Why people with cancer who do not follow an integrated approach are missing out

For many years I worked as a veterinarian. I loved that work and learnt a few things. A dog with a broken leg has a simple health issue to manage. It does not need to attend a support group to learn how to cope with its illness and give itself the best chance of recovery.

By contrast, any person diagnosed with cancer who does not manage their illness in an integrated way, including attending an educational support group, in my considered opinion is severely limiting their chances of survival and of living well beyond cancer.

So this week, lets go Out on a Limb once more and examine the differences between a broken leg and cancer, an why an integrated approach to cancer management is mandatory, but first

Thought for the Day


May you find in me the Mother of the World.

May my heart be a mother’s heart, 
My hands be a mother’s hands.

May my response to your suffering 
Be a mother’s response to your suffering.


May I sit with you in the dark, 
Like a mother sits in the dark.

May you know through our relationship 
That there is something in this world that can be trusted.

Anonymous letter from a young Medical student

Working as a veterinarian, much of it was simple in the relative scheme of things. Take repairing a broken leg for example. The cause was something everyone could agree upon. Little Johnny left the side-gate open, the dog ran onto the road, the car hit the dog. Broken leg. Simple.

Diagnosis was usually simple. Maybe a clinical examination was enough; if an X Ray was needed the benefit far outweighed the risk. Simple.

Then repair would involve immobilization, maybe even surgery, but again, simple.

The healing phase too was straight forward. A dog can eat just about anything and a broken leg will heal. The dog’s emotions seem to be of no concern to the healing process; and what is going on in the dog’s head, its thoughts, just like its spiritual life – no problem. In fact, it is all simple!

Best of all with a broken leg, the final outcome is generally good. They nearly always heal. Well.



In fact, it is common knowledge that as broken bones heal they often over-compensate so that the part that was broken often ends up stronger than the original bone. This fact spawned the New Age healing saying “We get stronger at the broken places”.

Contrast all of this with the complexity involved when a human being is dealing with cancer.




When it comes to the cause, cancer is known to be a multi-factorial, chronic degenerative disease.

People commonly ask after diagnosis

“Why me? How did this happen to me?”

While much is known in answer to the basic question, for the individual concerned, the full story it is usually far from simple.




Then there is diagnosis. Often complicated. Sometimes there are contradictory test results,
interpretations. Sometimes not accurate enough and diagnosis is missed or delayed.

When it comes to treatment it is a sad fact that most current cancer treatments are quite tough on the person involved, and by extension, their families and friends. Clearly, not everyone survives a cancer diagnosis. Around one third die in the first 5 years. Far from simple.

Then when it comes to the healing phase, that phase that accompanies and goes on after any medical treatment, just about everything you can think of has some part to play. What someone eats influences outcome. Exercise. Sunlight. Emotional health. Mental state. Accessing the power of the mind. Spiritual life. Mind-Body Medicine.

All these thing warrant being taken into consideration. For some, the choices they make in this arena can truly make the difference between life and death.

Then there are other things to consider. Complementary therapies. Alternatives. How family and friends are coping. How they can be helpful rather than a hindrance. Financial issues. Finding meaning. Life after cancer. Reconciling death. And on and on.

Clearly, every aspect of cancer management is complex.

If someone diagnosed with cancer were to concentrate on just one aspect of the disease, like the medical treatment, they would be missing so many other important aspects. If someone diagnosed with cancer was to attempt to sort out all the complex issues on their own, how could we possibly imagine they would succeed?

Management of cancer demands an integrated approach. This means approaching the significance of the disease, its personal meaning, and its recovery by considering the body, the emotions, the mind and the spirit.

An integrated approach also involves working with an integrated team of health professionals as well as giving a pre-eminent place to consideration of what the person can do for themselves.

Attending to the latter effectively, learning what to do for yourself, is most effectively accomplished in a group setting. Residential programs are ideal as they provide the opportunity to withdraw from day-to-day life, to find genuine hope, to experience the recommended lifestyle changes such as the therapeutic foods and meditation, to learn from peers, to be inspired, to learn and to make good choices.

Sometimes I do miss the simplicity of my old veterinary days when treating broken bones was a delight. But actually, working with people amidst the complexity of managing cancer, seeing how well people do in body, mind and spirit when following this integrated path, helping to sort out the complexity, finding peace of mind amidst all this; being a part of all this is even more extra-ordinary – and wonderful.

NEWS


The world lost one of its bright flames recently. Many who read this blog will have come to know Jess Ainscough, The Wellness Warrior in some way. I was fortunate to know her over the years and was deeply saddened by her death.

Jane Treleaven has written a wonderful piece on her own reaction/ response to Jess’ death; it is highly recommended. LINK HERE



                  Jess speaking at a Cancer Survivors meeting in Melbourne

NEW BOOK – also highly recommended

Time to Care
Robin Youngson is a New Zealand Anaesthetist who I had the good fortune to meet some years back. He offers a powerful voice for bringing more compassion into medicine and speaks in a way his colleagues can relate to. He is the founder of Hearts in Healthcare.

In today’s beleaguered healthcare system, burdened with epidemic levels of stress, depression and burnout, Time to Care offers health professionals the opportunity of renewal. Here are the secrets to building a happy and fulfilling practice, wellbeing and resilience.

Youngson bravely relates his own transition, from detached clinician to a champion for humane whole-patient care; at times poignant, sometimes funny and always brutally honest.


