important questions that the typical cancer patient may not think to ask. To get an idea of just how comprehensive this book is, see the Table of Contents. You can also read a complete sample chapter.

Because the book exposes the treatment methodologies of 15 physicians, readers will have the rare opportunity to compare and contrast the different healing methodologies used across various medical disciplines in the treatment of cancer. Or, as author Connie Strasheim explains, "the evidence of what works best for the treatment of cancer may be silently established by the similarities, or differences, found among these practitionersҠprotocols."

We all know that doctors appointments can be brief, and in many cases, inadequate in addressing all of the questions a patient may have. After leaving the appointment, a patient's head can be spinning with all of the questions that went unanswered. Now you can sit back and relax and find the answers to some of the most difficult questions, all in your own time, on your own schedule, inside this comprehensive book. This is possible because the physician interviewees were asked specific, pre-determined, targeted questions. Additionally, each doctor was given the opportunity to share special insights which may not have been a part of the planned interview process. The result of this planned, intentional, and careful interview process is a book that contains an unprecedented amount of practical and useful informaton. This information is available to anyone who is able to sit down and readءnd for only the price of a bottle of supplements.

Each chapter of the book focuses on the treatment approach of a single physician. Fifteen physicians were interviewed, so there are fifteen chapters (meet the interviewees). Author Connie Strasheim worked closely with each interviewee, over the course of several revisions, to ensure that their particular chapter was refined, accurate and as complete as possible. This kind of focused, organized information cannot be found anywhere else in print or on the internet.

Because physicians from five countries were interviewed, the reader is able to easily move beyond local political and medical standards and gain an international perspective on cancer treatment. The physician interviewees are based out of the United States, Denmark, Germany, Mexico, and England.

Written for both patients and practitioners, this book also allows you to avoid paying an arm and a leg for the travel and medical appointment fees that you would incur to meet and talk with 15 world-renowned cancer doctors, not to mention the time that it would take to actually have appointments with 15 different healers. In fact, you will not even have to leave the privacy and security of your own home to get this information. 

The following are some of the topics which the doctors addressed in their interviews:

• Anti-neoplastic (anti-cancer) treatments targeted at lowering or eliminating cancer cells and tumors. These include everything from IPT (Insulin Potentiation Therapy) and gene-targeted therapies, to metronomic chemotherapy, mistletoe, high-dose Vitamin C, sono and photodynamic therapy, dendritic cell vaccines, and intravenous nutrients. The doctors also answer the question, ԗhat is cancer and what causes it?Լ/strong>
• How to support and heal the body during and after cancer treatments. Included is information on diet, detoxification, vitamin and herbal supplements, hormone therapies, homeopathic remedies, allergy treatments, exercise and other physical therapies, as well as additional supportive treatments.
• Factors that affect healing, including finances, lifestyle habits, psycho-emotional stress, past treatments, and co-morbid conditions. Tips are provided for patients with limited financial resources.
• How to prevent cancer in the first place, and/or keep it from returning once patients are in remission or successfully managing their cancers.
• Why medical politics have limited peopleӳ access to effective treatments, and why knowing this is essential when searching for a cancer doctor.
• Dangerous and/or ineffective approaches to cancer treatment
• Suggestions for how family and friends can help their loved ones with cancer
• The treatment outcomes that the doctors have with their patients
• Patient and practitioner challenges to healing and how to overcome these
• How to heal past trauma and psycho-emotional problems that contribute to disease, with sections such as "Roadblocks to Healing," "How Family & Friends Can Help Their Loved Ones," "The Role of Stress, the Mind & Spirituality in Healing," "Healing Regret, Resentment & Self-Righteousness," and more
• How to contact the physicians
• The book also contains a very detailed Table of Contents and a user-friendly index so you can easily navigate through the information and find the topics that are relevant to you personally. 

