Lifestyle Strategies for Cancer Risk Reduction and to Complement Cancer Treatments
Cancers and especially the aggressive cancers known as “Turbo Cancers” are on the rise in alarming numbers since the rollout of the experimental gene therapy COVID shots. These “turbo cancers” are happening in younger individuals than we have ever seen before. In addition to the obvious correlation with the COVID shots, there are many possible additional contributory factors—from increased environmental toxins, pollution in air and water, chemicals used in farming and added to our foods, heavy metals in soil and water, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation (EMF and 5G Wi-Fi towers springing up at our schools and in our backyards), pesticides, quality of foods (highly refined and processed), to novel viruses and vaccines. The worldwide increase in sedentary lifestyles and obesity also contribute to the underlying systemic inflammation the fuels susceptibility chronic disease illnesses and cancers.
This Health tip focuses just on basic lifestyle strategies which YOU choose that may help reduce the risk of cancer and also for those with cancer, have been shown in many studies to improve treatment outcomes and quality of life during and after cancer treatments. Many of these strategies have also been shown to help cancer survivors reduce risk of recurrence.
These strategies are not all inclusive but are meant to give you a starting point to help reduce risk of developing cancer, and to improve overall health to better fight a cancer diagnosis. Any comprehensive cancer treatment plan should include complementary lifestyle strategies including dietary, exercise, stress reduction and community support to improve outcomes. We discuss these strategies for the purpose of general education and not the treatment of a specific disease or type of cancer for any one individual. Readers should discuss specific approaches with your personal medical professionals.
Note: There is a difference between complementary verses alternative medicine especially when it comes to cancer medicine. Complementary medicine encompasses treatments and strategies meant to enhance and be administered along with, not in place of, traditional, “Standard of Care” treatments following established medical guidelines. Alternative medicine is generally meant to be used instead of traditional medicine. We encourage readers to consider these lifestyle strategies as complementary to other treatment, and with the involvement and approval of your personal physician.
Reducing Cancer Risk: Steps beyond medical checkups and screenings:
Adopt an Anti-Cancer Lifestyle An anti-cancer lifestyle is a “clean” lifestyle that reduces oxidative stress and inflammation in the body. It is also helpful in reducing the development of other chronic diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and dementia. You are better able to fight off cancer and other threats when you reduce and eliminate the following harmful factors.
Eat More Immune Boosting Foods: 1- beans and legumes, 2-colorful vegetables (esp. orange) and dark leafy greens, 3-cruciferous vegetables: broccoli, cabbage, kale, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower, 4-onions and garlic, 5-mushrooms, and 6- Red and purple berries especially blueberries.
Eliminate SOS (Sugar, Oils, Salt)- Eliminate all added sugars, vegetable and seed oils (except limited amounts of olive or avocado) and try to limit added salt and use only low sodium or no salt canned foods.
Eat Real Food. Eliminate refined and processed foods. Choose homemade instead where you can control the ingredients. Try to avoid anything with a label (or at least read the label and make sure you all the ingredients are real food not chemicals). The bulk of your foods should be organic and high quality. You are worth it.
Limit animal products. You should limit your intake of the inflammatory saturated fats found in animal products. Eliminate all processed meat products. Limit dairy, eggs, meat, chicken, and turkey (purchase the highest quality, organically raised and minimally processed sources you can find). Eat wild caught fish preferably cold-water fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, anchovies and sardines. Animal products and saturated fats are more inflammatory, while plant foods are anti-inflammatory.
Eat whole grains made from scratch. Brown rice, quinoa, rolled slow cooked oats. Get creative with your Instapot and try buckwheat, barley, oat groats, and wheat berries for great sources of fiber that help minimize insulin response and provide great nutritional benefits.
Eliminate alcohol and sugary drinks. Drink filtered water, unsweetened tea especially green tea, coffee. Limit juices and no sugary drinks, sodas, waters including artificially sweetened ones.
Have a colorful low-glycemic fruit salad at the end of your meal (mixed berries are a great example). Eat only whole fruits accompanied by a protein and fat to minimize insulin response to a spiking glucose. For example, apple and a few almonds or other nuts, or apple slices with natural peanut butter.
Fill half your plate with vegetables. Fill up with lots of greens and vegetables (high in fiber and polyphenols}. Vegetables are a great source of prebiotics that feed the good bacteria in your gut and are essential for a healthy immune system.
Eat raw seeds and nuts for a healthy source of fat and protein.
