Yes, food can contribute to cancer. In fact, processed foods – those high in sugar and low in fiber and nutrients – have been linked to higher cancer risk.

But there are healthy options (that taste good, too). We'll dive into some of the science behind different diets, including plant-based. But the basics are simple: A diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains trumps processed foods.

However, keep in mind that most research only points to associations between diet and cancer, and not necessarily a cause-and-effect relationship.

Foods high in antioxidantsProtects cells from damage caused by free radicals (unstable molecules made by the process of oxidation during normal metabolism). Free radicals may play a part in cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other diseases of aging. Antioxidants include beta-carotene, lycopene, Vitamins A, C, and E, and other natural and manufactured substances. – dark chocolate, pecans, blueberries, strawberries, kale, and red cabbage, for example – offer other benefits, like improved cardiovascular health.

Because you have cancer does not mean you have to give up taste! A tweak here, a change there – you can do it. Ultimately, finding what works for you is the best cancer diet.

You are what you eat. It was true before Christ and remains anno Domini. And today, it could be the difference between preventing cancer and life-threatening diagnosis. Cancer diets are wide-ranging and, like any diet, success depends on you. We will showcase a list of foods for cancer patients to eat as well as cancer diet recipes. We also will spotlight which foods not to eat on a cancer diet.

Ultimately, a cancer diet plan should be a decision reached between you and a qualified health care professional. This guide is a broad overview of food and cancer.

But first, some history …

“Cancer is not an inevitable consequence of life.” Dr. Ernst Ludwig Wynder

Introduction

The connection of nutrition with cancer was suggested as early as the mid-1800s. However, despite the idea that nutrition could be a significant cause of cancer, the notion was resisted or denied. A major reason stemmed from the belief that cancer was considered a “local” disease, initiated by specific causes and treated by specific treatments, such as surgical removal.

This “local” theory of disease remains deeply embedded in the cancer research community of today. Four major professional societies and institutions in the United States and Britain were founded during the early 20th century mostly by influential personalities, many of who were surgeons. The surgeons’ mindset endowed these societies with programs and practices favoring the “local” theory hypothesis which, of course, benefitted the surgeons. [1]

Modern science has now concluded diet is likely the most important risk factor for cancer. In 1975, the American Health Foundation, in conjunction with the National Cancer Institute, sponsored the Key Biscayne Conference on nutrition in the causation of cancer.

At this conference, for the first time, researchers from around the world convened to discuss epidemiological, preclinical, and molecular studies associating nutrition and diet to the cause and prevention of cancer.

“Cancer is not an inevitable consequence of life,” said Ernst Ludwig Wynder, M.D., Naylor Dana Institute for Disease Prevention, Division of Epidemiology and a 1954 Nobel Peace Prize winner. “This conclusion, which holds equally true for other diseases prevalent in developed societies, such as atherosclerosis [hardening and narrowing of the arteries], is clearly borne out by epidemiological evidence.

“The major differences in the incidence of cancers among different countries, between the sexes, among population groups within each country, and between migrant and native populations, as well as time trends, point to environmental factors as explaining such variances.” [2]

Then, in 1977, the United State Senate Committee issued recommended dietary goals, mostly based on diet and heart disease. This prompted the U.S. Senate to make a special appropriation to determine if the same relationship existed for cancer as it does for heart disease, which resulted in the 1982 NAS Diet, Nutrition and Cancer report.

The National Research Council conducted a comprehensive evaluation of this evidence. That assessment, as well as recent epidemiological and laboratory investigations, suggest that a high-fat diet is associated with increased susceptibility to cancer of different sites, particularly the breast and colon, and to a lesser extent, the prostate. [3]

Subsequently, many more public policy reports repeated that about one-third of all cancers were caused by diet although others believed that this estimate could be as high as 90 percent.

In 1980, Sir Richard Doll and his colleague Richard Peto at Oxford University submitted a landmark review of factors known at the time to affect cancer risk. Doll and Peto pointed out that epidemiological evidence regarding diet and cancer was largely indirect and noted the absence of reliable evidence regarding specific components of diet.

After a lengthy review of various aspects of diet, including over-nutrition, they guesstimated that 35 percent of cancer could be attributed to diet, but their uncertainty was emphasized by an accompanying wide possible range of 10 percent to 70 percent.

Like the attributions for tobacco, Doll and Peto made their estimates by cancer site, indicating that perhaps 90 percent of stomach and colorectal cancers, 50 percent of endometrium, gallbladder, pancreas, and breast cancers, 20 percent of lung, upper aerodigestive, bladder, and cervix cancers, and 10 percent of other cancers may be diet-related. [4]

“Still, to this day, the public does not swallow the Big Pharma propaganda.” Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby

A great cultural pleasure of life

Eating a balanced diet is vital for good health and wellbeing. Food provides our bodies with the energy, protein, essential fats, vitamins and minerals to live, grow and function properly.

We need a wide variety of different foods to provide the right amounts of nutrients for good health. Enjoyment of a healthy diet can also be one of the great cultural pleasures of life.

However, unhealthy eating habits have contributed to the obesity epidemic in the United States: about one-third of U.S. adults (33.8 percent) are obese and approximately 17 percent (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese. [5]

Even for people at a healthy weight, a poor diet is associated with major health risks that can cause illness and even death. These include certain types of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis. By making smart food choices, you can help protect yourself from these health problems.

After earning his MB ChB — Bachelor of Medicine in the United Kingdom, which is the equivalent medical degree in the United States — Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby had an epiphany regarding conventional medicine and natural health care:

“I thought I was wasting my time – ‘peeing in the wind,’ as we say jokingly in England. I was dealing with diets and nutrition – people were getting well, and we had great stories.

“I made a conscious decision to talk to John Public – and the public listened. Still, to this day, the public does not swallow the Big Pharma propaganda.”

So, what is eating “healthy,” since everyone has an opinion on what “healthy” means?

A balanced diet provides your body with the vital nutrients it needs to build and maintain healthy cells, tissues, and organs, which are crucial for proper growth and development.

Eating a balanced diet can:

help protect you from certain diseases;

regulate your blood cholesterol levels;

and provide antioxidants.

Processed and refined foods typically are loaded with saturated fats, sugar, and calories, which can undermine weight control.

Your immune system is a group of interconnected cells, tissues, and organs that help protect your body from invasion from microorganisms such as bacteria, parasites, and fungi. An article published in The British Journal of Nutrition in November 1988 noted that consuming adequate nutrients is an important contributing factor in strengthening and maintaining your immune system, while not eating sufficient nutrients could impair and suppress immune system functions.

Understanding what a cancer diet is

Cancer is caused by microbes inside the cancer cells. These microbes love sugar and dairy products.

With regards to cancer treatment, every food that we eat or drink can be categorized into categories:

Foods that feed and strengthen the cancer cells and/or the microbes in the cancer cells and body. Examples would be refined sugar, refined flour, soda pop, dairy products, etc.

Foods that cause cancer (e.g. trans fatty acids [margarine, French fries and virtually every other processed food you buy], aspartame [Diet Coke, NutraSweet, Equal, etc.], MSG, polyunsaturated oils [e.g. corn oil], etc.)

Foods that directly interfere with alternative treatments for cancer (e.g. chlorine, fluoride, alcohol, coffee, etc.)

Foods that occupy and distract the immune system from focusing on killing the cancer cells (e.g. beef, turkey, etc.)

Foods that contain nutrients that kill the cancer cells, stop the spread of cancer, or in some other way help treat cancer (e.g. purple grapes with seeds and skin, red raspberries with seeds, strawberries with seeds, broccoli, cauliflower, several herbs, carrots, pineapples, almonds, etc.)

In addition, there are things like cooking vegetables. The cooking destroys the enzymes in the vegetables and makes them far less digestible and far less effective in treating cancer. Pasteurizing any food or drink also does this.

Ideally during cancer treatment, if foods are allowed on a particular diet, 100 percent of everything you eat should be in the category of “Foods that contain nutrients that kill the cancer cells, stop the spread of cancer, or in some other way help treat cancer.” Whenever you eat food that is not in that category, you are interfering with your cancer treatment. This is why so many cancer diets are very high in raw vegetables and raw fruits.

Some foods, however, are in more than one category. Grapes feed glucose to cancer cells, plus they contain nutrients that kill cancer cells. So should you take grapes? Generally, no. However, the Brandt Grape Cure, a diet of nothing but grapes, is an excellent cancer treatment. The problem is that combining grapes with other treatments tends to do more harm (by feeding the cancer cells) than good (by killing cancer cells) because other substances in the treatment seem to be neutralizing the value of the grapes.

Juicing raw vegetables and raw fruits is good in some cases (but not all cases, especially when the seeds are important) because the vegetables and fruits are more easily digested (translation: more nutrients get to the cancer cells). However, when you juice you throw away a lot of nutrients.

Also, understand not all vegetables and fruits are equal at treating cancer. Some vegetables do not contribute significantly to treating cancer and some fruits do not contribute significantly to treating cancer (at least not that we know of at the current time). On the other hand, some vegetables are very potent cancer killers, as are some fruits.

A critical definition

In the alternative health field, “fasting” has a very different definition than that used by many people. In alternative medicine, the “fast” or “fasting” generally means that a person can drink water and a limited amount of other drinks and foods.

For example, Breuss cancer treatment is a 42-day fast. However, his fast allows water to be drunk and a special tea he designed for the fast.

A fast is critical to many alternative cancer treatments, but again understand that the term fast allows certain foods or drinks to be taken during the fast.

As another example, the Brandt Grape Cure is considered to be fast even though the person can consume fairly large quantities of grapes during the treatment. It is called a juice fast.

The term “fast” could be associated with “restricted to” or “limited to” because that is what it means.

Comprehensive nutritional view of health

A 1958 food additives amendment of the U.S. Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act – the Delaney Clause – stipulated that chemicals capable of causing cancer should not be permitted in food. This legislation was unusually demanding and narrowly focused – and seriously questioned. Nonetheless, the sentiment that chemical carcinogens are a major cause of cancer lives on, whether these chemicals are in the food or in occupational and general settings. [7]

The 13-member committee report of the NAS Diet, Nutrition and Cancer report suggested two main goals, based on published evidence from about 1940 to 1980:

reduce dietary fat to 30 percent of total diet calories

consume more vegetables, fruits, and grains (as whole foods, not as supplements)

From about 1915 to 1940, several vitamins were discovered as being important in preventing “nutritional deficiency” diseases. Then, from about 1985 to 2005, a great number of clinical trials were conducted on the theory that vitamin supplements prevent chronic degenerative diseases, like cancer.

