endorphasMIC
Join Erica each week as she delves deep into all things wellness, fitness, nutrition, entertainment, entrepreneurship, and spirituality. These intimate, deep, and often intense conversations go beyond the traditional podcast. They are designed to provoke, educate, inspire, and empower you to discover, uncover, unlock, and unleash your best, most authentic self.
To live. To feel alive. Because I can. Because I’m human. Because my humanity demands it! Movement. We weren’t wired this way by accident. Our physical and mental health is by design, dependent on movement. We are designed to feel good when we move because survival depends on movement. This was an obvious truth when hunting, gathering, and farming; our existence depended on our ability and desire to do survival tasks, so our bodies are chemically and hormonally designed to make us feel good when doing them. It is a much less obvious truth in modern society, but no less relevant. The endorphasm is the moment during movement you feel anything is possible. Clarity. This podcast is the exploration of movement as the foundation for a productive, fulfilling, rewarding, most excellent life.
endorphasMIC
Transforming Your Cancer Journey: Embrace Movement
What if you could harness the power of movement and nutrition to transform your cancer journey? Join me, Erica Porter, as we uncover how regular physical activity can supercharge your immune system, mitigate treatment side effects, and elevate mental well-being. Through engaging conversations and expert insights, you'll learn about the vital role of a predominantly plant-based diet tailored by registered dietitians. Discover the mission of the Endorphasm Foundation, which aims to make movement a cornerstone of cancer care, and hear firsthand accounts from our growing community on the profound impact of physical activity, mental health support, and proper nutrition.
In this episode, we emphasize the significance of controlling the controllables in the face of medical challenges. By focusing on what you can manage—like staying active, eating well, and finding joy in everyday moments—you can profoundly enhance your quality of life. We encourage living fully despite chronic conditions or unexpected hurdles, reminding you that everyone faces their battles. Tune in as we share actionable steps and inspiring stories that celebrate love, health, and happiness, empowering you to navigate life's complexities with grace and resilience.
Welcome to Endorphasmic, where we talk about all things endorphasm. I am your hostess, erica Porter. I want to talk about the benefits of movement and also nutrition and how they can improve life during cancer treatment and boost survival. So, with so many high-profile individuals being diagnosed with cancer, we're confronted with the stark reality that the disease can strike any of us at any time, and there are alarming reports that suggest that certain cancers are increasing among younger people in their 30s and 40s. But on the positive side, medical treatments for cancer are advancing rapidly, survival rates are improving significantly and some cancers are now managed more as long-term chronic diseases rather than illnesses at quickly claimed lives. And the mainstays of cancer treatment remain surgery, chemotherapy, patient's health issues. Movement stimulates the body and creates an environment where cancer is less likely to thrive. This is really, really important and it's part of the mission is, even though it is recognized as medicine, it is still not part of the standard practice of care, and so it is my mission with the Endoraphasm Foundation to make that true, to make it part of the standard practice of care. Listen, movement it increases cancer-fighting immune cells in the blood and it directs them to the tumor to identify and kill cancer cells. That is real Side effect reduction. Movement reduces cancer treatment side effects like fatigue, muscle and bone loss, fat gain. It also lowers other obviously other risks of chronic diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes. But it also maintains and helps improve the quality of life and the mental health for cancer patients. There's emerging evidence that indicates that movement might increase the effectiveness of mainstream treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. It is crucial for preparing patients for surgery by improving cardiorespiratory fitness, reducing systemic inflammation and increasing muscle mass strength and physical function, followed by post-surgery rehabilitation. These mechanisms explain why physically active cancer patients have much better survival outcomes, with the relative risk of death from cancer reduced by anywhere from 40 to 50%. This is science. This is not just me providing just numbers. This is science. It is so important.
Speaker 0:Movement is also a tool in management, in the psychological, social, behavior and emotional aspects for cancer patients and their families. The goal is to improve quality of life and mental health, reducing emotional distress, anxiety, depression, sexual health issues, coping strategies, sexual health issues, coping strategies, personal identity crisis, relationship problems. These things are real during a Not just during, but your life is changed when you receive a cancer diagnosis and some people do not receive that information well and they feel as though they're relinquishing all of their control to the medical community. And I know that we, as individuals, retain the ability to control so much of our journey, not just with a cancer diagnosis, just in general. Self-care is something that we control, movement is something that we control, what we put in our body is something that we control, and if you are struggling with your nutrition I am not a registered dietitian, I am certainly not a registered dietitian in the oncology field I would beg you to meet with someone who is, who is a registered dietitian and I'm not talking about influencers and people that you might, you know, find their stories, their own personal story, on social media. Consult with someone who knows what they're talking about.
Speaker 0:But a healthy diet this I know to be true a healthy diet, a healthy nutrition can support the body in fighting cancer and everything really. It can help the body tolerate and recover from treatments. It can reduce inflammation, which provides a fertile environment for cancer cells, and that's essential, and so this typically means avoiding processed foods and focusing on fresh, locally sourced and, yes, predominantly plant-based foods, because muscle loss is a common side effect of cancer treatments. Obviously, resistance training, movement helps, but protein is also something that's incredibly important. It doesn't have to be protein supplements. I do not use any kind of supplements. I don't like to spend my money on them. I would rather eat, but I do recommend meeting with someone who is educated in the field of dietary needs with oncology patients, but it's depending, obviously, on the cancer and treatment. Some patients sometimes need specialized nutrition therapy and when there's rapid weight loss, that's something that needs to be addressed. So I really most oncology centers, most cancer centers, have these individuals staffed or at least have referrals for you. So please seek out the individuals that you need, and I believe all of this is, you know, it's really about working as a team.
Speaker 0:There are three powerful tools movement, mental health support, if you need it, beyond what movement can do, because it does change us emotionally and nutrition. And they're all powerful components of supportive care for cancer patients and, while none are cures for cancer, they can significantly improve patient outcomes when they are used alongside medical treatments. So you know, I know my journey, I know how movement has kept me grounded. I know how movement has allowed me a space to express myself in a way, physically, that allows me to express myself emotionally, the community that I have fostered and been so incredibly fortunate to be a part of within the Endorphasm community. It's really really important. So if people are kind of wondering, what does the Endorphasm Foundation do, it's really important to understand that we have created a space, and not just here in Richmond, virginia, because we have expanded to Memphis, tennessee. We've expanded to Colorado Springs, colorado, and Chester, pennsylvania. We will be expanding into Baltimore, tennessee. We've expanded to Colorado Springs, colorado, and Chester, pennsylvania. We will be expanding into Baltimore, maryland.
Speaker 0:It's really important to control your controllables. It is really important, especially when you feel as though you are relinquishing all of your control to the medical community. It is really important to understand what you, the individual, controls movement, what you put into your body and the ability to find the joy in every day, because each of us is terminal. Cancer is not the. It should not change how we decide to live our life. We should make a decision to live our life to its fullest, no matter what chronic issue we might be dealing with, no matter what life throws at us, because there are going to be curveballs, navigate all of the complexities of life and if you really focus on your controllables, it really changes how you handle life so with that love, health and happiness and always much respect.
