How can the foods you eat help you manage or prevent cancer?​

 

We can show you how! Diet has been an essential tool for healing the body throughout all of human history. Further, research has shown that diet and lifestyle can impact all 10 hallmarks of cancer.  They can decrease cancer's ability to develop a blood supply (angiogenesis), decrease it's spread (metastasis) and promote cell death (apoptosis). It can also inhibit growth factors like insulin, IGF-1, VEG-F and others. Hippocrates was right, food is medicine. 

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When you think of typical foods in the American diet, what do you think of? Fast food, burgers, French fries, pizza, popcorn, potato chips, barbecue, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, peanuts, ice cream, cookies, cake, candy, soda, and so many more.  This diet is calorie dense, high glycemic, carbohydrate-rich and lacking in nutrients. It causes hormonal imbalances that encourage cancer growth. It contains few vegetables, not enough fiber, and an excess of omega 6 fatty acids. It is comprised of large amounts of sugar, flour, processed foods, toxic fats (seed oils!), conventionally raised meat and dairy (and the hormones and toxins involved in that), additives like flavorings, synthetic vitamins, preservatives, colors, texture modifiers and other chemicals. It also often includes large amounts of sugary beverages, alcohol and juice. These “foods” and beverages do not nourish our body’s physiology with ample micronutrients and the chemicals found in them are a significant cause of harm. This diet is directly linked to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and other common diseases in our population.

 

What can you do to change your diet?

 

The good news is that you do not have to eat the Standard American Diet. You can choose to eat nutrient dense, low glycemic foods that nourish your body and protect you from cancer and other afflictions. You can cook your meals from scratch rather than opt for processed food. You can choose to avoid fast food and convenience snacks. As Michael Pollan says in his book ‘Food Rules’, “Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”

 

At Not Just Broccoli Oncology Nutrition, we recommend a low-glycemic, low carbohydrate, nutrient-dense diet full of colorful organic vegetables, pastured and organic meat, wild and sustainable seafood and traditional fats like olive oil, ghee, avocados, coconut, pastured and organic animal fats, nuts and seeds.  A therapeutic ketogenic diet (also known as Therapeutic Carbohydrate Reduction or Super Keto! as we like to call it) promotes metabolic health and has been shown to be protective against cancer by reducing insulin levels, enhancing anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of ketones in the body, and inhibiting cancer proliferation and glycolysis. We aim for several servings of non-starchy vegetables a day, mostly from lower carbohydrate leafy greens and herbs. We include pastured, organic meats. We avoid sugar and flour like the plague (because they are toxic). We add in probiotic-rich foods like sauerkraut. Anti-inflammatory herbs and spices are also an essential ingredient in our recipes.  Proper filtered hydration (with electrolytes!) is also essential.

 

We also customize your diet depending on your treatment, symptoms, side effects, nutritional needs, blood tests, food sensitivities, and even your genes! Nutrigenomics is a fascinating new field and we are using it to help you make the most of your food in your health journey. Your genes are not your destiny as food and lifestyle have the power to change whether these genes are being expressed. 

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We suggest big diet changes, but we also support you through this process and provide the resources you need to make these changes doable. And don't worry, you won't have to give up all the delicious foods or treats-- there are some fantastic recipes in our recommended food for cancer cookbook that help make this style of eating a delicious way of life.

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