Nature Is Really Damn Smart

Someone just added the following comment to my blog entry below and I wanted to respond...

Julie I know you are food obsessed with cancer but I am surprised you have not commented on fertilizers/pesticides used on lawns which is positively linked to dog cancer and possible some human cancers -- causative rather than preventative. This is probably even a bigger factor than eating no meat!

I think that one of the main reasons that I have focused so intently on the food angle is because I still fundamentally believe that if the body is provided with proper nutrition, it can overcome a multitude of evils. Cancer is caused when just one of the trillions of cells in your body gets mixed up in the process of replicating and then the new "mutated" version begins to multiple. Things get "mixed up" for a variety of reasons, only one of which is exposure to carcinogens. But the body also has ways to recognize and eliminate these mutated cells and get things back on track, IF it is healthy and if it is genetically pre-disposed to being able to fight (e.g., some people's bodies lack the ability to detect wayward cells.) This is why not everyone who is exposed to a carcinogen will develop cancer; their cells might mutate, but their bodies are able to destroy those cells before they can develop into cancer. And the only way for the body to be healthy is by feeding it the nutrients that it needs. There is no other way around it; there are no short-cut that you can take; there are no "free passes." Eating crappy food, but exercising regularly does not make a healthy body. Eating crappy food and not exercising creates an even unhealthier one. The challenge is to understand WHAT constitutes a healthy diet versus a crappy one and, as I have said before, I really believe that many people have completely lost touch with what "eating healthy" even means (I know that I certainly did before I got cancer and began doing research on the subject!) After everything that I have read, though, I feel strongly that The China Study, The Omnivore's Dilemma and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle are all doing a really great job at beginning to make sense of the issue, which is why I would encourage everyone to read them.

Interestingly, my belief about healthy eating was supported by a particular study that I read in The China Study. In the study, the author tested the impact of exposure to small versus large doses of a known carcinogen and the role that protein played in "activating" the carcinogen. What he found was that even those subjects who were exposed to the mega doses of the carcinogen did not develop cancer if they did not eat animal-protein based diets. It was the animal protein which "activated" the cancer genes!

I struggle every day with how to make sense of all the information I read. It's completely overwhelming, to say the least! Since I began this new chapter of my life almost 6 months ago, I have been collecting and researching information about many different products in our lives which have been linked to cancer...everything from food to skin care products (e.g., sunscreen and moisturizers) to household cleaning supplies to microwave ovens. And now I'll add lawn care products to my list. The sad reality is that, by virtue of where we live, we are knowingly (and unknowingly!) surrounded in almost every aspect of our lives by products which contain chemicals linked to cancer. Maybe in isolation the chemicals in skin moisturizer wouldn't cause cancer, or the pesticides in fruit wouldn't cause it, or the fertilizer that we spray on our trees and lawns, but the reality is that as Americans we are bombarded on all sides from products that contain carcinogens and, at some point, the build-up of toxins become too much for the body to handle. Sadly, I am no longer surprised that I got cancer; rather, I am shocked that more people I know don't have it!

And so what is a person to do?? Short of moving to Antarctica (which is not really even a legitimate solution since, as the saying goes, "In a round world, we all live downstream"), I guess we just need to pick and choose our battles. Here is the simple truth: Nature is really damn smart. The human body is an incredible, complex system. And the way that our bodies interact with and respond to natural substances (such as plants, air, the sun) is truly magical. Regardless of whether you believe that God gets all the credit for creating such a miraculous synergistic accomplishment or whether you believe simply in the powers of evolution, the fact remains that our bodies are most in balance and most optimal when we stay rooted in all that is natural. History has shown time and again that the more that we try to "improve" on nature, the more that we tinker with what nature has provided us (by adding pesticides to our lawns, by processing our foods and adding chemicals to keep them "fresh" longer, by injecting our cattle with antibiotics so that they don't get sick when we feed them a diet that they were never designed to eat (e.g., corn or cannibalistic cattle parts), by wiping down our countertops with chemicals to kill bacteria rather than just using good old soap and water, etc), the more we run the risk of killing ourselves.

I definitely don't have all of the answers -- not even close! But I am committed to slowly moving my family towards a life that is as chemical, pesticide, and hormone-free as possible...I am committed to moving back to a life as Mother Nature intended it to be. This is certainly not going to happen overnight -- like I wrote yesterday, 39-year-old habits can be hard to break! -- but I am committed to making these changes as part of my "no regrets living". And if we end up a little dirtier, or if we have to eat things that aren't quite as sweet, or if my skin isn't quite as soft as it used to be, then Oh Well! I would so much rather be alive with wrinkly skin than dead with soft skin.

And I sincerely hope that all of you who have been faithfully reading my blog and have "journeyed with me" these past 6 months will consider making similar changes because I care a great deal about all of you...you are my "village", after all!!