A Dietary Defense For Defeating Cancer

When it comes to our health in the 21st Century, one of the worst things you could ever hear from your doctor is the dreaded "c" word. Yes, I'm referring to cancer.

I'd be surprised if ANY of my readers have not at all been impacted by this horrible disease personally, through a family member, or among your circle of friends. It comes on like a roaring lion and grips hard to try to devour and destroy everything it touches.

I've seen it personally in my own life recently with my former Minister of Music Steve Dyar. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in December 2006 and just finished up his months-long grueling chemotherapy treatments. Now his throat won't open up to allow him to eat and we are praying for a miracle to happen in his life.

The local talk show host had prostate cancer in March and another famous radio show host is going through this with his wife who has cancer of the uterus. Cancer is ruthless and is not a respecter of persons. It doesn't care who you are and will seek to destroy your life completely.

Thankfully, there are some things we can do as a dietary defense for defeating cancer that one of my extremely knowledgeable readers passed along to me after conducting some research on the subject responding to the asinine study claiming the Atkins diet leads to colon cancer.

Nevermind the fact that it is a high-carb diet that has been shown in NUMEROUS studies to be linked to brain cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer among others.

With that said, here is a superb guest column which lists the specific vitamins and nutrients you should consume to put yourself in the best position to ward off cancer nutritionally. It's not guaranteed, but having a plan is better than no plan at all.

Special THANKS to my reader for sharing this with us today:

A DIETARY DEFENSE FOR DEFEATING CANCER

Less than a hundred years ago cancer was a very rare disease indeed. In fact, it was so extraordinary that patients with cancer were prominently discussed in medical textbooks and journals.

Thanks to the "many benefits" of our modern, "balanced" diets, cancers are now widespread, affecting more than 30 percent of the entire population of this planet.

The skyrocketing cancer rates are, not unsurprisingly, completely in accordance with the skyrocketing intake of overly-processed, nutritionally empty carbohydrates from sugar, starch and corn syrups.

Cancer therapies have done little to improve survival rates since the "war on cancer" was declared in the 1970's. Actually, nothing that now can be cured could not be cured then. So clearly the best approach to cancer is prevention.

Traditional diets, containing animal and plant foods farmed by nontoxic methods, are rich in factors that protect against cancer. Many of these protective factors are in the animal fats. Vegetarianism, for example, does not protect against cancer. In fact, vegetarians are particularly prone to cancers of the nervous system and reproductive organs.

So what are the nutrients that protect against cancer? They are:

Vitamin A: Strengthens the immune system. Essential for mineral metabolism and endocrine function. Helps detoxify. True vitamin A is found only in animal foods such as cod liver oil; fish and shellfish; and liver, butter and egg yolks from pasture-fed animals. Traditional diets contained ten times more vitamin A than the typical modern American diet.

Vitamin C: An important antioxidant that prevents damage by free radicals. Found in many fruits and vegetables but also in certain organ meats valued by primitive peoples.

Vitamin B-6: Deficiencies are associated with cancer. Contributes to the function of over 100 enzymes. Most available from animal foods.

Vitamin B-12: Deficiencies are associated with cancer. Found only in animal foods.

Vitamin B-17: Protects against cancer. Found in a variety of organically-grown grains, legumes, nuts and berries.

Vitamin D: Required for mineral absorption. Strongly protective against breast and colon cancer. Found only in animal foods such as cod liver oil, lard, shellfish and butterfat, organ meats and egg yolks from grass-fed animals. Traditional diets contained ten times more vitamin D than the typical modern American diet.

Vitamin E: Works as an antioxidant at the cellular level. Found in unprocessed oils as well as in animal fats like butter and egg yolks. Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA): Strongly protective against breast cancer. Found in the butterfat and meat fat of grass-fed ruminant animals.

Cholesterol: A potent antioxidant that protects against free radicals in cell membranes. Found only in animal foods.

Minerals: The body needs generous amounts of a wide variety of minerals to protect itself against cancer. Minerals like zinc, magnesium and selenium are vital components of enzymes that help the body fight carcinogens. Minerals are more easily absorbed from animal foods.

