HEALTH FARMING

( By Dr. Krishna Murari Modi )

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3-Early Detection can save: Cancer

There are about 100 kinds of cancer which attack human beings. It is a disease in which cells multiply uncontrollably, destroy healthy tissue and harm life. It has been a leading cause of death in many countries including India. It can attack any part of the body however the parts most affected are the skin, the digestive organs, the lungs and the female breasts. Cancer causing agents are the tars in tobacco smoke, a variety of other chemicals, and certain kinds of radiation. Without an early and proper treatment most cancers are fatal. Much research remains to be done although the methods of diagnosing have improved. It is estimated that a third of all persons treated for cancer recover. Cancer develops as a result of abnormal cell reproduction. Whenever anything interferes with the reproductive control of cells, the cells multiply and gradually build up a mass of tissue called a tumour, some of them are benign. The malignant ones are these that invade, compress and eventually destroy surrounding healthy tissue. In addition, cells can break away from a malignant tumour.

They are carried by the blood or lymph to other parts of the body where they continue to multiply and so form new tumours. The spread of cancer from the original tumour to one or more body sites is called metastasis. Cancer’s ability to spread to other parts of the body makes the disease difficult to treat unless detected early. People develop cancers with prolonged contact with cancer causing agents called carcinogens. These attack normal cells and eventually cause one of them to become cancerous. Some carcinogens. These attack normal cells and eventually cause one of them to become cancerous. Some carcinogens are introduced into the body through the nose, mouth, or some other opening, others attack through the skin.

Many cancers are caused by a combination of more than one or two agents. Chemical carcinogens, enter the food supply as a food additive, used in food processing or through use in agriculture. In discharging waste products some factories release chemical carcinogens into the environment. In the beginning stages cancer shows no signs. But symptoms may appear before the disease spreads; change in bowel or bladder habits; a sore that does not heal; unusual bleeding or discharge; lump in breast or elsewhere; difficulty in swallowing; obvious change in wart or mole; nagging cough or hoarseness.

A person who has any of these symptoms longer than two weeks should consult a physician promptly. Cancer treatment is normally done through surgery; radiation therapy and drug therapy. (chemotherapy). One must remember that most people who never develop cancer have an immune system that reacts strongly to cancer antigens. Large doses of vitamin A,C and E have proved to be useful in preventing some cancers in laboratory animals. Some foods contain substances that can prevent cancers. Foods like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, carrots, whole grain breads and cereals and some seafoods. Fats and salty pickles must be avoided.

The mention of cancer fills us with awe and grief. It comes as a shock, like capital punishment. Cancer in Greek means crab. The word was first used by Hypocrates. Tumours in Egyptian mummmies dating back 5,000 years represent the first known human cancers. Though cancer has been present since antiquity it has become more common now. There is after that it may become killer number one by the year 2000.

In India 5 lakh new cases are detected every year and there are 20 lakh cancer patients at any given time. In more advanced and affluent countries cancer has also increased. In the U.S. about 8 lakh new cases are diagnosed annually and there are over 4 lakh deaths due to carcinoma every year. As we get more industrialised, the number of cancer cases in bound to rise steeply. Cancer is a leading killer in the western world, and it is going to be so in India soon. It is a difficult disease to control.

In 1962, scientists promised to put a man on the moon in 10 years’ time. They did so in 1969, in 7 years. In 1971 the then President of the U.S.A., Richard Nixon, declared "we will win over cancer by 1980". Billions of dollars have been spent, but they are no where near to this end. It does not appear that in the near future there will be any significant break through. In fact, since 1982, there have been no new discoveries in regard to cancer treatment. Brilliant scientists are continuously working on it. Cancer behaves noiselessly and without haste like smothering fire eating into rotten timber.