Follow a Mediterranean diet that is one of the best anti-inflammatory diets with the most anti-cancer containing foods and based on anti-cancer principles.
Supplements should be approved by your physician/oncologist when undergoing any treatment (chemotherapy, radiation). In general, supplements for your bones, such as vit D3, K2, calcium, magnesium and zinc, are fine. It is usually safe to take natural food-derived supplements like glucoraphanin/sulforaphane, mushroom powders, curcumin, enzymes such as nattokinase and probiotics, and glucose moderating berberine. Antioxidants supplements can be very concentrated and may diminish cancer treatment effectiveness, so always check with your oncologist before taking these supplements during cancer treatment. In general, most oncologists do not prohibit less concentrated food sources of antioxidants.
Spice things up! Generous use of spices and herbs add flavor AND phytonutrients to your overall health plan. Consider cinnamon, cumin, turmeric and ginger root, cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion and garlic powder.
Fermented foods and probiotics – Eat more kefir, unsweetened Greek yogurt, kombucha, raw sauerkraut to support healthy gut bacteria and immune system.
Intermittent fasting and Water-electrolyte Fasts can boost your immune system but should been done with caution and under a physician’s oversight if you are undergoing cancer treatment.
Circadian eating – eat only during daylight hours to maximize insulin sensitivity and reduce excess insulin response.
Food sequencing to minimize insulin response to the meal – eat your greens and vegetables first, followed by protein, then complex carbohydrates (whole grains and starches) followed by low-glycemic whole fruits.
Many of the above strategies help minimize the body’s insulin response to the foods eaten. This helps lower insulin resistance and risk of diabetes but reducing insulin resistance may also be helpful in reducing cancer risk. Individuals with type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop cancer and to die from it than members of the general population.
It has also been shown that obesity, insulin resistance, and/or increased levels of IGF-1(insulin growth factor) and insulin are strongly associated with most (but not all) cancers in the nondiabetic population and suggest that insulin may play a role in tumor growth or resistance to anti-tumor therapy. This lends credence to the metabolic theory of cancer and how important a role food is in cancer prevention and treatment.
To implement an anti-cancer eating plan, simply use the following diagram to fill your plate with a balance of healthy real foods. Choose a large variety of your favorite foods from each category so you are always prepared to eat well at every meal and even snacks.
Be sure to emphasize these Cancer-fighting Foods:
Apples
Avocados
Berries
Broccoli
Cacao, raw
Celery
Garlic and onions
Ginger
Honey, raw and unfiltered
Mushrooms – Chaga, Cordycepts, Lion’s Mane, Maitake, Reishi, Shiitake, Turkey Tail
Oregano Oil
Papaya
Peanuts
Pomegranate
Purple fruits and vegetables
Red cabbage
Red grapes
Sour Sop fruit
Tumeric
Walnuts
Green Tea
Physical Activity and Exercise
Exercise stimulates cellular immunity by increasing the circulation of immune cells in the body allowing for detection of illness and elimination of abnormal cells. Exercise helps you sleep better which helps boost the immune system. Exercise decreases chronic diseases which can negatively impact the immune system and helps reduce stress and depression which also impacts the immune system’s ability to fight infection. High intensity exercise has been shown to inhibit glycolysis suppressing tumor growth.
The bottom line? A physically active lifestyle helps protect against the development of many types of cancer, improves quality of life during and after cancer treatment, and increases survival rate. Regular exercise can reduce cancer recurrence by up to 50%. See our earlier Health Tip: “Exercise: the Magic Pill.”
Exercise has also been shown to have a moderate effect on reduction of side effects: cancer fatigue, nausea and depression. Recommended amounts of exercise to reduce cancer risk and complement cancer treatments include:
Aerobic exercise – 150 minutes moderate cardiovascular exercise (walking, swimming, cycling) per week = 30 minutes 5 times per week.
Aerobic exercise – prior to chemotherapy or radiation therapy to increase effectiveness of treatments and reduce side effects (post treatment session aerobic exercise is beneficial as well) and especially helps with fatigue and reduces hypoxia in the body (cancer cells/tumors love a low oxygen – hypoxic tumor environment).
Strength training – 60 minutes per week of free weights, machines, resistance bands, or body weight exercises. All forms of resistance training help preserve lean body mass (muscle mass), which reduces insulin resistance and improves glucose control which may be an important factor in increasing overall survival as sarcopenia is a major negative prognostic factor in patients with cancer.
