The sugar factor
Back in school we have all learned about Dr. Otto Warburg's discovery of what differentiates a cancer cell from a normal, healthy cell: cancer metabolizes through glucose fermentation.
This breakthrough discovery awarded Dr. Otto Warburg the Nobel Prize:
"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." - Dr. Otto Warburg
*(today evidence is mounting that depleted pancreatic enzyme levels, a compromised immune system and cell invading pleomorphic microbes intercepting most of the cell's glucose are the real root causes of cancer.)
Normal cells need oxygen. Cancer cells despise oxygen. In fact, oxygen therapy is a very effective anti cancer therapy.
Cancer metabolizes much differently than normal cells, it metabolizes through a process of fermentation, which requires sugar.
Unfortunately curing cancer is not as simple as eliminating all sugars from your diet since sugar feeds every cell in the body (including cancer cells).
Starving yourself of all sugars may indeed lead to cachexia (muscle wasting).
Cancer cells are extracting only about 5 percent (2 vs. 38 molecules of ATP) of the available energy in the food supply and the body's calorie stores, thus the cancer is "wasting" energy, and the patient becomes tired and undernourished.
It is one reason why 40 percent of cancer patients die from malnutrition, or cachexia.
Hence, cancer therapies must encompass regulating blood-glucose levels via diet, supplements, hydration, exercise, gradual weight loss and stress reduction.
The quest is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates from the diet but rather to control blood glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer and bolster immune function.
Good sugars and bad sugars
Sugars are very important to life. However, just as there are good fats and bad fats, there are good sugars and bad sugars.
Bad sugars, often referred to as simple sugars, are those in foods that do not offer any other nutritional benefit. Examples of simple sugars include foods like soda, sweets, sugar cereals, juice drinks, and refined grains.
Good sugars, or complex carbohydrates, are present in foods that provide nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber. Examples of complex carbohydrates include foods like fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains.
Reduce simple sugar intake
Simple sugars enter the bloodstream quickly and cause a rise in insulin and other growth-promoting hormones. Research shows that high levels of these hormones may increase the growth of cancer cells. The key to reducing these hormones is reducing your intake of simple sugars. Complex carbohydrates do not affect insulin the same as simple sugars, and thousands of research studies have shown that they actually reduce the risk of cancer.
The EIC anti-cancer diet takes all these factors into consideration.
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