Lactic Acid and Friendly Bacteria: Contribute to the health of the digestive tract. Found in old fashioned lacto-fermented foods.

Saturated Fats: Strengthen the immune system. Needed for proper use of the essential fatty acids. The lungs cannot function without saturated fats. Found mostly in animal foods.

Long-Chain Fatty Acids: Arachidonic acid (AA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) help fight cancer on the cellular level. They are found mostly in animal foods such as butter, organ meats, cod liver oil and seafood.

Co-enzyme Q10: Highly protective against cancer. Found only in animal foods.

Conversely, here are some of the compounds found in processed foods that have been linked to cancer:

Trans Fatty Acids: Imitation fats in shortenings, margarines and most commercial baked goods and snack foods. Strongly associated with cancer of the lungs and reproductive organs.

Rancid fats: Industrial processing creates rancidity (free radicals) in commercial vegetable oils.

Omega-6 fatty acids: Although needed in small amounts, an excess can contribute to cancer. Dangerously high levels of omega-6 fatty acids are due to the overuse of vegetable oils in modern diets.

MSG: Associated with brain cancer. Found in almost all processed foods, even when "MSG" does not appear on the label. Flavorings, spice mixes and hydrolyzed protein contain MSG.

Aspartame: Imitation sweetener in diet foods and beverages. Associated with brain cancer.

Pesticides: Associated with many types of cancer. Found in most commercial vegetable oils, fruit juices, vegetables and fruits.

Hormones: Found in animals raised in confinement on soy and grains. Plant-based hormones are plentiful in soy foods.

Artificial Flavorings and Colors: Associated with various types of cancers, especially when consumed in large amounts in a diet of junk food.

Refined Carbohydrates: Sugar, high fructose corn syrup and white flour are devoid of nutrients. The body uses up nutrients from other foods to process refined carbohydrates. Tumor growth is associated with sugar, HFCS as well as starch consumption.

Questions or feedback about what you think of this list? Leave a comment below!

NOTE: Much of the information provided in this list is taken from the Weston A. Price web site. Special THANKS to my readers for pointing out this for proper attribution.

What's In A Twinkie? You Don't Wanna Know!

Ever wonder what they put in a Twinkie? Just ask Steve Ettlinger!

1. What a sweet low-carb treat we have for the readers of the "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" blog today--it's Steve Ettlinger! Who? Steve is the author of a provocative new Hudson Street Press book that I think you're gonna love entitled Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats--yes, we're talking about high-carb junk food like Twinkies, but it's not what you think. Steve, tell us a little bit about yourself and how and why you got into writing books on the subject of food and nutrition.

I've had a hand in forty books and written six, but three of my favorites concern food. I love ating, have worked as an assistant chef, and while living in France, came to appreciate good, fresh, well-prepared food like never before. Since I began writing or producing books in 1988, I have always concentrated on the popular reference angle.

I wondered for years why no one covered things like polysorbate 60 the same way we cover wine or cheese, and thought about doing something for a few years. Finally, my kids asked me, "Daddy, where does polysorbate 60 come from?" and I knew I had to get moving on this book. Choosing the Twinkie as an example was great, because the Twinkie ingredient list, which is the table of contents of Twinkie, Deconstructed, is just the right length for a book and covers a wide range of ingredients.

2. I have to tell you, Steve, the title and cover art of your book certainly captures your attention right away which you hope will get people hooked just long enough to hear the message you have to share. I did the same with my book and blog calling them "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb." Have you heard about anyone who accidentally "found" you looking for Twinkies and became convinced they'd never eat one again?

No. Most people who eat them expect Twinkies to be processed food. I think many are surprised at how much of our food comes from petroleum or rocks, though.

3. Can you believe the ingredients people are stuffing their faces with nowadays without a care in the world what most of those words they can't even pronounce really are?! It's really a sad state of affairs we find ourselves in nutritionally when much of what is consumed by the average American is not just garbage, but a bad nightmare food science project where the public serves as the guinea pigs for this junk! When did our culture move away from eating real whole foods and start relying on these highly-processed concoctions made in a food lab somewhere filled with God knows what as the main source of nourishment?

