Some of you may have read that my brother was recently diagnosed with stage III melanoma cancer. If you’re not familiar with the stages, here’s a Wiki explanation:
- Stage I cancers are localized to one part of the body.
- Stage II cancers are locally advanced.
- Stage III cancers are also locally advanced. Whether a cancer is designated as Stage II or Stage III can depend on the specific type of cancer; for example, in Hodgkin's Disease, Stage II indicates affected lymph nodes on only one side of the diaphragm, whereas Stage III indicates affected lymph nodes above and below the diaphragm. The specific criteria for Stages II and III therefore differ according to diagnosis.
- Stage IV cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body
Incidentally, my GIST cancer was considered stage II because of the size of that thing. My doctor said it was the size of a fist. He must not be very athletic because I thought all tumors were supposed to be compared to a ball, like a baseball in my case. Am I digressing? Sorry.
I’m sure some of you have read his book, and I plan to as well so that I can share some of his wisdom with you. But as for the video, one of the first charts he presented demonstrates why every one of you reading this is on course to follow his, my brother’s, and my footsteps.
The chart I’m referring to was a global incidence of cancer map. I did some surfing and found an even better resource at a World Health Organization (WHO) site called CancerMondial. As you might expect the site provides data, and it also has the ability to create custom maps on incidences and mortalities on all types of cancer. After reviewing the map below, what conclusion could we make?
Western civilization causes cancer. It’s undeniable. So what are we to do? For starters, President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 to strengthen the National Cancer Institute. It was hoped that with more funding to research cancer biology and treatments that we would win the “war on cancer”. Because we in the west have the most resources, we spend lots of money to cure cancer. The research and technology has lead to early detection and targeted drug therapies. But another chart from the WHO estimates that we’re losing ground. Because it's a PDF, I can't post here, but you can find it on page 12 of the link below:
Projected deaths for selected causes to 2030
The chart reveals that cancer has now passed heart disease as our #1 killer - and it's growing faster.
It’s not like we’re stupid. I just think we need to redirect our resources. Using a war analogy, we in the west are getting bombarded by a constant stream of artillery (cancer). Our response has been to fortify our position and develop technologies to neutralize the incoming threat. Well why don’t we just go after whatever’s making and launching the artillery? With our first map as a guide, why don’t we just figure out what they’re doing differently in countries like Sudan, Angola, Namibia, and India. I’ll be the first to admit that I have zero desire to live in any of these places. We’d soon discover that these countries have higher mortality on communicable diseases and nutrition – but they got us beat on cancer!
So how do we live like an Angolan in the States to avoid cancer? We could start by eating more like them. I haven’t taken the time to examine the diets of people in these poor countries but I bet they don’t include all the white, sugary stuff that we do or all the processed oils . In his video, Dr. Servan-Schreiber presented another chart on the increased sugar consumption that’s taken place since the early 1900’s. We’ve gone from like 11lbs per year in 1830 (mostly from honey) to over 150lbs of sugar now consumed per person. It’s the same for all the vegetable oils we over consume.
This reminds me of what’s written in Genesis (15:26):
If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.
There’s no doubt in my mind – we are the Egyptians. In our never-ending pursuit of progress and pleasure, we’ve lost touch with what makes us whole. We can start by eating whole. Avoid eating things with UPC codes. Avoid eating things that are tainted with hormones and antibiotics. Avoid Franken-foods (genetically modified). I’m definitely sounding like a preacher, but I do it because I know this is the best way to live – and who wouldn’t want to share that with everyone they know.
It’s really quite simple. In theory. We remove and avoid all the contaminants. Simple, but very hard; and when you consider all the environmental toxins we’re exposed to from things that are put into our air and water, it’s practically impossible. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try though.
It means if we can’t pronounce it, we don’t eat it. If we can’t eat it, we don’t put it on our skin. There’s no shortage of content for these topics in the genre of alternative medicine and natural health. There’s even an organization that’s attempting to address all that artillery I mentioned earlier:
The Cancer Prevention Coalition
Perhaps the mecca for content on how to eat and live more like the primitive cultures I mentioned is The Weston A. Price Foundation. This organization has taken the research obtained by Dr. Price in the 1930’s and applied it to our world today. Of course our world today (the Western world with +50% cancer rates) largely considers their approach to be kookery. How do I know? Just tell someone you know that you drink raw milk. Their reaction is quite amusing and instructive – to me.
I know all these things put me into the kook category. Lord willing, they’ll someday put me into old kook category.
Are you in?
