Herbal Health

For proper physical fitness, a balanced diet is essential. The body should be at the correct weight for height and age. All the essential food factors should be included in the diet.

Protein is necessary to build up body tissue and to replace wear and tear. Fat is necessary to provide essential factors. Carbohydrate provides a ready energy source but excess tends to accumulate as stored fat.

Minerals and vitamins are necessary in small doses. Bulk in the form of vegetable fibre is necessary for the proper functioning of the bowel.

Exercising three times a week is the bare minimum. Four or five times a week is better. People who are fit look better, feel better, work better, are sick less often and have less chance of developing a heart attack.

Don’t smoke, drink in moderation, eat a balanced diet and take proper exercise. Learn to relax and you may not only live longer but enjoy it more.

The message Life: Be In It applies to you. You should exercise as if your life depended on it.

It does.

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Chemotherapy, or the use of cytotoxic drugs to kill the cancer cells, is now part of the initial treatment.

As in other forms of cancer what is developing is a team approach to treatment, the surgeon, radiotherapist, and chemotherapist making joint decisions about the management of each patient.

The implantation of a silicone prosthesis to give the woman a new “breast” is now a regular procedure for many women unfortunate enough to lose their breast because of cancer. The construction of the new breast may be done at the same time as the initial operation of removal of the breast or may be delayed for some months.

If you find a lump go straight to the doctor. If it isn’t cancer you save months of worry. If it is, the earlier it is found and treated the better the result.

The breast is the commonest site of cancer in women, but the uterus or womb is the second.

Cancer may involve the cervix, or neck of the womb, or the body of the womb; and the age at which the cancers occur, the possible causes and their subsequent behaviors differ.

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Of course, not all doctors and ofher practitioners who treat cancer are as black as I have painted. I hope that your practitioners combine the best of modern scientific medicine with the art of healing. I hope they take as much care in finding out how you are feeling and what life is like for you as they do in arranging and assessing tests. I hope your practitioners place as much, or more, importance on the quality of your life as they do on its length. I hope they treat you as a whole person who happens to have cancer and not just as a cancer with a body wrapped around it!

If you don’t have this kind of practitioner, life is going to be difficult for you. Those practitioners who are least likely to make the best decisions for you are also the most difficult to get enough information from to make your own decisions. Switch to another practitioner, if possible. If not, you may have to seek information from other sources such as other practitioners, nurses, other hospital staff, books, other patients, and friends. If you make a decision that does not follow such a practitioner’s recommendation, be prepared to be told by them that you are foolish, ignorant and incapable of properly assessing the situation. Trust your own judgement and commonsense. Don’t be intimidated or cajoled into giving away control of what happens to your own body. Remember, you are the world’s greatest expert on yourself. Nobody else knows how you feel inside and what is important for you. This personal knowledge is of vital importance when it comes to deciding on treatment that could totally alter your life.

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