gethealthy

American society is absolutely obsessed with youthfulness.  We will do anything and everything to remain young.  For some this may include surgeries or expensive skin treatments however for some it is a simple as visiting your doctor.

Dr. Jeffry Life who operates the Cenegenics Medical Institute in Las Vegas, has dedicated himself to helping others retain their youth. At 69, he is an excellent role model for his patients.  Or at least Ed Detwiler, a patient, seems to think so.  Mr. Detwiler has been a patient there for about 3 years.  He says he rigerously follows everything Dr. Life prescribes.  He states, “If I was stooped over and bed ridden what kind of quality of life would that be?”

Patients of Dr. Life’s are prescribed different regimens for optimum health.  For some this may include a change of lifestyle like adopting healthy eating habits and  following and exercise plan. For others it may include supplementation.  Currently for Mr. Detwiler it includes a daily injection of Human Growth Hormone (Hgh) and a testoserone injection weekly.

Ok, this is the last installment of the anti-cancer diet posts.  The last think I want to touch on is exactly which foods are anti-cancer and the main outline for the anti-cancer diet plan.

Anti-Cancer Vegetables:

• broccoli
• brussel sprouts
• cabbage
• carrots
• cauliflower
• eggplant
• green beans
• kale
• red onions
• peppers
• radishes
• soy
• squash
• sweet potatoes
• tomatoes

Anti-Cancer Fruits:

• apricots
• blueberries
• grapefruit
• grapes
• lemons
• mangoes
• oranges
• papayas
• peaches
• persimmons
• organic strawberries
• tangerines

Below are the 10 steps for the Anti-Cancer Program:

1.  Lower your stress levels
2. Maintain a healthy weight
3. Exercise more
4. Limit your fat intake to no more than 20% of your total calories and less than 10% coming from saturated fats.  While your at it, throw out the hydrogenated fats.
5. Eat more fiber, between 25-35 grams per day.
6. Fill up on fresh fruits and vegetables
7. Eat anti-oxidant rich foods (beta carotene (vitamin A), vitamin C, and vitamin E)
8. Eat more seafood and soy and less red meat
9. Eat calcium rich foods
10. Take a daily supplement of:

• Vitamin C - 500mg
• Calcium - 500mg
• Flaxseed meal - 30g
• Acidophilus powder - 1 tsp.
• Vitamin E - 200 IU
• Selenium - 100 mcg

Following the steps and information in these 5 posts can help you to reduce your risk of cancer, avoid cancer, or maybe even help heal cancer you already have.

Another key in reducing the risk of cancer or reducing the formation of cancer is to switch to a plant based diet.  One main area to focus on is switching your red meat consumption to seafood or the complete switch to an all plant based diet.  You want to try to get as close to totally plant based as you can.

• Lay off the Red Meat - Switch to Seafood: It has been proven by watching populations that those who eat less red meat and fat in their diet have a lower risk of developing colon cancer.  You can still consume some red meat, but choose to make it an accent to a plant based dish. Combining an unhealthier meat with vegetables and grains like a stir-fry or pasta.

• In 1976, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health began to study the role that diet plays in the formation of colon cancer.  They also set out to test theories that had been suggested by other studies.  Researchers studied 88,000 healthy women age 34-59.

The discovered:

1.  Women who consumed beef, pork, or lamb as a main dish daily, had a 2.5 times higher risk of developing colon cancer than those who consumed those meats only once a month.
2. The amount of animal fat present in a person’s diet is directly linked to the risk of developing colon cancer.
3.  Eating red meats and especially processed meats was greatly linked with an increased risk of developing colon cancer.  However, eating meats such as fish and chicken has shown a decreased risk.
4. The amount of fiber a person consumes is directly linked with the risk of developing colon cancer.

• In another 14 year study of 16,000 Swedish men and women it was discovered that foods such as beef and lamb are associated with the highest risk of colon cancer.
• Red meat itself can be carcinogenic, but how it is prepared can add to the risk of cancer.  Grilling red meats under high heat like searing or flame-cooking to a well-done consistency can cause the meat to release carcinogens into the meat called heterocyclicamines, which cause damage to cellular DNA.  A better choice for cooking meats is to use poaching, stewing, microwaving, slow-cooking, or low-heat cooking.

• Throw out the meat and eat your plants!  Some of the most interesting research regarding the link between diet and cancer are ones where people ate a plant-based diet. People who commonly eat a plant-based diet like vegetarians and Seventh Day Adventists have a very low risk of cancer.  The reason that foods derived from plants have a lower incidence of cancer causing agents is due to 3 health-promoting factors: plants contain less fat, more fiber, and more phytonutrients.  Aside from offering fiber; legumes have anticancer properties called protease inhibitors; shown to reduce the growth of cancer of the breast, colon, and skin cancer.