Modern cancer treatment is complicated and controversial. Can you afford to be without the wisdom contained in this book? Save yourself time and money by reading about dozens of cutting edge therapeutic approaches before you and your doctor embark on the expensive and time consuming journey of using them in your own personal treatment program. Get the information first, and make your decisions after you are educated.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

In this syndrome, the intestine is described as being hypersensitive, as the passing of the alimentary bolus (and therefore the distension of the intestinal walls) brings about painful sensations and discomfort. The results are spasmodic and uncoordinated contractions of the intestinal muscles. This disorder leads to episodes of  diarrhea or constipation accompanied by abdominal pain. IBS can cause small problems for certain people, whereas for others it can be much more serious. Symptoms may appear every day for a week or a month and then disappear, or they can persist for life. It is estimated that one school-aged child in nine has a period of symptoms similar to IBS every three months.

This intestinal disorder affects one Canadian in five, particularly women. It is a very serious functional illness and constitutes between 30% and 50% of gastroenterology consultations. Unlike more serious intestinal illnesses such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, IBS does not cause inflammation, does not alter the structure of the intestinal mucous membrane and does not increase the risk of colorectal cancer. IBS does not get worse over time and does not require surgery. However, it can seriously get in the way of professional and social activities and can impoverish quality of life. On the other hand, diarrhea and constipation can induce or worsen hemorrhoid symptoms.

Causes

• Anger and stress linked to what is “retained” in the abdomen; in women, often after sexual abuse.
• Antibiotics
• Intestinal permeability

Solutions:
Intolerances to lactose and gluten are the most frequent; tests or a food journal with a food elimination-reintroduction protocol should be undertaken. The following foods should be eliminated or  restricted: alcohol,  caffeine, artificial sweeteners (Splenda, Aspartame, sorbitol, mannitol, etc.), very fatty  foods, and excessive consumption of simple carbohydrates.

• Enzymes.
• Pro- and prebiotics.
• Enteric capsules of peppermint oil.
• NAG (n-acetyl-glucosamine).
• Eliminate allergenic food.
• Hypnosis.
• Psycho-energetic medicine, such as homeopathy or acupuncture.

This article is an excerpt from the AMCC's course: Metabolism and Nutrition (course 343).

Enzymes in Metabolism and Nutrition

Enzymes are biological compounds that are protein in nature, that are soluble in water and that catalyze biochemical reactions. They are also called bio-catalysts.
Enzymes are synthesized by living organisms from models that vary from one species to the other, but they are constant and transmitted hereditarily within the same species; some hereditary illnesses can be explained by a defect in one of these models.

Enzyme Formation
Enzymes are generally proteins. A large number of enzymatic systems result from the binding of two molecules:

• The first one is a protein and is destroyed by heat; it is responsible for substrate specificity and is called an “apoenzyme.”
• The second is not a protein and is not destroyed by heat; it participates directly in the reaction and is called a “coenzyme.” We can therefore state that:

Enzyme = Apoenzyme + coenzyme

Apoenzymes
The protein part where the active site composed of several amino acids (that assemble in the secondary and tertiary structures, but move away in the primary structure) is found.
On the active site, there are generally two sites:

• The binding site, where the substrate (the material to be transformed) and the coenzyme (also called a metallic ion) become attached
• The catalytic site, where the enzymatic action occurs.

Coenzymes
A smaller and more resistant molecule that results most often from the union of a nucleotide and a B vitamin (thiamine, flavin, pyridoxine, niacin, pantothenic acid). Sometimes it is a simple metal ion.
: A single coenzyme can bind to make apoenzymes.
[excerpt from the AMCC's Metabolism and Nutrition course manual. Register today!]

Vitamin C as an Illustration of the Orthomolecular Approach

“Vitamin C was popularized by the double Nobel-prize winner Linus Pauling.

"For example, the wild mountain gorilla (weighing from 120 to 160 kg) ingests on a daily basis between 2000 and 4000 mg of ascorbates (vitamin C) and sometimes even more. Average people in Western countries who do not take supplements consume a few dozen milligrams, while the daily recommended intake of vitamin C is 60 mg.

