Cancer is a disease that affects people differently. Some constipate, others face severe diarrhea problems, and all these side effects must be managed carefully for the patient’s wellbeing. There are different kinds of cancer depending on where the uncontrollably abnormal cell division(tumor) occurs. When treated early as any other illness or condition, one can actually be cured. However, cancer treatment can have some side effects depending on the individual’s immune response. Here we have constipation in cancer patients as a side effect of cancer and its treatment to see how we should deal with it.

What causes Constipation in cancer patients

Constipation is an irregular pattern of bowel movement that happens when the stool is difficult to pass as it becomes painful, less frequent, and dry. This can be quite an uncomfortable condition because the body absorbs more water and signals food to pass through the bowels. Constipation in cancer patients can go hand in hand with various treatments meant for the disease. A cancer patient may experience constipation due to the following reasons:

• A lack of enough fluids in the digestive system.
• Minimal to little physical exercise and body activities as it affects digestive ingestion patterns.
• Tumors in your pelvis, belly or allergenic reactions to various types of cancer treatments.
• Cancer medication may also lead to constipation issues. Pain medicine for instance may cause muscle slowness in the digestive system leading to more difficulty when passing stool.

Other medications used to prevent nausea, dizziness, vomiting, high blood pressure, diarrhea may affect the digestive track as well. These include chemotherapy drugs, iron supplements, and other drugs.

How do you know that you are constipating?

Sometimes we may not distinguish between when one is experiencing constipation due to cancer or other conditions. However, the body reaction and symptoms are similar in either case. Here are ways to know that you are constipated:

• Feeling nausea and vomiting
• Hard pellet-like bowel movement
• Frequently stomach gas passing
• Stomachaches or crumps
• Having irregular bowel patterns

Remedies for Constipation in Cancer Patients

For any health condition, one needs to figure out basic aid remedies that they can use to stay healthy and ease colon cancer constipation. These are basic tips you need to know:

• Drink lots of fluids. Dehydration is the cause of most constipation cases and taking fluids can make one feel better and stay hydrated. It’s recommended that you take at least 8 glasses of water daily.
• Keeping your body active as much as possible can real make a difference on your immune system. Walk, run, work errands, or engage in any other sort of exercise to change your ingestion patterns.
• Intake of high-fiber foods. Constipation is generally reduced by eating and taking substance with high fiber, but this may also be an issue in case you have gone through intestinal surgery. Remember to consult Rachel Spenser, our Registered Dietitian on OncoPower. Here are some tips on how to use nutrition to manage constipation,
• Avoid taking wrong medicines. Some constipation medicines may have severe impacts on cancer patients by causing bleeding and other side effects. Therefore, it is always a good idea to learn about your medicine.

Recommendations

Since cancer is a serious illness, applying these remedies should always be after consultation with your healthcare provider. Make sure they let you know how to keep track of your bowel movements, steps you can take to feel better, prescriptions, and any other essential dos and don’ts because they understand your condition better. You can watch a educational video on cancer-related constipation and oncologist’s recommendation to manage it on OncoPower app.

What Is Grounding?

Grounding or ‘Earthing’ is a term that has now gained popularity in the mindfulness space. Grounding is a therapeutic technique that includes activities and/or practices that ‘ground’ or reconnect you to the earth. This theory connects back to science and physics to explain how electrical charges from the earth can have a positive and healing effect on your body, essentially aiding in cancer treatment.

Why Ground?

Grounding your energy is one of the fastest and simplest ways of releasing anxiety caused from cancer, bringing yourself back to a calm, centered, and balanced state. Grounding or ‘Earthing’ can be practiced anywhere and at any time. In fact, the more you practice grounding the better you will become at managing your mental and emotional states.

Through meditation techniques, visualization, walking in nature, or gardening outside (to name a few) you can begin to ground your energy. By learning and practicing to direct your own energy to connect with the Earth, it guides you towards a sense of balance and serenity. This is a great method that goes hand in hand with cancer treatment.

Five Ways to Ground:

1. SPEND TIME IN NATURE

Spending time in nature to connect to the Earth rejuvenates the mind, body and soul. Taking time to visit the beach, go on a walk/hike, garden, or simply put your bare feet onto the earth will work wonders. A mere 20 minutes will leave you feeling more refreshed, calm, and clear minded.