NOTICEBOARD

NEXT SPECIFIC CANCER PROGRAMS
CANCER and BEYOND  May 2015   Monday 4th at 11am to Friday 8th at 2pm

Five Day Residential Follow-up Program at the Gawler Foundation in the Yarra Valley

This program is specifically designed for those with cancer or in remission, along with their support people who have attended a previous Gawler Foundation program or equivalent such as with Sabina Rabold, CSWA, Cancer Care SA, CanLive NZ, or with the Gawlers

A unique opportunity to meet with like-minded people once again, to consolidate what you already know, to learn more from the combined knowledge, have a real rest, to reaffirm your good intentions, and to go home refreshed and revitalised.

FULL DETAILS Click here

CANCER, HEALING and WELLBEING
Eight day Residential Program in New Zealand   May 15th  –  22nd , 2015

All welcome with a diagnosis or in remission; attendance with a partners and support people welcome.

This program will guide you through all the self-healing principles:
. Therapeutic nutrition
. Practical positive thinking
. Therapeutic meditation, plus the healing power of imagery and contemplation
. Accelerated healing
. Healthy, healing emotions
. Getting the most out of conventional medical treatments and minimising side-effects
. Being most effective as a support person/carer, and to looking after yourself in the process.

I will be leading most of the main sessions, with support from Ruth and 2 exceptional New Zealanders. We live-in for the full program so there is plenty of time for questions and personal interaction.

This program is organized and supported by Canlive New Zealand.

FULL DETAILS Click here


THE CONNECTION – There will be a screening in Melbourne soon of this excellent film length documentary film, followed by a forum with questions, answers and discussion led by Dr Craig Hassed, Prof George Jelinek and myself

Wednesday    April 8th    7pm
Classic Cinemas      9 Gordon St    Elsternwick

BOOKINGS   CLICK HERE

Ian Gawler Blog: How long before you are paid to eat vegetables?

Government and Health Insurance funds that pay the public to eat more vegetables are likely to save a fortune! The latest evidence shows that if you eat enough fruit and especially vegetables you dramatically reduce your risk of contracting an expensive and debilitating disease and you are 50% less likely to die early.

This week we find out what is best to eat, as well as examining a collection of the latest research. For those of you who love science like me, research is now confirming what I have been recommending in practice for years and makes offering guidelines for family and friends easier to give confidently. Its here for all. Maybe this is a post to share with those you care about!

So as we follow on from last week’s post that was more specifically focused on cancer prevention, there is also more news of the workshop at Warrnambool coming up Sunday May 4th and the Cancer residential program Ruth and I will present in Auckland May 16 – 23, but first

Thought for the day
Every thing we have, every thing we use,
touch, eat, possess, see, smell,
everything is gifted to us from the Earth.
How long can we keep taking without thought and respect?
It is time to rethink our ways and only take what we need - not what we greed.
Each time you shop whether for food or anything, ask yourself,“Do I really need this?" regardless of fashion or what people think. 

It is time for us to help our Earth Mother not only for the earth
but to ensure there will be enough for the next seven generations.
                                   Anne time – relax; Facebook

How would you like to halve your risk of dying? A recent study conducted over 12 years in England showed that the more vegetables and fruit you eat, the more you cut your risk of dying from all causes, and specifically cancer, heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, stroke and obesity.

Eat just 1 – 3 portions of vegetables and fruit; reduce the risk of dying from all causes by 14%. Sounds helpful. But eat 3 – 5 portions and reduce the risk by 29%. Better. However, eat 7 portions per day and the risk of dying drops 42%. And all that is needed is to eat sensibly!

And yes, there is more! Those who ate the highest amounts of fruit and vegetables in the study, cut their risk of cancer by 25% and heart disease by 31%.

Regularly eating canned and frozen fruit INCREASED the risk of dying by 17%, while drinking fruit juice appeared neutral.

Three things to do
1. Tell your friends. We all have the possibility of being social activists. This may sound a little grandiose, but I think how much I would have liked to know about all this stuff before I developed cancer back in the seventies. So consider sharing this post and maybe last week's one as well.

2. Tell your politicians and health funds. Seriously. Lobby them. I wrote a related blog on “How long before you are paid to meditate” some while back. Clearly our health system is heading for major dysfunction as the chronic degenerative disease spiral out of control.

Prevention is the cure. Surely we are not far away from incentives being provided to encourage more people to make intelligent, healthy choices, to reward those people who are prepared to look after themselves and to penalise/gather funds from those making poor choices. Not the “nanny state”; just inevitably, sooner or later due to common sense and economic forces we will be paid to eat good food and meditate.

3. Start now – it seems the more fruit and vegetables you eat, and the less meat and dairy, the more likely you and those you love are likely to enjoy good health and a long life.

If you are new to this, try meat free days more often. Buy a vegetarian cookbook - Eat Well, Be Well  is excellent. Consider starting a vegetable garden. Learn to enjoy eating lots of vegetables and fruit.

Personally, I love all things fruit and vegetable, but remember, whatever you do often enough you get used to and you can enjoy! Bring on the brussels sprouts!

4. Not convinced yet? Read some of the recent, related research:

Animal products linked to cancer – just as much as tobacco ! (see the recent post, Eating meat or smoking? Which is worse for your health?)
This vast study examined 21 different cancers in 157 countries and found that consumption of meat and other animal products is strongly linked to several types of cancer. In fact, it claimed the association between animal product consumption and the risk of developing cancer was as strong as that linking tobacco and cancer.

Possible mechanisms for risk include the way animal products promote growth and their high iron and fat content. The author notes that animal product consumption has been recognized as a cancer risk for more than a century.