Today, nutrient supplements have grown to $27.6 billion annual sales in the U.S. in 2015, and a projected $31.7 billion for 2021. [8]

Chemical carcinogens, vitamin supplements, and dietary cholesterol and saturated fat stem from the “local” theory of disease of the 19th century. These examples divert attention away from a more comprehensive nutritional view of health.

Cancer Tutor presents a comprehensive view of foods and cancer. You are encouraged to seek the advice of a health care professional to discuss your individual nutritional needs.

What causes cancer?

You would not believe how many emails we get from cancer patients who have gone through these three steps:

The patient had chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery to treat their cancer;

The patient was told they were “cancer-free”;

Months later cancer “came back,” which is called “regression.”

Among other things, this article will explain what went wrong and how to prevent cancer from coming back. When talking about what causes cancer we need to talk about it at two different levels.

The first level is talking about cancer at the systemic level, meaning what conditions in the body allowed cancer to grow out of control and how do we deal with this issue.

The second level of talking about cancer is talking about what causes cancer at the cellular level. In other words, why does a healthy cell become cancerous?

Understanding your cancer

Picking a single cancer treatment, any single treatment, is the most common mistake made by cancer patients who are new to alternative medicine. Many alternative cancer treatments can be combined.

Dr. Patrick Quillin contends cancer patients should focus on the parts of the body that are working properly, not on cancer. [9]

He suggests a 21-day path to health, noting nutrients from food and supplements change the way your body works, making it less receptive to cancer cells and more supportive of healthy cells.

Dr. Quillin points out it is important to understand how cancer starts and progresses in the human body — including through malnutrition. Primary causes of cancer include:

poor nutrition — an excess, deficiency, or imbalance of any nutrients;

stress — the mind generates chemicals that can lower protective mechanisms against cancer;

sedentary lifestyle — exercise helps to oxygenate and regulate the entire body;

toxic burden — hence detoxification becomes crucial.

Malnutrition in cancer patients

Dr. Patrick Quillin points out most of the scientific literature shows that weight loss drastically increases the mortality rate for most types of cancer, while also lowering the response to chemotherapy. Chemo and radiation therapy are sufficient biological stressors alone to induce malnutrition. [10]

In fact, 40 percent or more of cancer patients actually die from malnutrition, not from cancer. [11]

“Americans choose their food based upon taste, cost, convenience, and psychological gratification — thus ignoring the main reason that we eat, which is to provide our body cells with the raw materials to grow, repair, and fuel our bodies,” Quillin says in Beating Cancer with Nutrition. “The most commonly eaten foods in America are white bread, coffee, and hot dogs. Based on our food abundance, Americans could be the best-nourished nation on record. But we are far from it.”

For more information on those who cannot eat, read our article on cancer patients who cannot eat whole foods.

Immune function

How potent is the immune system? The late Dr. Bob Beck, a physicist with a doctoral degree in science, set out to get the answer. What Dr. Beck learned is that as you get rid of the pathogens the immune system immediately begins to be supercharged.

The immune system creates two key molecules: interleukin and interferon. These molecules are called neuropeptides or nerve proteins. There are more than 2,000 neuropeptides in the body, but the cancer-fighting effects of most of them are unknown. However, these neuropeptides are absolutely deadly to cancer cells.

In 1990, two medical doctors, Dr. Steven Kaali and Dr. William Lyman, discovered that a small electric current could disable viruses from being able to infect cells and multiply, thus rendering them harmless. Other studies have shown the effectiveness of small amounts of electricity against bacteria and fungi.

Dr. Beck, who had 30 years of electromedicine research behind him, found out about the discovery and found a non-invasive way to use their discovery. His first electromedicine machine replicated the process of the Kaali / Lyman discovery. It is often referred to as blood electrification, blood purifying or micro pulsing.

Basically, they use microcurrents of electricity to create a very small 3.92 Hertz or one-half of the Earth Schumann frequency of 7.83 Hz alternating electric current (i.e.: the cycle of polarity change happens 3.92 times a second).

The microcurrents of electricity prevent viruses from infecting human cells (this is what Kaali and Lyman discovered) which prevents the virus from hijacking the cell's’ reproductive capacity and multiplying. The body safely excretes the disabled (i.e. attenuated) viruses.

The Bob Beck Protocol consists of four parts. Two of the parts (the two electromedicine parts) disable bacteria, fungi, and viruses from reproducing (at which point the body safely excretes them). One of the four parts, ionic colloidal silver, also deactivates pathogens. The fourth part, ozonated water, helps flush the toxins from the body.

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers contends the importance of the immune system’s role in cancer treatment and prevention can’t be overstated.

“It’s very, very important,” she says. “If your immune system cannot handle the onslaught of the cancer cells, that’s when the cancer cells win and take over. Your immune system is your first line of defense and everything from your natural killer cells, to your macrophages. I mean all these things are … those are the types of cells that target and actually destroy the cancer cells.

“Interestingly, cancer cells produce an enzyme called nagalase, that puts your immune system to sleep and literally wipes them out. … It’s a vicious circle. How do you break that cycle? Well, things like Vitamin D and making sure that you’re absorbing the protein, and that you’re absorbing the right amounts and that your levels are good. Basic nutrients like Vitamin C, selenium, zinc, all these things make sure that your immune system is active.

“Beta glucans, medicinal mushrooms, all these things can affect your immune system in a positive way.”

An important point regarding animal protein: it does not have fiber, notes Dr. Sunil Pai.

“When we talk about colon cancer being the third most common cancer in the United States, and we look at countries like Africa that has like nil to none, [yet] here it’s the third most common cause of death in the United States,” he says. “Fiber is important because fiber does multiple things. Fiber helps feed the prebiotics which helps the probiotics in the gut where 80 percent of the immune system is.

“Fiber does two things. It helps move the food, so it improves the transit time. The more the patient is constipated, then the more the toxins the body is trying to get rid of. Remember, cytotoxins from like fast food or cigarettes or chemicals — even good food. If you eat organic, non-GMO food, you still have to produce waste. That’s why you’re having an excretion. The body’s taking the stuff it doesn’t need and getting rid of it.”

To learn more about how food affects immune function read our article on building the immune system.

“The best way to determine if you’re getting something effective is to have some type of criteria. I certainly recommend using organic as criteria.” Jordan Rubin

Nutritional synergy

Jordan Rubin, a New York Times best-selling author of The Maker's Diet, was an organic farmer and founder of Garden of Life. He has spent nearly 20 years studying naturopathic medicine, nutrition, and permaculture science.

Rubin contends nutritional synergy is paramount in health care.

“I think that the best way to determine if you’re getting something effective is to have some type of criteria. I certainly recommend using organic as criteria typically. If it’s a supplement that has organic ingredients, if it’s a frozen concentrate or the herb itself, organic products need to go through a more rigorous testing and third-party auditing process than non-organic. And so, that alone is going to help you understand that you’re choosing something that is what it says it is. And it is going to have, likely, a higher level of active compounds. So that is a great way to start your filter.

“You can get fresh in many cases, and some of these are fruits obviously,” he says. “You can use them in a salad. You can juice them. You can certainly consume them dried and simply pour hot water over them to make an herbal infusion and steep them. Or you can cold steep them, accenting your water, etc. In some cases, you can find herbal extracts, organic herbal extracts. Mushrooms, you can buy dried. So all of these are fine.

“The key is making sure that you are getting them into your body,” Rubin says. “You can do them fresh. You could do them dried. You can do them in supplement form.”

Types of Diets

Vegan/Plant-based Diet

According to Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org: “Researchers have shown that a more plant-based diet may help prevent, treat, or reverse some of our leading causes of death, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure. Interventional studies of plant-based diets have shown, for example, 90 percent reductions in angina attacks within just a few weeks.”

Dr. Gregor continues, “Studies have shown plant-based eating can improve not only body weight, blood sugar levels, and ability to control cholesterol, but also emotional states, including depression, anxiety, fatigue, sense of well-being, and daily functioning.” [12]

Food overview:

no animal products including:

Dairy

Meat

eggs

Focuses on plant-based foods

But, what nutrients are missing without animal products?

According to The Vegan Society, “B12 is the only vitamin that is not recognized as being reliably supplied from a varied whole-food, plant-based diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, together with exposure to the sun.” [13] Supplementation is recommended.

What about:

Protein? Plant-based proteins provide sufficient levels of protein for humans. Plant sources include legumes, tofu, and nuts. For more information, see Protein.

Iron? Good plant sources of iron include legumes, tofu, nuts, seeds, kale, dried apricots and figs, raisins, quinoa, and fortified breakfast cereal. Tip: Taking vitamin c at the same time increases iron absorption. For more information, see Iron.

Calcium? Plant sources of calcium include kale, figs, almonds, chia seeds. For more information, see Calcium.

Omegas? Sources of omega 3 and 6 include nuts, seeds, and soy. For more information, see: Omega Fatty Acids

Remember: Just like any well-balanced diet, someone following a vegan/plant-based diet must include food sources for the above nutrients daily in order to avoid nutritional deficiencies.

More information: Health effects of vegan diets.

Information on other nutrients in a vegan/plant-based diet: Nutrients.

Plant-based/Vegan Guides and Resources:

Vegetarian

To get all of the nutrients needed to maintain a healthy body, it is not necessary to eat meat. Someone who chooses to not eat meat often enjoys better health due to the fact they will eat more plant-based foods as well as being more active in making healthy choices.

A vegetarian diet has been found to reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer, leading to a longer life expectancy. It may lead to weight loss. [14]Different types of vegetarians eat different things. [15]

Different types of vegetarians eat different things. [15]

Lacto-ovo-vegetarians avoid the flesh of all animals — meat and fish

Pescatarians eat fish but no meat

Lacto-vegetarians consume dairy products but no eggs

Ovo-vegetarians consume eggs but no dairy

Pollotarian diets exclude meat, dairy, and fish, but allow poultry.

