Life after Cancer..

For many cancer survivors there is an overwhelming feeling of relief when a clean bill of health comes from the doctor.

The other side of the coin is the feeling of " what if" that comes along with the news.

" What if" it comes back? " What if" something else goes wrong. This type of thinking can become so distracting that your daily life can be consumed with fears.

The one thing I try to remember is that anything can happen to anyone at any time.

We have nothing but our ability to look at the best possible scenarios to get us through the days.

And a day with the people you love is worth smiling about.

Remember that cancer is a word, not a sentence, if you have been set free, start living.

You are not defined by your illness, but more in how you overcome it.

Toxins in our cosmetics

Apparently, there are ingredients found in cosmetic products that are possibly causing cancer. My friend Renee sent me this email & I looked it up on the internet wanting more information. Well guess what, there's tons of discussion on this topic. I'll sum up one link, breast cancer tissue was examined and found what could only be a build up of ingredients from topical products. I Googled 'paraben link to cancer,':http://www. health-report. co. uk/parabens. htmhttp://www. mindfully. org/Pesticide/2004/Parabens-Breast-Significance1jan04. htmhttp://www. mindfully. org/Pesticide/2004/Methylparaben-Deodorant-Cancer12jan04. htmThis is from the Health Report webite:'We have been warning people about the potential toxic effects of parabens for ages and how the increase in breast cancer and all cancers could be directly attributed to chemicals in the body. (This includes of course the shocking revelations that HRT was directly responsible for another 20,000 women to contract cancer recently.) Not just from using underarm deodorants either. Virtually all so-called 'skin Care' products have dangerous chemicals in them. Parabens are just one of a large bunch of toxic chemicals that no-one has any idea of what the long term effects are if you use them every day on your skin.' 'If you want to be free of all the toxic chemicals that vested interests tell you are 'good' for your skin and 'safe' don't use them! Period! The only safe products we recommend for use on the skin are Certified Organic products that are made to food grade standards. Yes you could eat them - because they are 100% free of all synthetic chemicals.'Just look in the ingredient listing of your lotions/washes and if you find words ending with 'paraben' it is probably a good idea not to buy this product. I looked at all the face/body washes, masks and lotion in my cabinet finding a few with the 'paraben' ingredient; expensive lines too! One product line in my cupboard didn't show the ingredient in the night-time lotion but had parabens in the day-time lotion. Check your deodorants and shampoo/conditioners too. When shopping you will find a couple product lines are even stating 'Paraben Free' on the front because this is a growing concern. If you shop or do your research online it is really easy to find paraben free products.Here is an excellent resource, where you can look up cosmetics to see how they score on various parameters (including paraben content): http://www. cosmeticsdatabase. com We have to take care of ourselves and each-other. If you have any info on parabens, please let me know.

God's pharmacy

friend sent this to me. It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... All before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw. We're such slow learners...
God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!
God's Pharmacy! Amazing!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... And YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes. (Don't forget to couple a little fat with the carrots to necessarily break down the beta carotene wall to receive all the nutrients you can from this tasty root!)

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopene and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body..

Psalm 46:19
'Be Still and Know that I AM GOD'

What we put in our bodies

My friend Stephanie Leventhal wrote me a great e mail and I thought you might want to see what other people out there that do not have cancer think about what our food industry is doing by adding chemicals to everything to cheapen the production and turn a bigger profit. I know we cannot change everything in a day, but if we all start taking a stand against this stuff,, the food companies will be forced to look at what they are feeding our kids, especially if we stop buying it.
America is so overweight, and our kids are the biggest vicitms of this problem. They do not know , it is our job to educate them and help them to understand their choices. Remember a 3 year old did not get here with an addiction to Lucky Charms. Let's start replacing this stuff with better choices and turn the tide so that our kids do not end up with all sorts of disease.
Natasha

Note from Stephanie...

One of the sneakiest and most obvious factors is the foods and chemicals we consume. Sure, everyone is trying to make a conscious effort to eat in a more healthy way but, we still don't pay enough attention to the ingredients even in some of the so-called "good for you" products.
Fast food and chemically processed food is a way of life for many moms and busy families, but we are poisoning our loved-ones with what we are feeding them.
Fast food is obviously no good, but, we even have to take a seriously close look at some of the healthier choices, such as:
-Subway (processed meats, bleached flour, chemical condiments)
-El Pollo Loco (bleached chicken breasts and chemically processed side orders)
Of course there are others but these are some obvious examples, and if we are taking chemicals out of our homes to prevent Cancer then we definitely should not consume chemicals for a direct Cancer injection! Other hidden chemicals can also be found in
some of the foods we consume every day, such as,
Refined white sugar and artificial sweeteners, they are in everything! And are ignored by most people, consumed daily, and are known to cause Cancer! Can be found in:
-Light yogurt (yummy yoplait "whips", also filled with phenylanaline found in cold medicine)
-Soda
-cereal
-cookies
and too many other things to list.
Chemicals used to preserve our food are used in sooo many things and play a huge factor in our poor eating habits, all we need to do is make a conscious effort to examine the content of the foods we are eating and how they are prepared.
READ LABELS and INGREDIENTS CAREFULLY
Low-fat, Non-fat, does not equal GOOD-FOR-YOU!
A general rule of thumb is the number of ingredients, if the ingredients cannot be pronounced or even readily recognized, the warning bells should go off! Ingredients should consist of Whole Foods such as:
Milk
Eggs
Un-bleached flour
Whole Grains
Real Sugar (brown is better)
Real vegetables (not veggie-flavor)
Real fruit (not just fruit-flavor)
Real butter (not buttery-spread!!)
Oils (olive, walnut, avocado, sesame)
Real herbs and spices not just chemical equivalents
Believe it or not there are a tremendous amount of other "GOOD-FOR-YOU" foods and ingredients that are too many to list.
Going to the grocery store may seem like a daunting prospect now if you are trying to make healthy choices, but it's not! Healthy choices can become a habit for you, and your family, it's easier than you think!
At first shopping for and preparing healthy choices for you and your family can take a little more time and possibly preparation, but, isn't your and your families health ultimately worth it?!

