by plant4health | May 28, 2015 | cancer, Nutrition, Plant-based, Recipes, Vegan, WFPB, Whole food, Whole food, plant-based
While battling cancer, juicing was a vital part of my husband’s nutritional support system and remains an important part of our plant-based diet.
When your body has developed cancer, or any illness, it is telling you something – its needs are not being met. Your body is a compilation of complex systems that all work together in creating your experience of living. Food provides the fuel all of those interrelated systems require in order to function and maintain health. When one or more of those systems are compromised, we get sick. Reevaluating your eating habits is the first step towards providing your body with the tools it needs to fight disease and regain optimal health.
It’s all about eating consciously. Our bodies have an incredible capacity to heal and your diet is the foundational support system in that healing process. Juicing is a great way to provide your body with much needed nutrients that are easy for your system to absorb.
Juicing Facts:
Nutrient rich – When you drink fresh vegetable juice, highly concentrated vitamins, minerals and enzymes are easily accessible to your body as they rapidly enter the bloodstream. Juice made from fresh produce is high in antioxidants and minerals, wonderful tools in the fight against cancer. Because most of the fiber has been removed, the nutrients can bypass the digestive system and go straight to where you need them most. (more…)
by plant4health | May 21, 2015 | cancer, grocery shopping, Nutrition, Plant-based, Recipes, Vegan, WFPB, Whole food, Whole food, plant-based
Last week, I was talking with a friend who desperately wants to change her diet but can’t seem to take that first step. According to her doctor, if she doesn’t start making some changes soon, she will be destined for heart disease, stroke, chronic arthritis and/or diabetes as she moves towards her 60s. Over the last few years, she’s gained a few pounds, begun experiencing chronic joint pain, and is battling fatigue as she tries to maintain the high energy her busy lifestyle demands. She went to the doctor thinking her symptoms were signaling the beginning of menopause that hormone therapy might ease, only to learn that she is in the “high risk” category for the most popular illnesses that lead to death and disability in the United States.
My friend is not obese nor is she a junk food addict. Actually, before this wake up call, she thought she was living a pretty healthy lifestyle; she always eats a salad with meals, orders whole grains and organic meat when dining out, avoids all fast-foods, and always declines the pastries and sweets offered at business meetings and parties. However, the hidden fats, carbs, salt and sugar from the foods she has been eating, combined with her limited amount of exercise was starting to take its toll.
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by plant4health | May 14, 2015 | cancer, Nutrition, Plant-based, Recipes, Vegan, WFPB, Whole food
Recently, I’ve been experimenting with amaranth, both the seed and flour, in my cooking. I enjoy incorporating new textures and flavors into our meals. Amaranth provides a subtly sweet, earthy nuttiness, making it delicious in both sweet and savory dishes. Depending on how you cook it, from crispy chewy crackers to breakfast porridge, amaranth is a wonderful addition to your healing diet.
Amaranth, a major part in the Aztecs’ diet, has been around for thousands of years. It is naturally gluten-free and holds a powerhouse of nutrients. It contains more than three times the average amount of calcium found in grains and is high in protein, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium (1). Amaranth is also alkaline, making it a wonderful grain for those on an alkaline healing diet.
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by plant4health | Apr 30, 2015 | Nutrition, Plant-based, Vegan, Whole food, Whole food, plant-based
Recently, my husband’s brother experienced a mountain bike accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury. Through the countless hours and weeks my husband and I have spent sitting vigil with his wife, other family members and friends, we have watched doctors and nurses work tirelessly at helping heal his serious physical injuries. However, these medical professionals continue to neglect one crucial element – nutrition.
I took some time to look around at the food they were feeding their wards, these critically injured and sick individuals, and noticed with despair the plates lined with processed meat sandwiches on white bread, sugary canned fruit cocktail and jello, prepackaged nutrient void applesauce, white rice, instant potatoes, and broth made from salty bullion. All these foods provide calories, but little else.
When the body is in healing mode it needs powerhouse nutrients. I can’t help but wonder how the hospitals would improve healing rates by simply feeding their patients fresh whole plant-based foods that support each patient’s specific physiological needs. (more…)
by plant4health | Apr 16, 2015 | cancer, Nutrition, Plant-based, Vegan, WFPB, Whole food, plant-based
Animal products (meat and dairy) promote cancer growth; plant foods prevent and can even reverse it. Regardless of your family history of cancer or other risk factors, you can significantly reduce the chance you will get it by adopting a 100% whole food, plant-based (WFPB) diet.
