Living Foods that Protect You from Cancer: BROCCOLI SPROUTS
There are many whole fresh foods that belong in your arsenal of cancer protection and immune support. None is more powerful that the little known, super powerful broccoli sprout.
Here’s a contributed article I thought I’d share.
BROCCOLI SPROUTS – Potent Little Cancer Fighters
by Jane Hardin, MS, RD/LD
One of the many benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is the reduced risk of cancer. Hundreds of studies are being conducted to determine exactly which components in our food are anti-carcinogenic and one of them – broccoli sprouts — is getting a lot of research attention for its phytochemical, SULFORAPHANE.
In general, cruciferous plants are rich in sulforaphane in its glucosinolate precursor form, glucoraphanin (conversion occurs in the gut). Broccoli contains unusually high levels of glucoraphanin, with the youngest plants having the most concentration. Raw is preferred, as heat appears to destroy some of the glucoraphanin. However, the evidence suggests that broccoli must be eaten in large quantities to substantially reduce the risk of cancer. Broccoli sprouts, then, become the optimal food for the following reasons:
- Glucoraphanin is concentrated in the broccoli sprouts. In fact, three day-old broccoli sprouts contain approximately 20 times the concentration of sulforaphane glucosinolate found in mature broccoli. (Other studies suggest sulforaphane glucosinatelevels anywhere from 10-100 times higher in sprouts than in fully grown plants.) A single ounce of sprouts has as much glucoraphanin as 1¼ pounds of cooked broccoli.
- There is a lot of variance in nutrient and phytochemical content from one broccoli plant to another. The sprouts seem to offer more uniform benefits.
How does it work?
There are two complementary routes to controlling cancer. The first is prevention – reducing exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and harmful diet choices.
The second, protection, bolsters the body’s own defenses by releasing detoxification (Phase 2) enzymes. These enzymes neutralize cancer-causing agents and free radicals before DNA is damaged and cancer is initiated. Dr. Paul Talalay and his colleagues at John Hopkins University School of Medicine have shown sulforaphane is a potent activator of these Phase 2 enzymes, thus enhancing the body’s natural cancer fighting instincts.
In animal studies, administration of sulforaphane blocked tumor development, thereby reducing the incidence, size, and multiplicity of carcinogen-induced tumors.
Nutritional biochemist Jed W. Fahey, M.S., Sc.D. (John Hopkins) states that protective enzymes are increased by just a just a couple ounces broccoli sprouts per day.
How do I incorporate broccoli sprouts into my diet?
Just mix them into your salads and wraps, or throw a handful into your smoothies, soups or blended salads! Broccoli sprouts have tender shoots and tiny leaves resembling alfalfa sprouts, but their taste more closely resembles radish. Its sharp flavor is the result of high concentrations of glucoraphanin, exactly what you want to stimulate protection against cancer.
Sprouting your own broccoli seed is easy and cost effective. Just soak the seeds overnight, then rinse and drain them two or three times a day, using any of the multiple sprouting systems you can purchase or make yourself. After just a few days you have sprouts! Eat immediately or store them for a few days in the refrigerator.
Broccoli sprouts are a dietary means to chemically reducing cancer risk, but the good news doesn’t end there. Studies have shown that broccoli sprouts may decrease overall cholesterol levels, while increasing HDL; reduce inflammation; optimize heart, artery and kidney function: decrease the risk of macular degeneration; protect lung cells while dealing with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and potentially reverse the damaging effects of diabetes-induced vascular disease!
Plant phytochemicals number in the thousands; only a handful of these have been identified and their mechanisms of action determined. There is also the issue of synergy – to what degree might healthful effects be dependent upon multiple food components working together, rather than as isolated substances?
Because there are still so many unknowns about the nutrition connection with cancer, a sensible approach is to incorporate lots of whole fruits and vegetables, including those crazy broccoli sprouts!