Vegans avoid all animal-based foods, including honey

The benefits of avoiding meat products include:

Lower body weight — a study of 38,000 people showed that vegetarians and vegans enjoy a lower body mass index (BMI) than meat-eaters. [16]

— a study of 38,000 people showed that vegetarians and vegans enjoy a lower body mass index (BMI) than meat-eaters. [16] Lower cancer risk — Research has shown that vegetarians have a lower overall risk for many types of cancers over meat-eaters. However, this study also found that vegetarians have a higher risk of colon cancer. [17]

— Research has shown that vegetarians have a lower overall risk for many types of cancers over meat-eaters. However, this study also found that vegetarians have a higher risk of colon cancer. [17] Lower cardiovascular risk — A vegetarian diet has been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular risk factors. [18]

— A vegetarian diet has been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular risk factors. [18] Lower Type 2 Diabetes — Research has shown that Type 2 Diabetes risk is directly linked to higher meat consumption. [19]

According to Harvard Medical School, you can get many of the health benefits from becoming a vegetarian without going all the way. For example, a Mediterranean eating pattern — known to be associated with longer life and reduced risk of several chronic illnesses — features an emphasis on plant foods with sparing use of meat. Even if you don't want to become a complete vegetarian, you can steer your diet in that direction with a few simple substitutions, such as plant-based sources of protein — beans or tofu, for example — or fish instead of meat a couple of times a week. [20]

Whole Foods

Whole foods simply mean foods that are not processed. It is clear that the less a food is processed, the healthier it is to eat. As Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food says, “Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.” [21]

Raw Foods

Raw foods are foods in their natural state that have not been cooked. This generally applies to vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Juicing is a sensible way to incorporate raw foods into your diet.

Juicing

There are two advantages to juicing vegetables and fruits. First, juicing makes the nutrients in a fruit or vegetable more digestible by the body, meaning more of the nutrients are extracted from the vegetables or fruits with less of the obstructing fibers. The second advantage is that you can consume a lot more vegetables (particularly vegetables and fruits with cancer-killing nutrients) in a shorter amount of time and with a lot less effort. Juicing is an excellent way to consume fruits and vegetables.

The bad thing about juicing is that the nutrients are not extracted sufficiently from the seeds or skins of some key vegetables and fruits. If you are eating a food where the seeds and/or skins contain key cancer-fighting nutrients (e.g. purple grapes), you should not use a juicer for the seeds or skin, but rather use a food processor or use a hand grinder, to grind the seeds and skins to make mush.

Your fruit and vegetable juice should primarily include the vegetables and fruits that have the best cancer-killing nutrients. If you randomly put fruits and vegetables in your juice, the benefits of the juice will be greatly decreased.

Raw fruits you should focus on are purple grapes (with skins and seeds), red raspberries, black raspberries, strawberries, and other non-citrus fruits, with their seeds, especially peaches and apricots (the seed is inside a hard shell). Actually, any fruit with dark blue or dark purple coloring is acceptable, such as blueberries. Raw pineapple is especially good if you can get it and afford it. Tomatoes also have cancer-fighting nutrients.

Here is a sample of the known cancer-killing nutrients in fruits:

At least 80 percent or above of the fruit juice should come from fruits with known cancer-fighting abilities.

Obviously, this is a modification of the Brandt Grape Cure, in the sense that a wider variety of cancer-killing fruits is allowed.

Also allowed on the fruit juice fast are the super-fruit juices: mangosteen, noni, and wolfberry or goji. These are allowed during a fruit juice fast in unlimited quantities during the 12 hours the person is allowed to eat.

The raw vegetables you should focus on are carrots, cabbage, green asparagus, broccoli, red beets (i.e. beetroot), beet tops, cauliflower, and related vegetables. Peppers also have cancer-fighting substances. The spice turmeric can be added as well.

At a minimum, the vegetable juice should include:

Carrot juice (1-2 quarts/liters)

Beet juice (from at least two red beets, with their beet tops)

A significant amount of cruciferous vegetables including broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower (this is for both cancer and the critical protection of the liver)

Note: Beetroot can cause the urine of a person to turn red. Thus, if you take beetroot and your urine turns red, it is not necessarily blood in the urine.

A small and decreasing amount of fruit juices that contain very little glucose can be added for taste (more will be said about this issue below). Not all vegetables can be eaten raw, but the ones above can be eaten raw or juiced. You can also eat any of these vegetables during your treatment to get bulk and fiber.

Here are just a few of the cancer cell killing nutrients (direct or indirect) in vegetables:

Raw Carrots (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, Vitamin E, etc.)

Raw Broccoli (sulforaphane/isothiocyanates)

Raw cabbage (isothiocyanates)

Green Asparagus (saponins)

Beetroot/red beets (proanthocyanidins (PAC's or OPC's))

Turmeric (a spice) (curcumin)

A vegetable juice using 1 quart of carrots is the minimum level of carrots that is acceptable. Vegetable juices with 2 quarts of carrots have also been used by many people.

The vegetable juice should contain at least 80 percent of vegetables with known cancer-fighting abilities, although there are other vegetables are not far behind the ones mentioned.

Paleo Diet

Just about everything you need to know about the Paleo Diet can be summarized in one sentence: If a caveman didn’t eat it, neither should you.

Now, obviously that isn't everything you need to know, but it's definitely a good summary. When you are following the Paleo Diet, you can eat anything we could hunt or gather way back in the day – things like meats, fish, nuts, leafy greens, regional veggies, and seeds. Of course, this means that foods like cereal, candy, and pasta have to go.

Paleo Diet Food List

Lean meat, such as chicken, turkey, pork, lean beef, and buffalo (bison)

Fish

Seafood

Fresh fruit

Non-starchy vegetables, such as lettuce, asparagus, green beans, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and spinach

Nuts, like almonds, walnuts, cashews, pecans, and pistachios (no peanuts)

Seeds, like pumpkin and sunflower

Eggs

Plant-based oils, such as olive, walnut, grapeseed, and coconut oil

What Can’t You Eat on the Paleo Diet?

Grains, such as oats, wheat, barley, and rice — which means no cereal, bread, pasta, bagels, crackers, or granola bars

Starchy vegetables, such as potatoes and corn, as well as potato and corn chips, tortillas, and popcorn

Legumes or beans — so no peanuts or peanut butter; no soy foods, such as soy milk, tofu, or edamame; no hummus or beans of any kind

Dairy products — so no milk, yogurt, cheese, or ice cream

High-fat meats, such as salami, bologna, pepperoni, hot dogs, ground meat, rib roast, and ribs

Sugars, such as in soda, honey, jam or jelly, syrup, candy, cakes, cookies, and sports drinks

Processed foods or trans fats, such as doughnuts, french fries, fruit snacks, or macaroni and cheese

Salty foods, such as crackers, chips, pretzels, soy sauce, added-salt foods, or sports drinks [22]

Paleo Diet Benefits

You are more likely to eat a clean diet without additives, preservatives, or chemicals.

There are anti-inflammatory benefits from the plant nutrients in fruits, vegetables, oils, nuts, and seeds.

If you are eating more red meat, you will get more iron.

You may see improved satiety — a feeling of fullness between meals, due to the higher intake of protein and fats.

Many people lose weight primarily due to limited food choices. [23]

The ‘Cons' of the Paleo Diet

It can get expensive.

You don’t eat any grains or dairy which are good for health and energy.

This diet can be difficult for vegetarians, especially since it excludes beans.

Most athletes need between 3 to 6 grams of carbs per pound of their body weight, per day. This would be very hard to do with just fruits and vegetables. [24]

Learn more about Paleo: The science behind Paleo

Dr. Sunil Pai is an expert in integrative medicine. He was one of the first board-certified doctors in Holistic Integrative Medicine in the United States. Pai also is a Deacon of the House of Sanjevani Integrative Medicine Health & Lifestyle Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

As a renowned integrative medicine physician, Dr. Pai has spent his career exploring thousands of patients’ diets, lifestyles, environments, and mental states to uncover the triggers that are causing inflammation in their life and exposing them to diseases that are so easily preventable.

Changing your health and eating habits to restore and maintain your health can be challenging. But compared to surgery or extensive drug regimens with debilitating side effects, the effort is decidedly worth it.

Dr. Pai presents a 10-step guide within An Inflammation Nation to help you prevent and treat disease through diet and lifestyle changes, as well as through the use of natural anti-inflammatories. With extensive information on the production of food, pharmaceuticals, and dietary supplements, this remarkable resource pulls back the veil on what’s really in the foods and products you consume daily — and how they’re affecting your health.

“If you stop eating donuts you’ll lose weight. That’s not a magical thing. People are like, ‘Wow, I felt so good.’ And it’s like, ‘Well, yeah because you cut off some of the junk foods.’ “ Dr. Sunil Pai

Insights on the Paleo Diet

Cancer Tutor spoke with Dr. Sunil Pai regarding his opinion of the Paleo Diet.

What is the Paleo Diet?

The [Paleo Diet] is the re-emergence of the Atkins Diet, which was really famous probably 25 years ago. So the concept was ‘eat all the meat you want,’ right? And cut down, zero carbs; everybody had a short-term gain. It faded away but then it kind of reinserts itself. Every couple of years it comes back — Paleo, Neanderthal Man Diet, Caveman Diet, Primal Diet, or whatever.

Highly Refined Carbs

The biggest problem, in America, is the standard American diet; people are eating too highly refined carbohydrates. That means the highly refined wheat products, like pull-aparts, a footlong Subway sandwich, all-you-can-eat breadsticks, that kind of stuff.

What happens is the highly refined carbohydrates that convert very quickly to glucose and sugar. It causes weight gain and inflammation. But what happens is that when they said, ‘Hey, don’t eat any of those things. Restrict a little bit of your caloric intake and then eat an animal protein,’ then people lost weight. And so rightfully — if they’re not eating any carbohydrates, people would have this immediate weight loss because they’re no longer eating donuts and Subway sandwiches. I can tell everybody: If you stop eating donuts you’ll lose weight. That’s not a magical thing. People are like, ‘Wow, I felt so good.’ And it’s like, ‘Well, yeah because you cut off some of the junk foods.’

Protein comes from animal proteins also comes from plant proteins. But what animal proteins are missing is phytonutrients. There are very little to no antioxidants. And there’s no fiber.

