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Can Eating Raw Fruits & Vegetables Help Prevent & Fight Cancer?
A Cancer diagnosis is one of the most stressful, heartbreaking events a person can go through. Unfortunately it’s becoming more common; it has gotten to the point where everyone knows someone close to them that has had, or currently has, cancer.
Click Here for Your Free PDF from Leann: ’37 Cancer Facts You Should Know…But Probably Don’t’
And many people believe that the only 3 things a person can do to combat it is surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, which is sad.
One of the things I strongly believe in as a health coach – and as a wife of a brain cancer survivor – is changing your diet to prevent and combat the big C. There are many anti-cancer diets that cancer patients have had success with and one of them is the Raw Food Diet.
Now first let’s dive into a definition of the Raw Food Diet. No, it’s not about eating raw meat or fish. It’s about consuming unprocessed, whole plant-based, ideally organic foods.
The Raw Food Diet is one way to build and strengthen your immune system. By boosting your immune system, you can prevent the cancer cells in your body from multiplying and eventually spreading.
How? Well, let’s start with fiber. One of the easiest descriptions of fiber that I have read is to think of fiber like a broom for your body. Fiber isn’t actually absorbed into your bloodstream, because it’s too large. So its job is to sweep through your intestines and pick up the toxins, and then carry them out. That is why we need a healthy amount of fiber in our diet.
Here are some great raw foods to add fiber into your diet to help boost your immunity against the Big C.
- Avocados
- Berries
- Coconut
- Figs
- Artichoke
- Peas
- Okra
- Brussels Sprouts
- Turnips
- Black Beans
- Lima Beans
- Lentils
- Nuts
- Flax Seed
- Chia Seed
- Quinoa
Notice that I didn’t say a bowl of Fiber One cereal or juice with added fiber. That’s because, as Jack Lalanne once said, “If man made it, don’t eat it”.
Raw foods are also the most real foods you can find from Mother Nature and they have important enzymes, phytonutrients, antioxidants and other cancer-fighting properties in tact. Cooking our food reduces or removes many of those benefits. The fact is that raw, uncooked vegetables provide the highest amount of enzymes and studies show that enzymes help to break down cancer tumors. It was in the early 1900’s that a doctor in Wales, John Beard, discovered that pancreatic enzymes destroyed cancer cells.
Can you believe that? It’s true! The right food can help to break down cancer tumors (many conventional doctors study medicine – not healing foods – in medical school. So don’t be surprised if they don’t know, or worse, try to totally debunk it just because they didn’t study it).
So, let’s review: a well-balanced diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, some whole grains, seeds and nuts is the best defense against cancer cells, including:
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Asparagus
- Pineapple
- Grapes
- Blueberries
- Beet root
- Turmeric (spice)
- Tomatoes
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
Now there are certainly other ways to “go raw” or simply add more raw foods into your daily life. Smoothies and salads are a great place to start. You don’t have to ONLY eat raw produce…but adding some to your daily diet definitely helps.
Remember that cancer cells feed on things like sugar, dairy, acidic foods (like meat), and caffeine. Even if you’re not battling or worried about cancer, these foods are harder on your organs and can diminish your immune system.
Would you or have you tried a raw food diet? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Note: While I am a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner, I am not advocating that a raw food diet take the place of conventional cancer treatments; I am only advising that a diet consisting of raw food can help prevent and fight cancer.
