By Carol Chuang, MS, CNS, CMTA, FDN

The January and February newsletters cover the first two key actions to cancer prevention. 

First, Eat REAL Food. 

Second, Reduce Your Body's TOXIC Load. 

Here is the third key action:

Your immune system continually battles against colds, flus, and all sorts of infections. It also constantly works to snuff out cancer cells long before they have a chance to develop into life-threatening illnesses. As one example, immune cells in your bloodstream called natural killer (NK) cells can inject poison into a cancer cell, so the cell wall breaks down, and the contents spill out, nipping cancer in the bud.

The immune system can also stop the growth of a cancerous tumor without actually killing it. This explains why some tumors suddenly stop growing and go into a long period of dormancy.

When your immune system is not strong enough to suppress cancer cell growth, you will get cancer. Thus, maintaining a strong and healthy immune system is a mandatory step in preventing cancer and attaining robust health. 

When it comes to the immune system, optimizing your gut health is the most important.

One of the reasons why your gut has so much influence on your health has to do with the 100 trillion bacteria, about three pounds worth, that line your intestinal tract. This is an extremely complex living system that aggressively protects your body from outside offenders.

Generally speaking, if you have frequent digestive symptoms and/or discomfort, such as gas, bloating, heartburn, constipation, diarrhea, and bad breath, you likely have an issue with the balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut. Sometimes the issues are due to an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria like H. Pylori or the Candida yeast, but other times, they may result from weaknesses in the gut membrane. 

Healthy gut bacteria produce byproducts that help keep the intestinal lining strong, and without enough good bacteria to manufacture these substances, the intestinal tract becomes highly susceptible to damage. 

Inflammation, caused by food sensitivities such as gluten, and toxins such as heavy metals or chemicals, destroys areas of the mucosal lining of the intestinal wall. This condition, called leaky gut, allows disease-causing bacteria, toxins, and undigested food particles to pass directly into the bloodstream, where they disrupt the body's normal function in many ways.

• Optimize your gut flora by adding naturally fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, kimchee, unsweetened yogurt, and kefir, to your daily diet, or add a high quality probiotic supplement as well.
• If you have digestive symptoms such as excessive gas, belching, burping, or acid reflux, it may be a sign that your body is not excreting sufficient pancreatic enzymes for digestion. These symptoms can be even more apparent when you eat too much protein and fats. Take digestive enzymes with every meal, not just when you experience discomfort.
• Majority of the population unknowingly harbor some sort of infections in the gut, such as H. Pylori bacteria, Candida yeast, or parasites. Researchers have found a microbe-dependent mechanism through which some cancers develop and grow. For this reason, it is essential that our gastrointestinal system is free of these low-grade chronic infections which can become a big hinderance to the optimal functioning of our immune system. There are many natural botanicals that can effectively address such infections. For example, Biocidin (www.biocidin.com) is a company that makes excellent products for such purposes. (Author does not receive commission from or is related to the company.)
• Reserve the use of antibiotics for life-threatening infections only. One course of antibiotics may disrupt your gut flora for a year. In addition, researchers found that patients taking antibiotics had reduced levels of cytokines, the hormone messengers of the immune system. When your immune system is suppressed, you are more likely to develop resistant bacteria and become very sick in the future.

 

 

This concludes our three-part series of 1-2-3 to Staying Cancer-Free.

© Carol Chuang 2016

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Due to genetic differences, each person has his or her distinct metabolism and dietary requirements. This explains why "one-size-fits-all" diets might work for some but not for others. Human beings are not created equal. One man's food can be another man's poison.

Optimal health always begins with the diet. In my nutrition practice, I use Metabolic Typing, an advanced nutritional technology to help determine the specific dietary needs of an individual. If you are currently experiencing any of the following symptoms, a metabolically appropriate nutrition regimen can help correct your underlying imbalances:  

If you want to know more about this nutrition program and learn how to use food as a means to achieve optimal health, contact me today. This conversation could very well be the turning point in your life.