What is cancer?
Cancer, in which cells in your body mutate, divide and spread, goes through three stages: initiation, promotion and progression. Initiation happens when chemicals capable of causing cancer, called carcinogens, are processed by the liver, turning them from fat soluble to water soluble where they can be excreted from the body. But sometimes these chemicals escape the process and because they are highly reactive, damage molecules like DNA, RNA and protein. If the damaged DNA is not repaired by the body’s immune system, it is permanently changed, causing a mutation. Promotion is when clones of these mutated cells replicate and cluster together over the years. In the progression stage, these clusters, or pre-cancer cells, grow and become tumors. If the tumors invade other tissue or parts of the body, then the cancer has metastasized.
What causes cancer?
In addition to chemicals, there are many factors that can lead to cancer’s development at any of the 3 stages. These include certain viruses, excessive radiation (including from sunlight), nutritional imbalances, obesity, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, lack of physical exercise and stress.
Your genes (family history) are often implicated as a risk factor of cancer. However, according to a report published on the National Institutes of Health website, only 5-10% of cancer cases are due to family history, meaning that you are born with mutated genes. But many people suspect that it’s not your genes but how you were raised, the food you ate, the environment you grew up in, etc. that lead to certain cancers running in families. So the good news is that most cancer cases are due to environmental and lifestyle factors – things you can control.
We all have cancer cells that are initiated due to carcinogens, viruses, and lifestyle factors, but a strong immune system supported by proper nutrition can help control whether that cancer develops. Dr. T. Colin Campbell, co-author of The China Study and Whole, has stated that “nutritional imbalances are the most significant causes of cancer” and “…if we have genes that give rise to cancer, we can use nutrition to control the expression of these genes.”
The research:
Lab research conducted by Dr. Campbell showed that high doses of the animal protein casein, which is the primary protein in cow’s milk, promotes chemically induced liver cancer. Rats given a diet of 20% casein had their tumors grow, but when it was lowered to 5%, the tumors shrank. This finding is consistent with earlier research conducted by Indian scientists Madhavan TV, and Gopalan C. in “The effect of dietary protein on carcinogenesis of aflatoxin.” So it turns out that cow’s milk is a carcinogen for humans!
Other findings and experts back up these studies:
What can you do to reduce your cancer risk?
- Adopt a 100% WFPB diet
- Be physically active at least 30 minutes per day
- Maintain a healthy body weight
- Limit supplements, with the exception of Vitamin B12 for those on a 100% WFPB diet, or as recommended by your doctor
- Limit sugary foods and drinks and salty, processed foods
- Limit or avoid alcohol
Although there are no studies proving this, there are theories that “diet-induced acidosis may influence molecular activities at the cellular level that promote carcinogenesis or tumor progression.” See our articles on how to balance your pH.
Here’s a link to a great chart published by PCRM about the benefits and risks of certain lifestyle choices and cancer.
In summary, regardless of your family history of cancer or other risk factors, you can significantly reduce the chance you will get it by adopting a WFPB diet. You have the power to heal from within!
by plant4health | Apr 9, 2015 | Nutrition, Plant-based, WFPB, Whole food, Whole food, plant-based
I’ve heard a lot of conflicting information about whether or not coconut oil is good for your heart. Yes, it’s true, approximately 90% of virgin coconut oil is saturated fat. This is alarming news among the health conscious because, if there is one thing we have been told over and over again it is, “saturated fat is associated with heart disease”.
But before you throw out your coconut oil, it is important to carefully examine what we do know:
- Not all saturated fats are equal. A lot of media attention has been placed on research that suggests that saturated fats raise LDL (the bad cholesterol) and lead to heart disease, but their is a growing debate about whether this is really true. Not all saturated fats are the same, different kinds vary in chemical structure and their effects on your body and heart. Consequently, unrefined virgin coconut oil has a completely different biochemical makeup than saturated fat found in animal products; they are not comparable. Instead of consisting of the long-chain fatty acids found in meat and diary, unrefined virgin coconut oil is made up of medium-chain fatty acids that appear to have a more neutral effect on blood cholesterol. These fatty acids are more easily digested. In addition, because this type of fat is not easily stored in our body, it burns off as energy, making coconut oil popular among athletes as a way to boost endurance. In addition, most of coconut oil’s saturated fatty acid is lauric acid which current research suggests actually raises HDL (good cholesterol).
