FAQs

 

I am not qualified to give advice. All my views here are my own. Much of it is based on my very real experimentation on mind, body and spirit. I consider this to be more real than what most practitioners, medics commentators and snake oil salesmen have been through, apart from those poor people who have personally suffered from a grave illness.

Everyones body, and mind, are different. What works for one may or may not work for another. My purpose is to enlighten you on the options, many of which have been buried in the fury of modern 21st century life.

In some instances, I cite evidence or other peoples opinion, However, as with everything in life, what we read is rarely the absolute truth. There is always some sort of bias behind the message that is being said. As individuals interpreting a message we have to take the personal responsibility to decide whether we believe what we read, see or hear. We can't blame anyone else but ourselves. Your life is your life as seen through your eyes: your life is too precious to give the responsibility to someone else.

This is a terrifically complicated question to try to answer.  It is certainly impossible to answer in a short FAQ response.

And, of course, it depends on your objective.  It also depends on a whole bunch of other things, such as what is your specific state of health

One way to help in asnwering it for you is to describe my diet (which I have constantly refined over an 18 month period of constant research on line, reading of books & publications, trial and error with my body, support of a qualified nutritionist and functional testing in the laboratory).

Current I would describe my diet as a 'restricted calorie, restricted time, low GI, gluten-free, whole food plant based anti-prostate cancer vegan Ketogenic diet'!

It is certainly a very extreme diet (because my health condition is very extreme).  And there are many other considerations to making my daily nutrition intake work for me, besides the traditional interpretation of the word 'diet'.  Again this is sadly too complex to address here.  Howeever, you can hear more about it at the series of 'conversations with an audience' that I am running.

 

The following is what has worked for me.  I am nevertheless a particular type of beast.  I hope that some of these tricks work for you.  Let me know how you get on.

1) The Aggregation of Marginal Gains

I will write more about this in due course.  I also talk about it in my 'conversations with an audience' events. In the meantime I recently found this great introduction to the concept.

When I was deciding where to start on my treatment plan, I chose just one thing, the one thing that I could get my head around most easily.  Then everyday I tried to make a 1% improvement on the day before.  After a week at it, I felt that I had made significant progress, even if only a mental perception.

And by following other tricks that I mention below, I could

1. tell if these 1% steps were improvements or steps backwards
2. make the whole process one that I could sustain, day in, day out.

2) Before all else, I realised that this is 99% a mind game

I am no different to anyone:  my minds tells me constantly that it is tough; that I don't want to do it.

My mind questions me as to whether I really want to sacrifice other short-term pleasures in order to devote time to my long-term health.  However, i have realised that there is no other way.  My history tells me that I have been a lazy & shortsighted fool.  There is nothing more important than my health.

I have learnt that, how ever hard, I have to control my mind, or else be a victim of it.  And I do this through a combination of many, many things, including

• meditation (daily)
• exercise (daily)
• visualisation (daily)
• chatting things through with my psychologist (monthly)
• Putting myself in places to be inspired by others - perhaps listening to their stories of hardship. (As often as possible).

3) Teaming up with others

I have handpicked a team of 12 independent health experts who all help and support me.  I am in constant consultation with them.  They keep fueling me with ideas.  They include

1. Two 'Cancer Buddies' (a tip from the excellent book Radical Remission)
2. My amazing wife
3. A nutritionist
4. A psychotherapist
5. A yoga master
6. A strength & conditioning expert
7. A conventional Oncologist
8. My GP
9. My nurse
10. My Chinese herbalist
11. My complementary Oncologist

I am also an active member of countless Facebook groups.  The power derived from these groups and other social media, if I use them correctly, is incalculable.

4) I measure my progress, constantly

I measure more than 45 aspects of my health.  Somethings I measure more regularly (eg my weight, perhaps 3 x per week, depending on my focus at the time) and others perhaps once or twice a year (eg my hormone balance).

5) I realise that it is a life's work.

Health is not a fad.  It is a lifestyle choice.

Every day is full of me needing to make active, conscious health choices and decisions.

It is hard work, but I have come to appreciate that the biggest struggles bring the biggest rewards.

Good luck.  Let me know how you get on.

I will cover standard blood tests (iron serum, blood cell counts, creatinine, etc) elsewhere.

The following tests are the more specialist tests that I have had to hunt down.  These tests inform me at a much more detailed level about how my body is performing.  They are not available through normal medical channels and quite frankly I have been surprised by how little mainstream doctors know about their existence, the need for them, their interpretation and the treatment for the underlying causes.

This is all part of a new & emerging science coming largely out of the USA and falls under the umbrella of 'functional medicine'.  This area of biology recognises that we are all bio-individual and that we have to understand our bodies at a deeper level, hunting down the causes of illness, not the symptoms, if we are to find specific treatments that are going to work for us as unique individuals.

If you wish to undertake any  of these tests you will need to consult with a specialist practitioner (I use a nutritionist) as the laboratories do not give interpretations of results or suggested treatments.

Many of these tests apply to general health.  I see every reason why everyone would want to undertake the NutrEval test, for example, so understand how their body handles what they are consuming.

For each test I have listed

1. the test name
2. the rationale for undertaking the test
3. the laboratory

 

Test: Thyroid Advanced Panel  -  Test code  BP005

Rationale: hormone imbalances are considered to be the causes of many chronic illnesses, including cancer.  Hormones profiles are often out of balance due to stress loads, excess hormones through lifestyles (eg growth hormones in mass reared meat) and pseudo-hormones (eg pseduo-oestrogens from household chemicals).  In the case of the thyroid, hormones T3 and T4 are of particular interest.

Some cancers (eg breast & prostate cancer especially) are thought to be heavily hormone respondent.

Laboratory: Regenerus: http://regeneruslabs.com/

 

Test: Dutch Complete Hormone Profile  - Test code HOR30

Rationale: hormone imbalances are considered to be the causes of many chronic illnesses, including cancer.  Hormones profiles are often out of balance due to stress loads, excess hormones through lifestyles (eg growth hormones in mass reared meat) and pseudo-hormones (eg pseduo-oestrogens from household chemicals).

Laboratory: Regenerus: http://regeneruslabs.com/

 

Test: NutrEval nutritional profile

Rationale: see how the body absorbs and metabolizes specific nutrients.

Laboratory: Genova Diagnostics: https://www.gdx.net/uk/

 

Test: Adrenal stress profile

Rationale: understanding cortisol & DHEA profiles as a indicator of how well the body manages stress.

Laboratory: Genova Diagnostics: https://www.gdx.net/uk/

 

Test: Digestive stool analysis 2.0

Rationale: to understand gut performance: immunology, pathogens and absorption.

Laboratory: Genova Diagnostics: https://www.gdx.net/uk/

 

Test: Candida antibodies

Rationale: to test for candida presence as this can be a highly stubborn & problematic gut pathogen.

Laboratory: Genova Diagnostics: https://www.gdx.net/uk/