Inflammation & Cancer

I have always been interested in medical issues. My interest grew after my aunt was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in 2009 & then I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2010. You can imagine how many books I have read, websites I have scanned and blogs I have been reading. The main thing I have learned is that we know that cancer is the abnormal growth of cells. Our cells multiply in two ways hyperplasia (proliferation of cells - i.e. growth of more cells & they duplicate) and hypertrophy (they grow in size). A easy way to remember this is that organs grow by hyperplasia & fat/muscle grow in hypertrophy. When any of these cellular growth patterns are interrupted, inflammation occurs. For cancer, we are primarily concerned with the cellular growth of organs/glands where cells start to grow abnormally. This can & usually is triggered by an antagonist. One of which is inflammation.

One might think that inflammation is a bruise, a broken bone, a pimple, but it is really more than that. Everyday we expose ourselves to chemicals, foods, and environmental factors that cause inflammation. In some people, this is a slow slow development that can lead to more treatable diseases such as - autoimmune diseases, migraines, etc. In people like me, it was a quick development that lead to cancer. I also developed an autoimmune disease due to exposing myself to inflammatory triggers, so I also have Celiac Disease coupled with Breast Cancer. Given that I live each day with both of these diseases, I learned that BOTH are triggered by inflammatory antagonists. If you are never made aware of the triggers for inflammation or understand the connection between inflammation & your ailments, you will continue to eat and expose yourself to these toxins.

Granted if you really think about it, the foods that cause inflammation are a LARGE part of the American diet. Most restaurants DO NOT give a great selection of healthy foods. This would mean that you will have to make your own food. Frozen diet meals, low fat anything, and anything that comes out of a wrapper with more than 4-5 ingredients SHOULD not be consumed. A diet comprised of whole fruits & veggies, unprocessed grains (that means gluten free), and limited dairy consumption is a diet that helps reduce inflammation. Alcohol also is a HUGE factor for inflammation. Limit your consumption to almost NEVER. It has no nutritional value & has empty calories. I save my drinking for special occasions & stick with 1-2 drinks with a TON of water.

Inflammation leads to abnormal cellular growth - i.e. cancer. It has also been connected to Celiacs, Chrons, Thyroid Disorders, Migraines, Obesity, Menstruation Issues, Infertility, Arthritis, Joint Pain, and Rheumatoid Arthritis. If you notice that your diet is mostly on the right side of that image, think about what ailments you complain about. Do you have headaches often? Pain often? Sick often? Allergies? Intestinal Issues? Cancer Scares? Do you find it hard to have enough energy? Do you find it hard to lose weight? All of these issues are linked to WHAT you choose to put in your body. Remove the inflammation causing foods, you might find that your symptoms are getting better & more manageable.

I am not saying that cancer is 100% caused by inflammatory foods, but IT IS A FACTOR. You can say - well I am healthy and I exercise or no one in my family had breast cancer. Here is a reality check - I am and always was physically fit. I have low blood pressure, low cholesterol, and have always had what I assumed was a healthy diet. I rarely got sick & I do not have a cancer gene. It can happen to you, so take a look at what you are consuming and you might find that it is not as healthy as you assumed. This will be the first of many blog posts about different factors that can lead to cancer & different foods to help enhance treatments for disease and cancer.

Remember my diet is not perfect, but I eat 80% vegetarian. I cannot eat complete vegetarian, because I have done it right in the past and ended up with severe vitamin deficiencies (anemic, low vitamin d3, low creatine). That is me, but most people can go full vegetarian or vegan. I eat meat 1x/week and dairy 1x/daily. I make sure that my chicken, steak, eggs & turkey is organic, grass fed. I make sure my milk & cheese are not made from cows given RBH (see my page on food & cancer) and are from grass fed cows. If I eat out or at other people's homes I try my best to stick with the veggies & beans OR I bring my own.