Important to understand cancer process

In the past, before we understood why nutrition works, most of our information was based on anecdotal stories (case histories), studies of large populations of people (epidemiological studies), and word of mouth from those utilizing nutritional treatments outside the medial establishment. This presented two major problems. First, physicians hesitated to use nutrition because little proof or explanation existed for its mechanism of action. Second, cancer patients were often afraid to rely on a treatment method that was not endorsed by the scientific community.

Despite the tens of billions of dollars spent on the war on cancer, we have not found a cure for the disease, but we have learned a lot about the cancer process and how cancer cells differ from normal cells. It is this basic knowledge that elucidated for us what many early proactioners of alternative medicine knew all along: something in plants, both as foods and as herbs, has a beneficial effect in suppressing cancer growth.

It should also be appreciated that much of the scientific work was done in an experimental setting. While thousands of cancer patients have been treated successfully with nutritional treatments, few carefully controlled studies of these large populations of patients have been properly done, This is because such studies are very expensive and no one, until recently, has taken an interest in funding them. Recently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has begun several studies of the nutritional treatment of cancers in large numbers of people. It will be several more years before the final results of these studies appear.

For the cancer patient, waiting for the results of academic studies is not an option. I have used nutritional methods for at least twenty-four years, more so in the last five years, and I have seen undeniable benefits-and no harm-in my patients. There is no question that the patients using these methods tolerate their treatments better and have far fewer complications. They also respond much better to their conventional treatments.

As I will show in the following chapters, selected nutritional supplements affect the cancer cell at multiple steps in its metabolism in such a way as to significantly interfere with its ability to survive. They do this without interfering with the effectiveness of chemotherapy or radiation therapy. By using different ways to kill and suppress cancer cells, nutrition, in fact, enhances the effectiveness of the conventional treatments.
To kill cancer cells, or to at least force them into a dormant state, every mechanism on which the cancer cell depends must be interfered with. Nutritional supplements do this more effectively than either chemotherapy or radiation treatments, and with little or no effect on normal cells, except to make them stronger.

Changing your diet is a very difficult thing to do, especially if the changes are drastic. Most of us are so accustomed to eating foods that are full of artificial flavors, very sweet, or creamy in texture that eating foods without these qualities becomes a chore. Dietary compliance is the most difficult problem I face in treating cancer patients. This is especially so for the patients having the worst diets. For example, a person who lives for his barbecued ribs, french fries, and soft drinks will have great difficulty switching to a plate full of fresh raw vegetables, fruits, and pure water.

If understanding why nutrition is so important does nothing else, it at least helps cancer patients to stick to the new diet. The more you understand the mechanisms by which phytochemicals inhibit cancer growth and spread, the more you will appreciate why even minor variations in your diet can have significant effects on your cancer. There is serious question as to whether cancers are ever completely eradicated. If they are not, then sticking to the diet becomes even more important, since the dormant cancer can be reactivated by a bad diet.

The longer you adhere to the diet, the easier it will be for you to follow. Tastes change with time. People on low-salt diets find normally salted foods far too salty. The same is true for low sugar diets: people on low-sugar diets soon find foods and drinks containing sugar to taste too sweet. This readjustment process of the taste buds allows us to conform to a diet we previously thought would be unbearable. It's all what we get used to.