Browse Archives > Dr. Fitness Talks
Cancer: The Best Defense is to Know your Enemy
December 14 , 2004 by Doctor FitnessIt was once said that the best way to beat your enemy was to keep your friends close but keep your enemy closer. In other words the more you know about them the better chance you have in staying one up on them-in this case cancer. One thing for sure, cancer is one disease that most people know very little about. What causes it? What do I do if I have it? Most of all people don’t know about the lifestyle changes they should make in order to either prevent or fight off this dreaded disease, including how to eat properly.
Know your enemy
The first step in preventing or treating cancer should be to understand more about how cancer cells function. Back in 1931 Nobel Prize winner Otto Warburg discovered the main biochemical cause of cancer, or what differentiates a cancer cell from a normal, healthy cell.
Dr. Warburg proved that cancer has only one prime cause. It is the replacement of normal oxygen respiration of the body's cells by an anaerobic [i.e., oxygen-deficient] cell respiration. In other words, cancer cell makes energy different to that of healthy cells.
Cancer cells reverted to a more primitive form of metabolism that required no oxygen.
When the earth was very young and the atmosphere had high levels of CO2 gases, all forms of life made energy this way. This form of metabolism is referred to as anaerobic, or simply fermentation. Our cells normally produce ATP for fuel. On the other hand, cancer cells lactic acid, which is a product of fermentation. During normal cell function, both anaerobic metabolism and aerobic metabolism (i.e. with oxygen) will interchange as cell oxygen levels change. The lactic acid produced during normal cell energy production is converted into ATP once oxygen levels return to normal. In cancer cells it gets locked into making energy for itself anaerobically and continues to produce acids. As the cancer cells spread and grows the more acids are produced. These acids are what cause the pain in cancer that has metastasized. The fluids surrounding cancer cells are more acidic then normal cells and can alter the DNA of healthy cells making them cancerous if the disease is left unchecked.
Fermentation? Yeast (fungus), Sugar (carbs)
Anaerobic cells are fermentative cells. Two things are needed to ferment something:
· Yeast, which is a fungus
· Sugar, which is a carbohydrate
Sugar comes in many forms and is commonly thought of as a food separate in and of itself, but this conception is not true.
Carbohydrates are found in all plant, based foods, from broccoli to grains to honey. All are sugars or carbohydrates. It is not the carbohydrates that feeds the cancer, but the glucose that comes from it. The faster the carbohydrates break down into glucose, the more fuel there is that is available to feed the cancer. So next time you are tempted to eat a piece of candy or drink soda pop during your chemo treatment, think again.
The only food/fuel source that can be burned during anaerobic metabolism are sugars/carbohydrates. Your oncologist and nutritionist should know this.
If cancer is fungal, would we find it in all cancer cells?
Wouldn’t it make sense since cancer cells are fermentative that we would find fungus present in all cancer cells? Dr. M.W. White of the University of Michigan says so. Dr. White in the journal Medical Hypothesis, states, “Our studies with supportive and tantalizing evidence indicate that cancer is due to the intracellular presence of an invasive obligate asexual anaerobe microorganism. The presence of this obligate anaerobe with its specific chemistry, along with the host’s circulating flow of blood, are the critical cofactors in carcinogenesis.” There is a lot more than this one example. When was the last time you heard from your doctor that cancer is from a microorganism, Fungus? Furthermore, many people who experience the chemo route of treatment are very seldom ever told that their diet plays a role in how they respond to treatment. Nor are they told the best way to eat in order to keep the cancer in remission. (Click for Research on Cancer/ Fungus)
Cancer cells have 10 times more receptors for insulin and produce their own insulin.
When we think of insulin we think of diabetes. What we don’t realize, is that without this hormone we can’t live and neither can cancer! Insulin is secreted by the pancreas in healthy people, and is a powerful hormone that has many actions in the human body. For example, insulin manages the delivery of glucose across cell membranes into cells. It communicates its messages to cells by joining with specific insulin receptors scattered on the outer surface of the cell membranes. Each cell has between 100 and 1,000 receptors. All of our cells have them. It is a known scientific fact that cancer cells have a voracious appetite for sugar (i.e. glucose). Cancer cells are locked into anaerobic metabolism, which is a very inefficient way of burning energy. Because of this inefficiency, they burn up a lot of fuel. Burning fuel results in much weight loss for cancer patients. Death often results from malnourishment. Cancer literally steals energy away from normal cells and starves them!
