Diet to beat cancer

The year was 1992.  We were a motley group of friends who decided to meet on Saturday evenings to sample each other’s special dishes and dance afterwards to burn off the calories.  80% of our group of 20 lived in the same village in Makati, and the rest in nearby villages.  Three couples, who had big houses, volunteered their homes for our Saturday night gigs. The ladies brought the food and the men in the group paid for the dance teachers we hired to teach us the latest dance steps of our choice.  We were fairly young then and had no health concerns.  Everyone was weight-conscious, fashion-conscious, and just feeling beautiful Inside out.  We talked about mundane things — the latest in fashion,  the discos we frequented, who was dating who, couples separating, hot spots to visit abroad, etc.  Nothing really serious, everyone was fairly young and carefree, and having the time of their lives. 

As we got older, I noticed a paradigm shift in a lot of things. The conversations got serious, too serious!  We talked mostly about health: healthy diets, exercise trends, dealing with menopause or post menopause, loss of libido, high prostate count, cosmetic surgery, non-invasive and invasive face and body lifts, weight gain,  high cholesterol and blood pressure, anti-aging supplements, and referrals of good physical therapists or chiropractors as most of us now have aches and pains in more body parts than one.  One gets to realize that the saying “Age is just a number” is a lot of BS!  Indeed, one sees the numbers rising in the results of the blood tests, in the number of visits to different doctors, and the number of candles on one’s birthday cake that can no longer be blown out in one big exhale. 

Last year, we lost one member of the group to lung cancer.   We were all shocked as she never smoked a stick in her life, was a vegetarian, exercised and did sports, was happily married, and taught Qigong exercises, which some masters say are good for healing lung cancer. Dr. Lynne Eldridge, a lung cancer expert, recommends the practice to combat lung cancer.  Qigong is a Chinese meditative practice that combines meditation, controlled breathing, and movement to balance the flow of energy (qi) or life force within the body. If our life force is balanced, then healing occurs.  Since our friend was a Qigong teacher and practitioner, we felt confident that she would be victorious in her battle. Besides, she had a healthy lifestyle, cancer’s biggest enemy, all along.   She was the last person on this planet whom we expected to not survive the big C.   

This year, two male members of our group contracted lung cancer.  We are saddened by this but not surprised as they are both smokers and have been smoking all their lives.  They are both fighting their battles with the help of expert oncologists.  We are all rooting for them, praying for them, praying with their families for the success of their treatments, cheering them on, and offering them a lot of love.  The afflicted ones are doing their part in changing their lifestyles.  No more cigarettes, no more secondhand smoke as they are now avoiding smoking sections. They’re also following a healthy diet, exercising, and taking a whole lot of vitamin supplements to boost their immune system.  They are likewise faithfully taking their medications and following their doctors’ instructions. 

A friend who beat cancer gave these tips —  it all boils down to eating healthy and exercising.
Here’s the diet to beat cancer:

• No to desserts and alcohol as sugar feeds cancer cells.

• Organic yogurt to help the digestive tract to recover from the chemotherapy.

• Eliminate dairy products.  Milk and milk products are believed to promote the growth of cancer cells.  You have to starve those cancer cells by not feeding them.

• Plenty of vegetables as they have anti-cancer properties. The lycopene in tomatoes, allicin in garlic, curcumin in turmeric,  antioxidants in olive oil and dark green vegetables such as broccoli, beans, avocado, kale, etc. are rich in folic acid and alkalize the body, which improves the immune system.

• Adequate amount of protein from lentils, tofu, chick peas, green beans, and fish that are loaded with omega 3 and 6.

• Whole grain cereals have detoxifying enzymes and substances which suppress the growth of tumors

• Anthocyanins in cherry, beet root, eggplant, plum, red grape (purple and red colored fruits and vegetables) allegedly kill cancer cells.

• Lots of water, not from plastic bottles as plastics are full of cancer-causing chemicals.

• Carrots, apricots, peppers, and pumpkins provide anti-cancer carotenoids like beta carotene which converts to vitamin A when required by the body.

• Guayabano juice, lemongrass tea, green tea have cancer-battling properties

• Mushrooms (shiitake, maiitake, button) have medicinal properties that fight cancer.

• Selenium, a potent anti-cancer agent, is found in Brazil nuts, chicken breast, organic egg, tuna, onions, broccoli.

• Take a probiotic pill daily.

• A good anti-cancer juice to take daily: Mix a carrot, apple (for quercitin), beet root, (for anthocyanins) and with a little calming raw ginger.

• One last tip: Don’t forget to exercise!  Experts have proven that cancer patients who exercised during their treatment lived longer and avoided recurrence of the dreaded disease than those who didn’t.