Cancer is known to be caused by an uncontrollable growth of cells originating from a normal tissue, killing the host by local extension or distant spread (metastasis). As we grow from childhood to adulthood human cells multiply. We increase in height and weight. These cells stop growing after adulthood. In a few people after 35, certain cells start growing after adulthood. In a few people after 35, certain cells stop growing and multiplying again as they did in childhood. What triggers them and makes to grow and re-multiply is still not known. These are cancer cells. Through the blood stream they reach different parts of the body and can settle down anywhere: in the lung, liver, bones and start forming a growth called metastasis. Doctors have not been able to control metastasis. This is the biggest hurdle in finding a cure.

Professor Eric Boxland, Head, Dept. of Biochemistry at the Chester Beatty, Research Institute, London, stated that "most of the cancer in human subjects is due to external chemical factors that could be eliminated. More effort should be expended in trying to find the cause of the more common forms of cancer. The discovery of the cause of the more common forms of cancer. The discovery of the cause and their removal seems to be the most hopeful way of solving the human cancer problem".

Two third cases of cancer in India is tobacco-related. Tobacco in our country is a poor man’s addiction. Tobacco leaves are flavoured with saffron. The rich and the poor take it mixed with lime. This tobacco concoction is instantly prepared by crushing it by the thumb on one’s palm. It is pressed between the gum and cheek and gradually dissolves in the saliva and is absorbed through the mucosa. It is also taken as snuff and sometimes used as tooth powder. Betel nuts added to a variety of tobacco and kimam along with katha and lime in Indian pan. Lime and betal nuts increase the risk.

Let us not forget the cigarette, which can claim to be the number one carcinogenic in the world. Our poor masses cannot afford expensive cigarettes. They smoke bidis, hukka or chilum. They chew tobacco many times a day and share it with others as a gesture of friendship. When used for 10-15 years continuously tobacco brings about a touch of cancermost common is the cancer of head and neck. It could also be a cancer of the lung, gum, cheek, tongue or any other part of buccal cavity. Manipur, a district in U.P. which grows the most famous tobacco that is chewed by the people can claim to have the highest buccal cancer rate in India. Head and neck cancer which includes cancer of pharynx, larynx and bronchi oesophagus constitutes 52% of all cancers among males in India, whereas in the U.S.A. it is only 7%, since chewing tobacco is not common.

Tobacco smoking produces cancer of lung, larynx, mouth, oesophagus, bladder pancreas and kidney. The greatest impact of cigarette smoking is on lung cancer among those who smoke 2 or more packs per day. It is 20 times more than among non-smokers. Alcoholic beverages multiply the effect of tobacco smoking on cancer of mouth, pharynx, oesophagus and larynx. Heavy drinkers, who do not smoke, have only slightly elevated risk of cancer, but they are more prone to cancer of the liver. Nutritional deficiency associated with heavy drinking is the suspected cause of cancer.

As lung cancer is common among the males so is breast cancer among the females. Eighteen out of every 100 Indian women cancer patients suffer from the cancer of breast. At the Tata Memorial Hospital, Bombay, it was found that breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in Indian women after the of crevix. The incidence of disease also varies in different ethnic groups. Breast cancer is the highest among Parsi women. The cause for this high rate among Parsi women may be because they marry late, bear less children or because they have a high calorie (non-vegetarian) diet.

Chances of breast cancer in women below 25 years of age are low. The risk increases after 35 years. The early onset of menstruation and its late cessation increases the risk of breast cancer. Full term pregnancy before the age of 25 years is a protection against the disease. The risk of breast cancer is the highest among women who have had no children. This is why nuns have a maximum risk of breast cancer.

The cancer of the vagina called cancer cervix is another common form. It is probably caused by not keeping proper hygiene or by a virus introduced during intercourse. Women who abstain from sex do not seem to get cancer of the cervix. Long hours in the hot sun, may give melanoma, a form of skin cancer. It is quite common in Australia a country peopled by the white and blessed with hot sun. The Brown race (Indians) and the Blacks (Africans) are protected against skin cancer because the ultraviolet rays from the hot sun are not able to pierce much into the skin due to melanin pigment, the colouring matter present in the skin. This cancer is not common in India.