• Eat more Soy: There are many reasons for eating soy.  Soy is  a better choice for a source of protein. Also, soy contains phytonutrients which prevent the growth of new blood vessels that tumors need to survive. Soy also protects the colon by blocking bile acids that can have carcinogenic effects.  Another element in soy are isoflavones, that help regulate sex hormones that could reduce your risk of breast or prostate cancer. Studies have shown that women in America whose diets are low in soy products are 4xs more likely to die as a result of breast cancer than Japanese women whose diets are filled with soy.  Soy also appears to protect against other types of cancer such as; lung, rectal, colon, stomach, prostate, and breast.

1. One serving of soy (1/2 cup cooked soybeans, tofu, tempeh, one cup soy milk) each day can reduce your cancer risk.
2.  Read up on how your soy products are manufactured.  You want to ensure that they use a water extraction process and not an alcohol extraction process because it removes genistein from the soy.

• Time to Change Your Oil: You want to shift towards using more oils that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids due to their anti-cancer properties.  It has been shown that supplementing the diet with fish oil will cause fewer colorectal tumors. Oils found in fish and flaxseed work to produce phytochemicals which help fight cancer.  Flaxseed also contains another phytonutrient, lignan; which helps to fight cancer.  Your best bet is to ensure your diet contains more omega-3 than omega-6. Great sources of omega-3s are coldwater oily fish like salmon and tuna.
  Flaxseed or flaxseed oil is another great source of omega-3’s.  You will want to reduce the amount of vegetable oils you consume because they contain large amounts of omega-6 fatty acids. Another important type of oil is monounsaturated oil, like olive oil.  These oils also play a role in the prevention of cancer. In populations where the consumption of olive oil is rich, there is a lower incidence of cancer.  In fact, Greek women who consume a diet rich in olive oil have a very low risk for breast cancer. One study on oils discovered a connection between the amount of hydrogenated oils a woman consumes to the incidence of breast cancer.  It is always best to avoid trans fats, hydrogenated oils, partially-hydrogenated oils, and saturated fats.

This is the second part of the five part series on the anti-cancer diet.  It is unfortunate the lack of emphasis on the importance of a healthy diet in America.  I used to conduct surveys and one project I did was for when the FDA was preparing to alter the food guide pyramid.  I got to call people and ask them a myriad of questions pertaining to their health and what they knew about proper health and health terms.  Needless to say, I was shocked at the amount of people who knew nothing….and I mean nothing about a healthy diet.  Most of them had no idea how to read a nutrition label or what any of that information even meant.

Anyhow….today we are going to start off with the importance of fiber and fruits and vegetables in the diet.

It is important to Increase your Fiber Intake: In many studies between food and cancer there is unmistakable evidence that there is a relation between a high fiber diet and  a lower incidence of colorectal cancer.  Fiber is important it works to move carcinogens and general waste through intestines faster.  This means that carcinogens spend less time contacting the intestinal walls.  If the intestines have less exposure to the carcinogens the risk for cancer is lower.

Fiber also binds carcinogens together, to keep them from touching the intestinal wall.  Fiber is also important for absorbing bile acids, which prevents them from reacting with bacteria to create fecapentanes, which are the cancerous particles that are created by rotting food laying within the colon.   There are approximately 20 of these substances that can mutate cells in the colon, turning them into cancerous cells.

Fiber also promotes the development of healthy bacteria within the intestines.  These healthy bacteria  push out the unhealthy bacteria.  A diet high in fiber appears to be protective against cancer in those with a hereditary risk of having precancerous colorectal polyps. In a recent study, people with a high risk for getting colorectal cancer, ate 13 grams of wheat bran fiber every day for 8 weeks, exhibited a decrease in growth of precancerous cells in the colon.

A high fiber diet has also shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer.  It works to bind estrogen in the bowels, reducing the effect the estrogen can have on breast tissue cells.

Based on important findings, it is suggested that you consume no less than 25 grams of fiber per day.  The best sources for anticancer fiber are: wheat bran, kidney beans, garbanzo beans,  navy beans, whole wheat, whole grains, legumes, whole grain bread, and prunes.

EAT YOUR FRUITS AND VEGGIES:  Hundreds of studies that were exploring the link between diet and cancer have concluded that consuming more fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk for a variety of cancers.   Consuming more fruits and vegetables can also lessen your desire for fatty foods, which can increase the risk of cancer.  In addition, plants also contain a substance called phytochemicals. These substances may be helpful in your bodies ability to fight cancer.  There are 5 major classes of compounds that can be found in fruits and vegetables that are natural carcinogen blocking agents:

Phenols, Indols,Flavones, Cumines, an Isothiocyanates.