Grant W. A multi-country ecological study of cancer incidence rates in 2008 with respect to various risk-modifying factors. Nutrients. 2014;6:163-189.

Red and Processed Meat Endangers Health
Red and processed meat products increase women’s disease risk, according to a recent Harvard study. As total red meat consumption increased, C-reactive protein (a biomarker of infections and diseases including heart disease and cancer), haemoglobin A1c (an indicator of diabetes risk), and stored iron (a mineral which in excess is associated with heart disease, cancer, and diabetes) also increased.

Weight and calorie intake also increased with increased intake of red and processed meat products.

Ley SH, Sun Q, Willett WC, et al. Associations between red meat intake and biomarkers of inflammation and glucose metabolism in women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014;99:352-360.

Animal based diet linked to bacteria that causes inflammatory bowel disease
In this small Harvard study, people on an animal-based diet had an eight-fold increase in the gut population of a bacterium that may cause inflammatory bowel disease, Bilophila wadsworthia. Growth of this bacterium may be stimulated by the digestion of dairy products.

In addition, gut concentrations of a compound linked to liver cancer, deoxycholic acid, rose in the animal-based diet group. The authors note that diet may contribute to the development of inflammatory bowel disease via changes in gut microbes.

David LA, Maurice CF, Carmody RN, et al. Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome. Nature. 2013;505:559-563.

Vegans have lower cholesterol and less risk of heart disease
From Europe this time - those who consume vegan diets have better cholesterol levels than people who eat meat, fish, dairy, and/or egg products. They also consumed the most fiber, the least total fat and saturated fat, and had the healthiest body weight and cholesterol levels, of all the diet groups.

A previous analysis from the same study (EPIC) found that vegan and vegetarian groups had a 32 percent lower risk of hospitalization or death from heart disease.

For more information on diet and cholesterol, visit PCRM.org/Cholesterol.

Bradbury KE, Crowe FL, Appleby PN, Schmidt JA, Travis RC, Key, TJ. Serum concentrations of cholesterol, apolipoprotein A-I and apolipoprotein B in a total of 1694 meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2014;68:178-183.

Vegetarians have less diabetes
Now we go off to Taiwan where Buddhist women and men who avoided all meat products were approximately 33% and 50% respectively less likely to develop diabetes.
The lead author notes that those in this study classified as “omnivorous” still consumed a predominantly plant-based diet with little meat and fish, suggesting that even modest animal consumption can increase the risk for diabetes.

Chiu THT, Huang HY, Chiu YF, et al. Taiwanese vegetarians and omnivores: dietary composition, prevalence of diabetes and IFG. PLOS One. Published online February 11, 2014.

Vegetarians have lower blood pressure
Finally, America and another meta-analysis, this one including Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine president Dr Neil Barnard that examined 39 studies and showed those who follow a vegetarian diet when compared with omnivorous diets (including meat, dairy etc) have a systolic blood pressure about 7 mm Hg lower and diastolic blood pressure 5 mm Hg lower than those who eat meat.

This review is consistent with other studies and stresses the significance of a dietary approach to preventing and reducing the risk for hypertension.

Yokoyama Y, Nishimura K, Barnard ND, et al. Vegetarian diets and blood pressure: a meta-analysis. JAMA Intern Med. Published online February 24, 2014. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.14547
Direct link

RESOURCES
Books: You Can Conquer Cancer -  There is so much about prevention in this book. I would love it if more people who were well were to read it.

Eat Well, Be Well – the excellent vegetarian recipe book from the staff at the Gawler Foundation – highly recommended!

CD:  Mind Training – How the mind works and how we can use it to best advantage – including developing healthy habits

RELATED BLOGS
How long before you are paid to meditate

Cancer prevention – it’s all in the mind - and the booze and the shopping!

NOTICEBOARD

Having been kindly invited to speak 

in Warrnambool in a few weeks time

Warrnambool:  Sunday May 4th, 2014

The heart and science of 

Health, Healing and the Mind

                 

A day where we get to share all the best I have learnt over the last 30 years!

• Dissolve every day stresses; experience mindfulness, relax effortlessly, meditate profoundly
• Discover the practical, life changing implications of neuroplasticity, epigenetics and telomere        research
• Clarify your questions; be confident of eating well and living well – and enjoying it!

Ideal for people interested in evidence based health and wellbeing, disease prevention and management, for health professionals and for those seeking profound healing

Date:         Sunday May 4th, 2014 : 10am (arrive 9.30) to 4pm

Venue:      St Brigid's Community Center, 186 Port Fairy - Koroit Rd, Crossley 3283

Cost:         $130, conc $90 includes morning tea.  Please bring lunch to share.

Enquiries: Integrative Health Services - Rosemary Gleeson : 0447 6177 68
                    or email rosemarygleeson@ymail.com



Bookings: Online CLICK HERE    Telephone with Visa, Mastercard : call Angela on (03) 5966 6130



Cancer, Healing and Wellbeing  AUCKLAND, NZ.  May 16 - 23 , 2014

This 8 day cancer recovery program residential program is evidence based and will be highly experiential. We will cover the full range of Integrative Medicine options, with the emphasis on what people can do for themselves – therapeutic nutrition, exercise and meditation, emotional health, positive psychology, pain management, the search for meaning and so on.




I will personally present the majority of the content but along with Ruth, participants will have the additional support and experience of Liz Maluschnig and Stew Burt; two very experienced and committed New Zealanders.