The list of so called carcinogens seems to grow daily. It features such apparently wholly unrelated influences as asbestos, saw dust (carpenter is prone to cancer of the nose), dust in the plastic factory, rubber and leather factories nuclear waste, lead filled exhaust fumes of motor vehicles, nitrates drained into the drinking water from fertilised fields and a formidable menu of man-made chemicals including some drugs, popular food colourings and reagents used in the industry.

Motor vehicles do not harm just by breaking bones and ripping flesh, they also poison the air pouring a good amount of carbon monoxide and peculiarly dangerous lead compounds from their exhaust. The carbon monoxide level in the blood of those exposed for half an hour to Bombay traffic fumes during the rush hour is raised as much as that of one who has been smoking a few cigarettes.

Asbestos has definite carcinogenic effect. Addressing a world symposium on asbestos held in Montreal in 1982, Professor William Nicholas of Mount Sinai Medical School, New York, disclosed that year, 8,000 workers in North America would die of cancer as a result of having been exposed to mineral dust, and the death toll would rise to 10,000 a year by 1990. Three months later the U.S. Manville Corporation the world’s largest asbestos firm, though economically sound stunned the financial community by filling an application for technical bankruptcy to protect itself against some 70,000 existing and expected claims made by workers affected by asbestosis or their surviving relatives or users. The same year the British government announced a general tightening up of safety regulations and halfing of the permitted level of asbestos dust in factory air. Manufacturers breaking the regulations would now be faced with going to prison, instead of merely facing fines.

If this could happen in the West, the conditions of the asbestos factory workers in India is no where better. There is no enforcement of pollution laws or safety standards to make the life of the workers more tolerable. Asbestos workers who smoke are much more liable to develop cancer of the lung than their non-smoking colleagues.

Unfortunately the profit motive always seems to be of greater value and of immediate importance than concern for the health of the working masses. We all know that X-ray should be taken only when it is really necessary. Repeated exposure to X-ray can cause cancer. Exposure to atomic blasts, working in an atomic power station, medical use of radiation in cancer treatment and other diseases like ankylosing spondylitis, exposure to the radium dial of the watch, uranium and radium paints could be dangerous.

The man-made cause of ill health is plutonium, the radioactive carcinogen generated in atomic power stations which lives for a long time and cannot be disposed of. It is a threat to the health future generation who will be affected in their procreation.

Radiation accounts for 3 percent of all cancers. It can involve any part of the body. The more common cancers are of breast, thyroid and bone marrow. Leukaemia can be caused after radiation treatment of ankylosing spondylitis, benign gynecologic disease and neoplasm. The risk starts two to four years after radiation, peaking after six to eight years and coming back to normal within 25 years. If a pregnant woman is exposed to X-ray the new born may suffer from leukaemia and other childhood cancer.

In modern times, items like potatoes, onions and milk are exposed to radiation to increase their storage capacity. Milk can be stored at ordinary temperature for months, potatoes and onions do not germinate after radiation. It is also possible to delay the ripening of tomatoes and mangoes using the same method. This method saves considerable energy as vegetables can be kept at higher temperature than by conventional preservation practices. Tomatoes can be kept at 25 to 30C and mushrooms at 15C. Though the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) New Delhi claims that these preservation techniques are safe for human consumption. How safe is the question. Recent interest has centered round contaminants of drinking water.

During chlorination, several halogenated organic compounds are produced which are carcinogenic. The level of these compounds in drinking water has shown co-relation with the rates of cancer in bladder, colon and rectum. Even among the medicines that people take nowadays there are a few which may cause cancer on later years.

