The Big 'C' - Part 3 of 3

In my first blog on cancer, I showed you how scientists have determined that only 2-3 percent of cancer is purely due to genetics. In my second blog, I explained why it is important to think low fat/high fiber when planning your meals to prevent elevated hormone levels. In this blog, I will show you why it is critical to remove the meat and dairy from your plate and replace them with plants: whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables.

Meat and dairy products are void of fiber which is important for appetite control, for the efficient elimination of carcinogens and other toxins from your body, and to prevent excess hormones from re-circulating in your bloodstream.

Meat and dairy products are high in saturated fat, which can cause us to battle our weight and the increased fat ultimately stored on our body acts as hormone-producing factories.  Fat-free milk is missing the fat, but ends up containing a greater proportion of the highly carcinogenic protein, casein, and the milk sugar lactose.  When digested, lactose is broken down into glucose and galactose.  Studies suggest that galactose may be toxic to the ovaries.

When meat is cooked, carcinogenic substances called heterocyclic amines form in the muscle tissue.  The longer and hotter the meat gets, the more these substances form, so do you eat your meat on the rare side and risk ingesting bacterial organisms such as salmonella and e coli or do you cook it enough to kill those pathogens and instead, consume larger quantities of the carcinogenic substances? Grilled chicken is the largest source of heterocyclic amines in the American diet. When meat is grilled over a direct flame, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, another carcinogen, form on the surface of the meat.

Dairy presents its own set of problems. The China Study, the most comprehensive study of nutrition conducted to-date, found that casein, which comprises 87 percent of dairy protein, is the most significant carcinogen ever discovered according to traditional regulatory criteria. It is present in every glass of milk you drink and in every piece of cheese you eat.

Dairy consumption also increases the level of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in the bloodstream. IGF-1 is a powerful stimulus for cancer. When IGF-1 is mixed with breast cancer cells in a test tube, the cells begin to reproduce rapidly.

When meat and dairy are the main focus on your plate, they prevent healthier alternatives from taking center stage. Only plants contain antioxidants and phytonutrients that protect your body from the damaging effects of free radicals while providing you with an arsenal of anti-cancer agents such as the sulphoraphane in broccoli and the allicin in garlic. Sulphoraphane's protection has been found to last for days after ingestion.

The level of estrogen circulating in a woman's bloodstream decreases soon after she begins to follow a low-fat, plant-based lifestyle and continues to drop over the next several weeks, anywhere from 15 percent to 50 percent.

Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles added the blood serum of two groups of men to standardized prostate cancer cells. The first group of men ate a diet low in fat and exercised. The second group of men ate the typical American diet and did not exercise. The blood serum from men who followed a low-fat diet and exercised slowed the prostate cancer cell growth by 49 percent compared to the blood serum of men who followed no specific diet and exercise lifestyle. The researchers had this second group of men adopt the healthy lifestyle of the first group of men and found the same cancer-inhibiting effect in as little as 11 days!

In a one-year study conducted by Dean Ornish, MD, men with early stage prostate cancer following a low-fat, plant-based diet with moderate exercise and stress management experienced a 4 percent decrease in their prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a measure of the progression of their disease. The control group following their normal lifestyle found that their PSA increased by 6 percent over the same period. Six men in the control group had to begin treatment due to their diseases progression whereas no one in the plant-based group needed to be treated during the study.

In another study conducted by the University of Massachusetts, the PSA doubling time was slowed in participants placed on a low-fat, plant-based diet.  The longer the PSA doubling time, the slower the cancer is spreading.

Any improvement that you make in the way that you eat will move you along your spectrum toward wellness but please keep in mind that researchers have found that to significantly alter the course of cancer, these changes need to be significant.

So explore all the tastes, textures, and health benefits that a plant-based lifestyle has to offer.

I am a Plant-Based Nutrition Counselor, a graduate of Cornell University's plant-based nutrition program, and am board certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. I help people to achieve their wellness goals by providing them with the tools that they need to gain control over their health. I hope you enjoy my blogs. If you would prefer individualized assistance with your weight, with a chronic, degenerative disease, with other health and wellness aspirations, or if you would like me to speak to a group, please give me a call at 724.469.0693 or email me at traceyeakin@gmail.com to arrange a time.

I can personally attest to this lifestyle. The results are nothing short of dramatic.  I had been a vegetarian for 20 years when 3 years ago I adopted an entirely plant-based lifestyle. Since that time, I have lost over 50 pounds and have kept it off and resolved an autoimmune condition known as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura or ITP. My body was attacking and destroying my platelets. I could have faced platelet transfusions or the removal of my spleen. A low-fat, plant-based lifestyle changed everything for me. My goal is to help as many people as possible to make similar positive changes in their lives.