For details on this and the other cancer related residential programs for 2014 CLICK HERE

Ian Gawler Blog: Cancer, Four Corners and hope

Anyone with advanced cancer who watched the recent Four Corners program Buying Time (ABC TV 26 8 13), could be forgiven for thinking they were in a pretty bleak position. For patients and families, as I suggest in the attached letter I sent to the Four Corners team, the message bordered on the hopeless.

The suggestion of Buying Time was clear – find a new drug, find a way to meet the incredible cost of the new drug – or die. No real mention of quality of life. No mention at all of other possibilities.

So this week we go way Out on a Limb and ask, why no options? Why no choices? Why does a great program like Four Corners focus on these new cancer drugs with their incredible price tags, multiple side effects and marginal benefits; and at the same time give the impression to the uninformed that there is nothing else on offer?

What do you think? What did you think of Buying Time? (Link below). What sort of program would you like to see? But first

Thought for the day


So long as you write what you wish to write,
That is all that matters;
And whether it matters for ages or only for hours,
Nobody can say.

     
        Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own




                                                                                        The daffodils are out in force - delightful!
Dear Four Corners
I have had the chance to speak or communicate in writing with quite a few people now who saw your program Buying Time and I feel it important to share the feedback and ask for your help.

The program did a good job of clarifying how the modern cancer drugs are offered as a new hope, yet cost vast amounts and produce incredibly modest gains at the additional price of serious side-effects.

I would love to be more positive, but I think you need to know a number of patients I spoke to turned the program off early into the story. Many others report feeling deeply despondent. Where was the hope?  In fact, for patients and families I suggest the message of Buying Time actually bordered on the hopeless. The suggestion was clear – find a new drug, find a way to meet the incredible cost of the new drug – or die. No real mention of quality of life. No mention at all of other possibilities.

Sure, what Buying Time did achieve was to accurately portray the modern cancer dilemma. Many new drugs are coming onto the market, often heralded with the words “significant new breakthrough” and building the hope of major benefits.

However, when the reality is examined, these drugs commonly improve survival times in terms of a few weeks; at best a few months. To achieve these modest gains, they have price tags that can run over $100,000 per person per year and they have even higher side-effect profiles than the old chemotherapeutic agents.

Obviously there is a limit to how many of these new, expensive drugs we the taxpayers can afford to fund. Already the real growth in healthcare spending over the last decade has gone up 5.3%, close to twice the average annual growth in GDP for that time of 3.1%.

As you now know, Yervoy, the new drug for people with advanced melanoma, adds 4 months to average survival times, has multiple side-effects and will cost the public purse up to $60 million dollars a year. Is this the best way to spend $60 million dollars? As a community, we are not very far away from needing to make difficult choices about how we spend our health dollars.

However, for people directly affected by cancer, the problem is more immediate, more dire. The program clearly portrayed these drugs as being out of reach financially and not very effective; yet people were still clinging to them anyway. What people affected by cancer need is realistic hope. They need genuine options. At the very least a good quality of life and a good quality of death. But more, they need to know that there are real possibilities available to them through things they can do for themselves.

In my opinion and from what I hear from others, this is where Four Corners failed. By focusing on the medical dilemma, the program omitted the imperative for modern cancer management to be more inclusive. A huge resource; an affordable, credible resource was overlooked.

There are constant reports in the media and the scientific literature of people surviving against the odds. At the same time, there is an impressive body of evidence for the quality of life and increased survival gains to be had through the application of nutrition therapeutically, through the generation of positive states of mind and the practice of meditation.

Lifestyle Medicine, the study and implementation of what people can do to help themselves, empowers the patient and their families. Lifestyle medicine offers the promise of dramatic improvements in quality of life – and the research establishes that it delivers on this promise. Lifestyle Medicine offers the prospect of significant increases in survival times – in a highly cost effective manner with almost no adverse side effects.

Maybe Lifestyle Medicine is complementary to the current mainstream cancer treatments. Synergistic. But what if the benefits of Lifestyle Medicine were actually more cost effective than these new high-powered cancer drugs?

What if as a community we had the basic common sense to push our cancer authorities to fund serious research to investigate this compelling question? Why not a three arm trial to compare one, the standard medical treatment with two, standard treatment plus the lifestyle options with 3, the lifestyle options on their own. If a super expensive, high side effect drug trial qualifies as being ethical, surely there is enough grounds to compare it to the cheap, almost side effect free lifestyle option. What does help a person with cancer the best?

I call on you all at Four Corners to prepare and screen the logical follow up to Buying Time. The public needs to know. What does the patient bring to cancer management? Why has mainstream oncology spent years blocking or even attacking the growing cancer self-help movement? When will researchers cast their nets wider and investigate the many, many stories of long-term survival? When will the patients and their families, the public and the doctors realise just how much lifestyle has to do with the successful management of cancer?

How many people do we need to watch suffer and die? How broke does the health budget need to become before Lifestyle Medicine is taken seriously?

As I said, I would like to have been able to be more positive about the program. It did open discussion around the cost/benefits of modern cancer drugs and that is a very good thing. The public needs to engage in the conversation around how the health budget is allocated. But as I mentioned to you when the decision was taken to drop lifestyle factors from the program, from the patient's perspective there was the risk of lowering hope, increasing despondency.

So now I look forward to when you are ready to do the next part of this story; the part that has the chance to be uplifting and foster evidence based hope as it focuses on the role and potentials of the patients and their families to contribute to their own health and wellbeing through the therapeutic application of Lifestyle Medicine.

