Reduce Your Risk of Cancer & Dis-Ease
Part 4: Addressing the Main Causes
Welcome back! In part 3 we covered multiple ways to support important systems within the body. In case you missed it, you can read part 3 here:
In part 4 of our series, we will cover the six main causes of cancer, further improvements and recommendations you can make in your life to reduce your risk of cancer and “disease”, and how I would approach a cancer or “disease” diagnosis if myself or a loved one were to receive one.
The 6 main causes of cancer:
1. Inflammation
Not to be confused with the good kind of inflammation your body naturally produces in the event of a sprained wrist or twisted ankle. That swelling is part of your body’s natural healing response. The kind I’m referring to is the chronic inflammation caused by repeated infections, exposure to carcinogenic toxins, and damaging lifestyle behaviors.
A published article in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) states; “Recent data have expanded the concept that inflammation is a critical component of tumor progression. Many cancers arise from sites of infection, chronic irritation and inflammation. It is now becoming clear that the tumor microenvironment, which is largely orchestrated by inflammatory cells, is an indispensable participant in the neoplastic process, fostering proliferation, survival and migration” (1).
When an area in the body is continuously bombarded by toxic elements like carcinogens, or by infections that don’t heal, a destructive process begins to occur. Although your body will send healing cells like Leukocytes to try and help repair the damage, if the inflammation persists because you have not addressed the root cause(s) and removed the factors contributing to the chronic inflammation, highly reactive nitrogen and oxygen species released from inflammatory cells, interacts with DNA, causing the cells to mutate and become cancerous.
For example, it’s well studied and scientifically supported that a high meat diet and dairy consumption from animal products like cows, especially processed meat, and dairy, causes cancer. There’s a lot of scientific studies that prove this, for anyone who doubts it. When a person consumes meat and cheese, and drinks cow’s milk, they are continuously causing inflammation in the body.
Thus, when we consume fast food, excessive animal products, preservatives, chemicals, dyes, and food filled with pesticides and herbicides, inject chemical concoctions such as vaccines- especially when coupled with modern day society lifestyle, it is no wonder why there has been an explosion in preventable diseases such as heart disease, auto-immune disorders, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
With chronic inflammation, your body tries to repair the damaged area, whether it’s in the intestines, the liver, or the lungs, and what results is repetition of inflammation and repair, over and over in the same area, generating cellular abnormalities, and DNA breakdown which causes cells to become cancerous.
2. Elevated Blood Glucose
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat, fruit, especially low glycemic fruit is not going to cause “disease” nor cancer. In fact, they are shown to reduce your risk factor! So, what kind of glucose am I referring to? You guessed it, the kind that comes from processed sugar…and simple carbs (cereals, bread, pasta, sweetened beverages, etc.).
You may be wondering though how habitual elevated blood glucose levels contribute to cancer and disease, let me briefly explain. For starters, having elevated blood glucose levels increases your risk of infections and delays healing. The excessive amount of glucose circulates in the blood and is supposed to move into your cells for energy. However, when an excessive amount of glucose enters the bloodstream, it can lead to Hyperglycemia due to lack of insulin. Too much glucose in the bloodstream can eventually cause damage to the blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to your organs. The glucose carried to organs such as the liver and your muscles converts to glycogen, too much glycogen can then damage the liver and muscles. Other consequences of having elevated glucose levels on a regular basis are stroke, kidney disease, neuropathy, sexual dysfunction, vision issues, fatigue, and type 2 diabetes.
3. Environmental Toxins
Conservative estimates state that we are exposed to over 700,000 toxic chemicals on a daily basis. The average woman puts over 160 chemicals on her body on a daily basis! “Currently, more than 400 environmental chemicals or their metabolites are measured in human samples (e.g. urine, blood, serum, breast milk, and meconium)” (2). If you haven’t watched “10 Americans” by EWG, please do so. It is over 14 years old, but it contains vital information you should be aware of! You can watch it here: "10 Americans" by Environmental Working Group (youtube.com) (3).