A major discovery in 1975 showed that synthetic estrogens taken during pregnancy produced adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix several years later in girls to be born and exposed in the uterus. Ecauses cancer of the uterus.strogen used for menopausal resions. The oral contraceptive has been known to cause cancer of liver, uterus or breast. Even certain drugs used to treat cancer can cause cancer. Immunosupressant drugs given to kidney transplant patients can cause cancer. Lymphoma may occur months after this transplant. It increases the risk of cancer of the liver, gall bladder, lungs and skin.

Nutrition

The high calorie diet in the affluent west contributes to a sizable proportion of cancers. The high dietary fat increases the risk of colonic cancer by increasing the bile acids in the bowel. Dietary fat, high calorie non-vegetarian diet of refined foods can give rise to the cancer of uterus, rectum, large intestine and stomach. Several studies have found a remarkably low incidence of cancer among vegetarians.

In several studies it has been found that the risk of colonic cancer is inversely related to the consumption of fibre. In the process of refining, some valuable nutrients and fibres that the natural foods are blessed with, are eliminated. The fibre holds fibrous carbohydrate in food mainly cellulose. It cannot be digested by the human body. It increases the bulk of the stool and helps in its quick passage, thus preventing constipation reducing fat absorption by the body. High fibre diet is also a low calorie diet and a good cancer preventing diet.

A low intake of vitamin A, carotene and selenium may cause lung cancer. The risk of cancer of the stomach is more in a diet deficient in fruits and vegetables containing vitamin C. In a study of oesophagal cancer the high rate among black males was attributed to heavy alcohol consumption. Alcohol is a high calorie food. Alcoholics tend to eat less and may develop generalised poor nutrition.

When you drink coffee in excess the chances of cancer of the pancreas and urinary bladder are heightened. When foodgrains , not well dried, are stored in humid condition, a fungus (aspergillus flavus) may grow on them and form a toxin (aflotoxin) which may cause cancer. The artificial sweetener like saccharine and cyclamate are weak carcinogens of urinary bladder.

Cooking practices like frying, browning and roasting may release hydrocarbons which are carcinogenic. Cancer is common among the elderly and the bereaved who are beset by grief and emotional disturbances. It is well known that the condition of a patient deteriorates much faster after diagnosis of cancer is made. Our immune system is often affected by negative attitudes. Panic is one such. A sudden fear can set off a harmful chain reaction in the entire endocrine system. Nothing about cancer is more lethal than the hopelessness it produces nothing is more essential than the determination to get the best of whatever is possible.

Diagnosis

Early diagnosis is important for effective treatment. If it is diagnosed before it has reached the lymph nodes or before metastasis has developed it is treatable with some good result. It requires more vigilance on the part of the patient and general practitioners. Many times cancer is symptomless and when detected it becomes too late for treatment.

If you feel tired, have giddiness or anaemia; if you have fever which is not responding to treatment; if you feel a lump on the breast or testicles, if you develop hoarseness of voice or find an unresponding ulcer on the tongue or gums; or if you have a chronic cough which is not responding to treatment you may be a case of suspected cancer. A thorough check-up will be called for.

It is advisable to have a routine cancer check-up if you are forty or above. A simple test like the self examination of breasts of testicles, a simple X-ray of chest, blood test or a swab examination of throat or cervix may reveal the existence of cancer in most cases.

Sophisticated examinations like sonography, cat scan, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), histopathological examination of a small tissue removed in biopsy or aspirated fluid removal from the tumour may be needed in a few cases. Lung cancer is common in male chronic smokers. It can be detected early and is curable. A person who has constant cough should not disregard it by just calling it a "smoker’s cough". If the cough does not subside quickly, an X-ray of the chest should be done. If any doubtful shadow is detected, it should be thoroughly investigated. Many times lung cancer is treated as T.B. lung. If symptoms do not subside within 3 weeks after T.B. treatment it should immediately be investigated for cancer. Let us not forget that cancer that is detected early is treatable.

The cancer of breast is detected by self-examination. Any lump on the breast should immediately arouse suspicion. Age, number of children born, symptoms like pain, tenderness of the breast and any type of discharge from the nipple also are to be considered before taking a decision. Mamography may be required to confirm the diagnosis. Mamograph is a soft tissue breast X-ray.