Many people would offer to contribute to such a program. Many would welcome it. Many would be informed by it.

be well

Ian Gawler

RELATED BLOG

Cancer, facts and fiction

RESOURCES
Link to view Buying Time: CLICK HERE

The Gawler Foundation for Lifestyle Medicine information and programs

You Can Conquer Cancer - a comprehensive, integrated lifestyle based, self-help approach to cancer

NOTICEBOARD

IMAGES, WORDS and SILENCE 
Training/retreat for those interested in mind made healing – either for personal use or as a health professional.
With Dr Nimrod Sheinman, Ruth and myself in the Yarra Valley. Details: CLICK HERE

MEDITATION UNDER the LONG WHITE CLOUD
Ruth and I are leading our first meditation retreat in New Zealand in December at the beautiful Mana Retreat centre that has a similar high reputation for a good environment and great food as the Foundation. Details: CLICK HERE

5 DAY FOLLOW-UP CANCER PROGRAM
Specifically for people who have attended a CanLive program in NZ, or Gawler Foundation program. November 18 – 22 at Wanaka out of Queenstown - one of the most beautiful environments there is. Details: CLICK HERE

 

               More daffies   

      
      A couple of early tulips 
      glistening in the sun

Cancer survivors? Cancer thrivers!!!

This is your personal invitation to be inspired, to be informed, to support cancer survivors generally and the self-help options specifically.

In the centre of Melbourne, on Tuesday, the 5th of March from 6.30 to 8.30pm, three remarkable cancer survivors will join me to talk about how we not only managed to survive against the odds, but to actually thrive in the process. The flier is attached at the end of this post.

Now there is a great notion. Not just a cancer survivor, a cancer thriver! So this week, continuing the theme of what is happening in the world of cancer, let us go “Out on a Limb” and discuss what it is to thrive amidst adversity, and meet some great “thrivers”. But first,

Thought for the Day
            Keep your goals and dreams just beyond your reach 
           And your integrity beyond reproach
                                           Richard Carmona, MD; 17th Surgeon General of the United States

Jess Ainscough, Scott, Stephens, Ruth McGowan. They all challenge the popular notion of what it is to have cancer. Vibrant, active, up-beat, full of life. How do they do it, given they have all faced life-threatening cancers and still in some sense live under that shadow?

One thing is for sure, their attitudes, their way of coping, their way of thriving, did not happen by chance or some stroke of good luck. Each of them in their own way has worked hard, continues to work hard, to be a cancer survivor, a cancer thriver.

Sure there are the common factors; taking nutrition and what they eat very seriously, developing a positive state of mind and working on the power of their minds, and of course meditating heaps; but then there are the individual variations, the personal touches that bring their individuality to the healing equation.

Jess is young and dynamic; on a mission to reach out and help thousands through her Wellness Warrior website, blog and Wellness Warrior Lifestyle Transformation Guide.














Scott is such a “bloke”, with the freshness
and openness of a real Australian man that
warms everyone’s heart and opens them to
his remarkable understandings and insights
into what it takes to heal and to be well.













Then Ruth, with the maturity that comes from
being a mayor amidst the devastation of the
Black Saturday fires. Who has known a brother
thrive through a long and difficult cancer; felt
the pain of his death, felt the powerful urge to
do all she can to survive and thrive through
her own challenges.

As a final bonus, Peter Roberts will be joining us with
his wonderful harp. Peter will play during the light
supper being served from 6.30 to 7.00pm before we
begin the talking, and then he will join me to lead a meditation.










Then there is You Can Conquer Cancer, my old book recently invigorated by a complete re-write and with a life of its own. Happily on this occasion, Dr Francis Macnab, that extraordinary psychologist and Minister of the Uniting Church’s St Michaels on Collins, will re-launch the new edition.

Takes me back to 1984 when Weary Dunlop, that famous doctor from Changi, Patron of the Cancer Council, long-term supporter of my work and someone I was privileged and proud to call a mentor and friend, launched the first edition.

Now the hope is that this new edition of You Can Conquer Cancer can be re-translated into the 13 languages the old one is in and maybe some new ones, and sell another 250,000 copies at least.

Over 120,000 people will be diagnosed with cancer in Australia this year. That is way too many people. We all need to do what we can to help those who are basically well to stay that way, to follow a healthy lifestyle and avoid developing cancer.

Then for those who do develop cancer, we need to help them to understand that they have a crucial role, quite possibly the most important role in their own recovery.

So tell the family, tell your friend and your colleagues. Tell them about the new book, maybe give them a copy. Share the flier attached to this blog with all you can. If you live within easy distance of Melbourne come and show your support for the cancer survivors, the cancer thrivers. Come and learn what you can do for your own health, healing and wellbeing. Entry is a modest $20, $15 concession.

The evening is in the beautiful St Michaels church at 120 Collins St and if you have not been in there before, it is one of Melbourne’s beautiful treasures. And all proceeds are going to the Gawler Foundation (everyone involved is donating their time).

See you there! The flier is attached at the end of this post.

RELATED BLOGS
A new year, a new way of living

The completely new You Can Conquer Cancer is released

Recovering from cancer is possible


RESOURCES

BOOK: You Can Conquer Cancer

CDs: The Gawler Cancer Program

What to do when someone you love has cancer

ON-LINE: The Wellness Warrior - Jess Ainscough

The Wellness Warrior Lifestyle Transformation Guide.

Wellness Activist and 'Cancer Thriver' Kris Carr writes in the Huffington Post about Her Crazy Sexy Kitchen

LIFESTYLE-BASED CANCER SUPPORT PROGRAMS: The Gawler Foundation


NEWS
Reclaiming Joy –A new book with a related theme.