I tell people who are aghast at what's in processed food that if they want healthy food, they should eat their fruits and vegetables. I have tended toward the Mediterranean diet for years, and I stay basically low-fat and low-carb. I do enjoy many welcome digressions to eat sauces, desserts, and beer. I try to eat fresh oranges for breakfast instead of orange juice, etc.

But living in New York City, I can eat all kinds of neat, healthy food--sushi for snacks, fruit from street vendors--nearly any time and any place I want. And Twinkies are sold by most corner grocery stores, too, just in case I need one--for research purposes only, of course!

A lot of people think that I must be coming out with some diatribe against Twinkies, and in fact, they are not what you would want to be eating if you are seriously dieting. However, because they are so clearly a dessert treat I just don't bother with getting up on my soapbox and yelling anything bad about them. That would fall kind of flat, considering that no one ever claimed that Twinkies are good for you.

My angle is that this is truly amazing stuff they use, and all processed foods use. I just think it is fascinating to realize and to think about. And then I go eat my fruits and vegetables!

4. It's bad enough having weight and health-damaging ingredients like trans fats, white flour, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and the like showing up in just about everything these days, but there are other substances and chemicals finding their way into a good number of popular food items like Twinkies, too. Tell us about a few of the biggest culprits and why they are detrimental to our weight and health.

I can see by your question that you need to read my book in order to see that I am not a nutritionist or weight loss advisor, so I'll just answer the ones that I know about and let you deal with the rest.

5. I am planning on reading your book very soon because it reminds me of several others that have come out in recent years. For example, Eric Schlosser's amazing book about the fast food industry called Fast Food Nation. It seems you did what Schlosser did in his book by examining the food line all the way to the source of the actual ingredients that make up processed foods made in the United States. What was the most shocking discovery you unearthed in your investigation and have you personally altered your eating habits as a result of what you learned from writing this book?

I was totally shocked that we eat five kinds of rocks just about any time we eat anything baked! The simple product found on kitchen shelves everywhere, baking powder, is made from three. I was able to actually visit the mines where two of the rocks come from -- phosphate and trona, which is almost pure sodium carbonate.

The other one is limestone. Two other rocks are common--salt, of course, and calcium sulfate, which is essentially food-grade plaster and has been used in bread and tofu making for thousands of years. None of these are dangerous to us but they sure are surprising. I was also amazed to learn that enrichment vitamins are mostly from China.

6. There are some rather repulsive methods used when food companies start processing foods and what you describe as ingredients that are "closely linked to rocks and petroleumthan any of the four food groups" to get the proper consistency for making popular junk foods like Twinkies look like we know them to be. Would you mind sharing some of the major steps that go into the processing of these innocent-looking snack cakes?

Much of this process if discussed at length in my book. But I will say this--that we crack natural gas into methane and ethane in order to make sorbic acid, one of the safest food additives around, still totally blows me away. Sorbic acid is actually a food, a close cousin of olive oil.

7. I'm curious, what does Hostess, the company that manufactures Twinkies, think about Steve Ettlinger exposing their dirty little secret about their cherished American icon? Have they threatened to sue you or do even they realize you are merely sharing the truth?

I seriously doubt they consider this a "dirty little secret," in that their ingredients are listed on every package they sell! I also doubt that typical Twinkie consumers care about this kind of thing. As far as any threats go, please read the foreword in the book. All I'm doing is writing about ingredients used by most processed foods and many pharmaceuticals.

8. Your book is similar to one I reviewed at my blog recently by Michael Pollan entitled The Omnivore's Dilemma. Were you inspired by Pollan's outstanding investigative journalism?

While I have long admired and enjoyed Michael Pollan's work, his book came out after I finished mine (major publishing houses like Penguin have very long lead times in order to sell the book and distribute it to bookstores around the world), The Omnivore's Dilemma did not play a role in my book.

