Unraveling the Mystery of the Big "C" - Part 2

Your food choices can impact your cancer risk. Foods influence the hormones that fuel cancer growth. Fat and fiber play critical roles.

The hormone estrogen makes tissues grow, normal tissues as well as cancer cells. That is why one of the main goals of cancer drugs such as tamoxifen is to block estrogen's activity. There is also evidence that estrogen can initiate cancer when transformed into other molecules by enzymes in our body. These molecules can damage our cell DNA causing them to lose their ability to control their most basic functions including controlled cell reproduction.

High fat diets not only encourage the production of estrogen but also encourage increased stores of body fat which act like estrogen factories converting other hormones into estrogens. In addition, the more body fat you have, the less sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) you are likely to have. SHBG binds with estrogen and testosterone, rendering them inactive and unable to promote cancer.

Researchers have found that when diets are comprised of more than 15 percent fat, cancer can begin to occur.

You may think that switching from red meat to white meat is cutting out a lot of fat in your diet. The leanest cut of beef is about 28 percent fat. Skinless chicken breast cooked without added fat is not much better at 24 percent.

Switching from whole milk of which 49 percent of its calories are from fat to two percent milk of which 35 percent of its calories are from fat is not much of an improvement either. Skim or fat-free milk may not have the fat, but it contains a host of other cancer stimulants that I will talk about in my next blog.

Most animal-based foods are between 20-60 percent fat.  Plant-based foods are usually less than 10 percent fat.

Hormones are supposed to circulate around the body once, then be filtered by the liver into the intestinal tract to be excreted. If there is inadequate fiber to bind with these hormones and escort them out of the body efficiently, these hormones can be reabsorbed into the bloodstream and recirculate. This process is known as enterohepatic circulation and it further increases the hormones in our system.

Fiber only exists in plant food.  It goes through our intestinal tract intact where it works its magic binding and excreting hormones.

Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles drew blood from two different groups of men. One group of men followed a low-fat diet and exercised. The second group of men did not. When the blood serum of both groups was added to test tubes containing standardized prostate cancer cells, the serum from the men that followed the low-fat diet and exercised slowed cancer cell growth by 49% compared to the other group. Fascinated by the results, the researchers placed the sedentary men on a low-fat diet and exercise program and found similar results within as little as 11 days.

When a woman begins a low-fat, plant-based lifestyle, the hormone levels in her blood drop almost immediately and by as much as 50 percent within a matter of weeks.

Although it may seem like making gradual changes over time might make a lifestyle change easier, researchers have found that completely immersing yourself in this new lifestyle for three weeks ends up being the most successful way to change in the long run. In addition, they found that in order to reduce cancer risk or effectively alter its course, lifestyle changes have to be significant.

Those that follow a plant-based lifestyle are about 40 percent less likely to develop cancer compared to meat eaters. They also have double the natural killer cells, specialized white blood cells that "shoot first and ask questions later".

T. Colin Campbell, PhD, the lead researcher in the most comprehensive study of nutrition conducted to-date, uses this analogy. Think of cancer cells as grass seed.  If the grass seed is placed in fertile soil and given water, sunshine, and fertilizer, it will grow into grass. If the grass seed is placed on parched, hard dirt and not given any water, sunshine, or fertilizer, the seeds will lie dormant or die. Do not provide an environment conducive to cancer growth by making the switch to a low-fat plant-based lifestyle today.

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 the removal of my spleen or platelet transfusions.  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.