2. YOGA

Stretching and practicing Yoga on your mat helps to relieve any stiffness in the body while clearing your mind from thoughts and worries. The practice of Yoga grounds your energy while also detoxifying the body and organs. Emotions get released through Yoga which allows healing energy to flow more freely through you.

If you are interested in learning more about Yoga, make sure to try our yoga stretches on the OncoPower App. Your number one app for cancer support.

3. MEDITATION

If you do not have access to going outside, you can use meditation and visualization to ground. Through meditation and breathing exercises, you train your mind to become more still. Start by visualizing yourself in the middle of a beautiful place. See the imagery around you and feel the ground beneath you. What does it feel like to be in this lovely place? Can you feel the nature around you? 

Make sure to try our meditations located in the OncoPower app. On the app you can also be connected with Natalie, our Meditation teacher and cancer care specialist.

4. JOURNALING

Journaling / writing is a fantastic way to ground and assist with cancer treatment. Through journaling, see if you can let your emotions flow onto the power. Any top of journaling will allow your creativity to flow. Sometimes a single thought can turn into a few pages of expressing and releasing. This all aids in grounding your energy.

5. EPSOM SALT BATH

Epsom salt baths assist you in dissolving negative emotions that are being held in the body – from your own experiences to interactions with other people. Epsom salt baths not only ground you, but leaves you feeling more calm, lighter, and balanced. 

Grounding helps with cancer treatment, chronic fatigue, anxiety & depression, sleep disturbances, and cardiovascular disease.

Make sure to download the OncoPower App for guided meditations, affirmations, and deep breathing exercises. On the app you can also find cancer care specialists, treatment recommendations, and a cancer support community. Our Mindfulness coach and Meditation teacher, Natalie Thomas, is also available for 1:1 support. 

Metastatic Ovarian Cancer, also known as stage four ovarian cancer, is an advanced malignancy originating from the ovary and spreading to distant body parts, including the liver, lungs, spleen, and intestines, among others.

The spread occurs once cancer cells have detached from the primary tumor in the ovary and then move through a passive mechanism (with the help of physiological movement of peritoneal fluid to the peritoneum and omentum). This point suggests that the peritoneum is the first point of metastatic ovarian cancer metastasis before it reaches other distant body parts. Once diagnosed, it is important to understand metastatic ovarian cancer prognosis and if the disease is curable.

Doctors use a five-year survival rate to estimate the metastatic ovarian cancer prognosis of their patients. According to research, most women diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer have a five-year survival rate of about 17 percent. Note that this data is based on studies of other people, so it cannot be used to predict an individual’s survival rate.

Moreover, there are several other factors that influence an individual’s ordeal with metastatic ovarian cancer. Such factors include the woman’s general health, how her cancer responds to treatment and if they have other underlying health conditions, especially HIV.

Generally, concerning the metastatic ovarian cancer life expectancy of the entire globe, about 3 in 4 women live for at least one-year post ovarian cancer diagnosis. Moreover, about 45 percent of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer at its early stages can survive for more than two years before the cancer starts to metastasize. Metastatic ovarian cancer life expectancy also depends on the patient’s age since it has been found that women under 65 years live longer with it compared to those who contract it after 65 years.

Symptoms and Treatment

Patients usually experience metastatic ovarian cancer symptoms, which include abdominal distention and discomfort, persistent bloating, urgency and frequency of urination, as well as a loss of appetite. These symptoms are the general ones that nearly all patients would experience.

However, some symptoms can be specific to an individual and according to the secondary site of metastatic ovarian cancer metastasis. Also, note that some of the symptoms above can manifest for another type of disease, so it does not necessarily mean that you have metastatic ovarian cancer. However, if you are experiencing anything linked to metastatic ovarian cancer symptoms, you are advised to see a gynecologic oncologist for a diagnosis and treatment plan.