These substances help prevent carcinogens from getting to critical target sites inside a cells.

The type of vegetables most noted for their importance in reducing the risk of cancer are the cruciferous vegetables: broccoli,  cabbage, brussel sprouts, mustard greens, kale, and cauliflower.  This particular class of vegetables contain 3 biochemicals that protect against cancer: sulforaphane, which helps boost the immune system and blocks enzymes that attract carcinogens to healthy cells; nitrosamines, which prevent the creation of carcinogens in the intestines; and indoles, which reduce the risk of breast cancer.  It has been estimated that eating large amounts of cruciferious vegetables could lessen the risk of developing breast and colon cancer by 40%.

Would you believe me if I said there is an anti-cancer diet.  This diet helps prevent, heal, and keep cancer in remission.  According to Dr. Bill Sears, there is a diet that can do all of these things.  Below I will go over the first part of the elements to the diet and how it works.

BASIC PRINCIPLES:

• Maintain a diet low in total fat as well as very low in saturated fats.

1. There are 2 ways that fat contributes to cancer.  Tumor cells require low density lipoproteins to grow. So eating a diet low in LDL may keep cancer cells from growing.
2. Consuming fat stimulates the production of bile.  If a large amount of bile is allowed to sit in the intestines it will be converted into apcholic acid, a carcinogen or cancer causing agent.

TIPS:

• Eat less total fat: limit your fat intake to no more than 20% of your total food calories. So if you usually eat 2,500 calories/day, fat should not provide any more than 500 calories. This would translate to about 55g of fat per day.
• Eat the right fat: If you are eating the wrong kind of fat you may be doing more damage than eating too much fat in general.  Researchers noticed that the incidence of most cancers is far less in some cultures that consume a high-fat diet like Eskimos and Mediterraneans.  However, the key is in the fat they do consume.  Eskimos consume a diet rich in seafood that is packed with omega 3 fatty acids and the Mediterranean people consume a high-fat diet that is plant-based but high in monounsaturated oils.  This means that some types of fat do not lead to cancer but may actually have anticancer properties:

1. Unsaturated fats derived from plants like legumes
2. Monounsaturated fats found in vegetable oil, olive oil, and canola oil. * *
3. Omega 3 Fatty Acids found in seafood like salmon and tuna
4. Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids found in oils like flaxseed, pumpkin seed, canola, soybean, walnut, safflower, sunflower, sesame, and virgin olive oils.*

*Greek women who consume a diet high in olive oil often have a low incidence of breast cancer.
* A study conducted in 1998 illustrated that men who consume less fat from animals and more from vegetables were at less risk for prostate cancer.
* However when vegetable oils are heated at high temperatures it can alter fatty acids rendering them carcinogenic.  Extra virgin olive oil as well as peanut oil work best for cooking, but remember to stir often to prevent burning.

STUDIES AND RESEARCH:

• In animal based experiments it was shown that animals that received a fish-oil supplement developed less colorectal tumors.
• Omega 3 Fatty acids  are the most heart-healthy fats and may have anticancer properties.
• Eskimo women who consume a large amount of omega 3 fatty acids have a lower incidence of breast cancer.

Avoid bad fats:

• It is important to strictly avoid fats and oils high in saturated fats like palm, palm kernel, coconut, and cottonseed.
• You also want to avoid all hydrogenated fats.  These fats are also referred to as Trans fats, they have been chemically altered changing them from unsaturated to saturated fats. These fats have a hydrogen molecule added to them, possibly making them carcinogenic.  The hydrogen molecule interrupts the normal cell metabolism in the body, setting the stage for cancerous changes in cells.  Be sure to read the labels, if a food contains anything hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, or has trans fats leave it on the shelf.

With the dark months of winter looming over us, we may begin to feel a bit depressed.  Some people are highly affected by the decrease in sunlight throughout the winter months.  The name for this disorder is SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder.  This condition causes  a portion of the population to become down and depressed and they may need assistance to deal with their symptoms for the 3 winter months.

There are a few ways to treat SAD.  It can be alleviated with a concoction of vitamins, nutrients, simulated sunlight, or a combination of these.   However, some of us still carry depression the other 9 months of the year, but there may be a healthier way to treat year-round depression, with St. John’s Wort.

St. John’s Wort is an herb derived from the plant, Hypericum perforatum or the hedgerow plant.  This herbal supplement has a large following and is often used as a sleep aid and has been used for centuries to alleviate mild forms of depression.

German scientists from the Centre for Complementary Medicine in Munich gathered information from 29 studies conducted in a variety of contries using different St. John’s Wort extract and using 5,489 volunteers who exhibited moderately severe depression.