In addition to cancer cells being voracious sugar hogs, they also manufacture ands secrete their own insulin - almost like a separate living thing inside of us. This also makes sense seeing their large requirement for glucose/sugar. Remember: Cancer cells only burn sugar for energy. They can’t live without it! They also have more than 10 times as many receptors for insulin than do normal healthy cells. This understanding can greatly increase your chances to conquer cancer and stay healthy.
In the April 2000 issue of Nutrition Science News, Tulsa branch of the Cancer treatment Centers of America, director and nutritionist Patrick Quinlan discussed a mouse model of human breast cancer that demonstrated tumors are sensitive to blood-glucose levels. Sixty-eight mice were injected with an aggressive strain of breast cancer. They were then fed diets to induce either high blood-sugar (hyperglycemia), normoglycemia or low blood-sugar (hypoglycemia). There was a dose-dependent response in which the lower the blood glucose, the greater the survival rate. After 70 days, 8 of 24 hyperglycemic mice survived compared to 16 of 24 normoglycemic and 19 of 20 hypoglycemic.10 This suggests that regulating sugar intake is key to slowing breast tumor growth (see chart, p. 164). Click for Nutrition Science News: Cancer's Sweet Tooth
You have only one choice. Make the change!!
Have you ever been told any of this information by your nutritionist? Have you ever been told that diet has little to do with cancer? Have you ever been told to that eat whatever you want in order to keep your weight on (e.g. ice cream, or milk shakes)? This is exactly what you don’t want to do. The sugars in these foods nourish the cancer.
Remember knowledge is power. Keep an open mind and you can defeat this dreaded disease of hopelessness.
What you can do to help yourself
My pH-aT Lifestyle program was developed after many years of personal research into human health. I found that most exercise routines are not practical and did not meet the needs of the individual who may have health issues or physical limitations, such as muscular dystrophy or multiple sclerosis. Most exercise programs are designed for a younger participant. The trainers in the industry often don’t address the needs of those they train. They become bored with what they are doing and train the client not with their needs in mind but the wants of the trainer. This does not benefit the participant.
The pH-aT training system minimizes rest periods between exercises, moving around the body, exercising non-related areas. This form of training increases available oxygen to all muscle groups, a faster recovery time and more fat burning.
Exercise training time is minimized. Normal equivalent exercise would take 1 ½ hours to accomplish what pH-aT exercise can do in 30 minutes. I guarantee that!
pH-aT nutrition
Nutrition continues to be a battle between the low fat and low carb proponents. Neither of these addresses the long-term maintenance of either approach and is completely healthy. The pH-aT lifestyle program deals with the attitude of its participant, providing them with a workable program that stresses change to be healthy. The eating plan emphasizes leafy green vegetables that are alkalizing (i.e. providing more oxygen), leaner sources of protein that contain good fats and some fruit.
Along with the approach goes a predetermined periodic break, “a cheat meal”, from the diet to keep the metabolism working efficiently and the pH-aT way of eating maintainable for the rest of your life. So get with it, Get “pH-aT.”
Disclaimer: The above is informational. Suggestion that this advise replaces treatment is improper. What it does say is that there is much you can do to help yourself and you need to know what it is. Only you can only make the choice. Make it a wise choice.
Lance Dreher, Ph.D.
Doctor Fitness
Call 480-951-7177 for an appointment with Lance Dreher. Visit pH-aT Living for Doctor Fitness' Newsletter and other health articles.
For more information about Lance Dreher, visit The Fitness Institute or contact him by email at DoctorFitness @ EVLiving.com.
Lance Dreher is a frequent contributor to East Valley Living and his articles are regularly featured in Doctor Fitness Talks.