Recently I was asked to write a foreword for a great book I can highly recommend. This is an anthology of stories from members of a group of thrivers managing cancer and other difficult circumstances. But it is way above what some of these books have been. This one is insightful, quirky, compelling. Well worth a read!

Here is the foreword I wrote for it which I hope inspires you to read it.

Truth is a rare and wonderful commodity. Eloquent truth even rarer, even more wonderful.
The truth is that chronic illness takes everyone affected by it through a wide range of thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Now, there are some people affected by chronic illness who become preoccupied with ‘being positive’. Or is it more accurate to say preoccupied with their own notion of what it is to be positive? Usually this version of being positive means ‘putting on a brave face’, ‘grinning and bearing it’, attempting to be ‘up’ all the time.

Some in fact do make a reasonable pretence of this façade. It can serve as a relief to those around them. ‘She is taking it so well’. ‘He is so brave’. Yet underneath, the nagging doubt. ‘How is she really?’

Well, the cost of being sunny all the time, is to ignore the truth and deal with the consequences.

The truth is that chronic illness involves ups and downs, highs and lows. Acknowledging this, rather than pretending it is not so, is actually easier, more energy efficient, more likely to lead to comfort and ease amidst the swings.

The truth leads to freedom. Freedom to feel as you do, freedom to be genuine, freedom to be authentic. The consequence of living the truth is that this state enables one to recognise difficulties, feel them, and rather than be stuck attempting to deny them, be free to do something useful in response.

So Reclaiming Joy is a wonderful book filled with eloquent truth. The contributors, all of whom share the common thread of chronic illness, speak personally and openly about their range of experiences—the good, the bad and the ugly! But then they also discuss their attempts to find practical solutions. Many of these attempts are successful and will have general and immediate relevance to a wide range of the community.

The book also offers insight, good humour and real positivity. This is not a book of wishful thinking. Wishful thinking is where you hope for the best and do nothing about it.

This is a book of positive thinking—where you hope for the best and do a lot about it!
My wish is that this book is read widely. In a time where so much chronic illness is around us, even affecting us personally, Reclaiming Joy offers insight, hope and real possibilities. Eloquent truth. A real blessing.

Dr Ian Gawler OAM
Author of Peace of Mind & You Can Conquer Cancer
Yarra Junction

Reclaiming Joy: Living well with chronic illness, by Ruth Winton-Brown

The book is most easily ordered by emailing Ruth Winton-Brown on: rwintonbrown@yahoo.com.au

Ian Gawler Blog: Do supplements shorten lifespan?

Could taking a daily multivitamin and multimineral pill shorten your life? Not many in the public would seem to think so given that these pills are the most common form of supplements taken in the world. Yet several large studies from 5 to 10 years ago were pretty clear; such pills could take up to 7 or 8 years off your life!

Now a new study from Melbourne throws new light on the question – a must read for health practitioners and people generally. But first

Thought for the day

Dream the impossible. 

Know that you are born in this world to do something wonderful and unique. 

Do not let this opportunity pass by. 

Give yourself the freedom to dream and think big.

                                                                Ravi Shankar

The right question to begin with is why take a generalised multivitamin/multimineral supplement at all? For most the answer would seem to start with their knowledge that the quality of our food has been degraded by commercial growing practices. Then there is the environmental pollution we all face, coupled with the stresses and strains of a modern, busy life. Fast food, junk food, eating in a rush, eating what happens to be there. Lots of concerns, and then the hope that extra vitamins and minerals taken via a pill will at least compensate, maybe even be good for us.

Seems like a reasonable proposition. But then in 2003 large meta-analyses (the collated results of many individual studies) began to be published and continued to appear over the next 5 years with findings that showed a shorter life span was associated with popping these particular pills.

Needless to say there was a big discussion. Advocates of supplementation came out strongly, claiming the individual studies had a range of flaws. Poor sample selection was discussed, the health of those studied and synthetic vitamins were blamed (chemically produced vitamins rather than naturally derived versions). 

At the centre of it all, Vitamins A and E seemed to be the main culprits, but to my knowledge no manufacturer has come forward and offered to produce a multivitamin/mineral supplement without A and E. Of course, some people may well benefit from specific supplements such as selenium, iodine, iron, magnesium, vitamins D and B12 etc; but that is where specific advice from a doctor trained in nutritional medicine or a good naturopath comes into their own and may well need to be consulted.

In 2009, with a good deal of input from my colleague Prof George Jelinek, I co-authored a discussion paper focussed on the key articles available at the time, (to view, click here) and concluded the following:

1. Food is the best source of human nutrition. 

2. People eating a healthy diet and living a healthy lifestyle are rarely likely to need nutritional supplements. 

3. There is strong evidence that taking supplements of vitamins E and A shortens life. 

4. More research is needed in this field. 

5. There may be a case for a multivitamin/mineral supplement that does not contain vitamins E or A.

In the new edition of You Can Conquer Cancer, which includes recommendations on food and supplements for people who are basically healthy, as well as for those with cancer, I commented further:

“I know of no studies being published regarding the long-term use of Vitamins A and E by people affected by cancer, and maybe they are OK short term, but the caution (for those who are well and take them long-term) needs to be stated”.

However, what we do know (as reported in a July 2012 blog), is that a study in 2011 found that for women with breast cancer who consistently used multivitamins before and after diagnosis and ate more fruits and vegetables, as well as being more physically active had better overall survival. As well, these researchers concluded multivitamin use along with the practice of other health-promoting behaviours may be beneficial in improving breast cancer outcomes in select groups of survivors. Since that blog, more research relating to cancer has come to light, so next week I will update that specific area.

