With the very real Ebola scare in the news, let us not lose sight of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every one of us has been touched by this horrible disease in some way. There are so many preventive measures and with so much of it beginning with what we choose to put into our bodies. Yes, science is proving more than ever that we have more control than one would think.
There is what has been reported as groundbreaking news in this fight against cancer. The theory is that we can actually starve cancer cells by eating the right foods. Dr. William Li is the President and Medical Director of the Angiogenesis Foundation and he wants to change the way we think about food. He says that "Food is a medicine we take 3 times per day" (sound familiar??) and that we have the ability to "Starve cancer by what we eat." Li claims that you can stop cancer from growing by starving it, which is the premise behind Anti-Angiogenesis.
Dr. Li says that we all have micro cancer cells that exist in our bodies. As a matter of fact, a recent study of women in their 40s indicated that 40% of them had microscopic breast cancer. Furthermore, almost 100% of people in their 70s will have microscopic cancer in their thyroid glands!
Normally, these cancer cells stay small enough and simply co-exist in our bodies. However, it's when they are fed and increase in size through Angiogenesis, that they become dangerous. Angiogenesis is a body system for creating new blood vessels. Cancer cells can interrupt this system which can cause the massive multiplication of cancer cells by creating an uninterrupted flow of blood that stimulates growth. However, eating the right foods can actually cut off the blood supply that fuels the rapid growth of the cancer cells. Check out Dr. Oz's interview with Dr. William Li.
Keep in mind that eating Anti Angiogenic foods may also help stave off scores of other diseases as well as cancer, which should come to no surprise to my regular readers.
I would also like to stress that while we may be able to starve cancer by eating the right foods, we may also be able to starve cancer by not eating the wrong foods such as sugar and processed foods. In February, 2010, a study by University of Minnesota researchers concluded that sugar fuels tumor growth. Yes, we know that these cancer cells are like little Pac-Men with their mouths wide open waiting to be fed yummy sugar so they grow big and strong. Cut them off and then starve them further with the good food in the list above and you've got a much higher fighting chance. Eat to LIVE. Don't live to EAT.
As a reminder for those of you have been wanting to join the October