9. How did you seek to distinguish your work from Pollan's?

Because my book was written before his came out, I did not have to "seek to distinguish" my work from his. This said, we overlap quite a bit: check out his page 17, where he pretty much asks someone to try to figure out where Twinkies' ingredients come from! Surely readers who liked his book will be interested in mine, but his writing is much better. :)

10. THANK YOU, Steve Ettlinger, for joining me for an eye-opening look at the current state of affairs we find ourselves in bowing to the mad scientists in the food industry. So where do we go from here? Based on your newfound "expert" status with the release of your new book, how can Americans like myself and my readers who are deeply concerned about the issue of weight and health take what you have shared and help bring about the necessary changes that absolutely need to happen if issues like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome are ever going to be adequately addressed? Do you think we will see those changes happen anytime soon? Why or why not?

My newfound "expert" position allows me to entertain people with stories about where these ingredients are from and how they are made. Every person I spoke with--engineers, scientists, etc.--does their best to make things that we can eat or chemicals that we can use to make things that we eat. None of the people I spoke with would be proper spokespeople for what is good nutrition.

You can learn more about Steve Ettlinger's Twinkie, Deconstructed by visiting TwinkieDeconstructed.com.

What's PGPR Doing In Sugar-Free Chocolate?

Have you heard of Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate (PGPR) before?

Ever since I started livin' la vida low-carb, I have become like a hawk reading nutritional labels and ingredients of foods that are supposed to be acceptable for people who are following the low-carb way of life. Anytime I see something strange that I've never heard of before, then I know it's time to do some research and find out what it is really all about.

One such ingredient is something known as PGPR, or Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate. This is something that you will find in the ingredients list for Dove Sugar-Free Chocolates made by Mars, Inc. I personally LOVE Dove chocolates and was thrilled to learn they made a sugar-free version which I was hoping to add to my low-carb lifestyle. But if the whopping 17g of the nasty sugar alcohol maltitol they use to sweeten each bag didn't turn me off, then the PGPR did!

My food science source informs me that PGPR is an emulsifier used in chocolate and is made from castor bean oil. It is used primarily to improve the viscosity of the chocolate so it will melt in your mouth better. The lower the viscosity, the better the texture feels inside of your mouth. Products like chocolate chips and Hershey's kisses which are thicker chocolates have much higher viscosity so they will keep their shape.

The only other approved emulsifier used in the United States besides PGPR is lecithin while European chocolates can also contain YN (ammonium phosphatide) and CITREM (citric acid esters of mono- and di-glycerides).

Why do manufacturers use PGPR? Cost-cutting, of course. Our society relies so heavily on mass-marketed products that businesses will do whatever they can to cut corners in production to bring what they believe is an acceptable end product to the consumer at the lowest possible cost.

Sounds like a smart business strategy, right? After all, why else would all these companies be pouring stomach-busting maltitol and lactitol in their products? It's cheap and the consumer backlash is minimal, that's why.

Using PGPR enables the chocolate company to actually cut down on the amount of cacao butter they add to their product which is much more expensive than sugar. But the problem comes in when you attempt to make the chocolate sugar-free since sugar alternatives are quite a bit more expensive than sugar is. The varying levels of PGPR allows companies to change the taste, texture, and other such properties of the chocolate.

Although there are no specific safety concerns with PGPR and it can work well for creating a decent chocolate product, the sticking point for me is the fact that it could be used to cut corners which produces nothing more than an inferior product. In other words, did the Mars company use PGPR to purposefully make their Dover Sugar-Free Chocolates as cheaply made as possible? That's not doing the consumer any favors and I'm here to call them on it.

STOP USING THE MALTITOL AND PGPR IN YOUR PRODUCTS!!!

If you are looking for some high-quality sugar-free, low-carb chocolates, then you may want to visit LowCarbChocolates.com. They have the very best selection of chocolates available for people who are diabetic or enjoying the benefits of livin' la vida low-carb. No PGPR shows up in these chocolates.

Be on the lookout for this new mysterious ingredient called PGPR so you will know which chocolate companies are cutting corners to sell you an inferior product. Refuse to just settle for this and demand the very best. If you are going to indulge, then make it the highest-quality possible, right?