Eating less highly refined carbohydrates lowers the sugar intake of the body, generically speaking. [This] would decrease cancer cell growth because cancer is a metabolic disease. Cancer has 10 times more insulin receptors than normal cells. Cancer loves sugar. We know this because we do PET scans every day.

What happens is they want to look at ‘starving the cancer cell from one of its primary sources of fuel,’ which is glucose or sugar. And too much glucose from the excess of the diet, highly refined carbohydrates, can cause an increase of [cancer] growth.

Simple and Complex Carbs

But the problem is what they were replacing with the removal of the carbohydrates. Remember there is something called simple and a complex carbohydrate. But again since most people can only remember one thing, they just blamed all carbs. They didn’t understand that there’s a complex carbohydrate — whole grains, for example.

So most people don’t eat whole grains in America. But now there are health people who do, but the average person is eating a rainbow bread or some kind of pull-apart, or spongy, fluffy pastry kind of foods. Whereas the rest of the world, you go to Europe and all the breads are hard, you have to break it, you have to crack it, you have to cut it with a knife. There are seeds and nuts in it. And it’s not as fluffy and all this stuff.

But when you look at the complex carbohydrates, most will eat simple carbohydrates. So by removing that, they got a quick gain. Yeah, you weren’t eating the donuts, for example. And the bread. And the pizza. And all these extra stuff that had extra carbohydrates.

Inflammation

But what they ended up becoming, after three months, we started increasing inflammation throughout the body. And then we saw a difference with the cancer cells, started to grow even more. Not only did cancer get worse, but then the patient’s diabetes, hypertension, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease, any other kind of inflammatory whether they had rheumatoid or anything else, would get worse. Because animal protein is pro-inflammatory.

Animal proteins are what they call high omega 6s, which are pro-inflammatory. Plant-based proteins — you also get omega 3s from flax, chia, and hemp, all the other things like that. But there’s a ratio. When [protein] comes from plants, plants have more 3s than 6s.

So the simple thing in learning about protein is that there’s a difference between anti-inflammatory protein and pro-inflammatory proteins.

More information: Pros and Cons of the Paleo Diet

“Those cancer patients who have the highest blood sugar readings after eating have the lowest survival rates.” Dr. David Jockers

Ketogenic

This nutrition plan has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation. This leads to a reduced risk of chronic disease as well as improved muscle development and fat metabolism.

Dr. David Jockers notes that a ketogenic diet is “a very low carbohydrate, moderate protein, and high fat based nutrition plan. A ketogenic diet trains the individual’s metabolism to run off of fatty acids or ketone bodies. This is called fat adapted, when the body has adapted to run off of fatty acids/ketones at rest.

“This nutrition plan has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation. This leads to a reduced risk of chronic disease as well as improved muscle development and fat metabolism.”

The goal of a ketogenic diet is simple: convert the body’s primary fuel supply from sugar to fat. Fat is converted into ketones which are very efficient for energy production while also limiting metabolic waste that contributes to inflammation.

“The body naturally favors sugar over fat as an energy source,” Dr. Jockers says. “At the same time, most Americans have a crazy high reliance on carbs and sugars as the primary source of calories in their diets.

“Cancer cells contain ten times the amount of insulin receptors as normal cells. This allows them to gobble up glucose and other nutrients from the bloodstream at an accelerated rate. As long as an individual continues to provide this form of fuel cancer will continue to grow. Those cancer patients who have the highest blood sugar readings after eating have the lowest survival rates.”

This is why a ketogenic diet is needed to essentially re-teach the body to use fat for energy. Most people spend the majority of their lives in a sugar-burning state and their cells lose the metabolic flexibility necessary to burn fat.

This is why it usually takes about 2-3 weeks for someone to become fully keto-adapted after beginning a ketogenic diet. Even though the body will begin to produce ketones within a few days, it takes longer for the cells to begin converting them into energy.

To get into this state, you must follow a high-fat, low-carb, moderate-protein nutrition plan. By making this simple dietary change, blood sugar drops to a level where the body must learn to utilize fat to survive.

At this point, the body begins to convert fatty acids into ketones which are then used by the cells in the brain and body to produce energy. This state is sometimes referred to as being keto-adapted.

While macronutrient needs can change based on individual needs and activity levels, the general breakdown looks like this:

Low Carbohydrate: 5-10 percent of calories from net carbs (total carbs – fiber)

Moderate Protein: 20-30 percent of calories from protein

High Fat: 60-80 percent of calories from fat

Because ketones result in more energy and lowered inflammation, you can expect to enjoy a heightened sense of wellbeing, a sharper mind, and a natural increase in fat loss.

Dr. David Jockers: The Diet that Destroys Cancer

There are three different keto diets:

Standard Ketogenic Diet

This is where you are trying to adapt your body to be in ketosis permanently. Here your carbs are limited to about 20-50 grams per day with moderate protein (0.8-1.2 grams/kg of body weight). The remainder of calories come from healthy fats.

Cyclical Ketogenic Diet

This where you periodically consume higher amounts of carbs in order to temporarily come out of ketosis. How often you cycle out really depends on your preference. I often recommend starting out with one day every week while some people like to do once a month.

Targeted Ketogenic Diet

This is for high-intensity athletes. On this diet, you go low-carb for all meals other than right before the high-intensity activities. About 30 mins-1 hour prior to the activity you take in 25-50 grams of net carbs.

One important aspect of following a ketogenic diet that is often overlooked is making sure you get enough sodium and minerals. When you are running on carbohydrates your body will retain sodium due to elevated insulin levels. Once you are running on ketones, however, your body excretes sodium at a much higher level until you are fully keto-adapted.

This means while eating ketogenic it is important to use salt generously on your foods. I recommend either a pink Himalayan or Celtic sea salt as these contain naturally occurring minerals in addition to sodium.

So, salt your foods well but also eat plenty of mineral-rich foods like celery, cucumbers, and seaweeds. As an additional source of minerals, you can also sip on organic broth throughout the day.

Ketogenic Diet Guides and Resources

Alkaline Diet

Anytime you use a protocol that is designed to kill microbes it is critical to avoid eating foods and drinks which feed or excite the microbes.

An acidic diet of foods and drinks will make this protocol less effective because microbes will breed much faster and be more aggressive in the presence of an acidic diet. In other words, the microbes may be able to breed faster than you can kill them. This includes the microbes which are inside the cancer cells.

An alkaline diet includes, among other things:

ZERO sugar,

ZERO white flour,

ZERO soda pops (even diet soda pops are forbidden),

ZERO meat,

ZERO dairy products

After eliminating all the foods that feed or excite microbes, what is left over is basically whole foods, whole fruits, vegetable drinks, and other healthy foods and drinks.

More information: High pH Therapy

Alkaline Diet Guides and Resources

Why is meat forbidden?

First of all, understand that during cancer treatment, a person should not eat anything that is not building the immune system or killing cancer cells. Meat does not contribute to curing cancer, so meat is normally forbidden in cancer diets. There are plenty of foods that help cure cancer, so there is no need to eat meat.

For some kinds of cancer, meat eaters (especially red meat) have a higher probability of getting those kinds of cancer, such as colon cancer and prostate cancer. The reason for this is not entirely clear but may have something to do with too much animal fats or a lack of fiber.

Meat also uses up the two critical enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin, which are critical to allowing the immune system to kill cancer cells, though more potent enzymes have now been found. Vegetable proteins do not use up those enzymes.

“Pancreatin enzymes can be destroyed by contact with acids. Many popular cosmetics that contain acids are a special concern for skin cancer. Also, a diet comprised mostly of refined foods and meats may result in an acidic body chemistry that depletes these enzymes. Cancer cells metabolize foods very inefficiently and generate acidic wastes. This extra acidity can further compound an already bad environment for pancreatin enzymes. The excess acidity also enables the cancer to spread by using acid dissolved normal cells as its food source. I think this strongly acidic environment, especially local to the cancer, is the primary reason that cancer does not normally heal on its own.”

Site no longer exists.

Another reason to avoid meat is the accumulation of fecal matter in the colon. The colon should be relatively clear during cancer treatment so that the body can absorb as many nutrients as possible. All foods which ferment in the bowel should be avoided. Absolutely no meat or fish!

Then there are the hormones in meat:

“Diethylstilbestrol (Des) has been shown by the FDA to cause cancer of the uterus, breast, and other reproductive organs. This is an artificial sex hormone widely used in food production. Dangerous residues of stilbestrol are in 85% of all the meat sold in the United States. This is the main reason why 15 countries around the world now refuse to import American meat; 21 nations have a total ban on the use of stilbestrol in food production or processing.”

http://www.pathlights.com/nr_encyclopedia/17canc02.htm

And there is more:

“Nitrosamines cause cancer of the liver, stomach, brain, bladder, kidneys and several other organs. Dr. William Lijinski, of the University of Nebraska, says they are “perfect carcinogens.” When chemical preservatives and color enhancers are ingested, they cause the body to produce nitrosamines. Another source is nitrates and nitrites, which are heavily added to meat during processing. Runoff of nitrates and nitrites from fields sprayed with chemical fertilizers get into aquifers and wells and when the water is drunk, can lead to cancer… Avoid amines (which are in cheese, meat, and unrefrigerated foods).

http://www.pathlights.com/nr_encyclopedia/17canc02.htm

Another problem with meat is toxins: “avoid meat (if the digestive system is weak, digestion of meat could produce toxins in blood).”

http://www.boobboutique.com/aboutbreastcancer/alternatives/Issels.htm

“Avoid meat in all forms. It is dead matter, low in minerals, and produces uric acid in excess which is a waste product. The incidence of cancer is in direct proportion to the amount of animal proteins, particularly meat, in the diet. However, it is true that devitalized, processed, and sugared food can also cause cancer—even in vegetarians. But far more often, when cancer strikes, those eating the junk foods are also eating meat. Nations and groups which consume less meat have less cancer. Hospital records show that Seventh-day Adventists, who eat little or no meat, suffer far less from cancer than the average meat-eating American. Dr. Willard J. Visek, research scientist at Cornell University, stated that the high protein diet of Americans is linked to the high incidence of cancer in the U.S. Another cancer physician, who also worked with hundreds of cancer patients, said that anyone who does not eat meat, eats only good food, and does all he can to protect his liver, may never get cancer. Cancer is less a disease than a condition existing in the whole body. Cancer would be almost unheard of if no devitalized food or meats were eaten. Cancer cannot exist where there is a pure bloodstream.”

http://www.pathlights.com/nr_encyclopedia/17canc02.htm

Here is another quote on acidity and cancer:

“The second solution is to introduce the appropriate calciums into the body since the body uses calcium as the chief alkalinizer of all body fluids including the intracellular fluids. Remember that cancers and tumors can only exist in a predominantly ACID environment caused by a diet rich in dairy foods, meats, grain products, sweets and strong condiments such as black pepper. This is always accompanied by an acute lack of living fruits and vegetables (uncooked and non-preserved).”

http://seasilver.threadnet.com/Preventorium/thesis.htm

There are many ramifications to what cows and what other animals eat because it eventually affects the quality of the meat we eat.

