2
When a healthy lifestyle is a waste of time....
Posted by
Danae
,
27 September 2014
·
1,502 views
dna damage cause of cancer psycho stress emotional peptide
An old university friend looked me up this week, whose husband is recovering from cancer. His cancer was particularly aggressive, but she smiled when she said the doctors had explained this meant it responded well to chemotherapy and surgery. Troy is an interesting case because he was always a total health fanatic. At university he would only buy organic - at a time when a mere fraction of the population were into that - refused both tea and coffee, only drank water and natural juices (no alcohol), non-smoker, strict vegetarian, no sun screen because of what’s in it (so his skin has weathered a bit), no dairy products, regular exercise, committed Christian, minimal medication, the works. He and his wife married while they were still at uni so they could live together without church disapproval. They were the only married students there, and shortly after graduating went off to do development work in countries where missionaries were not welcome. No one was as clean-living as that guy. I asked her if there was cancer in his family and she said no, his parents were still alive and going strong, but perhaps some of the underdeveloped countries they had lived in had exposed him to unseen risks. However she hadn't even had the conversation with Troy about the causes of his cancer. One of the reasons I distanced myself from them a little is that they always wanted to know about my troubles but would share none of their own. Maybe they didn't have any, but I felt drained after being with them. They had everything under control and life was perfect. Two children grew up successfully, but she said Troy was concerned that their girls were not dating in their twenties and never had. I pointed out it was early days but they, of course, were already married in their early twenties. I suspected only certain potential husbands would be acceptable to the parents.
Can cancer just happen for no reason? With most illness there is some underlying cause. Maybe a virus can cause cancer sometimes, caught in some of the exotic locations where they lived. But that was 25 years ago and for the last decade they had lived in the countryside in a highly developed country. They enjoyed life, hiking, playing music and attending a church, although Troy insisted on worshipping in a language my friend could not understand, in order to integrate with the local population where they were currently based. “I’d prefer the Anglican cathedral down the road to be honest,” she giggled, “but I’m supposed to be going native.” Other people's children were not doing as well as theirs, and this seemed to satisfy her.
There appeared to be a lot of control in the family, though perhaps I was ‘projecting’. After all, visitors to this site are all about controlling their own lifespan; however, the fact there had been no discussion at all about the causes of Troy's cancer in spite of following all the health advice to an extreme seemed troubling. I kept mum – there is nothing worse than unsolicited advice.
A kinesiologist will tell you memories and repressed emotions become trapped in our cells. This is not mumbo-jumbo, since emotions are basically peptides that enter the cell through receptors. There is a peptide for joy, rage, jealousy, fear…. These peptides are also highly addictive, which is why we constantly experience the same emotions and go through emotional cycles. When an emotion hasn’t been experienced for a while, the body calls for its next hit. Like an addict, the body doesn’t care if the emotion does harm or good. Emotional stress causes DNA damage, the underlying cause of cancer.
My point is that it is useless to obsess over toxins from the environment, the foods we eat, the supplements we take and the exercise regime we follow if we do not lead a healthy emotional life. Being honest about our true desires, tackling our worst impulses, doing profound psychological work on ourselves, uncovering past trauma and unacknowledged motives as well as the long, long road towards genuine self-esteem are all more important than social conventions, being the perfect family and having successful children. Psychological health is as important as a healthy lifestyle if we wish to extend life. It is probably more important.
