Dr. Li Feng, a pathologist at National Taiwan University, once battled lymphoma. While others with the same illness either succumbed to it or passed away early, she has managed to live healthily. Why? The possible answer lies in her daily life, which is all about “respecting cells.”
Many seek her advice due to her experience of coexisting with cancer and “gaining thirty years.” Her secret is not relying on treatment, but taking good care of her internal organs daily, especially respecting cells. This involves living joyfully, eating light, maintaining a regular lifestyle, going to bed early, and practicing meditation and exercise regularly.
For over 30 years, Li Feng’s work has involved observing the life and death of human cells under a microscope. She notes that when a person is happy, their cells appear plump, like those of an 18-year-old. In contrast, when angry, cells resemble those of an 80-year-old, shriveled and wrinkled.
Healthy and diseased cells are entirely different — “cancer cells are twisted and chaotic,” she says. A diet of grains and vegetables, combined with exercise and optimism, can transform cancer cells into normal, plump cells. The more she understands cells, the more ashamed she feels for mistreating them in the past. It wasn’t until she learned to “respect cells and provide a conducive environment for them” that her health improved.
Providing a conducive environment for cells
What Li Feng refers to as “providing a conducive environment for cells” is standard advice — maintaining regular routines, eating lightly, and exercising. Take the liver, for example. Why should one be in bed by 11 p.m.? From 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., the liver and gallbladder system is congested, operating, and detoxifying. During this time, lying flat allows the liver to fill with sufficient blood. The liver can be two to three times larger than usual if one is still sitting or standing after 11 p.m. She compares it to “a pig liver hanging in a market, unable to hold much blood.”
Medical research shows that when standing, liver blood flow decreases by 30 percent compared to lying down, and during exercise, liver blood flow decreases by 50-80 percent. Hence, doctors advise liver disease patients to rest more, as lying down increases liver blood flow, aiding recovery.
The liver is described as the body’s most extensive chemical factory. It can handle over 500 chemical reactions, far surpassing any manmade chemical plant in speed and efficiency. The body naturally undergoes various chemical changes that require enzymes during growth and activity. The human body has 2,000 types of enzymes, and the liver can produce 1,000 of them.
When toxins enter the body, the liver detoxifies them through chemical reactions. Some heavy metals, like mercury and intestine bacteria, are also excreted with bile. This operation is a highly complex process, so artificial organs, lungs, and kidneys can achieve the functions of natural organs. However, an artificial liver cannot perform hundreds of chemical engineering tasks like a natural liver.
The importance of lung capacity and diet
The lungs can hold 6,000 cubic millimeters of air, but when sitting, each breath only takes half a liter, using just one-twelfth of the lung capacity. Modern life involves sitting in offices, commuting, and taking elevators, with each breath only using 500 to 1,000 cubic millimeters of lung space, leaving the rest unused. Li Feng likens it to “having a twelve-room house, but only using the bedroom due to a busy work life.”
Regular exercise is the only way to utilize every part of the lungs. During intense exercise, muscles consume oxygen faster than the heart and lungs can supply it, doubling the breathing rate per minute. Each breath can increase lung air intake by more than five times, and deep breathing can fill alveoli that regular air cannot reach.
Why is eating ice bad for the stomach? Li Feng has encountered patients’ gastric juices in the operating room, which are warmer than the body’s 37-degree temperature. This means stomach cells work best in such an environment. Drinking a glass of ice water drastically lowers gastric juice temperature, causing stomach cells to temporarily “strike.” They must wait for heat from other organs to restore the stomach’s temperature before resuming work.
Every morning at 4 a.m., while night owls are just going to sleep, Li Feng wakes up, drinks a glass of water, meditates, exercises, and eats a bowl of five-grain porridge for breakfast before leaving home at 7 a.m. By 8 p.m., while office workers are still working overtime, Li Feng meditates, preparing for bed at 9 p.m. Her diet is light; she cooks brown rice and vegetables for lunch and eats only half to a third of that amount for dinner, with her daily diet consisting of grains and vegetables.
“Illness is cells crying for help!” Li Feng believes people should take responsibility for illnesses, reflect, change behavior, and treat their cells well. Some demand doctors cure them in three days because they have a business trip to Beijing. “Such illnesses won’t heal; only by relaxing can cells have a chance to breathe.”
The human body is a marvelous microcosm. It digests rice, vegetables, and beef daily and absorbs and excretes, which are significant projects involving complex biochemical reactions. The body is like a cell factory, with different cells performing different tasks. For example, stomach cells digest food, while liver cells have more functions, storing nutrients, eliminating waste, and detoxifying.
How should one maintain this seamless body factory? Li Feng’s advice remains: “Don’t abuse your cells; overeating and staying up late is cell abuse!”
The doctors who treated Li Feng’s cancer 30 years ago have mostly passed away, yet she remains healthy. May you find inspiration from her story and walk through life healthily and happily along her path.
Follow us on X, Facebook, or Pinterest