Our daily repeated exposure to so many chemicals make it vitally important to support the systems within our body. If we do not, our toxic waste barrel will begin to overflow and we will begin to see signs of “disease” or cancer, or it may just sneak right up on you suddenly!
4. Stress
I have talked about the effects of stress on the mind and body in previous posts, but I would like to briefly detail how stress can lead to the development of cancer and disease.
Stress, especially repeated on-going stress can weaken your immune system, lead to unhealthy eating habits, can inhibit anoikis (a process that helps to kill diseased cells), can increase growth factors that contribute to cancerous tumors, and cause chronic inflammation.
We live in a world where we are under constant pressure. In fact, estimates range from 33-60% of the US Population deals with daily stress. I’m guessing it is closer to the 60% mark in all reality.
Taking time each day to practice deep diaphragm breathing exercises can be a quick and easy way to help reduce your stress levels. This can be done at your desk, in your car, or while taking a quick 10–15-minute walk.
5. Unhealthy Diet
You know why they call it “SAD” (Standard American Diet), right? Because it’s truly a diet that will make your body sad…among other things.
With our constant state of go-go-go, in a high-stress environment, we often have a tendency to grab whatever is quick, and that is quite often nothing even remotely nutritious for our body! As I have stated above, diets that contain fast-food, high meat consumption (especially processed meats), and moderate to high cow dairy consumption, are not at all beneficial to your body.
Food is meant to nourish our bodies. Sometimes this entails eating foods and drinking beverages (like fruit & veggie blend shakes) that are not exceptionally appealing to us but is what our bodies need-so long as you do not have any food sensitivities or allergen to the foods. I know, we only live once and therefore should be able to enjoy food! Yes, to an extent…but not to the extent where we are eating a donut or cookie every day, picking up taco bell or McDonalds on our lunch hour at least once or twice a week, and drinking cow’s milk with breakfast or dinner. In fact, I’ve spoken about cold drinks with meals before-they should be avoided!
6. Lifestyle behaviors
We all have some sort of lifestyle behavior or two that is certainly not ideal. Whether it is staying up too late at night, not drinking enough mineral water, eating too late at night, not exercising enough or too much, drinking alcohol, using tobacco, etc.
“Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans spent almost $4 trillion a year on healthcare services, 90% of which was spent on chronic disease (Buttorff et al., 2017; Martin et al., 2021). Sixty percent of all adults in the United States have at least one chronic condition, and 80% of older adults have multiple chronic diseases (Buttorff et al., 2017). Yet despite all the medications and all the health care given, many chronic conditions—such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, chronic lung disease, and Alzheimer’s disease—are in the top ten causes of death…It has been estimated that this “silent epidemic” of chronic disease killed almost four times more Americans in 2020 than COVID-19 (4).”
The Good News
The good news is that we can change this. We can change our poor daily habits and transform our mind, body and life, and the truth is, you deserve it! You deserve to be happy! You deserve to be healthy! You deserve a great life and so does your family! Here’s how you can work towards this incredibly rewarding achievement:
In addition to the suggestions that I have provided in part 3 of this series, I am going to provide you with some additional tips, tricks, replacements you can make in your daily life and in your home.
Improve Your Sleep
When you are asleep your body enters parasympathetic mode - rest and digest. Thus, entering a state of healing. During sleep you have 4 main stages: Awake. Light. REM. And Deep. The most beneficial stage of sleep is Deep. In deep sleep, your body produces HGH (human growth hormone) and releases other chemicals that lead to cellular rejuvenation but, here’s the most important thing about sleep; if your sleep cycle is inconsistent, you don’t sleep well or you don't sleep enough or you sleep too much, then you’re literally shooting yourself in the foot! Remember, sleep is one of the most effective, and free forms of healing you can do for your body.
The best free advice I can provide you in terms of improving your sleep quality is to turn all electronics off 30-60 minutes prior to bed. This is the minimum because the blue light from the screens, and the content we watch stimulates the brain and our nervous system, and then prevents melatonin from secreting properly. When you turn off the electronics, turn off the wi-fi as well, or at minimum keep all routers at least 6 feet from where you sleep. Unless you are sleeping outside under the moon and stars, you want the room you sleep in to be dark! Get blackout curtains if need be. This is because light from screens, streetlights, the sun, etc., can disrupt your circadian rhythm and in return cause less efficient sleep.
