The Desert: Mike 'The Bike' cycles West Africa - Part 2

Today’s post is our second from Mike ‘the Bike’ McLellan, cycling enthusiast and long-time supporter of Yes to Life who is cycling from Italy to West Africa to embark on the adventure of a lifetime and raise lots of money to help us support people with cancer along the way.

The so called gateway to the Westernmost Sahara is Guelmim in Southern Morocco. As we approached it I could see a completely different landscape to anything I have seen before looming before me. Long barren mountains ran South from that city and were present for several days as we rode South-west to Tan Tan,  and then disappeared as we went on to Tarfaya and then to the border with Western Sahara.

Desert cycling is challenging in many ways, but probably mostly psychologically,  in that very little changes. To the mind this can be a big challenge, gone are the usual things that stimulate us; different landscapes, people, places to rest, cafes, shops. But changes there are. Hills appear and disappear,  the colour and texture of the sand changes, at times fine and almost white, at other times yellow or red, sandy or rocky. Sometimes huge dunes appear majestically in the distance and then are gone.

Flax Seed Focaccia

Today's post is written by Jenny Phillips who specialises in supporting cancer patients with diet & lifestyle interventions. She herself recovered from breast cancer 10 years ago. 

Jenny is hosting a cookery workshop with Yes to Life in Brighton on Saturday March 7th, if you are interested in coming along please click here for more information.

In this recipe Jenny offers us an alternative to wheat that will have any bread lover fantasising...

Science is consistently showing that the dominance of grains and processed carbohydrates in our modern diet is potentially an issue for health. From a cancer point of view, cutting down or even excluding wheat from your diet is a positive move (read more here) But what to eat instead?

This recipe is really easy to make, and replaces traditional wheat flour with a blend of flax seeds (rich in omega 3) and oats. The addition of eggs too make it a good protein source, and it tastes delicious.

Why Panorama's 'Can You Cure my Cancer?' is missing the point

Today's post is from our chairman, Robin Daly, in response to the recent Panorama documentary 'Can you Cure my Cancer?

After hitting us with the ‘hard fact’ opener that half of us are going to get cancer, last week’s Panorama: Can You Cure My Cancer? left viewers without a second to take a breath, let alone give a moment’s thought to questions such as ‘why?’ before sweeping us all away on a tidal wave of ‘good news’. We were alternately reassured that ‘this is an unprecedented time of progress in the history of cancer medicine and cancer research’, and thrilled by the promise of ‘personalised medicine’, the much heralded result of cutting edge gene research. ‘In both young and old patients, targeted treatments are producing spectacular results’. There was even tentative mention of the ‘c’ word - ‘cure’!

Not once on our wonder-filled roller coaster ride did we step back and pause to consider where we are really headed. As we saw people being treated for their second and third cancers with eye-wateringly expensive drugs, it became clear that, as good consumers, cancer spin has thus far succeeded in distracting us from the reality of the crisis we are in. If we keep going, it would seem likely that, not that far ahead, is the prospect of new ‘baseline’ where we blithely accept that we will all get cancer - of course - and the newspaper statistics and ‘good news’ stories will then be all about how many times.

The Science behind Medicinal Mushrooms

Today's post is an extract from 'Medicinal Mushrooms - The Essential Guide' by Martin Powell and describes their incredible healing properties.

Mushrooms are part of the fungal kingdom. As such they are more closely related to humans and other members of the animal kingdom than to plants and, partly because of this relative evolutionary closeness, a large number of the compounds they produce show physiological activity in humans as well as other animals.

Indeed many of the top-selling pharmaceutical products are derived from mushrooms and other fungi, including the major antibiotics as well as statin-class compounds such as Lovastatin and Simvastatin.

Of course mushrooms do not produce these compounds for our benefit but rather to give themselves an advantage in the competition with other micro-organisms for food and resources and as such many show anti-microbial activity, either as antibiotics or as anti-fungal agents⁴.

Top 10 Q&A's on the Importance of Essential Fats

In today's post, the Igennus team share their top 10 questions (and answers) for understanding the importance of essential fats in preventing cancer recurrence and enhancing recovery.

The right type and amount of fats in our diet is of vital importance for the health of every cell in the body. When we consume too much or not enough of any specific fat, this causes numerous problems in how our cells function and affects every organ of the body.

Specific fats, particularly the omega-3 fatty acids, are top of the list of nutrients needed for healthy cells and therefore for fighting and protecting against cancer. But why are they so important to our cells, how can they increase our risk or protect against cancer and how can you make sure you’ve got the right fats, in the right amounts in your cells, to keep them happy and healthy. The team of expert nutrition scientists from Igennus Healthcare Nutrition answer your top 10 fat based questions below.

Like, Comment, Share: Top posts from the past three months

Today's blog is a round up of your favourite posts from our Facebook page over the past three months. We love sharing the latest news, research and all the inspiring stories which come our way. Please 'like' us if you are interested in joining the conversation.

In case you missed them here are the top 5 posts which got you all talking over the past few months.

1. Vitamin C 'gives chemotherapy a boost' - article from the BBC

This article draws on research from the University of Kansas which suggests that high dose intravenous Vitamin C could contribute to healing from cancer. Find out more about Vitamin C Therapy in our 'Life Directory'

Yes to Life Responds to the Latest Macmillan Report

Today's post is from our chairman, Robin Daly, in response to the recent Macmillan report which revealed that there are now a record 2.5 million people living with cancer in the UK.

At Yes to Life, we welcome the ‘real world’ report put out by Macmillan this month. Amidst all the ‘good news’ stories that ‘more people are surviving cancer than ever’, this report hits the nail on the head when it comes to focussing on the grim reality behind the latest cancer statistics. The report talks about ‘a cancer crisis of unmanageable proportions’, and states that ‘progress is a double-edged sword’.

Yes it’s true that more people are surviving cancer, but far more importantly, many more people are getting cancer than ever. That means more people will have their lives totally uprooted by cancer, will have to face gruelling, increasingly unaffordable treatments, and then very possibly to live out their extended lives in pain, disabled, or with treatment side effects that severely erode their quality of life. Macmillan are a powerful voice of non-conformity amidst the stock hyped news of ‘progress’ that we have grown accustomed to. They clearly identify that ‘growing evidence shows that many cancer patients do not return to full health after gruelling treatments and many suffer from serious side effects of the disease.’ To this we would add ‘and of the treatment’.