Hotel YOU: Encouraging a Cancer-free Stay

Written by Jamie Arreola

While it is true that cancers are ruthless in their efforts to survive, it has been scientifically proven that we can purposefully make our bodies less likely targets for cancer. In addition, even if we get cancer, cancer growth can be slowed and discouraged in part, by our food choices. You can turn on and off genes, and help your body heal through lifestyle choices. Along with medical protocol, food choices can fortify Hotel YOU.

Imagine that your body is a hotel called Hotel YOU. Your whole life, you effortlessly host an unending line of visitors who arrive, pay for their room, and stay without drama. Those are the beneficial microbiota that make up your digestive system, live on the surface of your skin, and occupy space on and within you without negative incident. They reproduce and have a helpful, symbiotic relationship with you. These are the guests you welcome- the ones that keep your hotel business, aka, your body, running in tip-top condition.

Unfortunately, hotels are sometimes targets for thieves and ne’er-do-wells. Cancer cells can be compared to these types of unwanted guests that show up to your hotel, break in, and sneak into an unoccupied room. They steal the linens, break the bedframes, and take over the entire building, and may burn the whole thing down, if they are not caught and removed from the premises.

The question is, what type of security system is needed to keep these unwanted guests out, and what can be done if they do make their way into the building? Encouraging news! Just as a fine hotel installs security cameras, alarms, keyless door entries and a night watchman, so can we help to protect our bodies from break-ins, aka cellular damage, and disease.

Remember cancer cells are like unwanted guests. So how can you keep them at bay? Here is the key. Cancer cells need specific fuels “foods” to grow and reproduce. Therefore, you can eat a diet which welcomes cancer cells or repels them. What you consume encourages rogue cells to stay and multiply, or to die off. Many scientific studies have demonstrated how cancers thrive. You now have valuable information to start fortifying yourself to be less hospitable to cancer, and to kill off cancer when it shows up.

One ingredient you can avoid is sugar. This is because the human body has an ideal pH balance, or acid-base balance of 7.35-7.45, and sugars ruin your pH balance. Sugars like glucose and fructose, as well as simple carbohydrates, can rapidly lower the pH within your body for the worse. By interacting with electrolytes, sugar lowers our pH and makes your blood pH more acidic. Cancers can only live in acidic environments. This calls for an elimination of soda, candy, cookies, cakes, sweet teas, and sugary cereals. But did you know that alcohol (yes, liquor, wine, spirits, beer), high-fructose fruits, processed foods, and wheat products like some breads and pastas feed cancer? That's because many types of carbohydrates break down, or are converted into, or act like sugar once eaten. Guess what cancer’s favorite food is? Sugar! Consider making Hotel YOU a low/no sugar zone.

In the case of certain cancers, especially rapidly spreading cancers, a second ingredient to avoid is animal fat. These advanced cancers can morph to use low density lipids, like those from fatty meats (beef, lamb, pork, poultry) and dairy (milk, cheese, cream), to make cancer cell membranes. If you are fighting an aggressive cancer, consider these cancers have adapted to their environment, so even if you avoid sugar and simple carbs, these cancers have changed course and now can use animal fats as fuel. So, Hotel YOU, while serving incredible dishes, may avoid meat and dairy.

A third ingredient to avoid is, get ready for it, everything! But only for a portion of your day. In order to discourage cancer from taking over, it has been proven effective to make food sources less predictable through intermittent fasting. By limiting the hours in a day that you take in food, you can stop eating for a portion of the day to signal your bodies that you are done digesting, and it is time to do some in-house cleaning. Your immune system can then rev up, sending damaged and dysfunctional cells and foreign matter collected by our lymph system into our blood to be filtered by our liver and kidneys for disposal. To accomplish this, avoid late night snacking and drink only water and herbal tea for at least four hours before bedtime. Give your body time to do the work of cleansing and healing. A shorter time window can be created for food consumption, but allowing an eight-hour time slot for meals can sustain energy throughout the day. For example, eating between the hours of 10 am and 6 pm daily creates a 16 hour daily fast. A half day fast, once a week or more, is also achievable, depending on your activity level; forgo breakfast, eat lunch at noon, and eat an early dinner and finsih by 6 pm. Think of it this way: Hotel YOU hosts an amazing restaurant with limited hours of operation.

This fourth food that discourages cancer has no calories and is free every hour of the day: oxygen. Twenty-four hours a day, you breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Add more oxygen to every cell of your body by mindfully breathing. Use exercise, movement, relaxation, and meditative breathing in your routine to oxygenate. Cancer hates oxygen, and so by taking in more oxygen, you make your body a less desirable place for cancer to live and grow. Hotel YOU can advertise FREE oxygen; everyone(every cell in your body) wants free oxygen, except cancer!

So now, what is left to eat if you cut down on sugar, alcohol, wheat, dairy, and meat? A wide variety of gluten-free whole grains, fresh vegetables, legumes, many fruits, as well as cold water fish, can provide an array of meals that taste good and provide you with nutrition, while starving cancer cells. A limited number of organic eggs, six per week, can be eaten as well, depending on your allergies and tolerance. Hotel YOU can still enjoy a 5-star rating with a buffet of delicious, nutrient- dense, healthy, cancer-unfriendly foods! Hotel YOU motto: Eat well and eat on purpose.

By considering what types of internal environments cancers like and dislike, you can make food choices that assist your own body in avoiding and fighting off cancer. While food is not the only way to combat cancer, it is a useful part of any wellness program, and one that you can begin today. For people without cancer who want to avoid it, and people who have cancer and want to help their bodies heal, these foods may assist. These suggestions do not take the place of your medical treatment; they are meant to add nutrition while removing known cancer-fueling foods. Everyone is an individual, and so diets must be adapted, but this is an outline to use as you begin. Remember, when it comes to Hotel YOU, you run the place! You are the manager, the owner and you are also a full-time, permanent guest!

About the Author

Jamie Arreola is a certified functional nutritionist, and a certified health and life coach. If you need help implementing healthy lifestyle changes, contact Jamie and get started today! Email jamie at jamieactivates@gmail.com

References

Maldonado, Candelaria. “Different Cancer Types Call for Different Diet Types”. Hope 4 Cancer. https://hope4cancer.com/blog/different-cancer-types-call-for-different-diet-types/