Build A Body Where Cancer Can't Live (What I Wish Everyone Knew)

If you were diagnosed with cancer tomorrow, and you asked your doctor, what should I be eating? What do you think they would say? Believe it or not, most of them would say, it doesn't really matter or just eat a balanced diet. Now I'm not here to bash your doctor but that advice is bad. It's really bad. And when it comes to cancer, bad advice can cost you. What you eat can either help to feed cancer or help your body to fight it. If food didn't matter, if it truly had no impact on cancer, then why do cancer cells behave so differently depending on the type of feel you give them? And when you're dealing with something as serious as cancer, or you're trying desperately to avoid it because it runs in your family, you deserve better. Now one of the biggest mistakes we make is treating cancer like it's one disease. It's really not. Breast cancer isn't the same as lung cancer or leukemia. They're completely different. Some types of cancer love sugar. They rely on it to survive. And others prefer glutamine, which we get mostly from eating protein. And in some advanced cases, cancer can even adapt and use ketones, which is what your body makes when you're not even eating at all. So if different cancer cells prefer different fuel sources, unfortunately we can't just cut out sugar to starve every cancer. And no single diet will either. But I don't want that to discourage you. Because what matters even more is that you can still create an environment inside your body that makes it harder for any cancer cells to survive. You see, cancer cells love being in high blood sugar, high insulin, high inflammation, and low oxygen environments. But that's also what makes them vulnerable. So if you can fix these, your normal cells will thrive, but cancer cells will struggle to survive. And that's where your strategy comes in. So today I'm going to walk you through five things you can do to turn your body into a place where cancer cells don't want to live. These aren't magic cures, but they're backed by science, and they do actually work. Strategy number one, first and foremost, keep your immune system strong. Your immune system is like your body's built-in cancer surveillance system. Basically, it's constantly scanning your body for damaged or abnormal cells, and when it finds them, it destroys them and gets rid of them. And the stronger your immune system is, the better it can do this. And this may be surprising, but the best way to keep your immune system strong is by keeping your gut healthy. Over 70% of your immune system is controlled by your gut. So if your gut is inflamed or overrun with bad bacteria, your immune system may be operating at a fraction of its potential. And a lot of people think that their bloating or indigestion is just a part of getting older, but it's not. It's a sign that your gut needs some help. It needs more fiber, more probiotics, and less processed foods and sugar. So that's just one reason why food matters when it comes to fighting cancer. Another great way to support your immune system is with vitamin D. In fact, if there's any supplement you're going to take, let it be vitamin D. It lowers inflammation and it acts like a coach for your immune cells. It helps them to recognize what belongs in your body and what doesn't, including cancer cells. Okay, cancer fighting strategy number two. Get more oxygen circulating through your body. Not a lot of people connect a lack of oxygen to cancer, but a lot of tumors grow in low oxygen environments. And that environment can actually make it meaner, more aggressive, and harder to treat. Now this isn't about a certain type of breathing or taking deeper breaths. It's about getting it circulating better around your body, and the only way to do that is to move. When you exercise, or even just go for a walk, you push blood through your body, and that blood carries oxygen to your tissues and organs, and it flushes out metabolic waste around them. It's like opening a window in a stale room. So if you don't move much, all that slows down. Things start to stagnate, and it creates the environment that cancer cells prefer. So movement is medicine, and you don't have to run marathons, you just have to keep moving as much as possible. Getting more steps in helps, taking the stairs instead of an elevator helps, every bit helps. Okay, cancer fighting strategy number three, cut back on sugar and refined carbs. Not because sugar directly causes cancer, but because you eat enough of it, and over time, it turns your body into a high-insulin, high-inflammation environment. Not only that, eating too much sugar leads to things like obesity, diabetes, and insulin resistance. This is when your cells stop responding to insulin properly, so your pancreas has to keep pumping out more and more of it. One in three adults in the U.S. are insulin resistant, and most don't even know it or