When my aunt was fighting breast cancer a few years ago I took her some ready-to-eat meals to save her and my uncle a few steps at dinnertime. I remember wishing the little boxes of frozen chicken dinners had been better quality – something organic and super nutritious.
But the Healthy Requests, or whatever they were, were the best I could find at the store in my rush to get to her house. When I arrived, I handed over my meager offering contained in a small cooler. My uncle was gracious and said thanks as he trotted off to the kitchen to stick the meals in the freezer.
Soon afterward I heard him whistling away, the water running full blast in the kitchen sink and the sound of plastic being jumbled against stainless steel.
Aunt Donna was easy to be around, the kind of person who makes you feel instantly comfortable. We talked quietly as she sat wrapped up in a pale blue blanket in her blue arm chair and described the latest stage of her illness. Recently, she said, she’d begun to develop golf-ball size tumors all over her body.
By the calm dismissive way she spoke, you’d have thought it was simply an annoying case of zits.
We were interrupted when my uncle swooped into the living room and plopped down the spotless and now-gleaming cooler by my side. Still damp, he had obviously just scoured it to perfection. Even though it was plastic, I’m pretty sure I could see my reflection. As he headed back towards the kitchen, no doubt to spit-shine the sink, I looked down at my cooler and said something about not expecting the gratis scrub.
My aunt looked at me wide-eyed and shrugged. “Who would?” she said, her eyes trailing my uncle as she shook her head. “It’s a disease.” We both laughed at this crack at my uncle, a man known for his white-gloved approach to life. That’s what I liked my aunt, she always had a good sense of humor.
It was really hard to watch my aunt deteriorate. Most of my news about her health came second- or third-hand through my mom and the owner of a health food store where we all bought vitamins and herbal supplements. I seldom went to see Donna. Her immune system was sorely depleted after several rounds of chemotherapy and I didn’t want to risk passing on any brewing viruses. So instead I prayed and hoped she could feel the good vibes I was sending her.
Looking at my aunt, battered by this illness, I longed for a way to help her. But all I could do was bring her Chicken Fettuccini and give her my love.
Shortly after this visit, my aunt lost her battle with cancer, and a noble fight it was. Before her illness she was one of the healthiest people I’ve ever known. I mean, she was eating bean sprouts and making her own fruit leather before I even knew what those things were or that they were good for you. After her diagnosis, she still chose alternative remedies and meditation as compliments to modern treatment. If anyone could survive breast cancer I figured she would. I wish that had been the case.
Like my late aunt, I’m very interested in nutrition and natural remedies. I do a lot of my own research and have found many solutions ? and comfort ? in natural and home remedies. My latest research landed me on a website I’d never heard of: www.breastcancersolutions.com
From another website I frequent, www.earthclinic.com
I kept reading and discovered researchers are finding most people in the United States are iodine deficient. One of the biggest causes of this depletion is the chemical bromide, an additive in bread products. This chemical, in the form of potassium bromate, makes mass-produced dough soft and pliable. Potassium bromate is also found in commercial toothpaste and mouthwash, asthma inhalers, plastics and cleaners. Another form of bromide is used in fire retardants for carpeting. The problem with bromide, it seems, is it displaces iodine in the body.
That means when you consume bromide it kicks out all the iodine in your system, causing an iodine deficiency. Bromide dominance can cause kidney cancer, deafness, depression and schizophrenia, research shows.
Here’s another factoid: I read somewhere that women in Japan have much lower rates of breast cancer, likely because they consume large amounts of nutrient-rich kelp and seaweed. Both kelp and seaweed are full of iodine.
Other research shows too much bromide does nasty things to rats and the substance has been banned from use in Canada, the United Kingdom and soon will be in Australia. So, what about the U.S? Well, according to www.breastcancerchoices.org:
*”Back in 1999, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the FDA** to prohibit the use of potassium bromate, charging that the FDA has known** for years that bromate causes cancer in lab animals, but has failed to ban it…** As of September 2007, the US FDA **responded to Breast Cancer Choices **inquiry with the statement, “**Potassium Bromate is still **listed as a **safe **additive.**”*
Scary.
To replace iodine in the body, the websites suggest that food-grade iodine be consumed, or store-bought iodine be painted on the feet at night where it can absorb into the body slowly. Kelp and seaweed supplements are also recommended. You can find more information on iodine replacement at the websites mentioned above. I would encourage everyone to do their own research on this topic.
I wish I had known about the iodine research when my aunt was still alive. Maybe a little iodine could have gone a long way in helping her win her breast cancer fight.
