The Anti-Cancer Diet

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Very few people know what they should be doing to improve their health. This is why the health of the American people is in a long-term downtrend, and why we are experiencing a pandemic of chronic and degenerative disease. One of these diseases is cancer—perhaps the most feared word in the English language. Cancer used to be a rare disease, but we have managed to make it commonplace—half of all Americans will get cancer in their lifetime. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. An anti-cancer diet will prevent and even reverse most cancer. Since we have created this epidemic, we can un-create it. The most important thing anyone can do to prevent and reverse cancer is to eat a good diet. Unfortunately, few people know what a good diet is. A quick trip to a bookstore will quickly reveal so many books on nutrition that the simple act of eating can become bewildering. Some people have anxiety attacks trying to decide what to eat. Meanwhile, the science and the human history are there; we know what a good diet is. All we have to do is teach it. One problem in getting this knowledge to you is that the folks who sell you the bad diet really don’t want you to know what a good diet is or how bad your present diet is. They try to obscure the truth. They are succeeding! To beat cancer, you have to first get off your bad cancer- causing diet and then get on a good anticancer diet. In Never Be Sick Again and Never Be Fat Again, I identified what I called the Big Four. These four “foods” are responsible for most of the disease in our society, including cancer. They are: sugar, wheat, processed oils and dairy/excess animal protein. To prevent and reverse cancer, getting off the Big Four is mandatory. They are the foundation of a bad diet, and they support the initiation, growth and metastasis of cancer. A good way to get off the Big Four is to get off all processed foods. Eating sugar is an excellent choice—if you want cancer. Sugar is a deadly metabolic poison; it promotes cancer in many ways. Studies have shown that those who consume the highest amount of sugar have the highest cancer risk. Eating sugar produces a flood of inflammatory free radicals that damage DNA, turning healthy cells into cancer cells. Sugar depresses immunity and a strong immune system protects against cancer. Sugar makes the body acidic, and cancer thrives in an acid environment. By different mechanisms, sugar deprives cells of needed oxygen and oxygen-deprived cells become cancerous. Sugar disrupts hormone balance, producing too much estrogen and excess estrogen drives breast and prostate cancer. Lastly, sugar feeds cancer cells, and the more sugar you eat the faster your cancer will grow. White flour is similar to sugar because the body quickly metabolizes it into sugar. The processed oils that make up most of the average American diet are toxic to your body. These include all hydrogenated oils plus canola, cottonseed, corn, peanut, sunflower, safflower and soybean oils. These common oils contain excessive omega-6 fatty acids, which promote inflammation. Studies show that decreasing the amount of omega-6s stops the growth of tumors. Conversely, increasing omega-6s will “rescue” dying tumors and bring them back to life. Processed oils also damage the integrity of cell membranes, causing cellular malfunction. Anti-cancer oils include olive, coconut, flax and fish oils. Dairy and excess animal proteins promote cancer. Animal protein, in excess of the amount needed for growth, promotes cancer. Americans eat about ten times too much animal protein—far too much. Excess animal protein turns cancer on 100 percent of the time in test animals. Cancer can be turned on or off simply by changing the level of animal protein in the diet. One of the most powerful cancer promoters is dairy protein. Casein, a protein in cow’s milk, is an exceptionally powerful cancer promoter. Consuming milk is both unnatural and unhealthy. Nowhere in nature does one species regularly drink the milk of another, and nowhere does an animal drink milk after weaning. Only humans are crazy enough to do these things, and we suffer the consequences—heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, infections, arthritis, allergies and cancer. Modern milk is an especially toxic soup loaded with undesirable hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides, PCBs, dioxins, viruses, pus, solvents and excessive bacteria. Almost all milk is pasteurized. This process changes the chemical and physical properties of the milk, making it less nutritious and toxic. The facts are these: High-animal-protein diets promote cancer, and low-animal protein diets dramatically inhibit cancer. At least ninety percent of our protein should be derived from plant foods such as whole grains, legumes, lentils, seeds, nuts and sprouts. Cutting bad foods out of your life is one step; putting good foods in is another. A diet consisting primarily of fresh plant foods is an anti-cancer diet. Consuming an anti-cancer diet is not just a luxury, it is a necessity. It’s bad out there! After accidents, cancer is the leading cause of death for children. Almost every American over the age of 50 has cancer, with small clusters of cancer cells throughout their bodies—just waiting to grow. It is imperative that this cancer be prevented from growing and metastasizing. The good news is this:  We know how to do it! There are well-known mechanisms for interfering with tumor growth and inducing apoptosis (cancer cell death). The biochemistry of cancer is extremely complex, requiring the successful navigation of numerous biochemical pathways to make it happen. Each of these steps in the process can be interfered with. Existing clusters of cancer cells can be kept small and harmless. For those who already have diagnosable cancer, cancer cells can be restored back to normal and the cancer will simply disappear—surgery, chemotherapy and radiation not required. In fact, standard cancer treatments damage the body, making survival less likely. What is required is a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables. Plant foods have all the chemicals necessary to interfere with the cancer process at every level. Unfortunately, only one out of ten Americans is meeting the current USDA guidelines for consumption of fruits and vegetables. In fact, one way to look on cancer is as a vegetable-deficiency disease. Supplements are also extremely helpful in preventing and reversing cancer. Many fruits and vegetables contain carotenes. Animal experiments and human experience have shown that high amounts of dietary carotene will stop cancer from growing. The same holds true for vitamin A. Omega-3 fatty acids suppress cancer. Plant flavonoids, including quercitin, interfere with the effects of estrogen in stimulating breast and prostate cancer. In fact, plant flavonoids will act to prevent cells from becoming cancerous, even when exposed to powerful carcinogens. In addition, they inhibit the growth of cancer cells and stimulate cancer-cell death. Olive oil helps to protect DNA from oxidative damage, which can make a cell turn cancerous. Both green and black teas inhibit DNA damage, and can prevent cancer cells from dividing, thus inhibiting cancer growth. Herbs such as silymarin and ginkgo biloba also contain powerful anti-cancer compounds. Numerous plant chemicals are known to inhibit and down-regulate cancer growth mechanisms. As you can see from the above, the right foods are highly protective against cancer and even curative. A diet high in fresh, organic fruits and vegetables and high in omega-3 fatty acids is what you want. The critical nutrients in plant foods can be made even more bioavailable by juicing or blenderizing so as to break up their cells and release more of their goodness. Eighty percent of your diet should consist of raw fruits and vegetables. Non-gluten grains such as buckwheat, millet, brown rice, quinoa and amaranth are healthy in moderation. Legumes and lentils are good sources of plant protein. Occasional small portions of high-quality fish and organic eggs can be added to this nutritious diet. All real food is good, but certain plant foods are even more protective than others. These include cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and kale. Other good vegetables include onions, beets and spinach. Good fruits include blueberries, cherries, blackberries, pineapples, watermelon, kiwis, mangos, plums and honeydew melons. As for supplements, the Beyond Health Ultimate Kit offers a superior foundation. Anyone with active cancer should choose the Cancer Kit. These kits provide an extraordinary support program, containing nutrients that are known to inhibit cancer—all in extremely pure and highly bioavailable forms. We’ve removed the guesswork and put these kits together for you based on the latest science. Raymond Francis is an M.I.T.-trained scientist, a registered nutrition consultant, author of Never Be Sick Again, Never Be Fat Again, Never Fear Cancer Again, and an internationally recognized leader in the field of optimal health maintenance. Reprinted with permission from: Beyond Health® News email: [email protected] Copyright 2007, Beyond Health