About the Author
R.Jane Hardin, MS, RD/LD is a traditionally-trained registered dietitian with a lifelong engagement in various holistic approaches to health and nutrition. Her eclectic food interests over the years have led her to studies with experts such as Dr. Ann Wigmore and Michio Kushi.
Jane’s renewed interest in raw living foods enabled her to reverse several deteriorating, personal health conditions, including fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. This inspired her to become a certified Raw Foods Educator. She now enjoys helping others along the pathway to nutritional wellness, regardless of starting point or destination, one bite at a time.
Tags: broccoli sprout, Cancer, cholesterol, cruciferous, detoxification, Dr. Ritamarie, gluten free, heart disease, sprouts, sulphorophane
Posted in Cancer Nutrition, Holistic Nutrition, Raw and Living Foods, Vibrant Health
Cancer and Children, the SAD Connection: Are Raw and Living Foods Part of the Solution?
It’s always sad to hear about a child who’s suffering and dying from cancer. It’s heartbreaking, actually. Such a waste of a life, to be stricken down so young. And what a painful experience for a parent…to lose a child is the worst nightmare of every parent.
Yet it happens every day, and it is frustrating to no end to observe the scenario. As you may recall, I lost my sister to cancer just over a year ago, and I watched in horror as they tore her immune system to shreds with the drugs, foods and treatments, in the hope that they could kill the cancer. She, like most cancer patients, died from the treatment, not the disease.
How can you expect a body to heal from cancer when it’s fed hospital food…white bread, milk, sugar, canned vegetables and bottled fruit juice. None of the food has life, and as such it has no ability to create life, or save life. It has only the power to destroy life.
This post was prompted by the story of a young boy named Dominic. I met his mom, Elaina Love, for the first time earlier this year, and again just a few weeks ago when she came to Austin to teach a class on how to make holiday meals that are life giving, in place of the holiday typical menu, containing foods that are life depleting.
Elaina and Dominic
I cried as I read this story and I’m tearing up again as I recount it. I have a son who’s around the same age, and the thought of losing him is unbearable. As I read Dominic and Elaina’s story, I couldn’t help but put myself into her shoes, and feel the intensity of the pain she is experiencing.
Dominic, age 14, became ill with leukemia earlier this year, and much to Elaina’s anguish, Dominic and his dad decided to put their trust in mainstream medicine — chemotherapy, radiation and a bone marrow transplant. All the while, he continued to eat the food served in the hospital,and the foods he and his dad chose, rather than follow Elaina’s recommendations of green foods, wheat grass juice and no sugar.
They thought it was successful until November 25, 2009 when the doctors told them the leukemia was back and more aggressive than ever. There was nothing more that mainstream medicine could offer Dominic, except to keep him comfortable as they waited for him to die. Their estimate was that he had between 1 week and 1 month to remain on the planet.
Finally, Dominic and his dad agreed to follow Elaina’s advice and take him to the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida, where they are famous for helping people to heal from cancer and where people go when they have no other choice. There Dominic will eat a completely green raw diet consisting of juices and greens, get daily wheatgrass implants , oxygen therapy and other non conventional therapies that the institute has to offer. It is their last hope.
Before leaving for Hippocrates, Elaina took Dominic off everything that feeds cancer- sugar, fruit,bread, dairy, pastries, salt, caffeine, meat,and everything that is served on he hospital cafeteria trays sent to his room three times a day. He started consuming liquid blue green algae, wheat grass , green juice , cucumbers, avocado, lettuce, red bell peppers and only raw, vegan foods that contain no sugar. They stopped the IV, which contained sugar water.
Elaina and Dominic have been at Hippocrates for about 10 days now, and Elaina reports that he seems to be getting stronger. Only time will tell. You can follow Dominic’s progress on Elaina’s blog, at http://elainalove.wordpress.com/
The therapy and airfare combined are going to be close to $20,000 for the first 3 weeks. Drs Brian and Ann Marie Clement are offering a partial scholarship and there is a donation fund being set up.
