An anti-cancer diet is a plant-based diet that is abundant in whole foods that come primarily from natural sources. The formula is no secret: it’s simple and the focus is on whole foods that come straight from the earth, like veggies, nuts, fruits, tea, spices, and seeds.
Thanks to the presence of these foods in your diet, your gut microbiome will be healthier and more balanced.
As a result, your immunity will strengthen and your protection against illnesses like cancer will be better. This is because a large part of the immune system is located in our gut.
And, some plant foods are so potent because some of their nutrients have anti-cancer properties.
We All Have Potentially Cancerous Cells in the Body
Believe it or not, every person has potentially cancerous cells in their body. However, these cells are unable to grow into tumors bigger than two millimeters unless they make new blood vessels via a process known as angiogenesis.
Cancer develops when abnormal cells grow and take over the body’s normal and balanced angiogenesis.
Without it, these cells could never become harmful. This is due to the fact that tumors require oxygen and nutrients to spread. They do this through chemical signals which make new blood vessels in the surrounding area.
In this way, the oxygen, nutrients, and blood can reach the tumor and advance it. However, if angiogenesis is blocked, the growth of the tumor will be slower and the cancerous cells will be starved out!
Foods With Remarkable Anti-Angiogenic Characteristics
Dr. William Li is the president, medical director, and co-founder of the Angiogenesis Foundation. He claims that there are plenty of foods with impressive anti-angiogenic characteristics that avert the blood vessels from feeding tumors.
Some of these foods are apples, cherries, turmeric, nutmeg, lavender, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, dark chocolate, raspberries, oranges, blackberries, lemons, oranges, etc.
A lot of these foods are also abundant in compounds that trigger “suicide” in cancerous cells and prevent them from spreading further. These compounds mess up the cells’ metabolism.
When combined together, these foods’ anti-cancer properties become even stronger. An anti-cancer diet or anti-angiogenic diet is very similar to an anti-inflammatory diet.
This is due to the fact that inflammation is fuel for the progression of cancer. By consuming foods that reduce this inflammation, we’re assisting the body to fight against cancer more efficiently.
3 Powerful Anti-Cancer Fruits
- Berries
Berries are rich in ellagic acid, anthocyanins, and other potent compounds. They’re able to lower mutations and protect the cells from free radicals and DNA damage, but also slow down or cease the growth of cancerous cells.
In a study from 2011, patients with early-stage throat cancer consumed 60 grams of powdered and freeze-dried strawberries for a period of six months, every day. After this period, 50 percent of them no longer had the disease and also experienced a drop in their tumor markets.
What’s more, cranberries are also powerful in the fight against cancer. In studies done with animals, it was found that cranberries can have anti-cancer effects on nine different types of cancer.
In another study, athletes who consumed two cups of blueberries every day for six weeks almost doubled their cancer-destruction cells, i.e., from two to four billion.
- Garlic
Abundant in phytochemicals and organosulfur compounds like allicin, garlic is considered one of the most potent anti-cancer foods.
Studies have found garlic to be potent enough to reduce the chances of different types of cancer. Moreover, it possesses antibacterial characteristics, is anti-cancerous, and it’s also good for DNA repair.
- Turmeric
Curcumin is the active compound in turmeric and it possesses strong anti-cancer properties.
It targets at least 80 signaling pathways associated with cancer.
What’s more, it can help reduce cancer growth at different stages and trigger apoptosis or cell death in different cancer cells, without causing damage to the normal cells.
When you consume it, combine it with freshly ground black pepper to enhance the body’s absorption of curcumin by 2000 percent!
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