“Lactobacillus acidophilus is a ‘friendly' organism which helps the body fight disease and restore health. Modern research has discovered that acidophilus kills the harmful bacteria strain of E. coli in the intestinal tract. Acidophilus breaks milk sugar down into lactic acid. Bacteria which produce putrefaction and gas in the intestines cannot live in lactic acid. Acidophilus also has the unique ability to help the body synthesize, or manufacture all of the ‘B' vitamins in the system. This makes it especially valuable since there is literally a host of agents which destroy B vitamins. A few are antibiotics, birth control pills, eating sugar and refined foods and drinking coffee. A diet high in red meat will destroy the beneficial bacteria, due to the concentration of antibiotics and steroids given to the animals before they are slaughtered.”

http://www.all-natural.com/herbnutr.html

Like sugar, meat feeds cancer cells:

“Cancer is fundamentally involved with mal-utilization of protein. Oncologists generally agree that the actual cause of death in cancer patients is cachexia, a condition of severe weight loss and wasting associated with protein malabsorption. In fact, cancer cells are able to grow by making the amino acids of protein available for their growth at the expense of the body as a whole. Meat, especially red meat, being the most readily assimilable protein, becomes a banquet for cancer cells. Emphasizing the use of plant sources of vegetable protein such as legumes and beans that contain cancer-fighting compounds should be a prominent part of an anti-cancer diet.”

http://www.planetherbs.com/articles/cancer.html

Robert O. Young, Ph.D., in his book Sick and Tired? Reclaim Your Inner Terrain, has more than a page and a half of things that are wrong with eating meat products pages 87-89).

And the list goes on.

But perhaps the most damaging evidence that meat is a major cause of cancer are studies of people who went into “spontaneous remission” solely because of a change in their diet. These people almost universally went from a cooked food, meat-centered diet and gave up their meat, their dairy products (except for specific treatments such as the Budwig diet), their refined sugar, etc. and switched to a raw food vegetarian diet, and by simply changing diets their bodies were able to cure their cancer.

Also remember that by experience, alternative cancer treatments have evolved to almost universally exclude meat in the diet.

The Good News About Meat

Meat does have some nutrients that help prevent and deal with cancer. Meat does have nutrients that are good for your immune system. Meats have a low glycemic index, which is good. And so on. The problem is that meat overall does far more harm than good to your cancer treatment.

However, there are situations where eating meat, especially turkey or chicken, is not only acceptable but advised. For example, if a person has been on a very restrictive liquid diet for two weeks or more, it would be advisable to eat some meat to rebuild the protein in the person's body.

Also, consider a person who weighs very little (i.e. less than 120 pounds) when they begin a cancer diet. A cancer diet typically causes a person to lose weight, but by eating some meat while on the diet, the weight of the person may stabilize before it gets too low.

All in all, the bottom line is to avoid meats as much as possible, but know that there are situations where a little meat (preferably poultry) can be beneficial, at certain times, in cancer treatment.

“If you’re a person who’s willing to eat something just because it’s healthy, you’re going to go for more greens.” Robyn Openshaw

Juicing / Blending

Green smoothies are not just a health fad, according to Robyn Openshaw of GreenSmoothieGirl.com, the benefits can literally change your life.

“The benefits of drinking green smoothies are that you actually get more fiber and more micronutrients in your diet,” she explains. “And those are really the two big disease-causing deficiencies in the American diet. People are so worried about the wrong things. They’re worried about whether they’re getting enough protein, and there are no protein deficiencies. There’s nobody who’s getting sick from or dying from a protein deficiency. But people are at risk, especially for cancer, but also all the autoimmune diseases and heart disease because they aren’t getting all the vitamins and minerals and phytonutrientsPhytonutrients give plants their pigments. Among the benefits of phytonutrients are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, may enhance immunity and intercellular communication, repair DNA damage from exposure to toxinsA poison made by certain bacteria, plants, or animals, including insects., detoxify carcinogens, and alter estrogen metabolism. and fiber. And those are found in plant foods.

“Yale University released a meta study four or five years ago, and they reviewed 10,000 published pieces of research over the course of the last decade. And what they came away with, reviewing 10,000 published studies, is that eating plants prevents disease. And so, if we want to avoid all those diseases—we didn’t have those diseases when we lived off the land and when we lived close to the earth and when we didn’t have processed foods. So if we want to avoid the big three—cancer, heart disease, and autoimmune diseases—we should get really excited about the easy, inexpensive ways where it takes 10 minutes in the kitchen to make ourselves that quart a day of green smoothie.

“So when we take our blender and we throw a ton of kale, spinach, collards, chard and some fruits too and some superfoods, we’re getting more bang for the buck in that pint or quart of green smoothie that we drink every day than we probably do in the whole rest of our day and maybe the rest of our week combined. It’s just really powerful for micronutrients and fiber, first and foremost.”

How to make a green smoothie

According to Openshaw, the bottom line of making a green smoothie is to do it in thirds. “If we take it down to being very, very simple, you could just do about a third water, a third greens, and a third fruit,” she explains. “And I like people to start there because they’re going to want it to taste good. But if you build yourselves out of higher vibration materials and you are literally eating 10 times more plant food than you were before — and that’s the thing that green smoothies will do for you is that they will in one quart of green smoothie, which is what I always challenge people to eat, you’re getting 10 times more plant food in your diet than the average American is eating in a day. And so this one simple habit will actually change your taste.

“If you commit to that and you start blending up greens and the minimum amount of fruit that you can get away with. If you’re a person who’s willing to eat something just because it’s healthy, you’re going to go for more greens. You’re going to go for a hardcore green smoothie, and you’re going to probably brag about it to people, like how many greens and superfoods are in it and how little fruit. But if that’s not for you and you’re scared of what it’s going to taste like and you’re a person who’s very driven by how things taste, then put more fruit in it. Put more water in it so it’s not super thick. You can absolutely control how it tastes.

“Sometimes I’ll put our bone broth protein in it or some plant-based organic vegan protein which is another product that we make. I don’t want the processed protein that people sell in the stores. I want a whole-foods, organic, really excellent quality protein if I’m going to use any. I don’t actually think you have to have extra protein in your green smoothie. But that’s the base of it is the liquid. You can put in some aloe vera. You can use almond milk or coconut milk if you’d rather. It’ll make it creamier. You can add some fats in that way if you want.

“And then, I just add handfuls of greens: whatever is organic and in-season that you can actually get and afford. That’s the answer. And try to rotate your greens. Get different ones because that variety is going to give you a lot bigger range of micronutrients.”

According to Openshaw, the next step is to throw in the fruits.

“And then throw in a banana and maybe some frozen berries or half an apple,” she says. “So you’re bringing your blender up to being pretty full. That’s it. We have recipe books, and we have a formula for how to make the perfect green smoothie. But it’s basically a third water, a third greens, and a third fruit once it’s all blended. We have like sprouted broccoli, chia, and flaxseed, so I put a scoop of that in when I’m making my green smoothie as well. Then you’re getting good omega-3 fatty acids in there which is great for neurological health, brain health, heart health. But I’m throwing in a few little ninja tricks there.

“And then the idea is to minimize the fruit. Figure out where your sweet spot is where it’s still something you drink. I used to tell my kids when I was raising them, “Some foods we eat because they’re good for us, and some foods we eat because they taste good. And most of the food we eat is because it’s good for us.” Of course, we have fun food. Of course, we have dessert once in a while. Nobody’s going to completely opt out of that.

“But when we get our food to 90 percent whole foods, as unprocessed as possible, as much of it as possible that we prepare from home where we know what the supply chain is and we know we just bought organic fresh produce from Costco or wherever we buy it, that’s when our health really shifts. And what happens is really, really dramatic when we make a commitment to just a quart a day of green smoothie.”

Is it necessary to buy organic?

Buying organic may be preferable, but it is certainly not a requirement, according to Openshaw. “In fact, first of all, depending on where your market is, you can sometimes request it and they’ll get it in for you and you can buy it in bigger bulk when you figure out how much you’re going to need each week. So you can get creative and you can find places to order it in for you. And that’s what I did back in the day. But I’ll tell you when I started this 23 years ago, there weren’t organics available. And when there were organics, they were two and three times more expensive.

“Make sure that we don’t get limited by “I don’t have tons of money” because actually animal products if they’re clean — I wouldn’t eat any other kind — which are wild-caught, organic, free-range, they cost much, much more than plant foods do. The only thing cheaper than plant foods is the dollar menu, and you can pay now or you can pay later. You’re going to pay later in the form of healthcare and suffering and misery and lost productivity if we continue to eat the standard American diet if we continue to eat through the drive-through.

“But I would say for you if conventional produce is all you can get, guess what, it’s still better than your alternative because of processed food and animal products, those are the two categories of other foods besides plant foods. Those have higher levels of pesticides and herbicides in them than conventional produce does, conventional produce that was probably sprayed. Your animal products and your processed food products, those were sprayed too. And then, they stripped a bunch of stuff out of it, and the studies show that they have higher levels of pesticide and herbicide than your conventionally-sprayed produce. So if conventional produce is what you can get, definitely get it.”

Best time to drink a green smoothie, and how much

According to Openshaw, getting the smoothies into your day is far more important than when you drink them. “Just get it in whenever you want to,” she says. “I actually don’t want to drink a green smoothie for breakfast. I have a different breakfast. It’s super healthy too, and I really love it. So I drink my green smoothies with lunch and with dinner or as a snack. But whenever I’m hungry, I’ll drink it. You don’t have to drink it all in one sitting either, just if you can get a quart a day in your diet. I often do two quarts a day now.

