Cancer Fighting Foods

Minimize toxins in your life

Avoid "Fragrance"

Although it's just one little word on the ingredient label, "fragrance" can contain dozens, even hundreds, of chemicals—including hormone-disrupting phthalates, synthetic musks, and ethylene oxide. Fragrance manufacturers claim the formulas are confidential business information. So, until we change the law so consumers have the right to know what’s in our products, it's best to avoid synthetic fragrance and opt for products that are fragrance-free or that contain natural fragrances like essential oils.

Avoid These Top Offenders

Individual brands aside, some products are just bad news. Things to avoid:

·         Anti-aging creams with lactic, glycolic, AHA and BHA acids

·         Hair dyes, especially dark permanent dyes

·         Liquid hand soaps with triclosan/triclocarban

·         Nail polish and removers with formaldehyde, DBP or toluene (which can be contaminated with benzene)

·         Skin lighteners with hydroquinone

·         Heavily scented products

·         Moisturizers, ointments and skin creams with petrolatum (which can be contaminated with PAHs)

·         Fungicides, shaving creams, hair gels and hair coloring containing nonylphenol

·         Hair spray, gel, mousse or shaving cream that contains isobutane, a propellant that can be contaminated with 1,3-butadiene

·         Sunscreens with UV filters that mimic estrogen.

Reference:

Breast Cancer Fund: Choose safe cosmetics

Don't Put Toxins/Carcinogens on Your Skin

Your skin is the largest organ you have and as such is a huge conduit for bringing toxins into your body. Yet daily, you probably apply 12 or more cosmetics to your body which may contain ingredients that are absorbed through your skin and transferred to your internal systems – nervous, endocrine, immune and digestive system. Contained within these everyday products may lurk dozens of health hazards that not only endanger your well being.

Be careful with the cosmetics made with harmful ingredients. How do you know the product is contains harmful ingredients? What you need to do is just reading carefully the ingredients at the back of your products. You need to start to exclude any cosmetic products which contain harmful ingredients below:

·         Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)

·         Coal tar dyes (known as D&C or FD&C colors)

·         Formaldehyde

·         Heavy metal (mercury, lead, chromium and so on)

·         Hydroquinone

·         Nanoparticles

·         Nitrosamines

·         Octyl-dimethyl and OCtyl-methoxycinnamate

·         Parabens

·         Polyethylene glycol

·         Polyvinypyrrolidone (PVP)

·         Quaternium-15

·         Resorcinol

·         Silicon

·         Talc (Talcum powder)

Choosing Sea Salt or Table Salt?

Differences between Sea Salt or Table Salt

Some of people may thinking that it is healthier to consume sea salt than table salt because the sodium content of sea salt is lower than table salt. But, sea salt and table salt has same nutritional value, contains same amount of sodium. So, there are no reason for you to eat more salt when you replace table salt with sea salt.

Sea salt is obtained directly through the evaporation of seawater. It is usually not processed, or undergoes minimal processing, and therefore retains trace levels of minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium and other nutrients.

Table salt, on the other hand, is mined from salt deposits and then processed to give it a fine texture so it’s easier to mix and use in recipes. Processing strips table salt of any minerals it may have contained, and additives are also usually incorporated to prevent clumping or caking.

Sea salt is suggested compared to table salt in term of less using of chemicals to process it. So as to reduce toxins accumulation in our body. And sea salt contains other types of minerals which have been stripped away from table salt during high heat processing.

Keep your sodium consumption less than 2400 mg/day.

Muscle Builders - Must Read It

Banned ingredients in Supplement for Muscle Building

DMAA is often touted as a “natural” stimulant, with many claimed functional uses including a body-building aid, an athletic performance enhancer, and a weight-loss aid. Although DMAA at one time was approved as a drug for nasal de-congestion  no medical use of DMAA is recognized today. FDA is not aware of any reliable science indicating that DMAA exists naturally in plants.

This substance narrows blood vessels and arteries, which can elevate blood pressure, and may lead to cardiovascular problems such as shortness of breath, arrhythmias, tightening in the chest, and heart attack, as well as seizures and other neurological and psychological conditions. FDA has received 86 reports of adverse events involving products containing DMAA. These events include psychiatric disorders, heart problems, nervous system disorders, and death. 

FDA sent warning letters to a total of 11 companies advising them that DMAA-containing products marketed as dietary supplements are illegal.

How do consumers know if a dietary supplement contains DMAA?Consumers should look for DMAA listed on the product label. It may also be listed as:

• 1,3-DMAA
• 1,3-Dimethylamylamine
• 1,3-Dimethylpentylamine
• 2-Amino-4-methylhexane
• 2-Hexanamine
• 4-Methyl-2-hexanamine
• 4-Methyl-2-hexylamine
• 4-methyl- (9CI)
• Dimethylamylamine
• Geranamine
• Methylhexanamine
• Methylhexanenamine

reference:

http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/ReportAdverseEvent/default.htm 

John Hopkins Update - It is an email Hoax!

Firstly, i was very impressed with the interesting facts on cancer from the "John Hopkins Update". It was spreading widely in the website, facebook and etc. It seems like the hot topics for everyone. However, i found no any clinical studies prove the facts statement. At the end, i just found out it is only the Hoax email. Johns Hopkins Medicine has made a clarification on the "John Hopkins Update" in 2009 that it is not the true statement (refer the johns hopkins link below). The hoax email - "John Hopkins Update" was start to spread in 2007, which stated that the nutritional method is more effective than traditional approach, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. 

