Hello! Thank you for reading my last 2 blogs on how to stop your cancer from recurring by knowing what is cancer and changing your mindset.

I’m Doc Joy. I'm a certified lifestyle medicine physician at the 3H Cancer Recovery Center where we help cancer patients with mental health problems to have peace of mind without using medications in the comfort of their homes. We believe that cancer is not just a physical illness. Cancer encompasses the spiritual, mental, emotional and social states of an individual. How do I know this? I have been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. I've gone through the usual medical interventions like surgery, chemotherapy and oral hormonal therapy. During my treatment, I asked myself: "Is that it? What's next?" Because the greatest fear of every cancer patient is the fear of recurrence and I am no different so I explored other options for my healing. As a cancer patient myself, I've learned that I needed to heal my whole being so that now, I am a pink warrior.

In my first blog on cancer thoughts, I discussed that cancer are cells that appear normal at first but due to repeated oxidative stress or chronic inflammation, some cells are damaged and eventually killed through either apoptosis or autophagy. Eventually, the damaged cells become resistant to cell death. They become bigger, irregular and have a different composition that they invade adjacent tissues. Some of them detach to become metastasis. No one knows the exact cause of cancer but there are factors that increase your risk of developing cancer like age, lifestyle, your genes and even the environment. However, the two root causes of cancer are toxicity and deficiency. In this video I will teach you how to diagnose and manage cancer.

In my second blog on cancer issues, I discussed the non-specific signs and symptoms to diagnose cancer like fever, chronic fatigue and pain and those that occur on specific tissue or organ involved. Thus, it is very important to seek consultation with a physician who will do a complete physical examination as well as request laboratory work ups ,imaging studies and even biopsy. Staging is done once the cancer is confirmed which will be the basis for the kind of medical intervention. which can be surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy or immunotherapy alone or combination of any or all of the above. The medical management is customized and involves a multi-disciplinary approach for your complete recovery. Normally, you have been gifted by the capacity to heal your damaged cells before they become cancer. But once you have lost this ability, you need some form of medical intervention previously mentioned. It is like pruning a tree, wherein the undesirable parts like the outgrowth of stems and leaves are removed for better outcome.

The non-medical interventions that you can apply to increase your survival rate and avoid cancer recurrence are faith in God, food as medicine, regular exercise, enough sleep, love of nature, positive attitude, stress management, social connectivity, forgiveness and love of God, neighbour and oneself. I taught you the 5 easy steps to practice relaxation response when you are anxious or stressed out.

In this blog, I will discuss 3 simple steps to prevent cancer recurrence and its progression based on the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF).

First, you have to maintain a healthy weight which can be based on your body mass index (BMI) as well as waist circumference. You can obtain your BMI by getting the quotient of your weight in kilograms and the square of your height in meters. A value of less than 18.5 means you're underweight while the normal BMI is 18.5 to 22.9 if you are Asian while for the Americans or European, the value of 18.5 to 24.9. If your BMI is 23 or more for Asian and 25 and more for American or European, it means you are overweight.

Second, you must eat nutritiously. Eat food mostly of plant origin, preferably whole food-plant based diet like fruits, vegetables, whole grain and healthy protein like beans, lentils, tofu and tempeh. These food substances oppose inflammation and improve your immune response. Limit consumption of sugar, salt, poly saturated fat, red meat and sugary-dense food. Avoid sugary drinks, alcoholic beverages and processed food. Aim to meet your nutritional needs through diet alone unless you have nutritional deficiencies.

Lastly, you must be physically active. Start moving using simple steps where you are and aim for small steps one at a time. Step up by having a regular exercise of 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week using any of the traits like breathing, aerobics, stretching, strengthening and balancing. Stay on course when you keep moving and evaluate your progress through using measurements like heart rate, weight and ability to sustain an activity for prolonged periods in time.

In my next blog, I will show you how to avoid the recurrence of cancer by building peace of mind and strengthening your bodies without using medications on the comfort of your homes using simple steps that you can follow and easily implement in the next few weeks.

For now, write your comment on the space below. Be blessed! Be loved! Be Healed!