100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (76 page)

Perk #76

Cancer Prompted Me

to Ditch the Worry Habit

I
am a worrier by nature. Even as a child I was often ridden with angst. My

favorite time to worry is the middle of the night. I call it my “3 AM worry-

fest.” Some of my best worry topics are:

●
my health
●
my kids’ health and safety

●
money
●
my job

●
my relationships

If I don’t have anything legitimate to worry about, I can easily make

something up in a pinch. (Such as: “What if there is a tidal wave in the mid-

dle of the night and I have to get the kids to high country? How will we

survive when we get there? I should really go pack a survival kit right now.”)

I just read a book that is making me reconsider my worry habit.
Dying

to Be Me
is the story of Anita Moorjani’s near-death experience, and subse-

quent miraculous recovery from cancer. This woman was literally on her

deathbed, her skeletal body had open lesions, her organs had begun to shut

down, and she was given less than thirty-six hours to live. While in a coma,

Anita “crossed over” and came back with such amazing insight and clarity

that it cured her of her cancer. It is a true medical miracle that continues to

baffle the worldwide medical community.

What interested me in this book is not her description of the afterlife,

the feeling of unconditional love and euphoria, or even meeting departed

loved ones on the other side. That was a given for me before reading this

book. What I wanted to know is this: what gave you cancer in the first place

and how did you get rid of it?

When asked what gave her cancer, Anita says, “I can sum up the answer

in one word: fear.” She believes that all disease starts first on an energetic

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

level, before manifesting as disease in the body. Ironically, one of the things

she was most afraid of was getting cancer. According to Anita, because she

worried so much and tried so hard to please others, she did not express her

true self, and it was literally killing her.

When asked about her miraculous healing, Anita talks about the impor-

tance of self-love: “I can’t stress enough how important it is to cultivate a

deep love affair with yourself.” Her near-death experience made her realize

the importance of taking care of her own needs and not putting herself last

all the time. (Sound familiar?)

So what I have concluded from this riveting book is that the only real

thing I have to fear is fear itself. By worrying about my cancer returning, I

am actually increasing the likelihood of it happening, since cancer feeds on

fear! I don’t think that living a fearful life alone guarantees cancer, no more

than smoking cigarettes guarantees cancer. But it does put one at greater

risk. Therefore, to survive cancer, one of the things I must do is let go of

my worries and fears and trust in God’s divine plan for my life. Like Anita

Moorjani, I must try to live my life fearlessly and love the magnificent being

that I am.

Get your priorities straight: Love

yourself and live your life fearlessly!

HEALTH TIP #76

Health Priorities Are (in This Order) Air, Water, Food

Y
ou want to get through chemo and radiation with the least amount of

side effects.

You want to reduce your risk for further cancer growth.

You want to have a better relationship with your partner.

You want to learn how to fly a plane.

All these things and anything else you might want to ever do in your

Perk #76:L Cancer Prompted Me to Ditch the Worry Habit

321

life, depend on three things: air, water, and food. One person who has per-

fected teaching this idea is Master Chef Dave Choi.

Chef Dave Choi has been helping people get back to these three basic

fundamentals of life for decades. First, as the owner of six successful vegan

restaurants in Chicago, and, more recently, as a teacher and dietary guide

for those who are going through an illness like heart disease, diabetes, or

obesity. Many of the people that Chef Dave helps have cancer, including

many children. To treat any illness or disease, Dave says to start with the

three primary basics of life: air, water, and food. Without sincere gratitude

and respect for these things, everything else is impossible.

First, we all breathe and we all are getting air into our lungs, but we

don’t always do it in a healthful way. Your lungs and every cell of your body

need deep, cleansing breaths throughout the day. This awakens your mind

and gets oxygen deep into your body so that every cell has what it needs to

live. It also relaxes the body and the mind. Buddhist monks train themselves

to breathe deeply, stimulating their diaphragm at all times, keeping them

in a constant state of relaxation. (And they live to be a hundred!)

Chef Dave explains, “Your body knows how to heal itself, but it needs

the right tools to do it. Cancer patients, especially, have to pay attention to

this because the chemotherapy and radiation wipes out their immune sys-

tem. Their body is like a burnt-down house with just some windows left.

In order to rebuild the house, you need the right tools.”

Next, we need clean water to help flush out toxins and keeps things flow-

ing. Chef Dave suggests drinking room-temperature water. This prevents a

waste of your body’s energy to warm the water up to body temperature after

you drink it. That’s precious energy that could be used on healing.

Lastly, Chef Dave believes that eating alkaline foods as opposed to

acidic foods creates an unpleasant environment for cancer growth, as cancer

loves acid. While most foods are in the midrange of acidic vs. alkaline, the

highly acidic foods include tomatoes, citrus (excluding lemon), dairy, meat,

coffee, and alcohol. Most chemicals and preservatives make your body

acidic as well.

Alkaline foods like broccoli, pine nuts, black sesame seeds, kale, aspara-

gus, and avocado defend your body from cancer growth. It is always a good

idea to include plenty of alkaline foods every day to counter the acids that

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

accumulate in your system. In the decades that Chef Dave has been cooking

for the sick, he has seen that a more alkaline diet helps with healing and

inflammation, so he prepares meals for those he helps using as many highly

alkaline foods as possible.

“Cancer also loves dairy, meat, yeast, and sugar,” he says. So Dave doesn’t

use any of those when he cooks for cancer patients. He suggests eliminating

these foods as well to assist your body in the healing

process and achieve optimum health. But Chef Dave sug-

Air, water, food. Make

gests that instead of thinking of the food as “vegan,” you

these your top three

think of it as “earthy grounded food”: Things that don’t run,

priorities when setting

fly, or swim and come from the earth. He tells those who

healthy lifestyle goals.

aren’t sure about making the dietary change, to try it for

one week and then see what your body is telling you. Your

body knows what it needs. This isn’t a “diet” that you follow for a few weeks

to lose weight or “detox,” this is a lifestyle that will not only help you to

lose weight but will also help with your mental well-being, attitude, and

energy level.

Chef Dave works with many who are so sick they’ve lost hope. For

those who doubt themselves and have feelings of hopelessness because of

their illness, Dave asks them to draw a little silly bumblebee and put it in

a place where they can easily see it. When they feel this way, he tells them

to look at the bee for two reasons. Aerodynamically, the bumblebee’s size

and shape should make it impossible for it to fly. “This fat bee with these

tiny wings shouldn’t be able to fly, but it just does. Just looking at that

bee in flight should tell you that anything is possible.” He also tells people

to look at the bee to remind them to “just be.” Let your life happen. “Bee”

in the moment.

Good air, clean water, and healthy plant-based food give your body the

tools it needs to achieve health. When you have achieved good health, every-

thing else becomes possible.

You can find “Chef Dave Choi” on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/

chefdave.choi

Perk #77

Cancer Redefined

My Relationship with Food

I
f there is one thing I have learned about surviv-

ing cancer, it is that I need to be very aware of

what I put into my body. When I first started my

cancer-fighting diet, I took it to the extreme. I

bought Kriss Carr’s book,
Crazy Sexy Diet,
brushed

the cobwebs off my juicer, and decided that I

would subsist on vegetable juice alone. What’s the

obsession with chewing anyway? I reasoned that

it was high time I gave my teeth a break. While

the book suggested that I start out slowly, using

only one type of vegetable, I am not one to ease

into things. I threw every veggie I could find in the juicer and drank it down

as quickly as I could. Not a good idea. (In retrospect, I really should have