You can help in a several ways:
1- Keep Dominic and Elaina in your thoughts and prayers. Send healing energy in their direction.
2- Donate, even $5!
http://www.purejoyplanet.com/store/index.php?cPath=26
Any help you can send their way would be so great.
3- Shop at Elaina’s website. Christmas and Hanukkah are coming up. Buy a gift for yourself or your loved ones. Buy Elaina’s books, DVDs, e-books, or a nut milk bag or Irish Moss.
http://purejoyplanet.com/store/
I bought her cultured foods DVD, that includes how to make kefir, saurkraut sour dough crackers, yogurt and more, her Irish moss e-book, Flavors of China e-book, and vanilla, cherry and hazelnut essential oils. Plus I donated $25! Everything helps.
Elaina Love is a professional Chef and Instructor, Lifestyle Counselor and Owner/Director of the raw food store and Pure Joy Planet. She authored the raw, vegan, living food recipe book Elaina’s Pure Joy Kitchen. She is the creator of the Amazing Nut Milk Bag.
Elaina has been teaching raw food courses worldwide since 1998. She is a Chef/Instructor at the renowned Living Light Culinary Arts Institute where she has been on staff since 2000.
Here’s what Elaina has to say:
“It is my life purpose to help people be as healthy, feel full of life force and joy that they can be, and I have helped soooo many people through my teachings, recipes, personal example and website. My family, however, from my son to my ex to my parents, have never wanted to embrace raw foods, and in fact shun it at all costs.
I got over it a long time ago and didn’t give it much thought anymore. But when Dom got cancer in Jan of 2009, my world turned upside down. I wanted so badly to help him with raw foods, but he and his dad just wouldn’t bite (literally and figuratively). So even though I begged, cried and pleaded, they opted for the traditional medical route.
And after awhile my initial rage filled resistance was kept under wraps to protect my son, and spirit told me to surrender and go along with what they had chosen, so I did and embrace it I did, with every fiber of my being hoping with all my heart that it would work.
I have been told by higher power that it’s going to be one of those miracle stories, where instead of the boy getting the girl, he gets the rest of his life…healthy, happy, cancer free and no drugs (the girl comes later)!”
Donations have been pouring in to help Dominic, and Elaina to pay for the expensive treatment at Hippocrates, for which insurance will not pay even a penny. Overwhelmed by the generosity. Se says”The gratitude I feel for you as I write this, even though I don’t know who you are yet, is so huge I want to cry”.
Let this story serve as a wake up call. Your children, our children, the children of the planet, NEED to be fed whole fresh foods, not the packaged, refined, cancer-causing fare served in schools, restaurants and most people’s homes.
We need to wake up, as a culture, to the fact that nature has its “laws“. Just as you can’t defy gravity, you can’t defy your body’s nutritional needs, feed yourself and your family toxic foods,and expect to be healthy.
Over 40% of the US population will get cancer. A large percentage of those WILL die from it. And these numbers are going up. The only way to put yourself and your loved ones on the “safe” side of the fence is to throw all the cancer causing foods and chemicals over the fence, and as far away from you as possible.
It’s painful to lose someone you love. It’s even more painful when you lose them to a preventable illness, as I lost my parents then my younger sister. Make a commitment today to, as Gandhi said, to ” be the change you want to see in the world”. Create vibrant health for you AND your loved ones, one bite at a time. Whatever the temporary pleasure attained from eating SAD food, it’s tainted by the long term suffering of cancer.
Get support if you need it. Surround yourself by like minded people who care about their health. Get a mentor and make a commitment to your health, your family’s health and the health of the planet. Dare to make unpopular decisions, and you’ll live to tell about it.
Love, Health and Joy,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: Cleansing Programs, detoxification programs, Elaina Love, green juice, Hippocrates Health Institute, leukemia, Living Foods, livingfoods, Raw Foods, raw foods diet, sprouts, wheat grass juice, whole foods
Posted in Articles, Cancer, Cleansing Programs, Raw Foods