The liver is the most affected site of stage four cancer metastasis, not only for metastatic ovarian cancer but also for other carcinomas. Metastases to the liver are easily notable since their symptoms are typically unbearable. These symptoms include the ones listed below;
• Fever
• Itchy skin
• Loss of appetite and vomiting
• Bloated belly
• Leg swelling
• Pian in the right upper part of the abdomen
• Yellowing and whitening of skin parts (jaundice)

According to autopsy studies on people who died of ovarian cancer, 42- 73 percent of the whole population had their cancer spread to the liver. Overall, ovarian cancer metastasis to the liver life expectancy is about 30 months for patients with single liver metastasis and with treatment. Those without treatment can live for just eight months or less. This number comes from follow-up studies on liver metastasis which showed that tumors on the liver take between 60-200 days to grow. A doctor can predict one’s life expectancy based on their circumstances.

Metastatic Ovarian Cancer Treatment

Is it possible to cure metastatic ovarian cancer? Here is a response from Dr. Ruchi Garg, a gynecologic oncologist on OncoPower. Metastatic ovarian cancer treatment focuses on controlling the disease for a long time while relieving one from pain and other controllable symptoms. Treatment options include surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Before deciding on a treatment plan, the doctor would consider many options, for instance, once, general health and how they might respond to some therapy. However, the most common metastatic ovarian cancer treatment plan involves chemotherapy before, and after surgery, a method doctors call interval debulking surgery (IDS). Also, one can undergo chemotherapy after surgery. Alternatively, some patients can just undergo chemotherapy without any surgery. This happens when the tumor is not so advanced. Note that there are some targeted cancer drugs, for instance, bevacizumab which is meant for very advanced cancers and is taken together with chemotherapy. You can also consult an oncologist and other specialists 24/7 with OncoPower Ask-A-Doc service to get guidance on how monitor and manage metastatic ovarian cancer.

Metastatic colon cancer is stage four colon cancer that has advanced and spread to other parts of the body, typically the lymph nodes and liver but may also spread to distant body parts, including the brain. It is the third most common cancer in the United States, excluding skin carcinomas. Doctors can easily treat colon cancer during its early stages, but upon metastasis, it becomes very hard to do away with the disease. According to research on metastatic colon cancer prognosis, the five-year survival rate of patients with metastatic colon cancer was 14 percent. As much as this percentage looks frightening, it still does not cover other factors influencing metastatic colon cancer life expectancy, including the person’s age, type of treatment they undergo, their overall immunity, and presence of an underlying chronic health condition like HIV. However, this data describes results from the past. With the improved technology and research, there is a chance that healthcare personnel will come up with ways to improve the above survival rate.
Treatment for metastatic colon cancer needs a tailored approach and largely depends on the person’s symptoms and degree of progression. Knowing where cancer spreads and its specific symptoms are vital when beginning metastatic colon cancer treatment therapy.

Symptoms and treatment

A person with colon cancer might not show any symptoms at its early stages. However, symptoms begin to show once the cancer has metastasized to other areas. Some general metastatic colon cancer symptoms include weakness, fatigue, abdominal pain, unintended weight loss, rectal bleeding, dark red stools, and melena. In addition to the above symptoms, other symptoms come when cancer has adapted to a secondary site. These secondary symptoms vary depending on the part of metastasis.

Spread to the liver

The liver is the common site of Metastatic colon cancer spread. The doctor can find liver metastasis when diagnosing a patient with metastatic colon cancer. Also, liver metastasis can come about while one is undergoing treatment for stage four colon cancer. Some individuals with metastatic colon cancer spread to the liver usually don’t show symptoms. Others may show symptoms including blood in stool, epigastric pain, swelling on your belly, tiredness, weight loss, and feeling sick. An oncologist would look at your liver functions to confirm that metastatic colon cancer has affected your liver. Diagnostic tests for colon cancer spread to the liver include CT scans, liver biopsy, MRIs, and positron emission tomography.
Even though colon cancer has spread to the liver, the tumor in the liver is still made of colon cells. Therefore, the doctor would treat it as colon cancer, not liver cancer. Treatment options include radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgeries to remove the colon and some parts of the liver. Colon cancer may block the intestine; in this case, a doctor would insert a tube called a stent to open up the blockage. Patients with just one tumor in the liver have the highest survival rates than those who seek medical attention when their conditions worsen. Some patients may become unlucky when metastasis to the liver comes after colostomies.

Spread to the lungs

Just like colon cancer spreads to the liver, doctors treat colon cancer metastasis to the lung differently from lung cancer. They usually prefer surgical excision using minimally invasive techniques in combination with chemotherapy to do away with colon cancer tumors in the lungs. It is important to note that lung metastasis is tailored down to an individual patient. The therapeutical method depends on which part of the lung cancer has been affected, the patient’s individual health, and other factors. Moreover, the patient can choose the type of treatment they prefer.

