Let Your Lifestyle Be Your Medicine
The following is adapted from The Grace of Cancer by Veronica Villanueva.
In the United States, cancer kills 595,690 Americans each year. Statistically, fewer than twenty percent of cancer cases result from DNA damage. The other eighty percent are caused by poor diet and unhealthy lifestyles.
Any integrative doctor will tell you that we are doing this to ourselves. Our internal terrain is so damaged that it becomes a perfect breeding ground for any chronic illness, like cancer. In this day and age, we live in a constant “chronic” state. We have chronic worry, fear, anger, stress, inflammation, and no sleep.
The bottom line is that we have forgotten how to take care of ourselves. At some point, we will pay for this. I certainly did, which is why I developed stage four metastatic lung cancer.
Doctors told me I had only six months to live, but I refused to give in. I changed my lifestyle and fought the disease with everything I had. Now, I am tumor-free and more alive than ever. If cancer is caused by a harmful lifestyle, then my story shows that we can use a healthy lifestyle as medicine. Here’s how.
Avoid Stress
Stress has become such a key part of modern life that we mistakenly believe it is normal. For many people, being stressed has become our default state. The word “stress” means nothing anymore because we use it so loosely, when in fact, it should refer to a serious physiological state. Stress is silently making you sick without you even realizing it.
From now on, I want you to take stress seriously. If you do feel stressed, what does that mean? What are you stressed about? Check-in with yourself and ask if what is in your head is real. Quite often, what we are thinking and worrying about is not true or has not happened, and yet we act like our fears are the reality. If something is making you stressed, identify what it is, and do something about it.
Practice Self-Love and Care
To achieve a mind, body, and soul connection, you must practice self-love and self-care. My first attempt at practicing self-love was shopping for myself. I soon realized that buying myself material goods did not equal true happiness.
Now, when I shop for myself, I call it a conscious indulgence. I am no longer oblivious to what I am doing or how it is making me feel. Instead, I make an empowered choice to indulge, rather than a reactive impulse resulting from stress and unhappiness.
Be careful to distinguish between conscious indulgence and self-medication. Some people use food, drugs, or alcohol to soothe their anxiety or escape reality. People eat without being hungry to fill a void and cope with emotional trauma.
You want to replace any of these self-medicating habits with healthy behaviors, like yoga, Pilates, or meditation. If you constantly look to escape your reality, clearly there is a disconnect between your behavior and your desire to live.
Sleep Better
Although sleep is such a basic part of life, many of us suffer from insomnia or interrupted sleep. As part of our modern lifestyle, our new norm is to take a sleeping pill like Ambien. Instead of finding the root cause of our insomnia, we are freely prescribed these sleeping pills, and before you know it, we are addicted to taking them every night.
What can you do to make sure you sleep better every night? Adopt rituals. Rituals are important as our bodies thrive on routines. My bedroom is a sacred place for me. I make sure everything is conducive to good sleeping hygiene. Absolutely no bright lights after 7:00 p.m. and my phone is not in my bedroom. I use essential oils like lavender or frankincense in a diffuser, and I take a nice warm shower in the dark with calm meditative music before bedtime. I take supplements (melatonin, cortisol manager, and magnesium) one hour before sleeping.
Meditate
There are many good reasons to learn to meditate. Every day, we have so many thoughts racing in our minds, and what do you think this does to the body? It creates stress! Meditation is essential because through this practice, you will gain peace of mind, and you will be less anxious and reactive throughout the day.
Like any skill, meditation takes practice. Do not judge yourself! When I first started meditating, I often fell asleep. I thought I was not meditating correctly. Quite the contrary! The body is a smart machine, and it was doing what it needed to do at that moment, which was to rest. Your body is intuitive enough to know what you need at any given moment.
By focusing on my breathing and being present, I have become aware of how my body is feeling. Not only can I feel the stress leave my body, but the deep breathing gives oxygen to my cells and boosts my immune system.
Exercise
Our bodies are meant to move. You only get one body so take great care of it! People tend to take exercise for granted when they can do it without thinking, but when you are sick, even the smallest movements can become hard.
Whether you’re fighting an illness or not, everyone can benefit from the health-boosting effects of exercise. It reduces stress, keeps your insulin levels down, and gives your immune system a powerful boost. Exercise also causes sweating, which removes toxins from the body, and stimulates your lymphatic system, which transports infection-fighting white blood cells throughout the body. Plus, getting rid of your excess energy can lead you to a more regular sleep cycle and prevent insomnia.
With so many exercise options to choose from, you want to pick activities you enjoy that feel good for your body’s unique needs. Do what you can, even if that means only going for a short twenty- or thirty-minute walk.
Being Well Is an Active Process
To have a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable, you must invest in yourself. Being well is an active process. Wellness is not confined to a single area; it’s about leading a healthy lifestyle. Your new life can only be exposed by giving up the old one.
Whether you’re seriously ill or just feeling the stress of day-to-day life, let your lifestyle become your medicine. I am alive today, despite the odds I was given, and it’s because I was willing to drastically change the way I was living. Take the steps to actively improve your lifestyle, and make it your responsibility to heal.
For more advice on committing to a healthy lifestyle, you can find The Grace of Cancer on Amazon.
Veronica Villanueva discovered her “why” after being diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2016. She knows she is alive today to share grace, blessings, and the lessons that cancer has taught her. Her “incurable” disease gave her the gift of knowing herself, loving herself, and sharing herself with others in a profound way. Through her work as a trained Cordon Bleu chef and certified health coach, Veronica aims to inspire others to embrace a holistic lifestyle built on a commitment to growth, eating healthy foods, taking the time to create memorable moments, and of course, fostering loving relationships.