It is important to do both aerobic and strength training exercises. The Combined Aerobic and Resistance Exercise (CARE) Trial found that a combined dose of 50-60 minutes of aerobic and resistance exercise performed three times weekly was significantly associated with better patient-reported outcomes and health-related compared to performing aerobic exercise alone.
CONTRAINDICATIONS TO EXERCISE WITH CANCER
Low leukocyte count, hemoglobin level, or thrombocyte count during chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Talk with oncologist.
Body temperature above 30 degrees Celsius or 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit which may indicate infection.
Patients with bone metastases should avoid resistance training with heavy weights.
Don’t exercise if you have an infection. Resume exercise training after one full day symptom free.
Always get approval from oncologist before starting or even continuing your exercise program. Ask for any precautions and limitations and if you had surgery and have limited range of motion. A physical therapy referral may be appropriate and always ask your surgeon for exercises and specific stretches along with a timetable of when you should start exercising after surgery.
Mindfulness and Stress Reduction
Chronic stress causes adverse, immune-suppressing biochemical changes in the body. Stress can alter glucose regulation, cause immune system dysfunction, neurotransmitter imbalances, and impair the absorption of important vitamins and minerals which can contribute to systemic inflammation, oxidative stress and chronic illnesses including cancer. Mindfulness activities help refocus thoughts and attention away from negative stressors and give the body a “break” allowing for a healthy reset of stress levels. Research and try any of the following to help reduce your daily stressors:
Visualization
Journaling
Walking in nature and observing with all five senses
Creating art
Playing with a pet
Read a book (for pleasure)
Hug a stuffed animal
Drinking cold water
Express gratitude
Meditation
Yoga, Tai Chi, Stretching
Relaxation breathing
Dancing
A positive mindset and a supportive community (create a support team) to help you implement and continue these positive lifestyle behaviors.
A Role for Nutraceuticals
When you simply cannot get everything you need from your food and especially when fighting a cancer diagnosis or you are at high-risk you may benefit from additional supplementation of specific ingredients. I have identified several products in our Truth for Health Store under the category of Cancer Risk Reduction to help you in implementing your own cancer risk reduction plan.
Our selection of cGMP-compliant, US manufactured cancer supporting nutraceuticals with the highest quality ingredients include:
TruBerberine™ 5X - Berberine (BBR) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and also act as an effective immunomodulator that is expected to be widely used for cancer therapy. Berberine inhibits cell proliferation by regulating cell cycle and cell autophagy and promoting cell apoptosis. Berberine also inhibits cell invasion and metastasis by suppressing EMT and down-regulating the expression of metastasis-related proteins and signaling pathways. Berberine also inhibits cell proliferation by interacting with microRNAs and suppressing telomerase activity.
TruResveratrol™ Complex - Resveratrol is a natural stilbene and a non-flavonoid polyphenol. It is a phytoestrogen that possesses anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and anti-cancer properties. It has been reported that resveratrol can reverse multidrug resistance in cancer cells, and, when used in combination with clinically used drugs, it can sensitize cancer cells to standard chemotherapeutic agents.
TruGlucoraphanin™ – Glucoraphanin a precursor to sulforaphane (SFN) is chemopreventive and has anticancer properties, but it is its ability to target a specific cancer cell population displaying stem-like properties, known as cancer stem cells (CSCs) that sets it apart. CSCs can be self-renewal and differentiate to form highly heterogeneous tumor masses that conventional chemotherapeutic agents cannot target. This is one of the reasons why some oncologic patients relapse after standard therapy. The natural product sulforaphane also has the potential to be used with conventional antineoplastic drugs in the clinical setting.
TruMitochondrial™ Boost – Ergothioneine (EGT) from mushrooms acts as a potent antioxidant, scavenging reactive oxygen species that can damage cells and contribute to cancer development. Ergothioneine may protect DNA from oxidative damage and research has found that higher mushroom consumption is associated with a lower risk of cancer, especially breast cancer. Ergothioneine also improves immunotherapy, protects against chemotherapy side effects including decreased peripheral neuropathy.
TruImmune™ Boost – Beta glucan can act as an immune system activator and cell response modifier. The binding of beta glucan to specific receptors can cause a cellular response that’s especially helpful in chemo- and radiotherapy-induced immunosuppression and depleted hematopoiesis, the process through which the body manufactures blood cells. Extracted and/or purified β-glucans have been used in clinical cancer treatment. Beta glucan acts as an immunomodulating agent (helps fight disease) through the activation of innate immune cells. This activation sets off adaptive immune cell responses, inhibiting tumor growth and metastasis.