Newer methods of treating colon cancer metastasis to the lung include radiofrequency ablation, stereotactic therapy, and cryotherapy, among other traditional methods. Common metastatic colon cancer spreads to the lung symptoms include coughing up blood, shortness of breath, chest infections, and pleural effusion. Due to the above side effects of metastasis and treatment techniques, metastatic colon cancer life expectancy was very low, with a mean survival rate of just nine months when one receives the best supportive care. However, with 5-FU/LV, the average survival rate improved to 12 months. Furthermore, with a combination of 5-FU/LV and irinotecan or oxaliplatin, metastatic colon cancer life expectancy improved to between 14 and 19 months. You can also consult an oncologist and other specialists 24/7 with OncoPower Ask-A-Doc service to get guidance on how monitor and manage metastatic colon cancer.

Metastatic lung cancer is a carcinoma that begins in the lungs and spreads to other body parts. Note that this is a stage of cancer, typically stage four of lung cancer rather than a form of cancer, so this name would not change when the carcinoma affects a new area, for instance, the brain or the bone. When one is suffering from lung cancer and cancer affects the liver, it would be metastatic lung cancer.

However, one may also suffer from lung cancer and develop cancer in the liver. In that case, it won’t be metastatic lung cancer but liver cancer (it is important to understand these two situations). Also, it is essential to differentiate lung metastasis from metastatic lung cancer. In metastatic lung cancer, the pathologist would always see lung cancer cells on the infected lung and the secondary affected site, for instance, on the bone. In contrast, in the case of lung metastasis, the pathologist would find foreign cancerous cells on the lung. This suggests that in lung metastasis, the lung acts as the secondary site of metastasis from another part of the body, for example, the breast. For that reason, a tissue biopsy is vital in the course of cancer treatment so that you don’t end up treating the wrong cancer.

Causes of Metastatic Lung Cancer

Lung cancer hardly shows any symptoms in its early stages. One can live with lung cancer for a very long time, and by the time the doctors diagnose it, it has metastasized to other parts of the body. Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer in active and passive smokers. However, lung cancer can still affect those not exposed to smoke. In such cases, the cancer cause is not clear. Still, doctors would associate it t other causes such as exposure to radiation therapy, radon gas, asbestos, or a family history of lung cancer.

According to various studies, metastatic lung cancer prognosis is very poor. Doctors usually express life expectancy in 5-year survival rates by using the number of people alive after five years of being diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer. The survival rates differ depending on whether the cancer is a small or non-small cell lung cancer. For metastatic small cell lung cancer, the survival rate after five years is as low as 3 percent, while for metastatic non-small cell cancer, the survival rate is a bit higher, at 6 percent.
According to research, the life expectancy of a person diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer ranges from 6.3 months to 11.4 months. This data suggest that these patients hardly live for more than one year. Many factors directly influence metastatic lung cancer life expectancy. Majority of the factors that often lead to the adverse outcome include;
• Tobacco smoking
• Old age
• How aggressive is the carcinoma?
• Gender (being male)
• Congestive heart failure and other cardiac conditions
• Underlying health conditions like HIV
• Aneurysm
The above factors have direct effects on metastatic lung cancer.

Symptoms and Treatment

Since lung cancer is hardly notable, most patients usually start treatment once cancer has metastasized to other body parts since that is when you will start feeling the symptoms. Metastatic lung cancer symptoms vary depending on the secondary affected part of your body. General symptoms of stage four lung cancer include shortness of breath, loss of appetite, chest pain, hoarseness, wheezing, and unexplained weight loss with severe weakness and fatigue. If metastatic lung cancer has moved to the bone, one will experience bone and joint pains and be very susceptible to fractures. If it moves to the brain, one will experience confusion, severe headache, tiredness, and in some cases, seizures. For liver metastasis, one will have jaundice, epigastric pain, nausea after eating, and vomiting, which might be blood-stained. These symptoms are usually severe and would force one to seek medical attention.
After looking at metastatic lung cancer symptoms, it is vital to also be aware of lung metastasis symptoms since these are two very similar but different conditions. Lung metastasis symptoms include the following;
• Coughing
• Bringing up blood when coughing
• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Fluid accumulation around the lung
• Weight loss
• Pain in the ribs
Metastatic lung cancer treatment focuses on controlling cancer growth and relieving the symptoms since it can be very difficult to eliminate. Based on various metastatic lung cancer diagnostic studies like CT scans, MRI scans, ultrasound scans, X-rays, blood tests, and organ biopsies, doctors would treat the condition depending on the location of metastasis, previous medical interventions, and the severity of the condition. Common treatment options include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, biological therapy, laser therapy, and other medications that control pain. You can also consult an oncologist and other specialists 24/7 with OncoPower Ask-A-Doc service to get guidance on how monitor and manage metastatic lung cancer.