“Back in the beginning, my goal was a quart a day. And that seems like a lot when I was starting. But now, just because it’s convenient and I would rather drink a quart of green smoothie than sit down, like make myself a salad and sit down and chew for half an hour, a lot of times I’ll do two quarts of green smoothie or green juice.”

How plants can help us avoid cancer

Plant foods play a major role in avoiding cancer, according to Openshaw.

“Now, avoiding cancer, we have to eat a lot more plants to avoid cancer,” she says. “We’re at high risk for colorectal cancers if we aren’t eating plants. And so, the average American getting between zero and two servings of plant foods — these folks are just begging for the colorectal cancers. And if there’s a more miserable disease than colorectal cancers, I’m not sure what it is. But we’re actually at risk for all of the diseases and all of the cancers if we don’t have a clean gastrointestinal tract. So if we’re going to keep 30-35 feet of GI tract clean, we need lots of fiber. And the fiber is found in the greens and vegetables and fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. The most nutrient-dense ones of those really go well in your quart of green smoothie a day.

“When you’re flooding your body with micronutrients, you’re oxygenating. Cancer hates oxygen. Cancer dies on contact with oxygen. Cancer wants to live in an acidic, anaerobic environment. And when you eat greens, you are oxygenating the body and you are increasing the pH or alkalizing the body. That’s not a hospitable place for cancer to grow. So lots more plant foods, especially raw greens and vegetables are pivotal to just about every clinic all over the world.”

Do I have to be a vegetarian or vegan to utilize green smoothies?

Green smoothies are a healthy choice no matter what diet you choose to follow, according to Openshaw.

“You don’t have to be a vegetarian or a vegan to enjoy a quart a day of green smoothie,” she says. “So I’m not interested in the labeling at all or the categorizing of people into vegetarian and vegan and paleo and everybody taking up a flag. I think it’s divisive. I don’t think it’s super helpful. What I have found, because I did a 450-city speaking tour for over the course of six years, is that everyone, I can get almost everyone, even if they literally came to my class through the drive-through. I can get almost everyone to start making green smoothies because you can make them taste good. And you can make them quickly.

“And you can use whatever ingredients are in season that you can buy in the store, whether that be celery and spinach, or whether it’s kale and peaches and a bit of arugula. Whatever you’ve got available to you, whatever’s on sale, especially if it’s organic but even if it’s not, just wash it well. If you can just blend that up and once you get in that habit and you get used to it, you’re going to notice a massive increase in your energy as well as you really should be getting sick less because you are just stronger against viruses and bacteria when they all come through the neighborhood in the winter.”

Juice and Raw Food Resources



Cancer-Specific Diets

Foods

Nuts

In general, only whole almonds, whole macadamia nuts, and whole walnuts are allowed on a cancer diet. Cashews are strictly prohibited. Almonds and macadamia nuts both have laetrile, and both are acceptable. Walnuts have very critical omega 3. Other nuts should be used very sparingly. Peanuts and cashews both have too much fungus and should not be used at all.

With the exception of walnuts being used in a Budwig Diet treatment, even the acceptable nuts should be used sparingly.

? Did You Know As our bodies age and our immune systems weaken from illness, poor diet and/or addictive substances, we sometimes need to give our system an extra helping hand. That is why conscious detoxing is a great way back to optimum health.

• More at Natural Holistic Health

Superfoods

By a very wide margin, the best foods in the world are wheatgrass juice, barley grass juice, and a few other kinds of grass. Only a small number of vegetables can even come close to these superfoods. However, most people are not going to sprout grass. (Search the Internet for “wheatgrass kits” if you want to do it).

Thus, many vendors make a variety of qualities of parsley powder, kale powder, barley powder or powder made from a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, and grasses. Hopefully, you will pick the high-quality products. Such foods are absolutely required for cancer treatment, mostly due to chlorophyll, but also for other reasons.

It is impossible for a family to recreate some of the products which include multiple kinds of grass and leaves. These are good additions to a cancer diet.

Legumes

Legumes, except peanuts, are allowed to be eaten by cancer patients but only in moderation and only to stabilize the weight of the patient or to provide protein.

Soy products

Soy products are a highly controversial issue among natural health experts. Some experts love soy products, and others hate all soy products. It is up to your own judgment on this issue.

In reality, all soy products should be avoided except fresh soy sprouts. Soy sprouts have an impressive number of anti-cancer nutrients and are acceptable as part of your salads if you can make your own soy sprouts.

Whole grains

Whole grains can be used only when a cancer patient is fighting dangerous weight loss. If the weight loss is uncontrolled, they should consider a cachexia treatment plan, based on HydrazineAn inorganic chemical compound with the formula N2H4. It is a colorless liquid with an ammonia-like odor. It is an extremely toxic and dangerously unstable liquid derived from the same industrial chemistry processes that manufacture ammonia. Sulfate. Yeast, which every cancer patient has throughout their body, converts complex carbohydrates into simple carbohydrates, so even whole grains should be avoided when possible. In any case, avoid commercially stored grains and potatoes.

Another reason to avoid even whole grains is that over the decades the soil has become acidic and because of the soil many whole grains have more fungus than they did many decades ago. Corn and rice (because of the way they are stored) are grains that should be totally avoided.

Yeast (Baker's and Brewer's)

This is another reason for avoiding processed bread and other bakery products: Japanese research has linked breast cancer with the ingestion of goods baked with yeast. The problem is mycotoxins, which are waste products of yeast. There are many health problems that can be directly attributed to yeast, including arteriosclerosis, obesity, and AIDS.

No flour (using yeast) can be used in a cancer diet, not even if whole grains are used.

The only exception to this yeast rule is the Beta Glucan product Transfer Point Beta-1, 3D Glucan; this supplementA product, generally taken orally, that contains one or more ingredients (such as vitamins or amino acids) that are intended to supplement one's diet and are not considered food. from Baker's Yeast is 100 percent safe for anyone. Transfer Point is different than all other yeast beta glucans because it is so highly purified that it has zero yeast properties at the cellular level.

Meat, fish, fowl, eggs, dairy products

All beef, all pork, all fish, all turkey, and all chicken should be avoided during cancer treatment. There are many reasons for these restrictions. The only exception is that if a person is fighting weight loss; some fresh, freshwater fish can be eaten if that is the only thing the cancer patient will eat (e.g. they won't eat beans or other legumes).

Avoid all dairy products, including butter, all cheeses, and all malts, except cottage cheese or skim milk when used in the Budwig Diet. One exception is that pregnant and nursing women should eat two eggs per day because the choline is necessary for the baby's brain development and the baby takes precedence since two eggs a day is not life-threatening to a cancer patient.

If a person must have milk, the only acceptable variety is unprocessed goat's milk, from organically raised and grazing goats.

Robert O. Young’s book Sick and Tired? Reclaim Your Inner Terrain contains two pages detailing why all animal products are bad for humans. Specifically, meat is bad for a cancer diet.

The rule of thumb: “If it contains something that came from an animal, it is forbidden.”

Sweeteners: the bad and the good

All man-made sweeteners (e.g. aspartame — NutraSweet, Equal) and fat substitutes should also be avoided. These items are most often associated with brain cancer, but everyone should avoid them. This is one of many reasons soda pops are out of the question. Soda pops are also acidic.

There is only one acceptable sweetener in a cancer diet — Stevia, which is a herb.

Sugar and refined grains

You should absolutely avoid eating refined sugar and refined grains and anything else refined. These things not only feed the fungus and yeast in your body, but they also feed the cancer cells. The yeast in flour makes things even worse. Do not eat anything where yeast, fungus or mold is used, added or is a part of.

In addition, refined sugar and other simple sugars also interfere with your immunity system. These substances also interfere with getting Vitamin C and oxygen into the cancer cells. Sugar also depletes the body of key minerals and other nutrients because of its acidity. It is not the acidity that directly destroys the minerals, the acidity causes the body to use the minerals to regulate the pH level in the body. The same is true of all acidic foods.

The chain reaction caused in the body by acidic foods — due to the body's attempts to keep the blood at a level pH — is the cause, or a major contributing factor, to almost all chronic diseases, including cancer. It would take an entire book to describe how the body keeps its pH normal, and the ramifications of these processes.

Honey

If sugar is bad for people with cancer, how about honey, another simple sugar? Honey is a case of both the good and the bad. Honey contains simple sugars; fructose (38 percent) and glucoseA type of sugar; the chief source of energy for living organisms. (31 percent) feed cancer cells.

The good news is that honey contains powerful phenolic antioxidants. However, like grape juice, it should be avoided unless used in a very controlled fast. If such a fast is used, the darker the honey the better (i.e. the higher concentration of antioxidants).

If a cancer patient absolutely has to have some sweetness during his or her transition to a cancer diet, and Stevia is not available, then honey, in small amounts, is acceptable.

Fruits, dried fruits, and fruit juices

The only fruits that are allowed on this diet, without restrictions, are:

unsweetened lime

unsweetened lemon

avocados

That is it. Lemons are actually a required part of any cancer treatment because of their beneficial effect on the liver and because they get oxygen into the body. Lemon juice and lime juice should be taken primarily just before bedtime.

One exception to this general rule is special fruit fasts, such as the Brandt Grape Cure. When the body gets nothing but a potent fruit mush, it is a potent cancer cure.

Another exception to these general rules is for those on a cesium chloride protocol. They are allowed to eat fruits rich in potassium in order to meet their potassium quota.

Mushrooms (fungi), seaweed, other saccharides

There are some mushrooms that are used in cancer treatments, generally as supplements. Realizing that some mushrooms kill cancer cells, but are at the same time primarily a fungus, take heed. Mushrooms are one of the good and bad foods. Use with caution.

The good news about mushrooms is that they do contain polysaccharides, which are essential to the immune system. Mushroom supplements such as beta glucan are certainly acceptable to a cancer diet.

Seaweed is also high in polysaccharides. Modifilan is a brown seaweed extract that has at least three nutrients to kill cancer cells: furanone, fucoidan, and alginic acid.