“It should be noted that the majority of mammals synthesize their own vitamin C; when they are under the stress of disease or injury, the quantities they produce are equal to 10,000-20,000 mg per day for an adult human of average body size (taking into account body mass).

“All simians, including humans, have a genetic error that prevents them from synthesizing the enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase. This enzyme is involved in the last stage of a chain of reactions that allow glucose to be converted into ascorbic acid. This genetic mutation is thought to have occurred approximately 25 million years ago.

“Among the other mammals that cannot synthesize vitamin C are guinea pigs and a species of Indian fruit bat (Pteropus medius).

“Orthomolecular medicine aims to correct this vitamin C deficit through the intake of quantities comparable to those synthesized by other mammals, meaning many grams per day (standardized amount according to body mass). Extracting such high amounts of ascorbic acid from natural sources would be very expensive. Adopting a diet similar to that of primates is not very compatible with modern civilization. We must therefore resort to synthetic ascorbic acid.

“It should be noted that some people believe that synthetic vitamin C is harmful or ineffective.

“Vitamin C tablets made from acerola cherries are sold in stores. This kind of vitamin C is a lot more expensive per kilo than the ascorbic acid in crystalline powder form that is obtained from other sources.”

This example can be applied to all nutrients, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, probiotics and other molecules that are biocompatible with and beneficial for health.

Did you find this article interesting? Orthomolecular Approaches (course 445) is a course given here by the College. Register now!

Living food? Vibrant food!

I'm sure by now, you all know of my passion for healthy eating, right? Especially when it comes to eating raw & living foods, I'm totally passionate! With that said, I found this little excerpt from the Metabolism and Nutrition course (that course 343, for the inquisitive) given by the College, very interesting and thought I'd share it with you.

Humanity’s great challenge: Co-existing with our food

The third millennium has begun, and, despite our vast technological progress, our survival is still highly dependent on our environment, as our cells require nutrients to stay alive. Will this change one day? Perhaps; for the moment, however, all living organisms must maintain a close and balanced relationship with their surrounding environment if they are to eat and survive.

It’s true that in North America and Western Europe, few people suffer from a lack of food. However, being truly healthy is not only a question of swallowing substances that will satiate hunger; we need to eat true food, i.e., food that is truly nourishing and that is eaten in a form that the human body can recognize. Unfortunately, this is not always the case for most products found in supermarkets. Devitalized (meaning they no longer contain living energy), the majority of these substances not only contain empty calories but are also harmful to our physical health. We often forget that these lifeless, cumbersome substances, which we still dare call food, also have a major influence on our psychological life (our emotional chemistry) and our spiritual
vitality (our “appetite” for living).

To live a happy life and have your entire existence become “sparked” by a vital current, you must first understand the major principles of living food.

“Living food” is food that, because it is fresh and in a highly vibrant state, abounds with nutritious substances. Easily assimilated, these foods leave little residue in the body and any digestive residue they do leave is easily eliminated.

Among all of the living foods, sprouts and young shoots are far and away the most alive and the most vibrant. Simple and very economical, these “newborn foods” are packed with nutrients that our bodies crave. We need to rediscover the wisdom of our seed-sprouting ancestors; we need to become reconnected to the food that keeps us alive.

So, did you like it? I sure did! And, if you want to know more, this course not only delves into the raw & living food lifestyle but also in other nutritional  trends, like vegetarianism, veganisme, Kousmine's Diet, Dr. Seignalet's regime, Shelton's Principles of Food Combining, the Mediterranean Diet, The Zone, and so much more! It also studies the anatomy-physiology of the digestive system, as well as look at several digestive physiopathologies. Very interesting indeed! But that's not all. Hop on over to the course's page on the College's site to read all about it! It's all there.

Happy reading,

Food guides: Did you know there are quite a few?

Studying nutrition over decades has given me much insight into the subject. One fascinating aspect of this are Food Guides. Did you know they vary from country to country? From one "ideology" to the other?

