Who Do You Believe?

Most nutrition science tells us that to prevent or treat cancer, we should include plenty of dark green leafy & cruciferous vegetables, red and purple fruits and berries, citrus, whole grains, and minimize red meats.

What do most of those foods listed above have in common (except red meat)?

If you're a low carber, you know.  It's CARBS.  Dirty 4 letter word.

A Nobel Laureate from years ago, a Dr. Otto Warburg discovered the very important fact that cancer cells LOVE sugar.  Glucose to be exact.  

"Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. Summarized in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar. All normal body cells meet their energy needs by respiration of oxygen, whereas cancer cells meet their energy needs in great part by fermentation. All normal body cells are thus obligate aerobes, whereas all cancer cells are partial anaerobes. From the standpoint of the physics and chemistry of life this difference between normal and cancer cells is so great that one can scarcely picture a greater difference. Oxygen gas, the donor of energy in plants and animals is dethroned in the cancer cells and replaced by an energy yielding reaction of the lowest living forms, namely, a fermentation of glucose."  partial quote:  The Prime Cause and Prevention of Cancer, (Revised Lindau Lecture) By OTTO WARBURG (Director, Max Planck Institute for Cell Physiology, Berlin-Dahlem, Germany) English Edition by DEAN BURK, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland

Now, as I stated in my previous post, I have long believed that a low carb, very low carb or even zero carb WOE is beneficial.  However, it seems perilous to ignore documented evidence that there are important phytochemicals and certain substances in spices and herbs that can indeed fight cancer or better yet, prevent it from taking hold in one's body.

So what do I believe?  How do I handle what could be literally a life-or-death decision as to my food intake from here on out?  

For now (and subject to change with further research) I'm eating as low carb as possible each day, and adding a plethora of antioxidants, angiogenesis inhibitors and other supplements to my diet.  

A brief list of these includes:

Beta glucans extract (from shiitake mushrooms) Red Lightening drink mix (acai, noni, mangosteen, pomegranant and goji) KyoGreen Harvest Blend (zillions of good things in a green drink) folic acid, turmeric, fresh garlic every day, as much as I can stand, curry powder, organic flax oil, organic cottage cheese (per Budwig protocol), milk thistle, fish oil, resveratrol and pynogenol, drinking lots of water and green tea, etc.

Foods are organic, meats are grass-fed and organic if possible. I should buy stock at the local health foods store :-)

Treatment update: I saw an oncologist today, and I should now be on the fast track for staging of the tumor and treatment to begin soon. We are seriously considering Cleveland Clinic for treatment if it turns out that chemo and radiation are clearly going to be the way to go. More on that later.

(Photo credit: istockphoto.com)