Aloe vera supplements also can be high in polysaccharides and the glyconutrients — but the glyconutrients are difficult to process out of the aloe vera.

The next items also provide polysaccharides.

Dr. Young says to stay away from blue-green algae, chlorella, and spirulina. For cancer patients, we strongly disagree with this advice with regards to the chlorella and spirulina.

The benefits of chlorella and spirulina to a cancer patient, I believe, far outweigh the negative aspects. Between spirulina and chlorella, they contain polysaccharides (required for immune system communications), Vitamin B12, GLA, Chlorophyll Growth Factor (CGF) and a host of other powerful anti-cancer nutrients. A vegan diet simply cannot provide all of these things.

If you do choose to avoid these items, then make sure you eat plenty of fresh organic broccoli.

Salt

Refined salt may be a major cause of cancer. Refined salt, the wrong fats, margarine, and butter are the main causes of red blood cells sticking together (called: rouleau), causing them to absorb less oxygen and making hemoglobin a free meal for yeast and fungus.

The clumped together red blood cells do not get as much oxygen into the cells of the body. Also, the clumped together red blood cells cannot pass through the smaller arteries/capillaries, meaning much less (if any) oxygen gets to cells in these areas of the body, and some of these cells may be turned to anaerobic.

As if that weren't bad enough, once the cells are cancerous, the oxygen still can't get to the cancer cells to slow down spreading or kill them.

On the other hand, natural sea salt has a very similar mineral content as human blood. It is truly a health food as long as you don't eat too much of it.

The organic mineral cell salts found in vegetables, seaweed, etc. are critical.

Bad fats and oils

Other foods you should absolutely avoid are trans fats, meaning trans fatty acids or partially hydrogenated oils. Trans fatty acids may be one of the major causes of cancer. They become part of the cell's wall (replacing cholesterol) and make the cell wall rigid or sticky and can make the cell anaerobic because large oxygen clusters cannot get into the cells.

Like refined salt, these fats also destroy the electrical charge of red blood cells, causing them to stick together. When this happens the oxygenated blood cells do not reach many of these cancer cells with the end result being they receive far less oxygen. This anaerobic state of the cancer cells causes them to thrive.

Another bad food for cancer patients is polyunsaturated oils. Polyunsaturated oils (e.g. corn oils sold in supermarkets everywhere) promote the growth of small blood vessels (by promoting the production of bad prostaglandins). This is bad for cancer because it allows tumors to grow new blood vessels. However, these small blood vessels are good for preventing strokes. Thus, avoid polyunsaturated oils on a cancer diet.

In short, avoid all heated oils.

Herbs and spices

All herbs and spices are acceptable, except black pepper and other highly acidic spices. Several herbs, such as Sheep Sorrel and Black Walnut, are known to be strong anti-cancer foods. Turmeric, which contains curcumin, is a spice that is a potent anti-cancer food.

As with all foods, the storage of herbs can cause them to be high in fungus. Also, herbs should generally not be used on a non-stop basis, unless specifically instructed to take them daily. Generally, it is best to take a periodic break from herbs.

Junk foods, condiments, and other comments

You can forget about eating at a restaurant, big or small, formal or informal unless it has a menu specifically for organic, raw foods.

Condiments are absolutely forbidden. One of the most acidic foods on earth is black pepper (black pepper is a major cause of acid reflux disease). Avoid soy sauce, pickled vegetables, relish, green olives, sauerkraut, and cucumber pickles.

Basically, any refined or processed food that contains sugar, refined salt, aspartame, MSG, trans-fatty acids, coloring, other additives, refined flour, etc. should be avoided. Even the cooking of food kills critical enzymes needed for digestion.

There is a trend in the food industry of making “no trans fats” foods. This does not mean these are healthy foods. They are processed.

While it is true that cooking does release some vitamins, overall it is better to eat food raw if it can be safely eaten.

Stop smoking (no matter what kind of cancer you have), because smoking puts more than 100 carcinogens in your body. Tobacco is also very high in sugar, fungi, and yeasts. Part of this is due to the way tobacco leaves are processed.

Stop drinking alcohol (which is a primary mycotoxin), which interferes with all treatment plans. Alcohol has been shown to greatly increase the incidence of childhood leukemia.

Also, cut out caffeine (except when it is used as an enema), because caffeine restricts the blood vessels, meaning less oxygen gets to the cancer cells. It is also acid-forming and mucoid forming. Sorry, chocolate lovers.

Some special listed foods

Peanuts are perhaps the No. 1 food that should be avoided because they are so high in fungus. Foods that have little resistance to invaders when they are growing are frequently high in fungus.

Corn, rice, and potatoes — and any foods with corn, rice, or potatoes — should be avoided because of fungus and the way they are stored.

Cashews are another food high in fungus.

Avoid processed apple juice.

Avoid oranges, tangerines, and dried fruits, for a variety of reasons.

Do not microwave any foods during a cancer diet.

Water and exercise

Every cancer patient should drink as much natural water (i.e. natural spring water or natural artesian water, processed with ozone) as they can — up to a gallon a day.

Also, a cancer patient should get as much exercise as reasonable. Exercise pumps the lymph system and helps get toxins out of the body. Even if a person can do no more than lift 3-pound weights for 10 minutes while sitting in a chair, it will help; sweat releases toxins.

Food that may help fight cancer

Broccoli — Broccoli is known to contain flavonoids which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, metal chelation, and immune-boosting properties. Also, see: Broccoli may be a ‘turning point' in understanding cancer. [26][27][28][29]

— Broccoli is known to contain flavonoids which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, metal chelation, and immune-boosting properties. Also, see: Broccoli may be a ‘turning point' in understanding cancer. [26][27][28][29] Apples — Contain flavonoids which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, metal chelation and immune-boosting properties.[30][31][32][33]

Flaxseed — Flaxseed contains lignan. Flax lignans may reduce cancer risk by preventing pre-cancerous cellular changes and by reducing angiogenesis and metastasis The spread of cancer cells from the place where they first formed to another part of the body. In metastasis, cancer cells break away from the original (primary) tumor, travel through the blood or lymph system, and form a new tumor in other organs or tissues of the body. The new, metastatic tumor is the same type of cancer as the primary tumor. For example, if breast cancer spreads to the lung, the cancer cells in the lung are breast cancer cells, not lung cancer cells. .[34][25][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]

.[34][25][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] Mushroom — Some mushrooms contain polysaccharides, immunomodulating β-glucans, antioxidants.[43][44][45][46][47][48]

Garlic — Garlic contains organosulfur compounds, quercetin, flavonoids, saponins. [49][50]

Citrus fruits — Lemons (and other citrus fruits) contains flavonoids which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, metal chelation, and immune-boosting properties. [51][52][53]

Kale — Kale contains flavonoids which have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, metal chelation, and immune-boosting properties. See: Cancer Preventative Powers of Kale

Spirulina — May be cytotoxic to cancer cells. [54] For someone who cannot eat whole foods, it is essential that they get needed protein. Spirulina is your answer. Both spirulina and chlorella provide a lot of things needed by cancer patients. The trick is to buy them in a form such that they can be mixed with water. This would most likely be the capsule form which can be broken apart and the insides mixed with water. In any case, talk to your vendor about your situation and what they suggest. Read more: Spirulina: Little known cancer-fighting sea algae.

Asparagus — Asparagus is an alkaline vegetable and has been shown over and over to be an excellent cancer treatment. To use asparagus as a cancer treatment do the following: 1) Cook the asparagus, 2) Puree the asparagus, 3) Take four tablespoons, twice a day. Note that the patient will take eight tablespoons during the entire day.

Aloe — Has been proven to be an anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting, antiviral An agent that kills a virus or that suppresses its ability to replicate and inhibit its capability to multiply and reproduce. , antiseptic.[55] Read more: Aloe Arborescens Cancer Protocol.

, antiseptic.[55] Read more: Aloe Arborescens Cancer Protocol. Carrot Juice — Carrots contain flavonoids which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, metal chelation and immune-boosting properties. Read more: Raw food treatment.

Purple Grapes — Grapes contain flavonoids which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, metal chelation, and immune-boosting properties. Read more: Brandt Cure Protocol

Fermented Wheat Germ — FWG can inhibit metastatic tumor dissemination and proliferation during and after chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation. [56] Read more: Fermented wheat germ extract for healthy cell metabolism.

— FWG can inhibit metastatic tumor dissemination and proliferation during and after chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation. [56] Read more: Fermented wheat germ extract for healthy cell metabolism. Hemp Oil — Hemp oil contains fatty acids LA and NLA which may have antimicrobial effects. [57] Read more: Rick Simpson Hemp Oil Protocol.

— Hemp oil contains fatty acids LA and NLA which may have antimicrobial effects. [57] Read more: Rick Simpson Hemp Oil Protocol. Cannabis — A large body of evidence suggests that cannabinoids affect multiple signaling pathways involved in the development of cancer, displaying an anti‐proliferative, proapoptotic, anti‐angiogenic and anti‐metastatic activity on a wide range of cell lines and animal models of cancer. [58] Read more: Cannabis: Food and Medicine

Super-Charged Foods

Dr. David Jockers offers a nutritional program to alkalize and reduce inflammation in the body. His program focuses on six points:

Choose natural food rather than processed food

Use fats that heal and avoid fats that kill

Avoid sugars

Change the meat you eat

Alkalize for optimal health

Utilize fermented foods and beverages whenever possible

“The key to a great nutrition plan is to get maximal nutrients and minimal toxins,” Dr. Jockers says. “The nutrients we eat should come from whole, real foods and not in a synthetic form.”

Jordan Rubin also promotes superfoods across the dietary spectrum. “Let’s start with this hierarchy: fruits are good, vegetables are great, herbs are awesome, and spices are the bomb.

“So basically, fruits can be good. Vegetables are better. Herbs are better yet, and spices are the absolute most important category of plant foods for someone dealing with cancer or any other condition,” he says.

“And I would argue that the average American is deficient in all four of these categories, but particularly herbs and spices.”

Rubin offers his leading foods in these categories:

Fruits

Chokeberry/Aronia berry

Elderberry

Schisandra berry

Acai Berry

Sea Buckthorn

Pomegranates

Blueberry

Muscadines

Vegetables

Arugula

Endive, escarole

Broccoli

Radish sprout

Clover

Red onions

Garlic

Heirloom tomatoes

Watercress

Celery

Radishes

Herbs

Sage

Parsley

Basil

Thyme

Astragalus

Ginseng

Ashwagandha

Note: Green tea is a must in the herb mix for anti-cancer.

