October is a month, like so many others, claimed and named for an often preventable yet currently chronic health condition. Several very large non-profits, funded at least in part by donations from equally large pharmaceutical and processed food companies, will sponsor a walk, a ribbon, even a color, in honor of a disease that is killing us, in this case, Cancer. The hope is that the money raised is going to find ‘the cure’, usually a combination of ‘early’ detection, medication and surgery. But too often, that is where it stops.
Why are so few ‘Insert Health Organization Name Here’ dot orgs not making it more of their business to understand the primary connection between real food and chronic disease? And to make it worse, they are sharing their platforms, in the interest of marketing to get the word out, with those who offer pink buckets of fried chicken and pink glazed donuts to those who are the most vulnerable, in many ways adding gasoline to the fire.
On-ramp to Cancer
Having lost too many to this terrible disease, I count myself among those who have seen its ravages up close and know that I want to never have it linger at my door any longer than it already has. Dr T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, describes three stages of cancer growth as initiation, promotion and progression.
- Initiation starts when carcinogens, chemicals or other agents attack and damage the DNA of otherwise healthy cells. The body can usually repair itself but if the damaged cell reproduces, the new cell retains the genetic mutation.
- Promotion is when these damaged cells start to grow into cell masses. This stage takes a long time, sometimes decades, and is known to be reversible.
- Progression occurs when the mass invades neighboring tissues and is capable of growing independently, at which point it is considered malignant. Even at this stage, some cancers can be reversed.
Campbell found through his research that our food choices have been shown to be even more important in cancer development than the carcinogens which started the process. There are some foods that are promoters and others which instead slow and even reverse cancer growth. Food choices can even impact how genes express themselves and help our bodies release toxins. If we make better lifestyle choices during the promotion and sometimes during the progression stage, cancer may never reveal itself and if it does, it might even be reversed.
Eating plant-based foods may offer the best hope of avoiding cancer, perhaps even reversing cancer once it is diagnosed, according to Dr. Campbell.
Lifestyle choices matter
If you are reading this, it’s too late to change your genes, but research shows that less than 3% of cancers are due entirely to genes. And for those of us trying to live a greener lifestyle today, we have likely already been exposed to BPA packaging in cans and bottles, artificial sweeteners in many processed foods, tobacco smoke, sunscreen without UVB protection (never mind baby oil or foil reflectors), alcohol, processed meats, pajama flame retardants, hair spray, and the list continues to grow.
But each of us, today and every day going forward, have control over our lifestyle by reducing toxin exposures, staying active and most importantly choosing what and how to eat.
I choose to not wait until ‘early’ detection finds something. In fact, Steve Jobs likely had cancer starting when he was 24 and through most of his dietary choices, he was able to survive his pancreatic cancer for over 30 years. What if each of us had the ability to decide how fast we are willing to let cancer grow, or if we could actually eat foods that helped to stop and even reverse it? The research shows us that the right foods fight cancer and help with cancer prevention and survival. Cancers of the breast, prostate, colon and melanoma respond especially well according to the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative.
There are no guarantees, but there are smarter choices. I choose whole foods that are plant-based and low in fat over any foods marked in pink this month or any month.
