New look at nutrition

The adage "you are what you eat" has never really done it for me.
That is until i had a session with an amazing german Doctor specialising in nutrition, who happened to be in the UK a couple of weeks ago.

Bernhard Zipf, the father of friends from Frankfurt trained/practised as a GP, but for the last 20 years has studied the impact that proper nutrition can have on a wide range of illnesses, including cancer.

It was rivetting. The basis of his findings/experience took 4 hours to explain, and the scientific evidence he had to back it up was compelling. Having had my treatment from the NHS brand of "school medicine", it was clear to me that this advice was from the "alternative" end of the spectrum. Not something i was particularly used to or comfortable with in the past.

"School medicine treats the cell" continued Dr Zipf, "alternative medicine treats the milieu (the setting, environment or whole)".

Using cancer as an example, standard treatment pathways use chemotherapy and radiotherapy to target the tumour's rogue cells. These methods are extremely invasive, have numerous unpleasant side-effects and have wildly divergent outcomes.

Dr Zipf's holistic approach by contrast uses a combination of natural de-toxing and de-acidifying, fasting, healthy eating & drinking to render the body a hostile environment for cancer to flourish in.

Our 21st century minds tend to struggle with this "back to the roots" kind of idea. It flies in the face of scientific advance and persuasive pharmaceutical marketing. But it also borrows a lot from the bank of common sense.

..substrate is everything... as Alan Titchmarsh will tell you - mushrooms and azaleas require an acidic soil in which to develop properly. Cancer cells also thrive in an acidic environment.
And so by using a structured nutrition regime to reduce acidity levels in the body, Bernhard has seen tumours slow down, regress and in some cases disappear. It sounds so very simple - too simple perhaps..

The whole detox/deacidify thing requires more explanation than i've given here and i'm not sure i'd do it justice anyway.
But suffice to say that the consultation has given me a new confidence in how to approach food(i came away with a raft of sensible dietary advice and a dizzying array of suppliments that i'll enlarge on in a future post).

Knowing what to eat following the Oesophagectomy was an ongoing problem. It was all a bit hit and miss. I was sick quite a lot, while the cancer dietitians encouraged me to eat "what was good for me". Hmmm.

I eventually found my way and made up my own rules and this process has encouraged me to analyse what i eat like never before. Prior to cancer i used to shovel in anything and everything, but i can't do this now. My digestive system is much more sensitive and i tread a fine line between enjoyment of and cautious respect for my food.

My ongoing thinking is, that if the impact of a meal can still have such a dramatic effect on me, the systemic effects of what i consume over a period of time has to be of significance. I think this is the start of a journey of discovery. I'm at the start, naive and a little dewy-eyed, but i'm convinced there's more to it than meets the eye and i'll be looking into it more.