Cancer Protection and Treating Cancer Through Your Gut
Hello Everyone! Gut microbiota plays a crucial role in our mind and body and in inducing and reducing chronic diseases, including cancer. Countless studies link gut microbiota with cancer, and there is reason why.
In this post, I will point out why microbiota impacts disease and how you can reduce the risk of developing cancer and assist your body in the early stages of cancer, through treatment and in remission.
What Can Cause Cancer?
Why Is Cancer So Common?
What Foods Affect Cancer?
How Does Gut Bacteria Prevent Cancer?
What Helps Reduce the Effects of Chemotherapy?
Gut Microbiota and Cancer
Improve Gut Health to Reduce Cancer Risk
Inspirational Cancer Stories
What Can Cause Cancer?
Inflammation has potent effects on the development and spreading of cancer. Inflammation leads the body into a pro-inflammatory state without apparent symptoms over a long period. Still, it causes DNA damage, cell mutation, and proliferation. This leads to chronic diseases like cancer.
Cancer is a multifactorial disease (genetic, lifestyle, immune response, environment, stress, and so on), so it can seem hard to believe that gut microbiota influences cancer prevention and treatment.
Still, you can see the link when you think about how microbiota stimulates immunity, regulates inflammation, and reduces infectious, metabolic, and chronic diseases.
Food, stress, environmental pollutants, bacteria, viruses, lack of exercise, and sleep are some of the factors that increase pro-inflammatory cytokines, inflammatory enzymes, adhesion molecules, chemokines, and so on, which are all linked to chronic inflammation in the body.
A microenvironment of chronic inflammation, which is a dysregulation of the immune system, allows tumor cell survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis (blood vessel growth), metastasis (cells break away from the tumor and travel to form new tumors), chemoresistance (resistant to chemicals) and radioresistance (resistant to radiation).
Why Is Cancer So Common?
The vast majority of cancers are down to genetic and environmental factors. Many environmental factors increase chronic inflammation and the pathways that promote tumor growth.
Cancers are also linked to unhealthy foods, chemicals, and additives that we eat and drink, obesity, other inflammatory conditions, and autoimmune diseases. Did you read Why Is Aspartame Linked to Cancer?
Cancers are linked to infections like H.pylori and hepatitis and inhaling pollutants like asbestos and cigarette smoke.
Some cancers are linked to our jobs, reproductive and sexual behavior, industrial products, and even ionizing radiation like X-rays.
Considering that millions of new chemicals are amongst us, in our air, water, and foods, in the space of a couple of generations, you can see why cancer has increased over that time.
Many causes and links to cancer put our bodies into a pro-inflammatory state.
Chronic inflammation switches on our genes. Although we can’t switch off our genetic makeup, we can lessen inflammation’s expression with what we can control. I always advise making your body less inflammatory, even if you do not have any symptoms or apparent conditions or if you have non-communicable diseases that run in your family.
What Foods Affect Cancer?
Of course, many complex transformations and processes occur in the body during cancer development. Still, when damaging chronic inflammation exists, it supports the growth and proliferation of cancer cells and cancels out the immune response to fighting infections, for instance.
Since the factors that contribute to cancer affect and are affected by chronic inflammation, and chronic inflammation is affected by our gut microbiota, it is no surprise that there is a bidirectional link between cancer and gut microbiota.
When gut microbiota is disturbed and dysbiosis occurs, the physiological changes lead to disease development.
The fascinating thing, and crucial to health, is that gut microbiota is easily manipulated into a better environment to promote optimum health and fight disease.
When changed to a healthier diversity, your microbiota will crave more nutrition rather than the foods and drinks that cause dysbiosis. They are that powerful.
The more you stick to an anti-inflammatory diet, the more you feed microbiota, which lets your brain know that it wants more of those nutrients. By going with what your mind and body (brain-gut axis) tell you and feeding your body with that good bacteria, you begin healing yourself.
This goes for both good and bad bacteria.
How Does Gut Bacteria Prevent Cancer?
Suppose you have a diet that contains more processed and less nutritious foods; the more likely that pathogenic bacteria like Bacteroides will be craving more.
Did you read Low-calorie Foods for Weight Loss?