Cleaning your enviornment!

As a cancer survivor, I now hear so much about enviornmental cancer. As I have mentioned before, I am on a mission to "change" my enviornment and the enviornnment for those that I love. I am personally starting in my own home.

The fastest growing group of cancer patients is kids and stay at home moms. Hmmmmm.
What is the common denominator? I feel it is the home. We moms with small kids are in the home more and we are constantly cleaning up. Now the question. What are we cleaning up with?

Did you know that the FDA has made it so that cleaning products do not have to list the ingredients? Or that the " fragrance" industry is exempt from telling you how they get those lovely smells and what they are made of? Scary!!!!

So, I have changed my home to natural cleaning products. I have found a company that will deliver natural cleaning products to my home. I buy everything on line and I love that I do not lug heavy bottles of laundry detergent anymore.

The company sells soaps, dishwashing soaps, laundry soaps, and all of the usual household cleaners with no toxic chemicals. I cannot believe how much better I feel. I used to get a headache after spraying Windex and now no side effects from cleaning.

Another disturbing fact is that I know a woman who cleans homes and her friends keep getting cancer and dying. These women are all under 50 years of age. What is the link? Guess what? They were all cleaning ladies!!!No one can prove it, but I would rather do what I can to avoid the problems.

If you want to know how to get your cleaning products delivered to your home that are actually cheaper than commercial products, e mail me at natasha@peakmodels.com
I will be happy to forward you the info that I have and you can get started shoppeing from your computer too.

ALl the best!
Natasha Duswalt

Cancer Causes

Well, as we all know, cancer is everywhere. It seems that everyone you meet knows someone personally that is dealing with cancer in some form. As a cancer survivor, I feel that it is critical to find the causes for cancer. People always say, " No one knows the cause". I disagree.
We DO know the cause, we just don't want to admit it, or we think it will not happen to us. I am here to tell you that it can happen to anyone, and we need to start looking at our lives from the inside out.
My question to you is , what are you doing in your daily life that is cancer causing? Think about all of the chemical you are exposed to on a daily basis. Have you ever researched the ingredients of the products that you put on your skin, hair and the processed foods that you eat?
It is my intention to share the things I have found that are toxic to our systems. Please check back often to see the latest updates.
Now for the first few things I have found...
This is a list of things I personally feel are important - how to avoid toxic chemicals that cause cancer. If you ask someone what is the cause of cancer, no one knows. Or do we?
We all know that cigarettes cause lung cancer, so there is one thing we can avoid. If we compile all of the things we do daily there are a lot of things that we can change to avoid cancer. Remember, one out of three people will be diagnosed with cancer. Do not cook with TEFLON pans. Use cast iron. Do not use ASPARTAME - artificial sweetener. Do not use SPLENDA - artificial sweetener. Do not use MSG - monosodium glutamate. Do not use NUTRASWEET - artificial sweetener. Do not eat hydrogenated oils. Do not eat high fructose corn syrup. (read the labels of the food you buy) This is pure sugar and it should be avoided. It is even in bread. Do not eat white flour. (Ok, that's a hard one - lower the amount) You can get whole grain pastas and whole grain breads.

My Cancer Solutions

Hello everyone! I wanted to create this blog to help people that are affected by cancer.
My name is Natasha and I am a wife and mother to three young boys ages 3, 6, and 8. My husband and I own our own business in the entertainment industry. We represent models and actors at our agency Peak Models & Talent www.peakmodels.com
Feel free to check out our blog at peakmodelsandtalent.blogspot.com

In October 2006 I had lost my voice for over 2 weeks and I had a dry cough. It got to the point where it was hurting to cough, and I went to the doctor. After a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia, my doctor asked me what the "lump" in my neck was? I had never noticed a lump in my neck, but my back had a sore spot between the ribs up high.
The next day I went to the pumpkin patch with my middle son's class and was called by my doctor to get a CT scan. He did not tell my why, I just figured that there was a chest infection or something. I went for the scan, they referred my to an ENT. I got in without an appointment, they wanted to see my thyroid, they referred me to an ultrasound of my neck, again, no appointment. You know it is serious when you don't need an appointment.
At the ultrasound, the technician called in a passing doctor and asked him to take a look. Within a moment he had a concerned look and told me that there was noting wrong with my thyroid, there was something next to my thyroid. I asked what is there? Lymph system.
I went back to get a FNA ( fine needle aspiration) and within a few minutes I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma Stage 2. I was devastated, and I wanted answers. I felt that it was unfair, that I had followed the rules, I had eaten properly, taken vitamins, and I had three boys to care for. This was not happening to me. It couldn't.
I have long since been searching for the answers to why people get cancer, and everyone told me I would drive myself crazy, so I did. I found answers all over the place.
I want to share with others what I have found, and let you know that there are valid solutions to keeping yourself in an optimal state of health. I have also found that there are countless chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis that are cancer causing. This blog will be updated on a regular basis with information that will help people avoid these chemicals in their daily lives, along with things you can do to help while going through chemo.
Keep checking back!