What is metastatic cancer?

Cancer becomes metastatic by process called Metastasis. It is when cancer cells start moving
from the original affected area of your body to another region, where they will form another
abnormal growth. The movement occurs after the cell breaks away from the primary tumor due
to suitable growth. By this process an early-stage breast cancer or lung cancer can become
metastatic breast cancer or metastatic lung cancer. After breakage, the cells then move through
your body’s blood or lymphatic system to other organs, where they would manifest and start
forming another duplicate tumor known as the metastatic tumor. When observed under a
microscope and tested in other ways, features of the original cancer would be found. These
features are very different from tumors that would develop on the secondary cancer site. An
example is given, if cancer cells from breast cancer move to the lungs, the metastatic tumor
formed in the lungs would be from breast cancer cells and not lung cancer cells. Cancer care
specialist determines whether your cancer has metastasized by a combination of clinical,
laboratory and imaging tools.

Cancer metastasis occurs during the fourth stage of cancer. When diagnosed with metastasized
cancer, the oncologist would always tell them where the cancer started and refer to it as cancer of
unknown primary origin (CUP). Therefore, cancer treatment for metastasized cancer is usually
similar as that for primary cancer, even though tumor markers would be located in a different
position.

How Does Metastatic Cancer Develop?

Cancer metastasis develops in a series of numerous steps, which start from the invasion of
nearby body cells. As the cancer cells grow in the primary tumor, they get into the cells of the
neighboring organs; for instance, if the cells were originally in the trachea, there are high
chances that the cells would start infecting the esophagus since they are so close. Upon invasion,
the cells would then move through the walls of blood vessels or lymph nodes close to the
primary tumor. In our example of tracheal cancer, the cells would move through neck lymph
nodes. When the cells have attached to the walls of the various lymphatic or blood vessels, the
cells would automatically get into your body’s lymphatic system or circulatory system. These

systems travel all around the body, from the toes to the skull. As the blood moves to carry the
cancer cells, the cells might stop in a small blood vessel like the capillaries in a distant organ.
Since the cells no longer move, they would invade the surrounding tissue the same way it had
done to the blood vessel at the primary tumor site. Growth and cell division would continue until
it forms small tumors that cannot be detected easily. The tumor grows just like other organs in
the body. This means that blood vessels would develop around the abnormal tumor in the
secondary site. This tumor would get nutrients and grow into a bigger tumor which would
require cancer treatment like a newly diagnosed primary cancer. In most situations, especially for
people with a strong immune system, the cancer cells often die along the journey. However, if
the cells get favorable conditions, they will always grow on the secondary site.

What are the Signs of Cancer Metastasis?

Metastatic cancer will not always show you symptoms, so you won’t feel it happening. In cases
where the symptoms occur, the nature and severity of the symptoms largely depend on the size
of the growing tumor as well as the location it has affected. For example, metastasis to the
appendix would be less notable than metastasis to the lungs or the limbs. Some of the commonly
observed metastatic cancer symptoms include pain and fragmentation when the metastasized
tumor is on the bone. If the cells spread to the brain, the victim would have seizures,
convulsions, severe headaches, and dizziness which might be associated with a loss of
consciousness. The most notable metastasis is of the lung since one would face difficulty in
breathing and shortness of breath which would always force you to seek treatment. In addition, if
your cancer has spread to the liver, you would develop jaundice and other symptoms of liver
damage like hepatomegaly. Cancer care specialists very carefully differentiates signs of
metastasis from those symptoms associated with other health conditions such as arthritis or acid
reflux. You watch a video on the signs and symptoms of metastatic cancer in OncoPower app.

