Julie got diagnosed with cancer five years ago and decided to deal with her cancer through what have to be defined as “alternative” therapies.

That is to say, non mainstream National Health Treatments. (Surgery, Chemotherapy, Radiation and Drugs)

The point about diseases like cancer or losing a leg is that they are non-negotiable. Non-negotiable meaning that you have to do something. It is one of those events which are both life threatening and, or life changing.

Burying your head in sand will not help the situation, or make it go away.

Negotiable illnesses, such as the Flu and so on, can be dealt with by either taking pills and / or going to bed for a few days in the knowledge that it will eventually subside.

So, we had a non-negotiable event on our hands. We had to do something.

Instead of following the party line (Surgery, Chemotherapy, Radiation and Drugs) we asked ourselves the fundamental question “What caused Julie’s Cancer?”

The logic being that if we could figure out the cause and eliminating it, then it may assist in her long term recovery.

We embarked on an intense period of research and meetings for advice with a whole spectrum of people from Doctors in Harley Street to amateur, but knowledgeable, nutritionists, homeopaths etc.

Indeed, some of the best advice would come from people who had had cancer or were currently dealing with their issues in a similar manner to Julie.

One of the overwhelming pieces of advice was, without a doubt, “Completely eliminate sugar from your diet “ as this not only may fuel cancer but possibly have caused it.

I won’t go into all the other factors that we investigated, but eliminating sugar was so powerful an argument that we implemented it immediately.

Bear in mind, this decision was made some five years ago. Long before the current debate on sugar in diet, most of which currently focus upon obesity, diabetes but not the link to Cancer.

This is very frustrating.

What is even more frustrating is that the medical world has known about this connection for almost a century.

The Potted Science Bit

In the 1920’s a Dr. Otto Warburg discovered that cancerous cells “breathe” differently from healthy cells. In fact he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine twice for his finding in 1931 and 1944, although he was prevented from picking up his second prize as Adolf Hitler had allegedly issued a decree in 1937 which prevented any German national from accepting Nobel Prizes for any discipline.

Specifically, he found that cancer cells get their energy by breaking down large amounts of glucose (sugar) through fermentation. Whereas, normal cells get their energy by “breathing” oxygen.

Ergo, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of oxygen in normal body cells by the fermentation of glucose (sugar).  This change in energy production in your body happens when oxygen levels drop below a certain level and your cell’s “breathing process” is forced to change from using oxygen to fermenting glucose (sugar), thus turning normal cells into cancer cells.

What is worse is that fermentation is about 20 times less efficient than using oxygen and the process creates lactic acid as a by product. The liver then takes up the lactic acid and converts it back into glucose (sugar), which fires back into your body to fuel the cancer cells.

Cutting out sugar seemed a good place to start, based on Dr. Otto Warburg’s findings and subsequent research over the last 70 years.

That is, therefore, precisely what we did.

Systematically cleared our kitchen of all food with sugar on the labels (and any with preservatives and “E” numbers by the way) and started on a sugar free diet for the last five years.

Our first visit to Christies main hospital in Manchester, which is a world renowned Cancer Hospital, involved an eight hour visit to several departments. The work they do is great, but the frustrating part of the visit is that in each department and in each Café / Restaurant the only options for food were either vending machines full of Coca Cola, chocolate, fruit bars, Haribo sweets etc.

At Cristie’s subsidiary dept at Manchester Royal there is a small Café which also sells all things sugary !!

Even at the Hospice where Julie had to go for a few weeks of treatment their Reception area has a rack of sustenance which sells exclusively chocolate and sweets !!

So even in God’s Waiting Room the message has not got through.

It is equivalent to having a free bar giving out vodka at meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Equally frustrating are well meaning Charity Fundraising Events. Inevitably, this involves a gathering of very well meaning people who bake and sell cakes for their local hospice.

Again, I make the analogy – it is akin to making homebrew to sell on behalf of the local AA Meetings.

Finally, I have on my desk, at the moment, three documents that are handed out to Cancer patients in the UK:

1. “Live a Healthy Life – Cut your Cancer Risk” – Cancer Research UK

This has no mention of sugar and its implications for Cancer.

2. “Healthy Eating and Cancer” – A MacMillan Document

I quote Page 26 which says:

 “Does Sugar feed Cancer?”

“Sugar in your diet doesn’t directly increase the risk of Cancer, or encourage it to grow. But sugar contains no useful nutrients, apart from energy, and we can get all the energy we need from healthier sources. So it is best to limit the amount of sugar in your diet”

There are equally innocuous statements on pages 28 and 29 about organic foods. (Waste of time – they say) and Anti- Cancer diets (Waste of time – they say)

3. “The Building Up Diet” – A MacMillan Document

To be fair on page 5 they do say

“Just a small amount of food high in fat, salt and sugar” and “ drinks should mainly be water, tea and coffee (without sugar) or sugar free drinks , colas and squashes.”

Unfortunately, there are no sugar free colas or squashes, and the ones that claim to be sugar free are full of aspartame and the like, which is potentially even more damaging to health than even refined sugar.

The booklet then goes on to list a few recipes which include yummy yummy sugary ingredients.

Fur Fox Sake !!!

I am getting more and more annoyed with myself as I write this missive so I had better sign off.

In conclusion, in my opinion:

• If you have Cancer – Eliminate sugar from your diet.
• If you do not want to get Cancer in future – Eliminate sugar from your diet.
• If you are raising funds for Cancer Charities – Do not sell sugary things.
• If you run a Café in a Hospice or Cancer Hospital – Do not sell sugary things.
• If you are a volunteer in a Hospice or Cancer Hospital – Do not sell sugary things.

Over to you…..

End of Message.