TruInositol™ Complex – Myo-inositol There is promising evidence that cyclitols act as an antitumor agent and as an agent helping to reduce the side effects of other therapies. The antineoplastic properties of cyclitols appear to be mainly due to the reduction of the activity of the IL-6- and STAT3-related pathways, stimulating NK cell activity, positive molecular changes in gene expression, and cytoskeleton stabilization.
TruFruits&Berries™ – Extra boost of fruits and berries extracts rich in polyphenols and antioxidant-supportive elements.
TruOptiD3+K2™ and TruZinc™ – Boosts immune system to help destroy cancer cells. Vitamin D3 may reduce the risk of developing advanced cancer among adults providing a protective effect for those with normal but not elevated body mass index. Observational studies suggest that low vitamin K intake increases cancer risk, and many epidemiological studies have shown a relationship between the zinc content in the diet and the risk of cancer. The anti-cancer effect of zinc is most often associated with its antioxidant properties but the influence of zinc on the immune system, transcription factors, cell differentiation and proliferation, DNA and RNA synthesis and repair, (and more) may also be possibilities.
TruNatto™ – Nattokinase Research findings suggest that nattokinase may have multiple anti-cancer properties, including the ability to inhibit tumor growth, induce apoptosis in cancer cells, and potentially enhance the efficacy of conventional cancer therapies.
TruQuercetin™ 20X Plus – Quercetin has many effects such as anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation and anti-cancer. Experiments have demonstrated that quercetin can exert anti-tumor effects by altering cell cycle progression, inhibiting cell proliferation, promoting apoptosis, inhibiting angiogenesis and metastasis progression, and affecting autophagy.
TruProbiotic™ Daily to help restore bifidobacteria killed by the COVID shots and COVID illness, and support gut health and support the immune system.
Additional Modalities:
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) – reduces hypoxic tumor environment and is both a radiosensitizer and chemosensitizer which enhances the effectiveness of the treatment and reduces side effects.
Sauna - assist removal of chemical toxins and heavy metals, increases oxygenation, enhances the immune system, reduces the radiation burden in the body, reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, and increases insulin sensitivity (depriving cancer cells of excess glucose). Saunas also increase circulation and mimics the oxygenation effect in the body similar to that of a moderate cardiovascular workout. Try up to three 15-30 minute sessions per week.
Breathing exercises – helps increase oxygen levels in the body and reverse hypoxia
Post-Cancer treatment/Survivor Strategies - Circle back to first strategies of regular follow ups and on-going screenings (to catch recurrence early). Focus and preventing recurrence. Stay active. Continue your exercise routine. Follow a healthy anti-cancer diet. Focus on targeting cancer stem cells. Enjoy your success but stay vigilant. These are life-long, life prolonging strategies.
Supplements that help decrease Cancer Stem Cells – Curcumin, Resveratrol, and Berberine
Rember a cancer diagnosis is not a pass to do nothing. It is important to stay active and maintain normal routines as much as possible.
Realign your priorities and make time to do what is important to stay healthy but also what is important to you – things you are passionate about or give your life meaning and sense of purpose. Look ahead.
You will have Good Days and Not So Good Days – adjust your routine and make allowances for yourself. Be kind to yourself.
Nourish your body – eat the highest quality foods you can afford to lessen burden on body and increase the nutrients your body needs to heal and get stronger.
Keep a positive attitude and an attitude of gratitude.
I encourage all my patients with cancer to talk with their oncologists about using complementary strategies with the traditional “conventional” treatment approaches. I also recommend you do your research and to check everything out. You must advocate for yourself and ask questions for best results. Your doctors do not have the time to go over diet, exercise, and other lifestyle strategies that can make a huge difference. You must do that for yourself, seek out the information and resources. Your doctors will help you medically, the rest is up to you!
I want each of us to do our best to control what we can and give the rest to GOD. They say there are no atheists in fox holes. I think the same is true for those dealing with cancer. Let faith help conquer your fear of cancer!
To Your good health and improving resilience!
Dr. Vliet
Excellent review and very practical. Encourage everyone to read and share. these are strategies YOU control in deciding to use, they don't require a physician! YOU are your best doctor in the choices YOU make to support your health.