Spices

Turmeric

Cayenne pepper

Chili pepper

Black pepper

Ginger

Galangal

Cinnamon

Foods to avoid

Dangers of processed foods

According to Medical News Today, foods that have been chemically processed and made solely from refined ingredients and artificial substances, are what is generally known as processed food.

Ways processed foods harm our health:

1) They are generally high in sugar or high fructose corn syrup

2) They are ‘hyper-rewarding' and generally lead to over-consumption

3) They contain many artificial (and many times, harmful) ingredients

Highly processed foods often contain:

Preservatives: Chemicals that prevent the food from rotting.

Colorants: Chemicals that are used to give the food a specific color.

Flavor: Chemicals that give the food a particular flavor.

Texturants: Chemicals that give a particular texture.

4) Many people can become addicted to processed junk foods

5) Processed foods are often high in refined carbohydrates. Refined, or simple, carbohydrates are quickly broken down in the digestive tract, leading to rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels.

6) Most processed foods are low in nutrients

7) Processed foods tend to be low in fiber, which is essential for healthy digestion.

8) Processed foods require less time and energy to digest which means we can eat more of them in less time (more calories in) and it takes less energy to digest them (fewer calories burned).

9) Many processed foods are high in processed vegetable oils or trans fat. [59]

Dangers of sugar

It is well known that sugar, when consumed in excess, is seriously harmful. Add to that the fact that sugar is essentially 'empty' calories and you have the tip of the iceberg.

Research shows that sugar can have incredibly detrimental effects on metabolism that goes far beyond its calorie content [60]

Sugar can lead to insulin resistance, high triglycerides, increased levels of harmful cholesterol and increased fat accumulation in the liver and abdominal cavity. [61][62]

It is not surprising that sugar consumption is strongly associated with some of today's leading killers such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. [63][64][65][66][67]

According to Harvard Medical School, a sugar-laden diet may raise your risk of dying of heart disease even if you aren’t overweight. So says a major study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. [68] Added sugars make up at least 10 percent of the calories the average American eats in a day. But about one in 10 people gets a whopping one-quarter or more of their calories from added sugar. [69]

What is most insidious about sugar is that the majority of people aren't globbing massive amounts of sugar in their coffee or on top of their cereal, they're getting it from processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages.

According to Medical News Today, processed foods and beverages are the biggest sources of added sugar (and HFCS) in the diet. Sugar is very unhealthy and can have serious adverse effects on metabolism when consumed in excess. [70]

And that's not all. Sugar is one of the main culprits in the body's inflammatory response. Heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and acne are just some of the possible consequences of too much inflammation in the body.

According to Nicholas Perricone, M.D., the pioneering nutritionist and dermatologist (who wrote the book on anti-inflammation eating), our bodies actually depend on temporary inflammation to help fight off sudden injuries or infection. But when that inflammation becomes chronic, “the immune system mistakenly attacks normal cells, and the process that ordinarily heals becomes destructive.”

Like so many health issues, the main culprit is too much sugar.

Dangers of dairy

Dairy products — including cheese, ice cream, milk, butter, and yogurt — contribute significant amounts of cholesterol and saturated fatA type of fat with certain chemical properties that is usually solid at room temperature. Most saturated fats come from animal food products, but some plant oils, such as palm and coconut oil, also contain high levels. Eating saturated fat increases the level of cholesterol in the blood and the risk of heart disease. to the diet.15 Diets high in fat and especially in saturated fat can increase the risk of heart disease and can cause other serious health problems, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).

“Clinical research shows that dairy products have little or no benefit for bones,” PCRM states. “A 2005 review published in Pediatrics showed that milk consumption does not improve bone integrity in children. In a more recent study, researchers tracked the diets, physical activity, and stress fracture incidences of adolescent girls for seven years, and concluded that dairy products and calcium do not prevent stress fractures in adolescent girls. Similarly, the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, which followed more than 72,000 women for 18 years, showed no protective effect of increased milk consumption on fracture risk.

“Consumption of dairy products has also been linked to a higher risk for various cancers, especially to cancers of the reproductive system. Most significantly, dairy product consumption has been linked to increased risk for prostate and breast cancers. The consumption of dairy products may also contribute to the development of ovarian cancer. The relation between dairy products and ovarian cancer may be caused by the breakdown of the milk sugar lactose into galactose, a sugar which may be toxic to ovarian cells. In a study conducted in Sweden, consumption of lactose and dairy products was positively linked to ovarian cancer. A similar study, the Iowa Women’s Health Study, found that women who consumed more than one glass of milk per day had a 73 percent greater chance of developing ovarian cancer than women who drank less than one glass per day.”

Milk contains contaminants that range from hormones to pesticides to antibiotics. Milk naturally contains hormones and growth factors produced within a cow’s body. In addition, synthetic hormones such as recombinant bovine growth hormone are commonly used in cows to increase the production of milk. [71] Once introduced into the human body, these hormones may affect normal hormonal function.

Additionally, Insulin-dependent (type 1 or childhood-onset) diabetes is linked to consumption of dairy products in infancy. A 2001 Finnish study of 3,000 infants with genetically increased risk for developing diabetes showed that early introduction of cow’s milk increased susceptibility to type 1 diabetes. In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics observed up to a 30 percent reduction in the incidence of type 1 diabetes in infants who avoid exposure to cow’s milk protein for at least the first three months of their lives, the PCRM states. [72]

Mark Hyman, M.D., advises his patients to avoid dairy products completely. His reasons for this advice include:

1) Less dairy = better bones

2) Milk doesn't reduce bone fractures

3) Calcium not only isn't as bone-protective as was thought, it may increase the risk of cancer

4) Dairy causes digestive problems for the 75 percent of people with lactose intolerance

5) Dairy aggravates Irritable Bowel Syndrome [73]

Dangers of alcohol

Nearly 20,000 cancer deaths are attributable to alcohol every year in the United States, he says, and we’re not even the world’s biggest drinkers.

“If people are still doing chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, they cannot do a detox.” Dr. Judy Seeger

Cleansing and detox

Dr. Judy Seeger is a naturopath with a holistic approach — not only with what people are eating but also lifestyle, stress factors, and symptoms.

“I encourage people on a cancer-healing journey to [detox] at least four times a year,” Seeger says. “If they're in Stage III or Stage IV, I do recommend they do it every six weeks. So, doing a three-day cleanse — but having a day or two for pre-cleanse, a day or two post-cleanse. In those three days, basically it's from the time they wake up to the time to go to bed, they're doing something.

“So, every couple of hours they’re going to be having something to drink. A liquid is easy to digest; first thing in the morning is water with lemon. The next thing would be maybe a smoothie using something like almond milk, or flaxseed milk, or hemp milk, or whatever plant-based milk with some green powder, like spirulina. Then a couple of hours later could be some coconut water. A couple of hours later, maybe some carrot vegetable juice. A couple hours later, maybe some liver herbalA product made from a plant that is thought to be useful in treating a disease or staying healthy. Herbal supplements are taken by mouth. tea to help the liver. I have about six or seven different kinds of drinks that I recommend throughout the day.

“It's just a matter of just getting in the habit,” Seeger contends. “It's simple things like getting up in the morning, having two cups of lemon juice. You put some fresh lemon with water: the lemon helps to detoxify the liver, helps to cleanse out the kidneys, and next thing you know the toxins are being released slowly but gently from the body.

“Another one is to have a very nice, relaxing detox bath at the end of the day. It's just so relaxing and very lovely to have your Epsom salt, sea salt, baking soda; putting all the ingredients into the bath, soaking for a good 20 to 30 minutes. While they're in there, the toxins are getting pulled out because the baking soda, of course, alkalizes you; the Epsom salt relaxes you; the sea salt helps pull out the poison. So, it's very, very nice to just sit in that bath. You’re using your biggest detoxification organ, which is your skin, to sweat it out.

No detox on chemo / radiation

“If people are still doing chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, they cannot do a detox,” Seeger cautions. “If you’re on a program where you're doing chemo or radiation, the doctor has a specific protocol, they have a very specific protocol for the stage of cancer and your situation and what you're going through.

“So they'll say, “Well, maybe you need like 12 treatments,” but they're checking you. As they’re checking you they’re looking at their numbers — and their numbers are skewed. They're not getting the typical results they’re used to and you have not told them that you've detoxed. This is not a good thing.

“Plus, it also weakens your immune system more if you're doing a detox,” she adds. “Yes, it's pulling out the toxins, but your immune system is already taking a hit. What I tell people on detox and radiation for example is, ‘Look, focus 100 percent on your immune system.’ Build it up, build it up, build it up — with supplements and foods and therapies and focus on every single day building up your immune system during your chemo and radiation. Then, when you're all done with the treatment go into the detox.”

? Did You Know As our bodies age and our immune systems weaken from illness, poor diet and/or addictive substances, we sometimes need to give our system an extra helping hand. That is why conscious detoxing is a great way back to optimum health.

• More at Natural Holistic Health

Detoxing too much

“There is a time that you need to stop detoxing and give your body a break so that the immune system gets a chance to jump in and do what it has to do to fight cancer,” Seeger says. “Your immune system is the No. 1 system in your body; the only system that can actually fight the cancer cells.

“The purpose of the detox is just to remove the toxins. Get them out, move them over, so the immune system can jump in and do what it's supposed to do to trigger those immune cells, the T-cells, to get in there and fight cancer. So to focus constantly on the detoxing is really the wrong emphasis.”

The right emphasis, Seeger says, is to focus on that immune system. “That's why I say every six weeks to do a detox then rest and allow your immune system to kick in. If you need to wait two months, three months, that's fine for the detox. But give yourself a break in between there that's really the key for that.”

Detox foods

The foods that Seeger has in her detox are ones easiest to digest, specifically plant-based foods.

“I recommend having steamed vegetables,” she notes. “I eat a salad maybe once a week, maybe once every two weeks. That's it. But I have more energy now at 59 then I did in my 20s and 30s because I made the switch over. So steamed vegetables are a very importa