The cancer of cervix and vagina can be easily detected by a smear test. A cotton swab is put at the mouth of cervix and smeared with the discharge. The smear is placed on a glass slide. The stain is examined under the microscope. An early diagnosis of all disease especially cancer is important for effective treatment. A melanoma or skin cancer, not so common in India, is common among the white skinned people if they are exposed to the hot sun for long periods. If a pimple suddenly changes colour, cancer could be suspect.

Enormous sums have been spent on cancer research. Skilled surgery, sophisticated machinery for X-rays and other types of radiation and the development of a range of powerful anticancer drugs, have not been able to check the onslaughter of the disease. The cures are hardly more frequent now than they were half a century ago. A few cancers, including one form of childhood leukaemia, can be cured almost as a matter of routine., if tackles soon enough. It is the common cancer which has proved most amenable to treatment. Tumours of the lung, the gut, the female breast and genitalia continue to strike more people every year.

There is a tendency to regard cancer as a malignant blight visited by baleful fate upon those unfortunate enough to catch her eyes – an inevitable happening for those marked out for the disease. It is nothing of the sort. Like coronary heart disease cancer can be prevented. The difficulty with cancer treatment is that all the treatment whether it is by radiation or chemotherapy kills not only the cancer cell as well as normal cells. Research is being caried out to attack only the target cells but no great success has been achieved yet. Surgery is successful if done at an early stage, but most of the cases that come are late when the cancer cells have already reached the lymph mode and metastasised in other parts of the body. If metastasis could be stopped through treatment we would have an effective way to counter the disease. But that is also a remote possibility.

The question being asked is "Does the food we eat increase the risk of cancer? Will it be wise to revert to the food, we used to eat 50 or 100 years ago?" We may have to avoid refining and processing the foods and come back to mother nature. Dr. Frederick Hoffman in his book "Diet and Cancer", in the early 1950s, stated: "I am fully convinced that profound dietary influences in cancer are to be looked upon as a causative factor". It has been seen that breast cancer is much lower in Asian than American women.

Cancer of the stomach is more common among the Japanese, while cancer of colon is more prevalent among Europeans and Americans. The Japanese who migrated to Hawaii and the U.S.A. showed signs of a rise in the colon cancer and a fall in stomach cancer after a few years’ stay. The type of food they ingested for a long time was found to be the cause. Extra fat, lack of fibres, high calorie diet, refined food, polished cereals are now being pinpointed as causes for the cancer of colon, uterus, gall bladder, breast and pancreas. Highly salted and seasoned foods are responsible in promoting cancer. Cabbage and cauliflower contain a chemical which has protective action.

Educating the masses about the preventive measures seems to be the only answer in the absence of an effective treatment. The treatment cost of cancer is high, unaffordable in Indian perspective. Inspite of all the sophistication in treatment the result remains still poor. Moreover there are yet no signs to show that we are heading towards an effective treatment in the near future. It will be worth looking for other avenues.

In 1982, Prince Charles, addressing the British Medical Association, said that the whole imposing edifice of modern medicine, for its all breath taking success, is like the celebrated Tower of Pisa, slightly off-balance. He urged doctors to handle their client as a whole person, rather than bodies attached to disease. He said: "It is frightening how dependent on drugs we are becoming and how it is easy for doctors to prescribe them as universal panacea for our ills. Wonderful as many of them are it should still be more widely stressed by doctors that the health of human beings is also often determined by their behaviour, their food and nature of their environment.

A fortnight later he presided at the official opening of the Bristol Cancer Help Center where treatment includes yoga, meditation and a diet of vitamins and a diet of vitamins and uncooked vegetables. He asked doctors and other healers to work together to find solutions to our bodily ills. Modern medicine can alleviate many dangerous or distressing ailments from plague to corrupted heart valves which we untreatable half a century ago. But there are still numerous conditions, from cancer to migrane which are often resistant to even the most powerful scientific remedies.

