Foods that Fight Cancer

Everyone has heard the phrase, “You are what you eat,” but did you know that you can combat and prevent cancer through healthy food choices? The number one thing to focus on when trying to create a cancer-fighting diet is to follow a diet that includes at least 80% raw, fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. Many pesticides are known carcinogens. The best way to lower your exposure to pesticides in your food is to buy organic. Raw produce is key in any cancer-fighting diet. Eating a variety of raw organic produce is the optimal way to access all the key nutrients your body needs to stay healthy, heal, and if need be to fight cancer. Here’s a short list of some of the top foods that are known to help fight cancer in the body.

Dark Green, Leafy Vegetables

Leafy greens are the basis for every great salad. They also contain high levels of important vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. While iceberg lettuce may be the most widely used salad vegetable, it is almost completely empty of nutrition and it tastes very bland. Better choices that not only taste better but also are nutrient dense include spinach, collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, arugula, Swiss chard, and kale. These powerhouse vegetables are high in carotenoids, fiber, folate, vitamin K, and vitamin C. Carotenoids have been shown to slow the growth of certain types of cancer including breast, lung, stomach, and skin cancer. There are many other nutrients in leafy greens, and many of them act as antioxidants and help to remove free radicals from the body before they can do much harm. Leafy greens are vital to a healthy diet.

Berries

Berries are a versatile powerhouse source of nutrition. While popular varieties include blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, cherries, and blackberries, less well-known varieties such as acai, bilberry, and elderberry are also great sources of cancer-fighting nutrients. These deeply colored fruits have high levels of antioxidants including anthocyanins and other flavonoids. These antioxidants work to remove free radicals from the body, making them important in fighting cancer. Berries also have anti-inflammatory properties, which can help the body heal itself.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are probably one of the better-known types of food that fight cancer, but many people do not understand why. Tomatoes are high in lycopene, which helps protect the body’s DNA from cancer-causing damage. Cooking tomatoes makes the lycopene more readily available to the body. Tomatoes are also high in alpha-tomatine, a phytonutrient that has been shown to hinder growth of cancer cells as well as kill fully formed cancer cells. Everyone should eat tomatoes, raw and cooked.

Cruciferous Vegetables

Some popular cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and cabbage. These vegetables are high in sulfur-containing compounds called glucosinolates. These phytonutrients help the body remove carcinogenic compounds before they damage the body’s DNA and they help repair damaged cells. The benefits of these compounds are accessed when the vegetables are chopped up and the glucosinolates are broken down by enzymes called myrosinase. These vegetables are also high in fiber.

Watermelon

Watermelons are a powerhouse source of important cancer-fighting nutrients. Higher than tomatoes in lycopene by 40%, they also have high levels of beta-carotene, fiber, vitamin C, and citrulline. The lycopene in watermelon is readily bio-available. Watermelon’s antioxidants remove free radicals from the body and protect DNA from damage. It helps hydrate the body and is very alkaline, which can help detoxify the body and prevent cancer. Many nutritionists believe watermelon to be both a fruit and a vegetable.

Conclusion

We all have cancer cells in our bodies, every day, all the time. The state of our health determines whether we “get cancer.” Beating cancer is something we can do every time we eat, depending on what we eat. Most of us have had friends or family who have died of cancer, and all of us can think of better ways of passing away than being slowly consumed by abnormal cells.

Almost all produce kills cancer in some way. Raw, fresh, organic (ideally home grown) produce creates the healthiest gut flora, provides enzymes to reduce aging and repair injuries, and heals the body from the inside out. The most important aspect of any natural health protocol is diet. The first step to reversing diseases like cancer is to repair the gut.