Are Metastatic Cancers Curable?

The prognosis for patients with metastatic cancer depends on the individual and type of cancer.  Some metastatic cancer types e.g., breast cancer have better treatment options than other like metastatic pancreatic cancer. Metastatic cancer treatment basically involves slowing its growth. With help from a cancer support community, one can survive with metastasized cancer for many years since the symptoms are well relived. Many cancer patients with metastatic cancers join can support groups for social and emotional support.  patients opt for palliative care when they believe that they can no longer fight the metastasis. You can also consult an oncologist and other specialists 24/7 with OncoPower Ask-A-Doc service to get guidance on how monitor and manage metastatic cancer.

Mindful Breathing and Meditation

What are the benefits of meditation? When you begin to meditate, the stress response counters the relaxation response. You begin to enter into a state of peace, no matter what is happening externally. Through the feeling of relaxation you can achieve from meditation, you begin to decrease blood pressure, lower your heart rate, and reduce oxygen consumption. Thus, enhancing your entire physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. The practice of meditation / mindful breathing creates a gradual change in the brain. You might begin to perceive stress differently, or feel like you have more control over your emotions.

Benefits of deep breathing is not so much about eliminating stress, but managing it. Meditation and mindful breathing is excellent for cancer patients’ care, for it begins to heal the mind and body. For many centuries yogis have used deep breathing techniques, also known as pranayama breathing, to improve vitality and promote concentration. Deep breathing and meditation are also excellent treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAF), and depression. All of these diagnoses can stem from a cancer diagnosis and/or cancer treatment.

Make sure to check out the OncoPower App for guided meditations and support for cancer patients.

Letting Go Through The Breath

Through deep breathing / meditation, you train your mind to be aware of your thoughts, not controlled by them. A lot of times dwelling on a thought is a lot like holding your breath. The longer you hold your breath, the more tense you might feel due to the lack of oxygen in your lungs. When you continue to hold your breath you might become red in the face and have to exhale, or else you’d pass out.

Our thoughts work in the same way. When you hold onto your thoughts, they can drown out your intuition and cause more stress. You might even feel suffocated from overwhelming thoughts on a day to day basis. However, when you allow your thoughts to come and go during meditation you learn how to let go and ease the stresses that cancer might bring.

Benefits of Meditation/ Deep Breathing:

• Reduce stress levels in your body.
• Lower your heart rate.
• Lower your blood pressure.
• Improve diabetic symptoms.
• Reduce depression.
• Better manage chronic pain.
• Better regulate your body’s reaction to stress and fatigue.
• Reduce the possibility of burnout.

Where to begin!? As mentioned above, make sure to check out the OncoPower App for guided meditations, affirmations, and deep breathing exercises. On the app you can also find cancer care specialists, treatment recommendations, and a cancer support community. Our Mindfulness coach and Meditation teacher, Natalie Thomas, is also available for 1:1 support. Remember, healing is possible through each inhale and exhale that you take.

Why Deep Breathing Is Important

How to mediate? Start by taking in a nice, deep inhale through your nose. Filling your entire belly up with air. Pause. Now as you exhale, allow the breath to leave through the mouth, nice and slow. Very good. You just practiced a deep breathing technique.

While breathing is second nature for us, we have to breathe in order to survive, for it plays a crucial role in regulating our physical, mental, and emotional health. The way we breathe is extremely important, and how we breathe is something we must focus on, especially while going through cancer treatment.

As humans, we normally operate by taking short, shallow breaths. We are subconsciously breathing rapidly without even realizing it. We tend to operate in ‘fight or flight’ mode on a daily basis. Fight or flight mode is an automatic physiological response to a situation and/or event that appears to be stressful or frightening. The sympathetic nervous system becomes activated by the perceived threat and triggers a stress response in the body. This can occur just by reading a work email or from living with cancer.

Breathing Is Your Life Force

Receiving a cancer diagnosis or going through cancer treatment can easily cause stress, anxiety, and havoc on the body. When you enter into this state of fight or flight, cortisol and other stress causing hormones are released into the bloodstream. When this happens, blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol levels rise, all of which can disrupt your immune system, sleep, and energy levels. This reaction makes recovering from cancer even more challenging.

