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Dr Mercola and Disease Prevention

disease prevention

I have just read an incredibly interesting article posted by Dr Mercola:

How to Starve Cancer Out of Your Body - Avoid These Top 4 Cancer-Feeding Foods.

Mercola.com is a great site for top tips on healthy living, but I particularly wanted to share a summary of this article as it has some extremely useful and practical tips for improving your health and reducing the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. Cancer is the second leading cause of death, accounting for 29% of all Australian deaths. The risk of developing any form of cancer (up to the age of 75) is 1 in 4 women, and 1 in 3 men. The article summarises an interview with Dr. Christine Horner, a board certified general and plastic surgeon who has performed breast reconstructive surgeries on women who've had full mastectomies due to breast cancer. Dr Horner shares her extensive knowledge about breast cancer—its causes and its cures, and the pro’s and con’s of various screening methods. There are many all-natural cancer-prevention strategies, and according to Dr Horner, research shows that most of them can cut your risk in half. Consequently, by implementing multiple strategies, it is suggested that you can virtually eliminate your risk of cancer as well as other chronic disease. Concerned by the appearance of cancer in young women in their 20s, Dr Horner decided to look through the medical literature to see if there was anything that research shows that women could do to lower our risks. She found thousands of studies that indicate why we have a cancer epidemic.

What's Causing this Epidemic?

What Dr. Horner discovered was that there are a number of habits we've stopped doing in our modern culture that are highly protective. We've dramatically altered our diets—shunning our native, whole-foods cuisine for highly processed fare—and engage in very little physical activity, for example.

Most Natural Prevention Strategies Can Reduce Your Risk of Disease by Half...

Through her research, Dr. Horner has gathered a large number of cancer-prevention strategies. Even more astounding is the rate of effectiveness of many of these strategies and for every strategy implemented, you can reduce your cancer risk by 40 to 50%. The most important influence is the foods that you consume. Apparently the same strategies apply for other types of cancer as well. The article indicates that prostate and colon cancer tumors, for example, are similar to breast cancer tumors, as certain hormones cause them all to grow. Hence, protective strategies that are effective against breast cancer also work on these other types of cancer. It is also indicated that cancer prevention strategies can also virtually eliminate most other chronic disorders.

The Top Disease-Promoting Foods

Addressing your diet should be at the top of your list, and rather than adding certain foods, you'll want to eliminate the most dangerous culprits first. Dr Horner suggests AVOIDING THESE FOODS: ·

Processed foods

and

soft drinks

; ·

Red meat

from animals reared in confined animal feeding operations (

CAFO

's). These animals are given antibiotics, growth hormones and other veterinary drugs that get stored in their tissues; · All

SUGARS

, including fructose and grains; ·

Bad fats

such as animal fats from CAFO-raised animals, trans fats, partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated fats. · ANY item that contains

xenoestrogens

(chemicals that mimic estrogen) e.g.

BPA

found in the linings of canned goods and in plastics. Xenoestrogens are also found in personal care products.

Eating for Disease Prevention

According to Dr Horner, the research clearly shows that the one food that is the most important for optimal health is

plant foods.

"Plants are packed full of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that are crucial for our health. They also have hundreds of phytochemicals in them. These don't have any nutritional or caloric value, but they are like natural medicines, and some of them behave exactly like chemotherapy,"

she says.

"Every plant has some anti-cancer properties to them. There are some that are standouts. Cruciferous vegetables are something that I really recommend. They're a family of vegetables that include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts…

All of them have several different chemicals in common. They've got indole-3-carbinol, Calcium D-glucarate, and sulforaphane. They have big anti-cancer properties to them, and they inhibit the growth of breast, prostate, colon cancer and a variety of other ones. Of all the families of vegetables to consume, [cruciferous vegetables] are the ones to be aware of, so you can make sure you're including that in your diet frequently."

Try to ensure that your fruit and vegetables are fresh, and ideally locally grown and organic. For a list of vegetables that you should always try to buy organic and which vegetables are lowest in pesticides visit

www.foodnews.org

. Another important plant mentioned in the article is flax seed. Apparently the lignans in flax seed inhibit the growth of cancer in about a dozen different ways, including the exact same mechanism as the anti-cancer drug Tamoxifen and Arimidex. Healthy fats, such as

saturated fats

are also an important component of a healthy diet. Omega-3 and omega-9 are particularly important for cancer prevention. According to Dr. Horner, omega-3 in particular serve to effectively slow down tumor growth in estrogen-sensitive cancers such as breast-, prostate- and colon cancers. A great sourceof Omega 3 6 and 9 is Udos Oil, which can be purchased at most health food shops or online at

Feelunique

or

OrganicsAustraliaOnline

.

Other Lifestyle Factors that Influence Your Health

Other lifestyle factors that have been found to have an impact on your health include: ·

Vitamin D

—There's overwhelming evidence pointing to the fact that

vitamin D deficiency plays a crucial role in cancer development

. Dr Horner indicates that you can

decrease your risk of cancer by more than half

simply by optimizing your vitamin D levels with sun exposure. ·

Getting proper sleep

: both in terms of getting

enough

sleep, and sleeping between certain hours. According to Ayurvedic medicine, the ideal hours for sleep are between 10 pm and 6 am. ·

Effectively addressing your stress

: The research shows that if you experience a traumatic or highly stressful event, such as a death in the family, your risk of breast cancer is 12 times higher in the ensuing five years. ·

Exercise

—Apparently there is plenty of evidence indicating that exercise can

slash your risk of cancer

. One of the primary ways exercise lowers your risk for cancer is by reducing elevated insulin levels, which creates a low sugar environment that discourages the growth and spread of cancer cells. Additionally, exercise improves the circulation of immune cells in your blood. Your immune system is your first line of defense against everything from minor illnesses like a cold right up to devastating, life-threatening diseases like cancer.

More Information

If you would like to read the full article, which also includes a discussion on the pros and cons of different cancer screening methods, then click

here

. You can also find out more from Dr Horner's book,

Waking the Warrior Goddess: Dr. Christine Horner's Program to Protect Against and Fight Breast Cancer

or visit her website,

www.DrChristineHorner.com

. Another great speaker on healthy living and disease prevention is Tyler Tolman, who will be touring Australia again in February:

http://www.fortuneevents.com/events/live_healthy_be_happy_with_tyler_tolman

. For some additional antioxidant boosting ideas, visit: ‘

What are Superfoods

’ and ‘

the Raw Chocolate Revolution

. If you would like to find out more about Juice Plus, local wellness events in Perth or book a FREE wellness talk, please write to

info@greenlifeorganics.com.au

or call 0407984793. And don’t forget that if you subscribe to our monthly GLO newsletter, you will receive a FREE healthy shopping guide packed with information of what to avoid and what to include in your shopping trolley!

References and Related links:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/01/14/dr-christine-horner-interview.aspx?e_cid=20120114_DNL_art_1

www.foodnews.org

.

http://www.foodmatters.tv/

http://www.rawfor30days.com/index5.html

http://www.gerson.org/

http://www.oneanswertocancermovie.com/

http://www.cancerwa.asn.au/resources/statistics/

Disclaimer

This information is not intended as medical advice. Everyone should make their own health care decisions, with advice from qualified professionals.


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