Cancer Can Go to He_ _alth!

If you have or had cancer or know someone impacted by a cancer diagnosis, I am sure you can relate with wanting to scream..."cancer, go to He_ _!!!!!"

I want to tell you we can change this to health! I propose we flip the way we approach a diagnosis of cancer. The best way to do this is to have you be in charge of your healthcare team.

1. When you are first diagnosed it is important that you do not feel rushed into a treatment option. By the time we are diagnosed with cancer we have had it a long time before signs and symptoms appear. Our body is amazing, and it is designed to heal. On the other hand, while our body is trying to fight cancer and maintain balance in our body, we can be unaware of underlying disease that is not expressed until our body can no longer maintain balance.

2. Take some time to deal with all of the emotions that flood you when told you have cancer. Denial, anger, fear are all possible emotions you will feel, and we will all experience these in a different order and at a different time in this journey.

3. I then encourage you to set a D Day. This is Decision Day! Make a conscious decision to be the lead of your healthcare team and make a list of all you want to do and learn to guide your body to health and healing. It is not fair to you or your medical team to make them the only ones responsible for your health.

   1. Consider the following to be on your health team:

      1. Oncologist

         1. Insurance is a big driver of who we can see so call them to see what your options are.

         2. Find the oncologist you feel comfortable with, check their expertise in treating the type of cancer you have and their success rate.

         3. Look into Integrative, Functional or Holistic Oncologists. They may drive your care completely for the cancer treatment or work in conjunction with your oncologist.

      2. Functional Nutrition Counselor

         1. Nutritional guidance is crucial to creating a soil or terrain in your body that cancer cannot thrive in. We want roots that are in healthy soil.

         2. Lifestyle modifications are reviewed to show you how to support health and healing.

         3. This person on your team can show you how to get to the root causes of cancer. Show you what is specific to you that created an environment for cancer to thrive in. Root cause resolution.

         4. Now as your doctors are focusing on killing the cancer, you are focusing on shifting the terrain the cancer grew in. This is key to keeping your cancer in remission after treatment as well.

      3. Consider adjunct therapies:

         1. Reiki

         2. Massage

         3. Acupuncture

         4. Herbal supports - always work with herbalist that understands cancer and how herbs work with the treatment you are receiving.

Too often in talking with family and friends who have cancer I learn that there is so much focus on "killing the cancer" that there is actually a fear of creating a healthy body. They express concern that this will diminish the impact of their cancer therapy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I also see a detrimental mindset of not taking the importance of the food you are ingesting seriously. Sugar feeds cancer is not a myth. I recently lost my aunt to cancer, and she was drinking nothing but Pepsi. She knew that soda in itself is unhealthy and that sugar feeds cancer, but...she said it was the only thing that tasted good. I have heard many loving friends and family say let them eat what they want to, they have cancer.

As a functional nutrition counselor, I know how food impacts function and cancer. I always have to remind myself those making these comments are not trained in nutrition or cancer care, and their intent is not harm, they just don't know how truly important everything we put in our body matters, especially for those fighting any health challenge.

Some great resources for those with cancer are Becoming Cancer-Free by Dr. Nathan Crane; OutSmart Cancer by Dr. Nalini Chilcov. I encourage you to google these two physicians for great resources.

I work both face to face and online so if you are looking to add a Functional Nutrition Counselor to your team, please feel free to contact me here on my TrueNorthFunctionalNutrition.co website (it is .co and not .com).

Cancer can go to Health!

God bless,

Jocelyn Moglia, CFNC