Treatment

It is true of all diseases but more so in cancer than an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Prevention has a much bigger role to play. Educating the masses how to prevent cancer and how to help to detect it early will go a long way in the management of the disease.

The Indian Cancer Society has ambitious plans drawn up for the next five years. The government is going to spend a lot of money to educate people in the preventive aspect of cancer. This may include avoiding some of the goodies of life:several things we like the most are carcinogenic like tobacco, alcohol, fat, refined food, fried and processed food. Changing the life style is the need of the hour. If we do not do it now we may have to pay a high price. It might be too late to look back. This will call for a lot of determination. It is not easy to change one’s old food habits and living style.

The capacity of the body to combat illness is truly remarkable. Often ailments can be tackled through proper "health farming". A disease like cancer however is the result of long years of abuse. The body’s wisdom towards tackling cancer is limited. A span of a few hundred years is nothing in the history of the human body. With health farming there is still a chance. Some cancers do heal – at times. But today there is a much better chance, if one has the cancerous growth removed and then follow up the treatment through a proper and health farming methods.

In most cases unfortunately the diagnosis comes too late after the disease has spread and nothing much can be done. At this juncture many questions arise. Should the patient be told about the malignancy? Should the patient’s be involved in deciding the course of his treatment? Should the patient’s last last days, weeks or months be made more wretched by intensive treatment with drugs, radiation or surgery, when there is no reasonable prospect of a cure and when he should have been allowed to die in dignity and peace?.

The time that passes between suspected cancer and a confirmed diagnosis is the most tortuous. The doctor and the family often try to protect the patient from learning about it. However most patients become aware of the diagnosis. When they have not been told directly they lose the benefit of communicating their fear and having any misconception corrected. Most bear their fear in silence and isolation. It seems futile to try to keep the diagnosis from most patients.

A woman who had advance cancer of her ovaries bore the knowledge of her terminal condition with great courage inspite of the effort by her doctor and husband to keep her from knowing her disability. As her condition worsened she worried about her children who were seeing her dying by inches. One day she collected all her courage and shared her fear with the physician. "I have not been able to discuss with my husband", she said, "and I know it will be very hard for him when he realises that I have been carrying this alone all this time".

Very soon to the relief of the doctor both the patient and her husband talked over her state. They had nine days to share their feelings with no holds barred and then she died. Body is meant to perish. Disease comes in one way or another to help the body to perish. We control one disease then the next appears, and the next one until we have no control and ultimately the body succumbs to it. Cancer is one such disease which we cannot control in most cases.

The drugs being used for killing the pain or controlling infection are pretty dangerous. What is being used to control cancer (in kidney transplants as well) are potent drugs or radiation, high on the dangerous list. Medical science has been advancing at a tremendous speed, much faster than in the good old days of our grand parents or parents. The accelerated pace may lead to the developments of more dangerous drugs.

Let me enumerate some of the common side effects of drugs used to treat cancer. These include nausea, loss of hair, blisters on the tongue, vomiting, fever and chills. Quite a few times side effects do not start till five or seven days after starting the drug. You may have loss of sleep and profuse sweating which may require the changing of the bed sheet at night. The patient feels weak, tired, frightened and helpless. The veins may get constricted if chemotherapy is given intravenously.

Some of the side effects of radiation are the same as in chemotherapy. The side effects depend on the location of the cancer, the doses administered, duration of the treatment and overall health condition. Surgery if done in an early case may be simple. For advanced cases it may be drastic. The tumour has to be removed along with lymph nodes if the cancer has reached the lymph nodes. If metastasis has already taken place the situation is difficult to control. Surgery may follow with chemotherapy or radiation.

