Preventing Cancer

Diet will always be a basic and important factor in maintaining health

by Dr. Larry Wilson — 

Cancer is often a dreaded word, but it need not be. Improving your diet, lifestyle and even your attitude will go a long way toward preventing cancer and other health problems. This article, which will discuss prevention, is part one of a two-part series on cancer. The second part, to be presented in the next issue, will cover ways to help fight cancer.

Rest and sleep

Cancer grows best in tired, toxic bodies. This fact is rarely taught to doctors or patients. Many, if not most people today are either tired or completely exhausted. “Tired” is defined here as getting less than nine hours of daily rest or sleep. Less than nine hours is asking for health problems.

The truth is that many people need 10 or more hours of rest daily for a while — especially teenagers. Daytime naps are also a good idea and can reduce the amount of sleep you must get at night to maintain excellent health.

Drinking and bathing water

Tap water, if consumed for decades, can be a cause of cancer. This is beyond doubt, regardless of what you have been told. Almost all tap water contains too many toxic metals and often hundreds of toxic chemicals.

Water additives such as aluminum, copper, chlorine and especially fluorides cause cancer. The only way to avoid toxic water is to substitute spring or distilled water for tap water. Also try to avoid the hundreds of prepared foods made with tap water. In addition, do not bathe in fluoridated water any more than necessary, or install filters on your showerheads and bathtub faucets.

Water from plastic water bottles is not perfect, but it is better than tap water by a wide margin. If the water tastes like plastic, however, it means the bottles were not properly washed of their petrochemical residue before being filled.

Water that has been run through reverse osmosis and carbon filtration is better than tap water, but is still not as good as distilled or spring water. If you use these methods, change the filters regularly to maintain a safer water quality.

Drugs and cosmetics

Medical, pharmaceutical, recreational and over-the-counter drugs can shorten your life if you use them on a regular basis. The more of your health aids and cosmetics that come from natural sources the better, so only use drugs of any kind when needed medically, and do not self-medicate with them, as many people do.

This includes avoiding flu shots and all vaccines — except in rare instances when an outbreak of a dreaded disease may require them. In most cases, vaccines are not as helpful as claimed and unnecessary for most people.

While a single vaccine may not ruin your health, getting them repeatedly will. For more information, see our articles on vaccinations in the previous two issues.

Diet

Diet will always be a basic and important factor in maintaining health, no matter what we are told on the news or by any health authority. Let us begin with foods to avoid:

Sugars and artificial sweeteners — Any food item that contains sugar or other sweeteners as one of the first four to five ingredients is probably not worth eating. This includes thousands of items in the marketplace, even those sold in many health food stores.

Food items containing sweeteners include almost all candies, cookies, ice creams, cakes, pastries, breads, commercial salad dressings, soups and so much more.

Avoiding sugars is next to impossible if you eat a lot of prepared foods or if you eat in most restaurants. The best way to prevent eating them is to cook your own food.

Labels can be deceptive. Sugars may be labeled as sucrose, glucose, liquid sugar, fructose (the worst), maltose, lactose, corn solids, corn syrup, rice syrup, malt extract, honey, maple syrup or fruit-juice sweetened, among others.

One artificial sweetener, aspartame, often sold as NutraSweet or Equal, is even worse for many, although not all people. Other artificial sweeteners such as stevia and xylitol may be used in moderation, but are not recommended either. In fact, they often cause more weight gain than sugar, though they don’t usually upset the blood glucose level as much as refined sugars.

White or wheat flour —  Avoid most wheat products, as they are very hybridized, meaning they have been altered to produce more food per acre, but not better nutrition. Whole-wheat products are OK, but not great.

Completely avoid all white flour products such as white breads, white flour tortillas, most pasta, pastries, cakes, cookies and hundreds of other products made with this poor-quality food.

Corn used to be an excellent food, but is also highly refined in many instances today. The best is organic yellow or blue corn, including organic yellow or blue corn chips. However, avoid all white corn, which is greatly hybridized and better used for auto fuel. Also stay away from cornstarch, grits, hominy and other refined corn products.

Soy and other processed foods — Try to avoid most chemical additives. MSG, for example, is served in thousands of restaurant meals and it’s even found in items in natural food stores under names like “liquid aminos.” These are hydrolyzed vegetable proteins in most cases, which often have MSG in them. Avoiding chemicals is practically impossible in most restaurants.

Soy is not a particularly healthful food, although it has some health benefits. Avoid all non-fermented soy products, such as soymilk, soy cheese, isolated soy protein in protein powders, hamburger extenders, diet foods and more. Once again, eat fresh foods, and you will be better off. You may, however, eat some fermented soy in tofu, tempeh, soy sauce and miso.

Deep-fried foods, especially french fries — Fried and particularly deep-fried foods are not healthful today; this is especially true of the food served in most restaurants, where oil stays, for days sometimes, at high temperatures. It will then become rancid and polymerized, which causes hydrogenation, and trans-fatty acids and other damaging chemicals to be present.

What to eat

Vegetables — Replace all refined foods with large portions of steamed or other lightly cooked vegetables. Eat a variety of vegetables at least twice daily. They provide plenty of fiber and many nutrients.

Fresh is usually best, but frozen peas and green beans are also very healthful. The best fresh vegetables are turnips, rutabagas, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes and onions. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, all greens that are cooked lightly and winter squashes are excellent as well.

Cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, all sweet peppers and summer squashes are somewhat less healthful. These are mainly fruits, because they contain seeds. They can often aggravate certain sensitivities and are associated with joint problems in many people.