Coming back to why breathing is important. Breathing is your life force, your anchor. It’s otherwise known as your “Prana”. Practicing meditation and deep breathing techniques regulates the nervous system, allowing you to control your body and mind. Through long inhales and exhales, you can slow your heart rate, stabilize your blood pressure, and lower stress.

Breathing is the connecting link between the subconscious and conscious mind. And practicing mindful breathing is similar to training a muscle. You begin to train the body to breathe slowly throughout the day. Thus, when a stressful situation presents itself, you enter that particular event feeling more calm and at ease. By regulating your emotions and anxiety through the breath, you are able to not get absorbed into stressful situations.

Why meditation is important? It helps you manage cancer-related stress and anxiety. Make sure to visit the OncoPower App for guided meditations, affirmations, and deep breathing exercises. On the app you can also find cancer care specialists, treatment recommendations, and a cancer support community. Our Mindfulness coach and Meditation teacher, Natalie Thomas, is also available for 1:1 support. 

Click here to read The Power of Breathing Pt.2.

One of the most talked about kinds of food recently has GMOs, which stands for Genetically Modified Organisms.  You may be seeing foods in the grocery store labeled ‘Non GMO’ and be wondering, “Should I know what this means?” “Should I be avoiding GMOs?”  There is a lot of misinformation and fear in the media around this type of food, especially for those looking to reduce cancer and disease risk.  Let’s separate fact from fiction to learn to make informed decisions. 

What is a GMO?

Human beings have been breeding animals and plants for selected traits for thousands of years.  Our ancestors picked the fastest horses, kindest dogs, and biggest tomatoes and bred them to ensure those traits would be passed down.  This manual process takes generations, and isn’t precise.  A genetically modified organism may also be referred to as a bioengineed organism, which accurately represents this process: biological engineering.  This modern ‘breeding’, which is currently used mainly in plants, tweaks or selects genes to make sure they are passed down to new plants.  These changes imbue plants with traits such as drought-resistance, can extremes temperature tolerance, or bugs and pests resistance.  

GMOs are part of the reason why our food system can support such a large population – less damage to plants means higher crop yields and longer shelf lives.  GMOs are part of the reason why there aren’t food shortages during the winter or when a new blight is found in a certain crop.  

What connection is there with GMOs, cancer and other disease?

There is suspicion that since a GMO product has its genes or DNA modified, that this would have a downstream effect on the consumer’s DNA.  Cancer is defined by unwelcome DNA changes, so the concern would be valid if true.  However, over decades of study in the United States, Canada and the European Union no evidence has shown any health risks to intake of GMO foods.  They have also not been linked to any auto-immune diseases like Celiac disease, and there is no link to autism that has been found.

Another concern consumers may have is that some plants are genetically modified to be resistant to herbicides used to control weeds in crop fields.  Farmers would then be free to use more herbicides, and one of the most common is RoundUp or glyphosate.  The International Agency on Cancer Research does classify glyphosate as ‘probably carcinogenic,’ in the same risk category as burning wood and work exposure as a hairdresser.  Interestingly, alcohol is classified as ‘definitely carcinogenic’ and yet many adults consume alcohol regularly without thought to its cancer causing risk.  An oncology dietitian did the math, and determined that  ‘dietary exposure to all pesticide residues poses a risk equal to drinking one glass of wine every three months.’   It is nearly impossible to have zero pesticide exposure in our food system, and consumers need to make educated decisions about what risks to reduce. 

Bottom Line

We may not have definitive proof that GMOs do not harm human health, but the decades of evidence we have does not suggest any link to disease or cancer risk.  Consumers should feel safe eating from our food system, and if they want to avoid GMO products that is their individual choice.  Starting in January 2022, GMO products will be required to be labelled as such.  Organic products are also not allowed to contain any GMO products, so by choosing organic you would always be eating non-GMO.  At the end of the day, we know that a healthful, anti-cancer lifestyle avoids stress, smoking, alcohol and weight gain and includes regular exercise and lots of brightly colored fruits and veggies, whether they are GMO or not. 

Still have questions about GMOs and what it means for your cancer and disease risk? Join our community at OncoPower and a Registered Dietitian will be happy to assist you will maximizing your health at any stage in your cancer journey. Providing support for cancer patients is what we do! 

