The lifetime cancer incidence is now approaching one in two Americans and two of three American families. While conventional wisdom tells us that early detection is our best protection, real cancer prevention lies elsewhere: our own lifestyle choices can empower us to stay healthy. The key to cancer prevention lies in "host resistance."

Susan Silberstein, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education [CACE], a national non-profit organization she founded in 1977. Article: Preventing Cancer with Lifestyle Choices Complete Bio Video Clip 3.5 megs Audio Clips Website

Given the proper support, the body's own immune system can prevent cancer, despite genetic predisposition, in the vast majority of cases. Tumors cannot grow in laboratory animals unless those animals have been specifically bred with malfunctioning immune systems. Transplant patients will reject foreign tissue unless given immuno-suppressive drugs. In tumor transplantation experiments, cancer grafts simply fail to take on a certain percentage of participants. Research has demonstrated that a healthy body seeks out and destroys between 100 and 1,000 abnormal cells every day as part of its built-in system of surveillance.

The human body is a miraculous machine with an elaborate system of checks and balances. It is programmed to seek health and is capable of remaining disease-free throughout life if allowed to function according to its natural laws. Its needs are simple, basic and attainable. The body requires only that through our daily living habits we permit its various systems – endocrine, digestive, nervous, circulatory, lymphatic, and eliminatory – to work the way they were intended.

The major factors that make up the "cancer prevention lifestyle" are diet, detoxification, exercise, and stress management. Adequate attention to all of these areas is the best insurance policy against cancer, as well as other chronic degenerative diseases.

DIET AND NUTRITION

Increasingly, nutritional science investigations have been pointing to a significant cancer-diet connection. According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of all cancers are diet-related. The evidence is mounting that Americans have been digging themselves into early graves with their forks. To a great extent, you are what you eat (or at least what you assimilate of what you eat), for the body, like any other precision machine, must run on quality fuel if quality performance is to be expected.

Researchers and clinicians have found several basic principles which, when incorporated into a nutrition regimen, enhance the body's ability to prevent degenerative disease. These scientists recommend a low-saturated fat, low-animal protein, high-fiber, high-antioxidant and high-enzyme diet. Heavily refined, highly heated, overprocessed and chemically adulterated foods (and beverages) should be eliminated.

The general rule is simply to choose foods whose form is as close as possible to what nature has provided. Select raw and fresh instead of cooked, boxed or canned food; whole grains such as brown rice, millet, or buckwheat instead of processed flour; and colorful fruits and vegetables instead of white bread, white sugar and white milk. Cancer cells thrive on sugar. Natural, uncooked, or lightly cooked foods contain beneficial enzymes; in fact, enzyme deficiency has been linked with cancer, and heating foods above about 112 degrees Fahrenheit kills enzymes. Above all, avoid microwaving, which alters the molecular structure of foods and renders them unfit for human nutrition.

The prudent dietary approach aims at achieving an acid-alkaline ratio of approximately 1:4, as cancers proliferate in low-pH environments. Choose "alkaline" foods such as fresh green, yellow, red and orange vegetables and fruits while decreasing intake of "acid" foods such as animal proteins, fats and oils, sugars, and cooked starches. The protein found in seeds, nuts, beans, legumes, and grains is preferred to that in meat. Aim to consume at least nine servings of plant-based foods daily.

Certain foods and beverages have specific anti-tumor or immune-enhancing properties. Consume liberal amounts of carrots (preferably freshly juiced), broccoli, ground flaxseeds, fish, raspberries, and green tea – all organic, if possible.

Continued...