Hoax statement 1:
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.  


Hoax statement 2:
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.


Fact 1 & 2: Cancer is a genetic disease resulting from a variety of mutations and alterations either inherited from our parents or, more commonly, acquired over time due to environmental exposures and behaviors, such as smoking and poor diet. These alterations turn off important cell growth regulators allowing cells to continually divide unchecked, explains Luis Diaz, a clinician-scientist in Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics. This type of cell is called a malignant or cancer cell.  Among the trillions of cells in the human body, inevitably everyone has some abnormal or atypical cells that possess some of the characteristics of cancer cells, most resolve themselves and never result in cancer, says Diaz. 

There is no single or standard test for cancer. There are ways to screen for certain cancers with tests such as colonoscopy for colon cancer, mammography for breast cancer, PSA for prostate cancer, and the Pap smear for cervical cancer, and these tests can detect cancers in a very early and curable stage.  For many cancers, there currently are no screening tests, and they are diagnosed when they begin to cause symptoms.

A team of our breast cancer researchers has developed a method that could make it possible to detect breast cancer from the DNA contained in a single drop of blood.

Hoax statement 3:
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

Fact 3: it is not a matter of strong or weak as the fictional report contends, but rather an issue of recognition.  "The immune system simply does not recognize cancer. In its complexity, the cancer cell has learned to disguise itself to the immune system as a normal, healthy cell.  Cells infected with viruses or bacteria send out danger signals setting the immune system in action.  But cancer cells do not, explains Elizabeth Jaffee, co-director of cancer immunology and leading expert on cancer and the immune system."  

Hoax statement 4:
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

Hoax statement 5:
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

Fact 4 & 5: 
Dietary habits and lifestyle choices, such as smoking, contribute to the development of many human cancers, says Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson. Our experts recommend a balanced diet as a way of reducing cancer risk.  In terms of supplements, Nelson points out that while they may help mediate vitamin deficiencies, taking doses above what the body needs provides no added benefit.

Hoax statement 6,7,8,9,10:
Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy Harms Normal Cells. Surgery Causes Cancer to Spread and become resistant.

Fact 6,7,8,9,10:

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy kills cancer cells with remarkable selectivity, says Nelson.  There are some temporary and reversible side effects common to cancer therapies, including hair loss and low blood counts.  Limiting and managing these side effects is an integral part of treatment.

Surgery is the first line of treatment for many types of cancer. It does not cause cancer to spread. Cancers spread to other tissues and organs as a tumor progresses and cancer cells break away from the original tumor and travel through the bloodstream to other body sites.

Hoax statement 11,12,13,14:

Cancers Feed on Certain Foods like acidic food, milk, sugar and etc.

Fact 11,12,13,14:

According to our experts, a poor diet and obesity associated with a poor diet is a risk factor for the development of cancer.  However, there is no evidence that certain foods alter the environment of an existing cancer, at the cellular level, and cause it to either die or grow.

While there is such a thing as tumors that produce mucus, the mucus made by a tumor does not result from drinking milk.  And, eating less meat, while a good choice for cancer prevention, does not free up enzymes to attack cancer cells, explains cancer prevention and control expert Elizabeth Platz.

Moderation is key, says Platz. As part of a balanced diet, sugar, salt, milk, coffee, tea, meat, and chocolate—the foods the “Update” calls into question—are all safe choices, she says.  The real concern with many of these, particularly sugar, is that it adds calories to a diet and can lead to obesity, and obesity is a major risk factor for cancer. A balanced nutritious diet, healthy weight, physical activity, and avoiding alcoholic drinks may prevent as many as 1/3 of all cancers. Platz recommends eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day and limiting red and processed meats, like hot dogs.

Hoax statement 15:
Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment.

Fact 15:
Cancer is a disease caused by genetic alterations.  Many times, these alterations occur through our own behaviors—cigarette smoking, a poor and unbalanced diet, virus exposures, and sunburns, says cancer prevention and control expert John Groopman. 

How stress, faith, and other factors influence this is largely unknown.  We would like people to be happy, loving, and stress free, simply because it is a nice way to live and can contribute to an overall feeling of well being, says Platz.  There is no evidence, however, that a person prevents or causes cancer based on his or her state of mind.

Hoax statement 16:

Oxygen Kills Cancer Cells

Fact 16:

Platz recommends regular exercise as a part of any healthy lifestyle, but says there is no evidence that breathing deeply or receiving oxygen therapy prevents cancer.

Life would be easier if Cancer can be prevented in just few simple way mentioned in "John Hopkins Update". However, it is only a Hoax Email.

References:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/kimmel_cancer_center/news_events/featured/cancer_update_email_it_is_a_hoax.html 

Blood Nourishment is Vital - Especially after menstruation or blood deficiency/anemia

Nutrients for blood building : Iron, Vitamin B6, Vitamin 12 and Folate

The peak period when your body start to rebuild blood is the subsequent week after your menstruation stop. During your menstruation, you loss a lot of blood though bleeding. Thus, you need to provide enough nutrients for your body to rebuild it bad. or else you would feel the unpleasant symptoms for your following menstruation. 

Moreover, blood deficiency state might happens if your body are lacking of blood for long times. The symptoms are dizziness, pale looking, fatigue and etc.

Hence, replenish your blood with inclusion foods that high in iron, folate, vitamin B6 & 12.