Salads — These are becoming more popular, and believe it or not, this is not all positive. Salads offer much less nutritional value than properly cooked vegetables. Most people’s bodies cannot break down the fiber, and not enough is eaten; plus raw food is often contaminated with germs of many varieties. This is why it is best to primarily eat steamed or otherwise cooked vegetables.

Fruits — Fruit is not that healthful for most people. It is greatly hybridized and genetically modified in many cases. The sugar content is often too high for most people, and frequently it has been sprayed, even if it is labeled organically grown. So eat fewer fruits and more vegetables for optimal health.

Meats — Beef and lamb are basically OK, especially if organically raised. Commercial beef is not healthful, which is unfortunate, since beef was once an excellent food.

Organic and grass-fed beef or good quality lamb, which most of it is not, may be eaten once or twice a week only for the best health. Some people need more of these foods than others. Children, for example, may require more meat than their parents at times; so please do not deprive them of this excellent organic food.

Buffalo and other newer meats are OK to eat once a week, but may not have been raised in healthful ways. Again, seek out organic varieties.

Pork, ham, bacon and sausages are not first-rate foods. Some types of worms and parasites may be present even after freezing and cooking.

Chicken and turkey are excellent foods for most people. The legs or thighs are usually best, as they contain important fatty acids.

Fish, if small and free from contamination, can be eaten twice or even three times weekly. However, clean, toxin-free fish are rare today, even wild-caught salmon, which otherwise is an excellent food. Toxic metals or chemicals found in fish may cause digestive problems.

Please avoid total vegetarian diets, although older people can often completely eliminate red meats from their diet.

Dairy products — These are helpful in small quantities, provided the animals were organically raised or are goat products. Regular cow’s milk, cheese and yogurt are quite hybridized, and thus less healthful, although some regular yogurt, if unsweetened, may be eaten by most people (unless they are sensitive to it).

Supplements —  To help prevent degenerative diseases, include in your daily fare some fish oil or cod liver oil. Kelp or dulse sea vegetables, aloe juice or gel, and sea salt rather than table salt, are also good for most people.

The juice of carrots and greens are superb, taken in amounts of four to six ounces daily or less. There is no need to live on juices, however. Organically grown is a superior agricultural system, though it is not perfect. In most instances, quality organic products contain more nutrients and fewer toxic chemicals.

Colon cleansing

This may seem an odd topic for an article on cancer prevention, but the inclusion of colon cleansing is very important. Digestive difficulties, especially constipation, can lead to cancer. This has been shown in studies demonstrating that when feces remain in the body, some of the poisons they contain are reabsorbed into the liver. If this continues for years, the liver’s ability to detoxify the substances is diminished, and the stage can be set for cancer.

X-rays and cell phone exposure

X-rays and all other ionizing radiation exposure contribute to cancer. This includes medical, dental and many other sources of radiation, such as long airplane flights and too much sun exposure, with or without sunscreen protection.

Cell phones and cordless phones give off microwaves that are harmful. Use these as little as possible for the best health. Those with cancer should avoid them altogether, as they further weaken the body.

Computer screens are less than ideal, as well. Sit as far back as possible from your computer, or use a smaller screen. If you must work on a computer all day consider using a large screen that is backlit or a plasma television for viewing.

Sauna therapy

Near-infrared lamp sauna therapy is the best single way to avoid cancer today. You can easily put one together for several hundred dollars. Operating costs are extremely low for a lamp sauna because it is a far more efficient heating system than either traditional saunas or far-infrared saunas.

Saunas remove almost all toxic metals and thousands of toxic chemicals from the body. They are also comfortable to use if they are the infrared type. However, you must use one at least three times weekly for 20 to 50 minutes, first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Be sure to rest after using it.

Near-infrared lamp saunas are much better than saunas found at health clubs — which are basically just rooms with heaters. See www.drlwilson.com for more information about sauna types, purchasing parts and much more.

Attitudes and cancer

People with certain personality traits are more likely to get cancer. For example, those who often appear very sweet or nice on the outside, but may harbor intense anger or resentments inside, are the type of people who tend to get cancer. Other personality patterns are also important in some cancer cases.

To mitigate the risks of this cause of cancer, work on yourself, particularly any defensiveness and negative attitudes that may be hidden or overt in your personality. Negativity, in general, is associated with cancer, although sometimes the cancer itself can be the cause of depression.

References

1. Pierce, T.H., Outsmart Your Cancer, Thoughtworks Publishing, 2004 (excellently written overview of the cancer problem and natural approaches, with case histories).

2. Simington, O.C. and S.M., Getting Well Again, Bantam Books, NY, (about attitudes and cancer).

3. Kelley, W. D., One Answer to Cancer, College of Metabolic Medicine, 1974 through 1999 editions.

3. Koch, W.F., Cancer and Its Allied Diseases, 1929, Natural Immunity, 1939 and The Survival Factor in Neoplastic and Viral Diseases, 1961.

4. Gerson, M., A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases, Totality Books, CA, 1977.

5. Quillin, P. and Quillin, N., Beating Cancer with Nutrition, Nutrition Times Press, 1997.

6. Bearden, T.E., Cancer and the Unresolved Health Issues in the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields and Radiation, Association of Distinguished American Scientists, Huntsville, AL, 1993.

7. Scogna, J., The Promethian, LEP Publications, Wyomissing, PA, 1983.

Dr. Lawrence Wilson has a medical degree and has been in the health field for more than 25 years. His books include Nutritional Balancing and Hair Mineral Analysis, Legal Guidelines for Unlicensed Practitioners, Healing Ourselves and Manual of Sauna Therapy and The Real Self. He also co-authored Toxic Metals in Human Health and Disease and contributed to The Dangers of Socialized Medicine. www.drlwilson.com or 928-445-7690.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 27, Number 3, June/July 2008.