But now we have a new, large meta-analysis involving twenty-one studies which generated a total pooled sample of 91,074 people. The people studied were all independently living adults (not having cancer), their average age was 62 years, a general supplement was taken daily, and the average duration of supplementation was 43 months (so not a very long time for this type of trial). 

The results?

Across all the studies examined, there was no demonstrable effect of multivitamin-multimineral supplementation on all-cause mortality. However, there was a trend for a reduced risk of all-cause mortality across primary prevention trials. Multivitamin-multimineral supplementation had no effect on the risk of dying due to vascular causes or cancer. 

The Conclusion? The researchers state: multivitamin-multimineral treatment has no effect on mortality risk.

So what to do?

If you are well, stick with point one and two from Plan A above, – as much as possible, rely upon good food – it needs to be organic to qualify – and a healthy lifestyle. If travelling or under stress, a general supplement may make sense until things are back in balance again. 

If you are recovering from injury or illness, a high quality general supplement from natural sources may make sense, but food is still number one. Good supplements will never make up for bad food. And juices are a great way to add extra nutrients to your diet from natural, well balanced sources. 

RESOURCES

1. The reference for this latest article:  McPherson H et al;  Multivitamin-multimineral supplementation and mortality: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.  Am J Clin Nutr February 2013 97: 437-444

2. You Can Conquer Cancer. The new edition has an extra chapter on nutrition and much more detail on the whys and hows of healthy eating – for wellness or for recovery.

3. CDs Eating well, Being well: Details the Wellness Diet 

Eating for Recovery: Details recommendations for those with cancer. This Cd builds on the previous one, so people with cancer are advised to study both.

RELATED BLOG

Multivitamins and cancer

NEWS

Lord Maurice Saatchi, co-founder of the famous advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi, recently supported his beloved wife through a tough and fatal cancer. Now he wants the English laws regarding cancer research to be changed to allow for more sensible experimentation in cancer research. Citing the lack of progress in this field, and the tough treatments he saw his wife endure unsuccessfully, he is a powerful advocate for a new approach. Not for the faint hearted, but a compelling interview on the BBC, December 2012. For a transcript or to view the interview – link here.

Ian Gawler Blog: Three Things That Have Transformed My Life

Jess Ainscough is an inspiration. A young and energetic cancer survivor, Jess is super enthusiastic about using her experience to help others. She does this through her great website: The Wellness Warrior, where she writes daily articles on courage, kindness, self-respect — as well as practical how-to’s for shopping, cooking, juicing and nourishing your body.

I asked her to share with us the most important things she had learnt. And then there is a fantastic, inspiring YouTube link to click to, but first:

Thought for the Day

When you love your life and body

Miraculous things happen

             
                           Dr Bernie Siegel, author of Love, Medicine and Miracles

Here is Jess on those three things 

I have done a lot of crazy stuff to heal my body and transform my life. I’ve eaten sea cucumbers, drank straight beetroot juice, injected myself with B12, crude liver and mistletoe, drank castor oil, put coffee up my bottom, put castor oil up my bottom, drank hourly juices, turned vegan, seen energy healers, seen psychics, seen crystal healers, had vitamin C IVs, became a yogi, and taken so many pills and potions that it’s impossible to count. However, there are three things that I’ve done that have had the biggest impact and brought me the most benefits.

Healing can be complicated, but when we drill down the principles are actually simple.

These three things helped me heal and transform my life:

1. Making all decisions and acting only from a place self love

Self love is the foundation we need to lay down first, so that all of the other elements of a wellness plan stay in place. Without self love, everything crumbles and wellness isn’t sustainable.

If we aren’t acting from a place of self love, we are acting from a place of fear or self loathing. Instead of doing things out of love, we do things because we think we should do them. This is impossible to maintain, and it’s not much fun either. I’m all about fun.

In the beginning of my journey I was doing things like juicing and meditating because I was afraid of what would happen if I didn’t do them. Everything shifted for me when I started doing these things because I love myself so much that I want to reap the amazing rewards of a super healthy lifestyle.

When you garner a deep inner respect for yourself, you actually want to treat yourself with radical kindness.

To kick off a love affair with yourself, you can just start by looking at yourself in the mirror and saying “I love you”. Do this for 30 days – get over the weirdness of it – and you will start to experience very subtle, but miraculous shifts in the way you treat yourself.

2. Eating nothing but real food

The best change I’ve made to my lifestyle is to eat an organic, plant-based whole food diet. This way of eating has been so life-changing and liberating that I am now in a position where I eat whatever I want, and as much as I want – and I never have to worry about putting on weight or what it’s doing to my health. My body now craves food that nourishes my body and makes me feel amazing.

I eat lots of plants, eat only organic, drink heaps of juice, and indulge in smoothies and raw desserts. I don’t put anything in my body that doesn’t belong there.

Our bodies are living things, and we need to feed them with live foods. They are designed to consume and digest foods that are grown in the ground – that come from Mother Nature. Not food that is only pretending to be food.

3. A daily meditation practice

This was the hardest one for me to master, but it continues to be the most beneficial. In these crazy busy, overly-stimulated lives we live, it is so important to turn within and seek stillness.

I spend 30 minutes each day sitting in silent stillness, focusing on my breath, and training my mind to remain in the present moment.

Meditation allows us to tap into our awareness and creates space in our minds. It enables us to let go of our ego and struggles and makes space for healing, creativity, stillness, intuition and connection to our spirit.

