100 Perks of Having Cancer: Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It (95 page)

you are not a smoker, but you love (or really, really like) someone who is,

open the book to this page and leave it in a prominent place (such as next

to their pack of cigs). It’s not nagging if they just
happen
to see it.

Consider these facts:

●
After twenty minutes without a cigarette:
Heart rate and blood pressure

normalize.

●
After twelve hours without a cigarette:
Carbon monoxide level drops

to normal.

●
After one day without a cigarette:
Increased damage to skin stops.

●
After two days without a cigarette:
Taste buds start to regenerate. Nose

hairs and nerves that effect smell begin to repair.

●
After two weeks without a cigarette:
Circulation begins to improve.

●
After three months without a cigarette:
Lung function improves up to

30 percent.

●
After one year without a cigarette:
Risk of heart disease is cut in half.

●
After five years without a cigarette:
Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat,

esophagus, and bladder are cut in half. Risk of stroke is that of a non-

smoker.

Perk #94: Living a Kick-Ass Life

403

●
After ten years without a cigarette:
Risk of lung cancer is cut in half.

●
After fifteen years without a cigarette:
Risk of heart disease is the same

as a nonsmoker.

Okay, I know I said I would keep this positive, but since you are already

reading this . . .

●
Cigarette smokers not only have a higher risk of heart and lung disease,

but also erectile dysfunction, decreased sperm count, and macular degen-

eration, which is a leading cause of blindness.

●
Secondhand smoke damage causes asthma, cancer,

and sudden infant death syndrome. If you are

smoking in your car with your child, even if

you are holding the cigarette out the window,

you are exposing them to the harmful effects

of smoking.

●
Just because you don’t smoke a pack a day doesn’t mean you’re fine. Even

just two cigarettes a day have harmful effects.

●
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of heart and cardiovascular disease,

accounting for more than 2.4 million premature deaths per year.

●
When I was a nurse, I watched one of my favorite patients die of cancer.

The last thing he did before he died was smoke a cigarette . (He was so

weak, his family had to hold it up to his lips so he could take a drag.)

He would always say, “How I wish to God I never picked one of these

things up.”

Good news and bad news . . .

Once you quit, your lungs will continue to heal for many months. Because

of that, you may notice that you produce more mucous after you quit than

while you were smoking. (This is usually when the quitter says, “To hell

with this—I felt better on cigarettes.”)

But realize that all the tiny goblet cells (cells that produce helpful

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100 Perks of Having Cancer

mucous that eliminates impurities from your lungs) that were destroyed

with smoking are growing back! They will produce mucus to try to clean

out your lungs. Don’t hate them! Nurture them along so they can do their

job for you once again to keep your lungs clear of nasty impurities.

Naturopathic doctor, Negin Misaghi, has some tips to share on some

things you can do to help your lungs heal. These tips can also be applied

to any lung problems: asthma, bronchitis, or even just a cough from a cold.

●
Smoking causes a deficiency in Lung Yin and Lung Qi (energy). Useful

foods to nourish lungs include: rice, oats, carrots, mustard greens, sweet

potato, yam, spinach, orange, peach, apple, watermelon, tomato, banana,

string bean, flaxseed, clam, ginger, garlic, and spirulina and cholorella

(types of algae).

●
Try to include seaweed and flaxseed in your diet, which help to renew

the mucous membranes that line the lungs.

●
Mucous is good! The production of mucous is healthy in this case and

is your body’s way of expelling toxins and impurities. Don’t stifle the

mucous by taking antihistamines or drugs that “dry you up” unless

absolutely necessary.

●
Dairy causes the body to produce mucous. Since your lungs will already

be producing excess mucous, limit or avoid your intake of milk, cheese,

and yogurt.

●
Increasing water intake will help to liquefy the mucus and help you to

get rid of it. Steam will also help—either in the shower, or by making a

tent holding a towel over your head as you lean over a pot of steaming

water and breathe deeply. Adding Himalayan pink salt (available online

or at health food stores) to the water will help even more.

●
Increase your lung intake by taking walks, starting a yoga routine, or prac-

ticing mindful breathing or meditative breathing during the day. The air

needs to be forced deep down in your lungs to go where air has never

gone before.

Perk #94: Living a Kick-Ass Life

405

●
Stay away from other smokers for the obvious reason of cravings, but sec-

ondhand smoke will damage the lungs you are trying to heal.

●
Stay away from air cleaners or automatic air filters that emit ozone into

the air as these will compromise your lungs.

●
Sadness, grief, and worry deplete Lung Qi and manifest as feelings of

tightness in the chest, breathlessness, and sighing. Your meditation and

deep breathing exercises will help here. Consider seeing a therapist if you

have deeply rooted unresolved issues.

Remember:

●
Never quit quitting! It takes most people four tries to quit, so if you’ve

tried before, try again! Maybe this time it will take.

●
The best results occur when therapy involves counseling and support

groups as well as nicotine withdrawal medication. There are natural meth-

ods of quitting; however, because they are natural there is no good data

to list success rates. I am not a proponent of unnecessary drugs, but in

this case, if other methods, including natural ones, have not worked, the

benefits of not smoking far outweigh the risks of taking prescription phar-

maceuticals short term while you quit.

●
If you need help with quitting you can check out these sites and consult

your healthcare provider for more help:

➛
www.smokefree.gov

➛
www.helpguide.org/mental/quit_smoking_cessation.htm

➛
www.cancer.org/Healthy/StayAwayfromTobacco/GuidetoQuitting

Smoking/index

➛
www.yourdiseaserisk.wustl.edu

Do I really have to list a healthy living tip here?

Perk #95

Cancer Helped Me

to Find My Spirit

F
or many years, I described myself as a “spiritual seeker.” What it was

exactly that I was seeking, I am not quite sure. However, I invested

thousands of dollars in hundreds of books by the top spiritual gurus of

our day, such as Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Deepak

Chopra. I also did classes and workshops on topics like Mindfulness

Meditation, Reiki, Angel Therapy, and Crystal Therapy. In the back of my

mind, I believed that if I only hit on the right book or the right course, I

would be an enlightened spirit and my life would be fixed.

I figured there were many benefits to being an enlightened spirit. First

of all, it would allow me to master the Law of Attraction, and I would be

showered with prosperity and love (by “love” I mean a good man, as I was

also seeking that!). Secondly, my intuition would be magnified to the point

that, not only would I always make the right decisions based on my gut

feelings, but I might even develop psychic skills. Then I would get to impress

my friends by saying stuff like, “Jackie, I see you on a plane. Are you plan-

ning a trip in the near future?” Most important, I would be able to live my

life in a state of blissful peace and not be bothered by worldly problems.

Yes, my friends, all of the secrets of the universe would be revealed to me

if I could just find that one enlightening book or course.

I developed a ritual of spiritual exercises, which I practiced every day.

As the term
exercise
implies, it was hard work. I often did not feel like hauling

my butt out of bed at 6 AM to do the spiritual work, but visions of myself

as an enlightened spirit kept me going. So each morning I would sit on the

cold hard floor, in an uncomfortable position, and try to quiet my mind in

meditation.

After my diagnosis, I decided to cut myself some slack. I continued to

do my meditations, but instead of sitting in a traditional meditation pose

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