Additionally, no caffeine at least 8 hours prior to bedtime as it affects your ability to get deep sleep, and yes you need to try your absolute best to be in bed no later than 10pm. This is because of the way your normal circadian rhythm operates. It has been scientifically proven that the best quality of sleep in adult humans is between the hours of 10pm-2am (5)(6). Your deepest, most regenerative sleep occurs during these hours. In addition to going to bed by 10pm, you should also be waking within an hour of a set timeframe. For instance, if you wake up at 6am during the week for work, you will want to wake up by 7am on your off days. When you go to bed at about the same time each night and wake around the same time each day, you optimize your circadian rhythm.
One last free advice tip is not to eat at least 2-3 hours before bed. Ideally, your body should be using its energy for healing and cellular repair, not digestion. The more time you give your body to digest, before you go to sleep, the more your body can repair damaged cells, including cancer cells, while you sleep. This is one reason why intermittent fasting, 12-14 hours of non-eating time each day, will give you incredible healing benefits that help reduce inflammation and fight off cancer cells.
So, what can you do to possibly improve your sleep and cut back on toxic chemicals you are subjected to from your sheets and mattress (Some of the most common chemicals found in bedding today are formaldehyde, chlorine, pesticides, color fasteners and dyes)? You can look at all natural, organic, chemical-free bedding (Cozy Earth Bamboo Sheet Set (equi.life) (7) and/or grounding bed mats or sheets Earthing® & Grounding Products | The Original Grounding Innovators (8).
Improve Your Diet
One of the simplest things you can do for your body is to take a high-quality, activated multi-vitamin or all-in-one shake. This is due to the fact that vast majority of people do not get the vital nutrients their body’s need for proper function and detoxification support. For instance, your liver needs certain vitamins, minerals and amino acids for phase 1 and 2 detoxication. You can read more on that here: https://theresearchingmama.substack.com/p/liver-detoxification.
This is one of the best all-in-one shake powders on the market: Daily Nutritional Support Shake. It is non-GMO, 3rd party tested, contains no soy, dairy, nuts, or gluten, and is GMP certified. It also contains psyllium husk and boron which are great for digestive health!
The best activated multi-vitamins are:
My second recommendation because again, vast majority of people are not eating their daily recommended amount of fruits and veggies, is a fruit and veggie blend. Here are a couple that I recommend:
Additionally, do your best to avoid as much cow’s dairy as you possibly can, limit your pork consumption and monitor how much animal protein you are taking in on a daily basis, and of course, do your best to cut out processed foods, sugar, and dyes. Also, don’t forget to stop drinking processed drinks and alcohol. Sodas, pops, most sports drinks, even fruit juice are all filled with not only sugar, but also chemicals and preservatives that can lead to cancer. And finally, practice intermittent fasting (12-14 hours a day. This is usually easiest for people to do in the evenings. For example, 7pm to 7am.)
Reduce Toxic Exposure through Body Care Products
Most body care products, especially the green-washed ones, like the ones with a coconut and an avocado on the front of the bottle and state no phthalates, but then you turn the bottle around and see a laundry list of ingredients you can’t even pronounce, they have dozens of chemicals- many known to cause cancer. But our wonderful FDA, in all their great wisdom, allows them, because they are in small quantities, so they say they are “safe”, even though we know most of those chemicals cause hormone disruption and cancer. Those small quantities add up, and quick! Did you know that your skin absorbs what is put on it within 26 seconds and enters your bloodstream?! It’s true. It is estimated that the average woman in America absorbs nearly 5lbs of makeup and lotions into her body every year. That’s almost 5 pounds of chemicals, going straight into the bloodstream, directly contributing to chronic inflammation, hormone disruption, and cancer.