Health farming

Quit smoking and chewing tobacco. Increase fibre food. Decrease fat in the diet. Make sure that the workplace is safe, do not expose yourself to unnecessary X-rays. Avoid excessive sunlight especially if you are fair complexioned. If you have been smoking for 15 years it is high time you stopped it completely. If you are a beginner, stopping it is easier. Stopping suddenly is the sure way to give up. Or else go on reducing the number of cigarettes and stop smoking within a few days.

The same is true if you chew tobacco or use it in your pan supari. If you have been eating non-vegetarian food, it is high time you gave it a second thought. It is high calorie fibreless food. Prof. Enderlin, a cancer expert of Berlin University, believes that eating of animal flesh is one of the main causes of cancer. Mr. Kasper Blond, F.R.C.S. another eminent cancer specialist feels that liver damage causes cancer. A diet free from animal protein is most important in rejuvenation of a damaged liver.

That is why vegetarian societies report less cancer cases. Fibre is important in the diet. It is present in fruits, salads, green vegetables with their peel on, bran of wheat and unpolished rice. Add germinated moong and gram to your diet. It is a rich source of vitamin B complex as well as fibre. Quite a few vitamins and minerals are destroyed when you cook them. Try to eat plenty of fruits. Eating them is better than having juices. Apple will have more fibres than its juice. Avoid preserved foods, tinned vegetables or fruits and juices. Avoid jam, jellies, pickles and ketchup. Take large quantities of salad. The best way to eat salad is to do what Russians do: take raw salad as the first course of the meal. Eat the salad first and then your meal.

The late Dr. Kirstin Nolfi of Denmark recovered from breast cancer by living on raw potato juice, raw carrot juice and garlic for 40 days. Then she lived for 2 years on fruits and vegetable diet and got cured of her cancer. Raw beetroot juice, cabbage juice and garlic are said to be helpful. Three fourths of the diet should be of raw food. Raw food is living food: it has a lot of life giving and curing capacity for cancer. Do not throw away the water in which you cook vegetables. It will have most of the potassium from the vegetable. Use less salt. Excess salt destroys potassium in vegetables.

Do not use white flour. Do not sieve wheat flour. Bran is a good source of fibre. Do not polish the rice: rice husk is a good source of fibre. Moreover bran and husk are good sources of vitamin B complex. Remember the natural source of vitamin is better as it is utilized better by the body. Do not take white flour products like white bread. Prefer brown bread. Do not take sugar. Sugar is a high calorie food and contains no fibre and is devoid of vitamins and minerals. Prefer jaggery to sugar. Prefer dry fruits, fruits, fruit juices and honey. The honey available in the market most of the time is impure and contains a lot of sugar.

Watch your fat consumption. Do not take fried foods. Use oil and ghee to the minimum. Do not brown the masala and roast the food, as few hydrocarbons are produced in the process, which may be carcinogenic. Cold pressed oil produced in the villages is better than hot pressed oil in the mills. Avoid aluminium vessels for cooking. Stainless steel vessels are better. Be careful about the environment in which you live and move about. Is it polluted? Do you travel every day to work and back in a car on a street full of smoke at rush hour? It is better to avoid rush hour driving. Travel by train. Try to avoid the smoke-laden air of a congested room or cinema hall. If you are working in an asbestos, plastic, leather or chemical industry, you have to be extra careful. If you smoke and work in such industrial units the risk factor is high. Quit smoking if you have to work in such units.

Live in open area. Keep windows open in the night. Mental and emotional factors can be causative factors for diseases like cancer. The relaxation technique, meditation and pranayama will help. It will help you to keep mental balance and relax. Take outdoor muscular exercise. Walk every morning for one hour. Do jogging and physical exercise if you are strong bodily. Water treatment will help. Do not take sauna or steam bath if you are weak. Take a wet sheet pack on alternate days,. Take legguss before going for a walk.

Do not be afraid. It is better to look after yourself and your family so that with preventive measures you avoid this dreaded disease. If you have got cancer do not panic. Collect all energies and start walking on to the path of recovery, with the help of a proper diet.

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