realize how dangerous it can be. Chronically high insulin creates inflammation, it messes with your hormones, and it fuels several different types of cancer. Now the good news is, insulin resistance is completely reversible, and the best way to do that is by cutting back on sugar. But the bad news is, this doesn't just mean cutting out dessert. It's also about cutting back on foods that have a lot of hidden sugars, like ketchup, your flavored yogurt, or cereal. And it also means cutting back on refined carbs, like white bread, white pasta, because these break down into glucose in your body almost as fast as sugar. Once in a while they're fine, but if you're eating toast for breakfast, a sub for lunch, and then pasta for dinner, you're throwing fuel on the fire. Now once you've successfully cut back on the sugar and refined carbs, the next step is to change when you eat. This is cancer fighting strategy number four. Combining a low-carb diet with intermittent fasting is one of the most powerful things you can do to keep cancer away. Intermittent fasting basically just means you eat breakfast later in the day, and you eat all of your meals during a shorter time frame, like say noon to 8 p.m., and then you fast again overnight. But why is this so powerful against cancer? Well, when you're not eating, your insulin levels have a chance to come down, and when that happens, inflammation starts to come down too. Not only that, digesting food takes up a ton of energy, so when you're not eating, your body can actually put that energy towards repairing itself and getting rid of those damaged cells, like pre-cancerous cells, before they can turn into cancer. This is something called autophagy, and it's something your body does on its own, but it really starts to ramp up when you're fasting. Okay, so I've talked about how to keep your immune system strong, keep oxygen circulating more, how to cut out sugar and refined carbs, and how to ramp up autophagy through intermittent fasting, but there's a fifth cancer fighting strategy that very few people talk about. It has to do with one organ in particular, and if this organ is struggling, none of these other strategies we've talked about will actually work as well. This organ is your liver, and it's actually pretty simple. If your liver's not working well because of too much alcohol or processed foods or chronic stress, it can't really do its job, which is to filter out the toxins, the waste, and the chemicals that your body needs to get rid of, so they start to build up, and those lingering toxins can actually damage your DNA, which is one of the first steps towards getting cancer. Okay, so how do we keep our liver working the way it should? Four things. Number one, milk thistle. This herb has been used for centuries, and we do have a lot of research to back it up. It shields liver cells from damage, and it dials down inflammation, two of the exact things you need when your liver is under stress. Number two, apple cider vinegar. Just one tablespoon a day helps to support bile flow. This is essentially your liver's disposal system, so better bile flow means more waste moving out instead of just sitting there. Number three, lemon water. Simple, cheap, but genuinely effective. It's the vitamin C and antioxidants in lemon that support some very specific detox pathways in your liver, so it helps to break down and flush out harmful compounds. And number four, cruciferous veggies. Broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts. They're not just healthy, they're specifically powerful for your liver. They help to clear out toxins, and they're loaded with antioxidants. Every day, our cells are bombarded with something called oxidative stress from pollution, processed foods, and even the chemicals in our makeup or laundry detergent. So eating antioxidant-rich foods is one of the best ways to prevent cancer because they fight back against this oxidative stress. So if you're not already eating cruciferous vegetables every day, maybe it's time to start. Now you don't need to start implementing all five of these cancer-fighting strategies today, but at least pick one or two because I promise they can make a big difference in helping your body keep cancer away. Unfortunately, we can't rely on them to replace medical treatment, but they can make your treatments work better and stack the odds in your favor. Two people can have the same type of cancer, same diagnosis, but their cancer cells will behave completely differently depending on the environment in their body. Cancer can be adaptive, but so can you. And when you start doing these five things, you start to feel less helpless. You gain leverage, you gain hope, and these cancer-fighting strategies will eventually turn into your daily habits. And if you want to learn more about the amazing cancer-fighting benefits of intermittent fasting, check out this video next, and I'll see you next week.