The apparent spread and prevalence of cancer is one of the more upsetting realities in modern health care and medicine. Although the western medical approach of using chemotherapy and radiation can often cause cancer to shrink and shift into remission, it’s far from one-hundred-percent effective … and it may wreak havoc with many other systems in the body.

Could there be a more natural solution?

Five Natural Ways to Fight Cancer

Cancer is a purposely broad term that’s applied to thousands of different illnesses that damage body parts and systems and, all too often, lead to death. Fighting a cancer requires a specific approach, not a generalized plan of treatment.

Certain medications and surgical procedures have been useful for combatting a particular cancer, but not every patient has the option (or even the desire) to undergo all the exhausting side effects that come with the “cure.”

Many physicians still greet the holistic approach to cancer with an eye roll and sarcastic chuckle, but the reality is undeniable that alternative approaches have helped thousands of patients to fight and defeat serious cancer diagnoses in recent years.

So before writing them off as crazy, take a good look at the following natural treatments and the possible reasons why and how they work.

Mind-Body Therapy

There’s a solid connection between the mind and the body. You have plenty of experience and evidence from your own life to know this is true.

Just think of something stressful for a while and notice that your heart rate may rise. Or calm your thought processes and observe how the muscles in your body will release tension.

The relationship between mental and physical health is clear and tangible. For this reason, mind-body therapy can be helpful in attacking cancer.

According to Gawler, which hosts five-day cancer retreats that focus on natural healing, “[Mind-body medicine has the power to] maximize your body’s own healing potential, reduce stress and help you cope better with the challenges of a cancer diagnosis.”

Ketogenic Diet

Even the most highly trained western doctors have begun to embrace the idea of the ketogenic diet, which essentially starves cancer by providing only healthy fats, protein, and a small percentage of carbohydrates.

As Dr. David Jockers writes, “The ketogenic diet is low in carbohydrates and high in good fats. A ketogenic diet reduces the risk of mutations occurring within cells along with the formation of free radicals, both of which are causes of colon, lung and breast cancer.”

You can read more about the specifics of the ketogenic diet, but the approved foods include pastured beef and dairy products, wild fish and seafood, organic poultry, fruits and veggies that are low in carbohydrates, and healthy fats — such as avocados and coconut oil.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

For optimal results, health-care practitioners are now recommending the choice of a ketogenic diet in combination with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which promotes oxygen supply to the body’s cells and improves pH by diminishing acidity (two factors that likely cause cancer).

The combination of these therapies has been shown to decrease tumor growth rate, lower glucose levels, and improve ketosis.

Vitamin C and Vitamin D Supplements

Your body doesn’t just need vitamin C and vitamin D to thrive; it craves it. And too often, people have deficient levels of both. Studies show that ramping up the intake of these two vitamins in your system can produce effective results and limit and/or prevent the growth of new cancer over time.

Non-Toxic Chemotherapies

Did you know there are a handful of non-toxic chemotherapies on the market? Though none of them are recommended as stand-alone treatments, some have been shown to be effective if they’re leveraged in combination with other holistic methods.

Amygdalin, for example, selectively targets cancer cells and destroys them (while leaving healthy cells relatively unharmed). You can read more about how amygdalin works by reading this article.

Learning to Fight Back

There’s so much we still don’t know about cancer. But decades of research have enabled us to arrive at some reasonably clear insights, and develop an understanding of the ways in which cancer grows and the sort of environments it prefers.

Using common sense and natural remedies, thousands of cancer patients have been able to fight back and win their battles with cancer successfully every year. This may go against the grain of what western medicine has assumed throughout most of its history, but it’s become increasingly difficult to deny the effects of these simple and natural treatments.