In one group, they replaced the groups regular anti-depressant with St. John’s Wort.  In other groups they either administered a placebo or they received either a common old or new anti-depressant like Prozac over a determined length of time.

Prozac, as well as many other common types of anti-depressants are SSRIs, or Selective Seratonin Re-uptake Inhibitors.  They are widely used to enhance mood, but often cause the user to experience side effects such as; drowsiness, a drop in libido, anxiety/panic attacks, flu-like symptoms, confusion, balance problem, and more.

In Germany, St. John’s Wort is a common household name is often given to children and teens for mild depression or to treat sleep disorders and causes little or no side effects when being taken by itself.

Dr. Klaus Linde from The Centre says, “Overall, the St. John’s Wort extracts tested in the trials were superior to placebo, similarly effective as standard antidepressants, and had fewer side effects than standard antidepressants.”

If you have depression, Dr. Linde suggests that you should consult a doctor prior to taking any combination of drugs or herbal supplements.  In the past, St. John’s Wort has been linked to creating negative reactions when taken with other prescription drugs.  Medications for lowering cholesterol, oral contraceptives, and blood thinners have all been proven to interact negatively with St. John’s Wort.

The Ginko Biloba Tree, standing at a massive 134 feet tall and living up to 3,000 years, has been a long-standing ingredient in Chinese medicine for centuries. The smooth leaves, resembling small fans are beautiful as well as beneficial.  Within the last decade the popularity of the plant has grown in health food chains and home medicine cabinets alike. People often take this herb to benefit blood circulation and improve their memory.  However, a new study that was recently published by Strok journal illustrates that this ancient plant may be much more useful than originally believed.

Researchers from John’s Hopkins University, created an extract from the leaves to form a supplement that they administered to mice.  Then they recorded the affects of the supplement on the brain of the mice.  Scientists were able to illustrate that Ginko can be used to reduce damage to the brain caused by a stroke.

One group of mice was administered the Ginko supplement every day for a week, while the control group received nothing.  Then every mouse in the study was given an induced stroke, and the results were tracked.  The group that received the Ginko prior to their stroke received 50.9% less neurological damage to their brains than the control group.  It also illustrated that the supplement aided in reducing the after effect of impaired limb strength and paralysis.

During the study, researchers also discovered that Ginko Biloba extract neutralized the activity of free radicals inside the brain.  Free radicals work to kill brain cells and can cause major damage.

An ingredient used in Chinese cooking for centuries has now been linked to  fighting off heart disease, according to the American Journal of Cardiology.

An extract from Red Yeast Rice (known as xuezhikang) or a placebo was giving to about 5,000 people who had incurred a heart attack in the previous year.  After nearly 5 years, the members who consumed the red yeast rice had shown a 45%  reduced risk of another heart attack and a 30% reduced risk of death due to cardiovascular disease.

Similiar to statins, red yeast rice slows an enzyme that is involved in the synthesis of cholesterol.  While statins reduce levels of coenzyme Q10; red yeast rice does not appear to have the same effect.

While red yeast rice may seem like a great alternative to traditional statins; be sure to consult your doctor first.  If you are curious about treating your cholesterol with red yeast rice, it is recommended that you work with a physician who is “open and knowledgeable about alternatives for heart health.”

According to recent ongoing studies herbs like oregano and cinnamon can help fend off E.coli infections.  Researchers are attempting to determine if a film infused with an herbal compound can help to protect ready -to-eat bags of greens against bacteriu.

Herbs such as Oregon Grape Root and goldenseal have already been proven to fend off E.coli and other harmful pathogens.  These herbs contain berberine, which can help to stimulate the intestinal walls into producing fluids filled with antibodies.

If you are looking to protect yourself while traveling or during an outbreak of produce-contaminating pathogens; take a half of a dropper of Oregon grape root or goldenseal tincture, 3 times a day.

Do you suffer from painful canker sores?  If so, then a cure may be on the way.  A recent study released from General Dentistry concluded that canker sores can be cured using licorice.  Researchers ave licorice-laced adhesive patches to 23 adult with canker sores.  7 days following application, new sores grew significantly smaller and became less painful, and those who did not receive the patches noticed an increase in their sores by 13%.

Often the cause of canker sores is related to stress and hormonal changes.  Licorice helps to mend the tissue back together to heal the sores.

If you want to cure your cankers, doctors suggests using a deglycyr-rhizinated-licorice-based mouth-wash or el 4 times a day.  Another way to cure them would be to steep a tablespoon of licorice root in a cup of simmering water, for 15 minutes.  Strain it and let it cool to room temperature, then rinse your mouth out using the tea.