- Most studies regarding saturated fats do not look at the diet as a whole, instead, they attempt to isolate the dietary factors that potentially contribute to heart disease. But we all know that we do not eat nutrients in isolation. Whole foods consist of a complex mix of vitamins, minerals, fats, and sugar that interact in ways we have yet to understand. As a result, studying one isolated factor is not necessarily a predictor of the total experience. A study that pulls one element must be evaluated very carefully before claiming to hold the “whole truth”. The truth is; there are no long-term studies on the effect of unrefined coconut oil on the American diet and heart disease. This does not mean coconut oil is potentially bad, it only means that no money has been invested into researching this concept.
- Coconut oil is void of omega-3 fatty acids. In our Healing inflammation with food blog we briefly discussed the importance of balancing your omega-3 and omega-6 intake. Because coconut oil consists mostly of saturated fats, it is not a good source of omega-3s. The standard western American diet is out of balance in the omega-3/omega-6 ratio, this causes concern for those who consume large amounts of coconut oil as it can potentially offset this balance even further, leading to inflammation and creating an environment that supports disease. If you are adding coconut oil in your diet, it is important to also get your Omega-3s. Some great sources are flax, soy beans and walnuts.
- Not all coconut oil is alike. Beware of hydrogenated coconut oil. It has been stripped of most of the nutrients and contains unhealthy trans fats. I also recommend staying away from refined coconut oil, which is made from dried coconut. It has been bleached and deodorized through the use of high heat to remove its odor and flavor. Some brands have also been chemically treated to assist with the oil extraction process. Unrefined virgin coconut oil is the healthiest to consume. It has been extracted from the fruit of fresh mature coconuts without using high temperatures or chemicals. As a result, it retains its phytonutrients, fresh coconut scent and flavor. Learn more.
So… is coconut oil healthy or not? The lack of long-term studies that focus on the effects of unrefined coconut oil on heart health in relation to the American lifestyle leaves us guessing with only theories to guide us.
However, what we do know is that eating whole plant-based foods provides the natural balance of nutrients, that coconut oil is easier for our body to process then animal and hydrogenated fats, and that cultures that use coconut oil as the main source of dietary fat experience almost nonexistent cardiovascular disease.
Because the Western American diet is high in fat and processed foods, increasing your consumption of coconut oil without making any other dietary changes is not recommended. It is important to avoid over-consuming coconut oil simply because it has become the current “health food trend”. Coconut oil makes an excellent alternative for the unhealthy fats in your diet, but is best consumed in balance with your Omega-3s. It is also important to remember that it is not enough to simply add foods that are labeled as “healthy” to your diet, but to limit unhealthy foods that lack nutrients and promote a physiological environment that supports disease, such as processed foods and sugar, as well.
I cook with small amounts of coconut oil, feeling confident that it is a healthier alternative. However, I am careful not to add excessive amounts, knowing that balance in my diet is essential for optimal health.
Coconut Oil
Other Healing Uses that Provide Surprising Effects
Coconut oil promotes the healing of minor wounds. The antioxidants, collagen and antibacterial properties of coconut oil nourishes the skin and speeds healing. Gently message a small amount onto your minor cuts or scrapes or put a small drop on the Band-Aid before dressing the wound.
Coconut oil is great for your skin. Applying small amounts to your body helps strengthen underlying tissue to prevent wrinkles as it moisturizes. A little goes a long way, just apply enough to lightly coat the skin and massage thoroughly. It may feel greasy at first, but in a few minutes it will begin to be absorbed. Use daily.
Replace your shaving cream with coconut oil. Instead of soap or shaving foam, apply a thin layer to your legs (or for men, to your face) and then shave. The oil moisturizes while preventing razor burn and allows for a close shave.
Oil pulling with coconut oil is great for your oral health. Oil pulling has been used for thousands of years to improve oral health. Take a tablespoon of coconut oil and let it melt in your mouth. As it liquefies, gently swish it around your teeth for 10-20 minutes. I know this seems like a long time, but as you do this, the harmful bacteria are “pulled” from your teeth into the oil creating a milky white froth. After swishing, do not swallow the oil, but spit it out into the sink then brush your teeth. If done daily, you will notice shinier teeth, fresh breath, less sensitivity, and healthier gums and teeth.