They make your body inflamed through gut dysbiosis, dysregulating the immune system and making you susceptible to disease. This means that you are less likely to be able to fight disease, too.
You can aid your body in cancer protection and treatment success through your gut microbiota.
Extensive studies on microbiota show that in as little as 24 hours, microbiome composition can change dramatically. This is why EBS members feel the benefits rather quickly, which gets better and better.
This is all down to the essential components in various foods when eaten predominantly, which you will find recipes for on Eat Burn Sleep. A wide variety of the proper nutrients work synergistically to prevent cellular stress, boost immunity, and reduce fat cell composition; for instance, they inhibit inflammatory states and promote optimum health.
A comprehensive range of techniques to reduce stress, change habits, and be kinder to yourself contribute to good gut health, reducing the risk of cancer development.
Reducing inflammation through eating, drinking, moving, breathing, thinking, sleeping, and generally looking after ourselves is key.
Chronic inflammation is modulated by how we live and mentally deal with disease and recovery.
What Helps Reduce the Effects of Chemotherapy?
Following this protocol will minimize the effects of chemotherapy and optimize your results.
Eat Burn Sleep has its own 6-Week Reset Liver Detox and Microbiota-Balancing Program, which brings incredible results and kicks off your journey to good health.
So, if you have cancer and are undergoing treatment, I advise that you do the 6-week Reset and follow the specialized advice on cancer protection and treatment. It will guide you on what to eat and avoid, supplements, powerful neuroplasticity exercises, meditations and relaxation techniques, and movement.
Liver health is essential for everyone and takes a lot of strain during cancer treatment and any medication. You can read more about that here: Detox Your Liver Naturally.
Gut Microbiota and Cancer
Many diets and lifestyles reduce beneficial bacteria and increase unhealthy bacteria and gut dysbiosis.
If you look at the typical Western diet, with high omega-6 fats, processed foods, chemical additives, and high glycemic loads, an array of events occur in the body to put it into a less-than-healthy state.
So, suppose you are eating this way every day. In that case, a whole complex interplay occurs in your body. You will increase unhealthy bacteria like Bacteroides, Fusobacterium, and Clostridia and reduce good bacteria like Bifidobacteria and Eubacteria.
All of these unhealthy bacteria in the gut activate an inflammatory state through an over-reacting immune response, leading to tissue degeneration, a compromised gut barrier, and the development of tumors, for instance.
Manipulating the microbiome with good bacteria and essential nutrients that also suppress inflammation inhibits the effects of harmful bacteria. This will regulate the immune system and reduce inflammation and cancer risk.
Have you tried Spinach & Tomato Paleo Muffins, Rack of Lamb With Basil & Mint, and Slow Cooker Oxtail & Vegetables?
Improve Gut Health to Reduce Cancer Risk
As I mentioned above, gut microbiota changes in no time. Health is improved dramatically, even with the occasional lapse. Small changes often lead to one significant change over some time. Now is always a good time to start protecting yourself from disease and reducing systemic inflammation (which allows the perfect environment for the growth of the disease).
It is not just what we eat and drink that changes our microbiota, though, as I always say.
Maintaining a pro-oxidative/anti-oxidative balance along with an inflammation-reducing microbiota-balancing diet and lifestyle will assist with de-stressing your mind and body. It will correct immune system alterations, protect from free-radical damage, and reduce chronic non-communicable diseases.
Inspirational Cancer Stories
As Karin Greenberg says in one of our podcasts, thoughts are intensely important to protect you when you have cancer and chronic disease. After the initial shock and denial of cancer diagnosis, she took on a positive mindset.
She planned, dreamed, and visualized the party that she would have when it was all over.
Karen’s story is inspirational for dealing with cancer; it gave me goosebumps! Head on over there to hear her talk about surviving breast cancer.
In the podcast section, you will find our member Sofia’s uplifting cancer recovery story. You may be interested in the article: How Can You Prevent & Treat Cervical Cancer? and Anti-cancer Diet: Recovery and Protection.
If you are undergoing cancer treatment, be with people who love and support you! There’s no time or energy for less-than-positive people that drain you at the best times, so ensure you have the best people around you.
I wish you strength, love, and hope!