By training ourselves to hang out in the present moment, we are less likely to get caught up in external drama. Worry and anxiety is experienced far less, and self love grows organically.

Jess continues: I would love to know if there’s anything that’s had a profound effect on your personal healing or life transformation? Share away on the comment section below!

If you feel you need extra help transforming your life, or there’s someone you love who you think needs extra support, I would love for you to check out an online program I’ve just created called The Wellness Warrior Lifestyle Transformation Guide. It’s a gentle, step-by-step guide that is designed to educate, inspire and make transformation easy and sustainable.

Check out the promo video (I’m super proud of this) and join up for the Guide

Get an empowering reminder that your health is worth fighting for via my website at The Wellness Warrior , or you can follow me on
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/JessAinscough
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewellnesswarrior

RELATED BLOGS
The Wellness Warrior

NEWS
1. Check out this really inspiring YouTube clip – and be prepared to be delighted!

2. Last chance to join the Gawler Foundation conference

DNA and the dangly bits

This week, more important news about telomeres, their links to ageing and cancer and what to do about it. Then some more useful feedback from the recent blog survey, and a glimpse of things to come as a result. 

Also, I must say how good it is to be back home after a long and wonderful trip and retreat overseas. More of that next week, but first:

Thought for the Day

I do not want to achieve immortality through the legacy of my work

I want to achieve immortality by not dying

                                                                            Woody Allen

Good luck with that fantasy!!!

Telomere length, the risk of cancer and cancer mortality

Some of you may have seen this post already. It had a few days on the blog having been posted in error while I was travelling home. If so, my apologies and maybe you skip to the feedback.

Telomeres are nucleoprotein complexes at the end of our DNA. The dangly bits! Telomeres shorten each time our cells reproduce and therefore reflect organism aging at a cellular level. At a critically short telomere length, cells loose the ability to divide and replicate, eg they die. Malignant cells, in contrast, reactivate and overexpress the enzyme telomerase that lengthens telomeres and allows for plentiful divisions.

Critically short telomeres may increase cancer risk.

Recent research investigated associations between baseline telomere length, the incidence of cancer and cancer mortality over a follow-up period of 10 years.

The conclusions reached were that there was a statistically significant inverse relationship between telomere length and both cancer incidence and mortality, suggesting that keeping telomeres long through telomerase activation could likely prevent cancer and/or increase the chance of survival for individuals who develop cancer.

Link here for the full article. REFERENCE: Peter Willeit P et al, JAMA. 2010;304(1):69-75.

It has been reported in previous blogs that telomerase levels have been shown to be increased by a healthy lifestyle and meditation. Not surprisingly, a lot of research is now searching for compounds, natural or chemical that might lengthen telomeres.

Of interest is TA-65, a Telomerase Activator that has been available for nearly 5 years and that has been used in some people with cancer.

Dr Ed Park from California reports that a metastatic lung cancer in a dog that had a leg amputated due to an osteosarcoma, and a brain cancer in a man both cleared after being on TA-65. TA-65 is a single extract from the root of the Astragalus plant.

It seems a metastatic pancreatic cancer has also been helped by Product B – a combination of natural compounds thought to lengthen telomeres.

Short videos detailing the above 3 cases can be viewed by linking here.

WHAT TO DO? 

Know that when you are reasonably diligent with a healthy lifestyle, especially eating well, exercising and meditating regularly, you are protecting and quite possibly strengthening and extending your telomeres, and as such, your life span and good health! We just get more and more research evidence of the benefits of living well - now there is a surprise!

As a direction for research, it would be very interesting to  measure the telomere lengths of long-term, remarkable cancer survivors. If as expected, they are longer than the norm, then the question again has to be, what either keeps them long in these people, or extends them. My guess it has to do with lifestyle factors.

RELATED BLOG

Telomeres, meditation and length of life

NEWS 

1. SURVEY FEEDBACK

The range of practical and inspiring suggestions from the blog survey was really useful. But first, who else is reading along with you!

Most of you readers are in good health, while around a quarter are dealing with significant illness. The majority are over 50, in full or part-time work (although around a quarter are retired and there is a good percentage of younger people), and there was a high level of interest in all the common blog topics (with relationships being the exception – only half the level).

Most people have been reading the blog for over 2 months; around 90% prefer to read the blog weekly or fortnightly and most prefer guest bloggers monthly or even less frequently. Most of you forward posts frequently or occasionally and many enjoy feeling connected through the blog to other like-minded people.

There were many great suggestions for future blogs; the most immediate one I will address is how to travel well – without jet lag and illness; but with heaps of energy and delight!

2.  TWO FULL DAY WORKSHOPS IN SYDNEY

Including all the latest research on telomeres!

Saturday, 20 October, 2012

THE MIND THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING

When: 9.30am (for 10am start) - 4pm 

Where: Veterinary Science Conference Centre, Webster Theatre, Sydney University

Sunday, 21 October, 2012

HEALTH, HEALING AND WELLBEING

When: 9.30am (for 10am start) - 4pm 

Where: Veterinary Science Conference Centre, Webster Theatre, Sydney University

Bookings Essential: Call Sarah Tail 0418 22 0590 or Tina Rae (02) 4294 8361

Register on line: at www.rigpa.com.au 

3. THE GAWLER FOUNDATION'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE COMING SOON

I will be speaking amidst a wonderful array of 20 speakers at this year's Annual Conference of the Gawler Foundation in Melbourne this November: 17 - 18. Hope to see you there - it is always a great event and a highlight of TGF's year; not the least because so many supporters, participants and friends of the Foundation gather.