In our society, there is so much emphasis on assisting other people. Maybe you are taking care of your family, kids, loved ones, and friends 2/47. Or are constantly giving and providing your energy to make sure everyone else is ok – but when do you take a second to check in with yourself?

Self-care is not selfish. Self care plays a huge role in supporting your physical and mental health, especially after receiving a cancer diagnosis and going through cancer treatment. The term ‘self-care’ can seem daunting, uncomfortable, and scary. However, self-care is essential to your overall wellbeing and mental self. Self-care encompasses a lot of basic but overlooked practices such as getting enough sleep, meditating, practicing gratitude, and saying ‘no’ to things that do not resonate with you.

“Self-care is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation.” – Audre Lorde

Practice Mindfulness Meditation

It may surprise you that one of the best and most effective practices you can do for self-care and stress relief is nothing at all. Well, maybe that is actually a bit misleading! Silencing the mind and tuning inwards isn’t really nothing – in fact, it can take time and practice to cultivate a solid foundation to reach inner stillness and peace. However, carving out time to silence the mind will always pay off. Meditation trains your brain to tune into the present moment, to focus on your breath, and to give your body the time and space it needs to relax. By sitting down and paying attention to where you are without distractions, you begin to accept and dismiss the thoughts and emotions that arise. Through consistent practice, you train the subconscious mind to do this even when you are not meditating. This self-care practice guides you to leading (and living!) a more mindful life on a day to day basis, and is effective for cancer patient’s care.

Meditating also provides you with the opportunity to set intentions that propel you to manifesting positive energy, all while tapping into the pure joy that you desire. One way to embark and begin your self-care practice is through our Meditation Program on the OncoPower App. By practicing our guided meditations and breathing exercises, you can jumpstart your self-care routine that reduces the stress and anxiety that cancer can bring. Led by Mindfulness Coach and Meditation teacher, Natalie Thomas, you can also sign up for 1:1 sessions for further assistance and more personalized coaching. OncoPower is one of the leading sources for support for cancer patients.

Expressing Gratitude

Another important form of self-care is expressing gratitude. Just by waking up in the morning and thinking of five things that you are grateful for is a practice of self-care. The benefits of gratitude are endless. When you give thanks for what you have in the present moment, no matter what is going on in your life, the universe will conspire to provide you with more to express gratitude for.

Through journaling and/or meditation, see if you can create time to notice and reflect upon the people, places, things, moments you cherish. Some additional benefits are: you begin to relish more positive emotions, your sleep improves, you are able to express more kindness and compassion (for both yourself and others), and you can begin to feel more ‘present’ and alive. 

Expressing gratitude can even assist your body in building a stronger immune system. This is beneficial when going through cancer treatment. Gratitude expression can be for something big in your life, such as a child and/or family member, but it can also be for something as simple as expressing gratitude for a nice cup of coffee in the morning.

Affirmations

Affirmations are phrases / mantras that can assist you in overcoming challenging life moments, such as cancer, by subconsciously training the mind to think positive thoughts versus self-sabotaging thoughts. This is another self-care practice.

When one is diagnosed with cancer, it can be difficult to not have negative thinking which can manifest into increased anxiety and depression. Negative thinking can turn into destructive self-fulling prophecies, which is why it’s extremely important to rewire the nervous system to think thoughts that are in alignment with healing, love, and harmony.

Affirmations help you take control of your thoughts. When repeated and practiced regularly, each phrase / mantra begins to become engraved into the conscious and subconscious mind, so you actually start to ‘believe’ that each positive thought is true. While it is completely normal to think negatively from time to time, know that affirmations can shift your emotions, behaviors, and overall energy levels all for the better.

Affirmations can reaffirm positivity and self-assurance back into your life while assisting you on the path of healing. We also recommend you check out our Affirmation Meditations on the OncoPower App to assist you in further in your healing and wellness journey. You can also find a growing cancer support community on the OncoPower App.

Additional Self-Care practices:

1. Take an epsom salt bath
2. Stretch for 20 minutes
3. Savor your favorite cup of tea
4. Journal
5. Read a book on self-care
6. Take a 20-min walk
7. Tap into your creativity 
8. Use a soothing face mask

For more information, please visit us at OncoPower today!