| “Eat anything you like! It’s important to keep your strength up when you have cancer.” My friend’s oncologist told her. “Diet has no affect on cancer anyway.” He elaborated.
No matter how many times I hear doctors say that diet doesn’t matter, it still frustrates me. The field of nutrition is like Rodney Dangerfield – "We just don’t get no respect."
But maybe we haven’t earned it yet.
Maybe we haven’t done a good enough job of getting the word out about the negative effects certain foods and environmental toxins can have on our health.
Funny how most people know the proper fuel to put in their car’s gas tanks for optimum efficiency, but rarely do they (or apparently their well-meaning doctors) know what to put in their own stomachs to optimize good health.
After all, you wouldn’t dream of putting saltwater, sugar or sludge in your car’s gas tank, but sometimes we eat foods equally damaging in the form of processed foods, fast foods and high fructose corn syrup without realizing the dangers.
If we treated our cars in the same way (try running your car on sludge) we would be laughing at the obvious absurdity of using the wrong fuel source to power our gadgets. But most of us don’t yet see the parallel absurdity in our junk food diets!
Even though obesity rates are skyrocketing, we don’t seem to connect the dots – we don’t acknowledge that increased high fructose corn syrup found in almost all processed food and drinks is making us sick. Or that the fried fast food we eat on the run is inflammatory, and is damaging our blood vessel linings and driving increased cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk.
But unlike cars, we do more than just burn fuel when we eat. We use food to build the framework and matrix of our bodies. We break down the food we eat into proteins, carbohydrates and fats that literally become the structural building materials for our body. So if we are putting garbage in, is it any surprise that our systems break down and our disease rates go up?
Doesn’t it make sense that the structural integrity of your body would weaken if you were using inferior products to build your walls? Everyone in construction and manufacturing understands that inferior materials yield inferior products. Surely most of us can understand that our bodies need superior quality foods to produce optimal energy and structural integrity.
No, as nutritionists we have not yet convinced doctors or consumers the vital connections between healthy food, a strong body and superior healing.
But I’m personally trying every way I know to get the word out! I want everyone to understand how food affects good health and how we have much more control over our disease processes than most of us believe.
Of course my friend’s diet is vitally important when she is undergoing the stress of chemotherapy, radiation and cancer. Of course it matters what she eats to maintain her strength. Some foods will nourish and protect her cells while others are destructive and can feed her cancer. Wouldn’t you want to know which foods hurt you, and which foods might help you grow stronger as you fight cancer? It is simply not true that all foods react the same in the body, or that what you eat doesn’t matter.
And believe it or not, there are multiple dietary protocols designed specifically to support and restore your good health. One example is Gerson Therapy, created by Dr. Max Gerson in the 1930’s, which advocates detoxifying and flooding the body with nutrient-dense veggie and fruit juices to defeat cancer with increased oxygenation, enzymes, and nutrients.
The Gerson Diet can be used not only for cancer, but for any weakness caused by toxin overload and cell starvation. The idea is to flood the body with easily absorbable nutrients to supply much needed raw materials while also eliminating any foods associated with increased toxicity. Results are astounding for those willing to stick with the protocol.
Bottom line is that a few proactive, forward thinking physicians and researchers have been thinking outside the box to discover targeted diets to strengthen and reinforce our bodies against the toxins in our food and environment.
In fact many chronic diseases can be improved or healed completely with diets designed to support healing. For instance, the GAPS Diet created by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride addresses the neurological damage in autistic children and several specialized diets exist for people suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Even Gluten-free protocols have gained popularity as more people acknowledge improved symptoms when they eliminate inflammatory gluten-containing products from their diet.
In a world with increasing levels of environmental pollutants, and a food supply filled with processed, fried, nutrient-deficient, chemically-laden (with additives, preservatives, pesticides, herbicides,) and genetically modified foods it is no surprise that our chronic diseases are skyrocketing.
Just like the saying “There’s an app for that!” for most illnesses “There’s a dietary protocol for that!” too. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, obesity, autism, you name the illness. There are clinically proven strategies to support healing through dietary choices. I believe this concept so strongly that I named my company Healing With Nutrition, and I work daily to provide as much information as possible to people seeking targeted dietary information to assist their healing.
No, we still haven’t convinced the world that what you eat matters. But I’m going to keep talking about it, and writing about it, and working with clients to improve their health with nutrition until maybe someday I’ll hear a doctor say, “There’s a food to help you with that!”
In the meantime, if you have a plaguing health issue right now, have you investigated the foods that might support your healing?
Until next time . . . |
