Monday, October 12, 2009

So What Are You Doing?--Part 1 (Overview)



I was seated beneath the mounted head of a huge bull, his back festooned with lances, his eyes enraged with the thought of being stuck to the wall of a restaurant forever. I could sympathize with him.

Three friends from work had invited me out for dinner at a Spanish Restaurant, the Casa Barcolona in the West Bloor area of Toronto. The food was excellent and the tastes were new to me. In part the restaurant was chosen for the large number of vegetarian selections on its menu.

After getting caught up on events at the office, and the office gossip, inevitably the conversation turned to what I am doing now to combat the cancer that threatens my life.



Basically I'm following the advice given in a couple of books, "You Can Conquer Cancer" by Dr. Ian Gawler (who lost a leg to cancer thirty years ago); and "Anti-Cancer, A New Way Of Life" by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber (a brain cancer survivor).

Although written in different decades and on different continents, both books offer similar advice: meditate, eat a diet that feeds your immune system and creates a cancer resistant environment in your body, exercise, open yourself up to the support of others, reduce stress and avoid environmental toxins.

Over this week I want to post on each of the elements of this program in its turn. I call it my MEDS program (Meditation, Exercise, Diet and Stress reduction).

Tomorrow I'll talk about the changes Linda and I have made to our diets. And how I survived our Canadian Thanksgiving without turkey.

I welcome comments and criticism, after all it's kind of important for me to get this right.