Ovarian Cancer

Thought I'd catch up on some of the Dr. Oz shows I tape and his show on Ovarian Cancer was actually very informative.  I thought I would blog about it since this little-known killer needs attention.

Do you know what some of the warning signs are?  Dr. Oz went to a shopping mall in Dallas and set up a clinic to bring more awareness to this form of cancer.  He has a one-page sheet, a risk-assessment if you will, that I believe is on his website.  A few key things are frequent urination, inability to eat a full meal, abdominal pains, bloating (don't panic now, most of us bloat from time to time) and a history of ovarian cancer in the family.

One of the things I found disturbing about this show is a few women had legitimate symptoms that they mentioned to their doctors and they were NOT investigated.   Many women had complaints that the doctors didn't "hear" apparently - or perhaps they just dismissed them.  If this happens to you, find another doctor.  I sincerely believe that most of us are intuitive enough to know when something is wrong.

Now the GOOD news, really good, is that certain foods prevent ovarian cancer up to 73%!  There are molecules in certain foods that are the same as the molecules in cancer treatments.
With a 73% prevention rate, it wouldn't hurt to eat this stuff, eh?

#1 on food list is ENDIVE.  It's in the produce dept. and looks like a tulip, sort of white-ish, and you slice it thinly, put it on a salad or make a salad OF it.  It has a mild cabbage-like taste.  Eat this raw only for best effects - just one half cup twice a week was suggested.  Doable.

#2 was Sea Bass, rich in Omega 3.  If you get, or take Omega 3's already you're probably safe.  It was suggest you eat Sea Bass 2-3 times per week.  Now personally, I'm a little bit squeamish about fish these days.  First of all it needs to be wild caught, NOT farmed.  The farmed fish has antibiotics and godonlyknows in it.  Stick with the wild caught on any fish.  It's like buying organic food.  If you hate fish, find a good Omega 3 source and be sure to include it.

#3 on the food list is ONIONS - red onions to be specific.  Onions as well as garlic (both in the lily family) are tremendous cancer fighters.  It was suggested to have a half cup of red onion daily.  Put it raw in a salad or lightly saute it and put it over your fish, chicken or whatever.  I've found that adding just a sprinkle of balsamic dressing adds a nice touch.  Or make a sauce (recipe on Dr. Oz's website) with turmeric (another cancer fighter) onion, olive oil and chopped tomatoes to put on your meat/fish/whatever.  It's not hard to incorporate red onions daily and they provide a huge boost of nutritionally sound benefits for your cells.

There are some people who feel doomed to inherit the diseases their parents had.  Yes you can inherit diseases, but - big huge but  here - that will happen if and when you are not nurturing your cells.   This is a gross over-simplification but basically when a cell doesn't get the nutrients it needs, it allows for gene expression to take over - then when the cell replicates itself, it copies the potentially harmful components into the new cell.  When this happens over and over, disease is launched.  If you KNOW you have some bad genes, surely you want to halt the reproduction of those, which, in fact, halts the disease from expressing itself.

One would think (or hope) doctors could home in on this and educate their patients on disease prevention.  It's a very rare doctor indeed that does this.  The poor woman on Dr. Oz said she trusted her doctor, but when Dr. Oz found a tumor the size of a plum on her ovary, she is switching doctors.  Blind faith in the present medical establishment is downright foolish and could cost you your life.  Be open to what is known to prevent disease.  I am still praying for a blend of medical doctors with holistic care providers and nutritionists.  There is much the medical doctors could learn.  It's not all about drugs and surgeries.

Diseases and illness are so preventable it only takes your knowledge and awareness and cooperation with a nutrient based diet to have a long healthy life!  Hope this post helps you to achieve that.