Food guides are not simply the result of scientific thinking; they are also the product of social, socioeconomic and political constraints. In fact, scientists, the representatives of national agri-food industries, and the politicians who represent citizens' interests’ work together to produce a food guide. There can therefore be conflicts of interest through the promotion of food families that are emphasized more than they should be. Take milk, for example, which is not essential to consumers if they get calcium from other sources.

“Governments must take into account domestic policy constraints when developing food guides: self-sufficiency, agricultural support, population distribution, the promotion of regions and resources, etc. It would be counter-productive to promote a diet – no matter how beneficial it is to health – that would require so many changes to food or cooking habits that it would have little chance of being adopted.” (Passeport santé)

We are going to look at the Canadian, American, and French guides, as well as a Vitality naturopathic food guide and two model guides that have greatly influenced many current food guides: The Willett Food Pyramid and the Zone and Omega-3 diets from Barry Sears.

Canada’s Food Guide (2007 edition)

The general scope of this new guide is similar to the old one in that it outlines four basic food groups: fruit and vegetables, grain products, milk and alternatives, and meat and alternatives. A rainbow is used to illustrate the four groups. Fruit and vegetables now take up the first section to the left.

The recommended servings have changed and servings are now established according to age and sex.

The guide generally recommends that people buy and prepare food with little or no fat, sugar or salt.

It also recommends being active by taking up a physical activity or sport, eating well, looking at food labels, and limiting consumption of Trans fat.

There are specific recommendations given for each food group.

Since the guide does not restrict any food, it can be easily integrated into daily life at home or outside the home. With the wide variety of food it proposes, the guide integrates contemporary cultural diversity and can help you discover new foods with varied flavours and textures. However, this quality of diet can only be obtained if you prepare more meals at home and only use foods that are fresh or unprocessed.

Canada’s new food guide aims to prevent obesity through general measures. The precise number and volume of servings (according to sex and age group) is a step in this direction, particularly because the number of servings of grain products has been reduced and the number of servings of fruit and vegetables has been increased compared to the previous guide.

If you'd like to learn more about the Canadian Food Guice, and others (such as the American Food Guide, the French Food Guide, Willet's Pyramid, the Barry-Sears Diet, the Anti-Aging or Vitality Food Guide, and more), then the Nutrition Basics course, given by the AMCC will most certainly fulfill all your needs!

Guided hugs,

Milk Thistle: To the Rescue of You Liver and Digestive System

Have you overindulged lately? Who doesn't, right? In those times, when feeling bloated, sluggish and generally unwell is simply not an option, milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is the perfect remedy.

Milk thistle can be used when poor food and/or beverage choices have prevailed. It is useful in all kinds of digestives woes, be it food poisoning, excess alcohol consumption, hepatitis, cirrhosis, chimiotherapy, and even jaundice. It can protect against X-Rays damages, environmental pollution, and heavy metals. Recent research suggests it also plays a role in glycemic control.

Do you suffer from one of those "morning after" headaches? Or maybe a migraine you know is related to poor liver function? Then again, milk thistle, by going to the source of the problem (ie the liver), will ease your symptoms. In detoxifying the body, it is less likely that you will need all those nasty headache medications. Most can irritate the stomach, and cause other unpleasant side-effects. Eliminate the cause, and the headache will vanish. Aaaah!!!

Here's a recipe you can try out at home, that is a liver tonic and digestive aid:
 

1/3 tsp dried chicory root powder

1/3 tsp dried dandelion root powder

1/3 tsp dried milk thistle seeds powder

Steep the powder mix in a cup of boiled water. Filter. Serve hot.

Living in our modern society, amidst all the pollution, and the nutrient deficient food supply, milk thistle is an ally not to be neglected. It will strengthen and regenerate your liver, which will then be better able to accomplish its detoxification tasks. Milk thistle will also fortify your entire body. Learn to love the prickly plant, and it will make you and your liver very, very happy!

If you would enjoy learning more about milk thistle, and other such marvels of Nature, the College offers a very complete course in Phytotherapy and Energetics.

Prickly hugs,

Article resume: Mieux-Etre Jan2011
Recipe: Natacha Imbeault - www.herbotheque.com