Raw Food and Fighting Disease
The other night, a special ran on every channel on TV during prime time. It was called, “Stand Up to Cancer”. It wasn’t a presidential address, it was a program about cancer. All four channels, prime time.
Cancer has become our number one killer. It is estimated that one out of every two men, and one out of every three women will get cancer in their lifetime. It is an epidemic that is out of control.
As I sat watching this program, I couldn’t help but notice that while there was a lot of focus on medical treatment for cancer, there was no discussion of nutrition or nutrition as a part of prevention. I found that frustrating and sad.
Do a quick Google search for food and cancer and over 180 million responses will come back. Tons of references for anti-cancer diets, cancer fighting foods, cancer fighting spices, and how to fight cancer with food. Medically backed, lab tested, and proved, we know that there is a huge connection between what we eat and our health.
We have one of the biggest cancer fighters available to us every day. It is simply the food we eat. There are foods we eat that feed cancer and food we eat that starve cancer. Drs Oz and Roizen point out that everyone has cancer cells in their bodies. “You probably don’t know that you have cancer. That’s right. Every single person has cancer cells in them. But in most cases, your body finds the cells, realizes that they’re foreign, and kills them right away-without you even knowing that it happened.” How we eat is one of the greatest influences on whether those cancer cells grow out of control or stay in a state that won’t harm us.
Eating fruits and vegetables in their raw, organic form is a great way to get your nutrients. There are a few exceptions, such as tomatoes (lycopene) and kale (vitamin K) where certain nutrients actually increase with cooking. But for the most part, raw food is a way to go. Keep in mind that even with kale, when you cook it, you might increase the vitamin K but you will decrease many of the other nutrients. It is a balancing act.
My question is, how do we start to consciously make the connection. I have always said, if the result was immediate, we would change. But it isn’t. It is gradual. It is invisible. It sneaks up on us. We gain weight, we become short of breath, but we ignore the signs. We can’t see what is happening on the inside of our body so we default to the old, “out of sight, out of mind” theory.
It is time to become mindful. It is time to really make the connection between how we eat and our health. Simply by incorporating more raw foods into your diet gives you an edge. A step up. It isn’t a fad, it is health.
You may also like:
Raw Diets Calcium and Osteoporosis
Ten Great Reasons to Eat Raw Food
Eileen wrote on September 17, 2010
January 30, 2010, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. Followup CT and PeT scans showed it had metastasized to my liver. Stage IV – what a shock – 39 yr. old… no signs of anything wrong. I did have surgery to remove the cancer from the colon but they couldn’t get to the spots in the liver. For which I’m thankful! sounds strange, doesn’t it. Two weeks after my surgery, we had three friends all tell us about a couple who had gone through cancer – he beat it by going all RAW, juicing, supplements that his body was deficient in and detoxing. Nine months later, his cancer was gone and that was 9 yrs. ago. They have been helping to encourage me (and the family) as we’ve all made changes. My hubby and kids are about 75-80% raw and I’m 99% raw with my diet. What a change!!! People who see me can’t believe that my liver still has spots in it. My parents saw me at 5 months after diagnosis and surgery and my Dad admitted he’d NEVER have a clue, if he hadn’t been told by me. I look good, feel good and I’m beating this thing. But it takes time! It won’t be gone overnight, I still have a long way to go but my body has finally acknowledged that something isn’t right and it’s fighting hard to repair the damage and kick the cancer out. I enjoy eating raw (except in the winter when I’m cold) but even that is tolerable when I keep thinking that I’ll be alive to watch my kids graduate from high school and college, be there for their weddings and I’m looking forward to rocking grandbabies down the road too! It’s so sad that it took me 39 years to finally start living – I didn’t know better but now because of what I’d dealing with, many people who are following my (our) story are listening, reading for themselves and taking responsibility for their own health! I’m SO excited by what I’m seeing and the stories I’m hearing back from people as they make LIFE changes, not just diet changes! My oncologist still refuses to believe that nutrition plays any part in beating this. The only reason I stick with him is that I can’t find an oncologist in my area who does support nutrition and I need him to get the insurance company to pay for my CT scans every couple of months! Otherwise, I’d have fired him on the first visit after diagnosis! I’m looking forward to the day when there’s nothing on the scan and he’s still scratching his head.
Susan wrote on September 17, 2010
I love all of your stories and comments. Thank you so much for sharing.