QUestion

[soulshine78]

I have a question... a woman I work with just found out her father was diagnosed with Lukemia. SHe mentioned that the doctor told her father he isnt allowed to eat any fruit or vegetables, especially one's containing antioxidants, because of the Lukemia. Is this right??

[Tirza]

I don't have any direct connection with leukemia, so I can't speak to that. I am only going on what I have heard and read...

I have heard that doctors discourage the intake of high-antioxidant foods and supplements when a patient is going to be taking chemo or radiation therapy. Antioxidants cause the cells to be strengthened and protected from invasion by "bad" stuff like germs, viruses and cancer. Isn't that a good thing, you say? Of course. So why do doctors discourage the use of it? The reason I heard is that they are afraid the antioxidants will actually end up strengthening the cancer cells too and cause them to resist chemo or radiation therapy. I hear that this has not been proven. They only have the logic of their theory to go on.

I had surgery for cancer and was really scared that they would want to do chemo or radiation, so I loaded my diet with foods and supplements that were as high on the antioxidant scale as I could. I thought IF they want to give me either of those therapies and if they want me to stop using antioxidants, then I want to build my cells up as high as possible before it happens. Luckily (I think) they didn't prescribe any of those therapies, so I am keeping on with my high emphasis on antioxidants, in the hope of keeping my cells stronger so they can resist any future recurrance or invasion of cancer again.

Do a bit of research and see what they are saying now about this. I have read where people kept on with it anyway, even during treatment, and felt that they endured and came through the treatments FAR easier because they continued with it, even against the doctors' advice.

What puzzles me is - Why would they want us to have a diet free of antioxidants when we are ill? For that is what such a diet would be. The worst diet in the world! (hospital food!) You get SICK on that diet, not better. :confused:

[Revvell]

Yeah, they might heal him and they wont get their money.

I know that sound flip yet, it's not BECAUSE of the dis-ease, it's in my opinion, becuase of the the drugs.

Revvell

[rawpriestess]

I have known people who feel they have cured Luekemia with eating raw foods.


They refused to listen to their doctors and are now in remission of the disease.

This happens often, when people take on their own healing, and choose to not listen to doctors about their body, but to listen to their own heart about their bodies.

I say, do what works for you, do you feel better eating fresh fruits and vegetables?-- then keep doing that.

[sungoddess]

Antioxidants counter the effects of radiation therapy. And since radiation therapy is very bad for the body, you can see why. So for radiation therapy to "work" , it cannot be fought by any healthy foods. It needs total ability for destruction. That being said, radiation and chemo did put my mom's cancer into remission, even though it wreaked havoc on many other things in her body. She now wishes that she tried a natural approach.

So, there IS a logic to why a doctor would say no to antioxidants- even though the oppisite approach is much mroe beneificial.

[Apasaraw]

Remember the person with Leukemia has no immune system and the chemo/radiation will kill off the goodies as well as the baddies leaving the person with no defenses whatsoever. Fresh fruits and veg (and spices and flowers/plants) could carry a pathogen that could harm the person. If you are near them you cannot touch your face or you must wash your hands....it's isn't the food or antioxidents that are an issue, but the risk of a loose germ here or there getting into the person's defensless body. Leukemia has wiped out all defenses.

It is only for the first few weeks of treatment as a precaution for the person's immune system. When they can eat again fruits and veg are encouraged. In fact anything they will eat is encouraged as the person may have no appetite...

As to whether to take treatment from allopaths or not, of course, that is a personal choice...but the good news is that leukemia treatment has an incredibly high success rate these days.

I too would choose to try diet first...but in some cases time is of the essence and a choice is made in the other direction.

All the best to your friend's family!

[RowanC]

Yes, this is true. When I worked in Oncology we were not allowed to let raw fruits, vegetables or even flowers into the room because the person who is on chemotherapy or radiation therapy basically has no immune system whatsoever.

I have no doubt that raw food will heal cancer.
However, if the person has been on one of those invasive therapies, it really is important to keep these things away from them to protect them. An orange with the wrong bacteria on the skin could kill them.

[Nutz Over RAW]

My grandmother told me when I was about 14, that when the US bombed Hiroshima, the people who ate miso soup every day did not have side effects from the radiation. I happened to google it a few years ago and there it was. There were other articles about cancer patients going through radiation and recommending that miso soup protects the organs. The iodine in the seaweed helps protect the organs. Miso is a considered a healing food. But if you boil it, the enzymes disappear. The correct way to make miso (if your friend takes the route of radiation), is to boil the water and then pour if over the miso paste. My grandmother had cancer 30 years ago and she healed herself by following Anne Wigmore's book called "How I Conquered Cancer". She grew her own wheat grass and ate all raw foods and nothing fancy, just straight fruit and vegetables. She's 86 now and super healthy. She also grew up with TB (she caught it from her parents when she was a teenager) and for the last 30 years she hasn't suffered any symptoms from it. I believe raw can heal anything. I wish your friend great health!

[Tirza]

Miso! Please tell me a little about this. What kind of miso? Soy, rice, barley....? Red or light? How much?

So doesn't the boiling water being poured over it still kill the enzymes? Or should it be cooled a bit first?

Thanks