Cancer: Body and mind out of balance

It is a brave new world out there. We are no longer so easily dictated to by the experts when it comes to matters of our health. I have found that some of the most knowledgeable people on cancer are the ones who have come face to face with the Big C, rolled up their sleeves and tackled it head on.

"However, with knowledge comes all kinds of emotions," warns Annette, 57. "Especially anger about not being told about the body's ability to heal itself!"

A month ago Annette went in for what she thought was fairly routine fibroid surgery only to come out with the knowledge she had one of the rarest, most lethal forms of cancer. Six weeks recovering from her surgery gave her time to search the Internet and consult various experts. She started developing a different understanding of cancer. Instead of accepting her fate as cancer's victim, she began to see that cancer is not some mysterious disease she couldn't do anything about.

She will state that she has one of the best oncologists available. Yet when she shared with her doctor her new found convictions and asked about such things as changing her diet, she was "indulged."

"He told me that he got it all and that I could just go back to living my regular life."

Yeah, right.

"My cancer is called malignant recurrent stromal carcinoma. Emphasis on the 'recurrent'! It is very lethal, and you don't usually know you have it until you are dead. I was sitting there with a 50/50 chance of it recurring. There was no way I was going back to my old lifestyle."

Annette found herself focusing on what for her has become an unassailable fact: A body that is out of balance in terms of its pH values cannot heal.

"Cancer loves an acidic environment!" she recently proclaimed over a breakfast of tomatoes, onions and avocado.

The more she read, the more she was convinced that the diet she had been eating -- and that most Americans eat -- is highly acidic. We are born with a balanced pH system but our typical meat, dairy and wheat diet tips the balance to the acidic environment that cancer cells thrive in. According to Dr. Robert Young (author of "The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health"), "It's all about balance. ... When imbalance occurs, we get the signs of disease... Overacidity interferes with life itself. It is the root of all sickness and disease."

This became of special interest to Annette, because she remembers well how a doctor told her 10 years ago that her system was dangerously acidic. She ignored the warning and continued to eat her beloved cheeseburgers. In retrospect, she feels she could have done something to stem the eventually triumphant march of the then dormant cancer cells lurking in her body.

She is dedicated to preventing the recurrence of cancer by de-acidifying her system through a vegetable-based diet. Following the guidelines in Dr. Young's book, she has started losing weight easily.

"Every day, I lose weight. When my body regained its inner balance, I lost all my cravings."

One thing I have learned from Annette -- and the many others who have shared their cancer stories with me -- is how formidable an ally the proper mental attitude can be when it comes to cancer.

Dr. Michael O.L. Seabaugh, a Cape Girardeau native, is a clinical psychologist who lives and works in Santa Barbara, Calif. Contact him at mseabaugh@semissourian.com.

On the Net

To read more about Annette's pH balancing diet, visit Dr. Seabaugh's website/blog: www.HealthspanWeb.com. Comment at mseabaugh@semissourian.com