Natural Cancer-Fighting Foods

Supporting our health with nutrition is something we all know on a superficial level. Eat healthfully and you’ve got a healthy life. Right? But what do you do when you get a frightening diagnosis like cancer? Is diet change enough to fight cancer? And are there foods that cause cancer? In this article, we will cover this information and give you a list of natural cancer-fighting foods to help!

In order to understand how our diets affect cancer, it helps to understand cancer on a cellular level.

What is cancer and how is cancer caused?

Cancer is a condition where the cells of a certain area in the body begin to grow abnormally and reproduce uncontrollably. Because of the rapid reproduction rate, the cancerous cells begin to damage surrounding healthy tissues.

As the cancer cells grow, they begin to draw blood vessels towards them to give them sustainable nutrients to continue growing and spreading. This starves healthy tissues around them.

If these cancer cells break off and travel to other parts of the body to set up another growth site, this is referred to as metastasis.

So what causes the cancerous cells to begin in the first place?

All of our cells contain DNA strands within them. The DNA helps with cellular programming which tells each cell what to do and how to reproduce. When changes happen to the genes, it causes the programming to become different. So the cells begin to mutate and then the cancerous cells create their own programming to sustain the cancer growth.

Cancer can be difficult to stop since it is a genetic mutation. This makes each case of cancer unique to the person who has it. This is why some people respond well to certain treatments while others (with the same type of cancer) don’t respond as successfully.

This is where food can be a really successful part of the cancer treatment toolkit.

How can food fight cancer?

Food grows the same way our bodies do. Plants, animals, and human beings all require water, sunlight, nutrition, and cyclical resting to be sustained. Plants and animals require different amounts of nutrients than we do. So when we eat these plants or animals they provide us with the different nutritional content that our bodies need to sustain life.

Not only do plants provide us with important nutrients, molecules, and minerals, but they also are easy for our bodies to use.

Lab-made chemicals are foreign substances to our bodies so it takes time for them to become used to them and learn what exactly to do with them.

Because plants are so similar to our own bodies, there is a sort of preprogramming within us that our bodies recognize the plant and know exactly what to do with it once it enters our system. Different cells are used to break down each part of the plant so that we can extract the most nutrients possible from it and reduce the amount of waste our bodies need to excrete.

Chemicals are the complete opposite. They enter our body, our cells need to decode what it is and where to send it, and then oftentimes pass it through a few times before deciding where it could potentially be beneficial. This creates a lot of waste products that our bodies don’t know what to do with so it taxes our toxin-removal systems which flare up our immune system.

So since our healthy foods are coded in a similar way to our bodies, every nutrient we get from them is simple for our body to use for repair and maintenance.

With cancer specifically, there are a lot of toxins, inflammation, and other abnormalities happening within the body.

Plants provide our body with antioxidants, polyphenols, vitamins, minerals, folic acid, chlorophyll, and other nutrients that prevent and fight cancerous cell formation and growth.

Foods also improve the gut microbiome which has a large hand in cancer control.

Natural Cancer-Fighting Foods

When it comes to knowing what foods fight cancer, think about foods that you hear about having antioxidants, prebiotics, polyphenols, and anti-inflammatory properties. Some of the best foods to fight and prevent cancer include:

Vegetables — researchers suggest getting at least 5 servings of vegetables per day to reduce cancer risk. Raw vegetables offer more benefits than cooked vegetables, though we understand if you have IBS or other stomach problems these foods can be difficult to handle. Try to incorporate them where you can and see what you can tolerate.

Some of the best cancer-fighting vegetables are:

Allium vegetables (onions, garlic, leeks, scallions, etc.)
Carrots
Leafy greens
Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc.)
Tomatoes
In-season squashes

Fruits — remember that the more diversity in color that you eat (same with vegetables) the larger range of benefits you derive from your food, especially plant-derived foods. Some of the best cancer-fighting fruits include:

Berries (all kinds)
Citrus fruits
Pomegranate
Bananas
Apples
Lemons
Mulberries (these are especially good for controlling blood sugar spikes during and after eating)
Pears
Cherries
Grapes

Other great foods that fight cancer:

Fish — Omegas are great at fighting cancerous cells
Flax seeds
Brazil nuts — great source of selenium
Whole grains
Legumes
Sunflower seeds
Green tea
Olive oil
Walnuts
Beans
Cinnamon
Turmeric

Foods That Feed Cancer

Now, if food can fight cancer, it’s not really surprising that it can also feed cancer. Think about some unhealthy foods. You can probably guess what we are about to list without even reading it. However, sometimes it helps to see what foods in your diet can cause cancer.

Sugar — sugar is hiding in every processed food you eat. Some fruits and vegetables are even high in sugar. Everything from apple juice to your morning latte to the store-bought tomato sauce you’re using in your spaghetti has shockingly high levels of sugar.
Foods high in sodium — sugar isn’t the only bad guy. Just because your preferred snack is chips instead of cookies doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. Excessively salty foods are also a no-go if you’re trying to avoid cancer.
Processed foods — just because the marketing says “organic” or “natural source of…” they aren’t necessarily healthy. Whole, real foods are your best bet. Much like the sugar hidden in foods, processed foods hide a ton of unhealthy, cancer-causing ingredients.
Binge-drinking alcohol — one glass of wine a night is okay, but having multiple alcoholic beverages even if it’s just from time to time can heighten your risk of cancer development
Fast food — you knew this had to be on here. Fast food, no matter the restaurant, is bad for you. They’re highly processed and have a ton of sodium, sugar, and preservatives.
Salted fish — using salt to preserve seafood is very common in some countries, and it’s really unhealthy and can lead to cancer.

How can I still get the benefits from food if I can’t eat because of cancer treatment side effects?

Now, we realize that some people are undergoing cancer treatments or have other health conditions that limit their ability to eat. Or that keeping your food down is difficult. So how can you make sure you’re getting the anti-cancer benefits, too?

Supplementation is probably your best bet. Make sure your sources are clean and truly healthy (NSF Certified for Sport is a good thing to check for on the bottle — rigorous testing is involved to ensure it’s a high-quality product).

In addition, make sure that they’re made to allow your body to actually get the nutrition from the supplement. Some supplements like probiotics for example need special modes of delivery otherwise the stomach acid breaks it down before it can actually be used by your body. So you just create more waste for your body to try and get rid of which is exhausting when it’s already dealing with so much.

Some of the supplements to support your health and avoid or fight cancer include:

Atrantil
Selenium
Folic Acid
Fiber
Prebiotics (Atrantil is a great source of this)
Polyphenols (Atrantil is also a great source of this.)
B vitamins
Vitamin D
Vitamin C
Enzymes

Talk with your doctor about which of these may best support your health and about where you can get a healthy, functional source of them.

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