I highly recommend you take a few minutes to start really reading the labels on your shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotions, face creams, make-up, etc., and start doing what you can to replace them with non-toxic ones. Here are some of the best companies I have come across thus far for body care products:
4. Reduce EMF Exposure
We are constantly being bombarded by EMF. EMFs from Wi-Fi, cell phones and computers have all been linked to an inflammatory response in the body, ultimately contributing to cancer cell growth (9). While you likely can’t avoid EMFs all together, you can do a number of things that I recommend that will reduce your exposure significantly. So, what are they?
Stop carrying your cell phone in your pocket or on your body as often as possible.
Use a grounding/earthing mat for your feet or body (it has to be your bare feet or as much of your bare body as possible). Bare feet are especially useful when using the mat while working on a computer.
At night, put your phone on airplane mode and put your phone at least 5 feet away from your bed.
Unplug your Wi-fi at night.
Get an EMF protector case for your phone (you can find them here:
It’s as simple as that!
Filter Your Water
Tap water, well water, and bottled water have all been shown to be filled within contaminants. City water often contains heavy metals, lead, chlorine, fluoride and even pharmaceuticals as a result of people flushing their medications and drugs down the toilet. If you cannot afford a quality under the sink water filter, you can purchase a water filter pitcher or countertop filtration system for a good price (usually under 100.00). Ideally the filtration will put minerals back into the water, but if not, you can always add some yourself.
Just by working on changing these few things, you will be well on your way to better health! Now, what would I do if one of my family members or myself were to develop a “disease” or cancer?
In addition to incorporating the aforementioned improvements listed in this part and part 3 (many of which we already have done and do on a daily basis), I would be sure to work on mindset as it is one of the most important basic foundational principles that I spoke about in part 1. I would also be sure to get myself or my loved one to an infrared sauna at least once a week. I would be sure to cut out all processed sugar, incorporate lots of smoothies packed full of antioxidants and phytonutrients, and make sure the diet consists of a total of at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day (preferably organic whenever possible). I would use our grounding mat every day if we could not get at least 60 minutes outside with our hands and/or feet meeting the earth.
Additional supplements I would likely incorporate would be (please always do your research on any supplements or pharmaceuticals for possible interactions and side effects):
Pao pereira (anticancer activity, Pao pereira is a strong inhibitor of viruses, including viruses with RNA genomes(such as influenza, HIV, FEV (feline), hepatitis C, etc.) as well as DNA genome viruses (such as hepatitis A and B and herpes). Pao pereira’s effectiveness is not affected by hormones.)(10).
golden Ginkgo biloba extract can significantly help control this process of cancer marker production. In addition, it protects against fibrosis (11)(12).
CoQ10 An antioxidant that aids in ATP production. Found in fatty fish, organ meats, and whole grains. (13) Shilajat, when combined with CoQ10, is also said to help improve mitochondrial function (14). Here is the Shilajat I recommend: Organic Trace Minerals & Fulvic Acid – Pure Himalayan Shilajit – Organic Trace Minerals & Fulvic Acid (use this link to get 15% off your order).
One last thing I would do is make sure I had a great support team to help me or my loved one. This would consist of someone who knows the benefits of integrative health approaches, someone who specializes in the specific disease or cancer, and either an ND or a holistic MD. If all 3 are not willing to work together, whoever isn’t open to collaborating, would be off my team! By having these 3 types of people on your team, you are creating an integrative mastermind success team.
While there is so much more info I could provide, I feel this series has been a great start to how you and your family can begin to reduce the risk of developing a “disease” or cancer. Before I conclude this series, I want to provide you with a few recipe ideas.
Breakfast:
8 oz of nut milk. 8oz of filtered water. May add one Tablespoon of nut yogurt or coconut yogurt. One or two scoops of Daily Nutritional Support Shake (multi/mineral+vegan protein), Acai (Anthocyanins) with coconut flakes, chia seeds, and a drizzle of almond butter, then blend.
8oz Nut Milk (unsweetened almond, coconut, hemp, or rice). 8oz filtered water. 1/2-1c Pineapple (frozen). 1/2-1c Raspberries (fresh or frozen). 1/2 cup of Strawberries (fresh or frozen). 1 TBSP Coconut Oil/Cream (optional). 2 scoops Daily Nutritional Support (multi/mineral+vegan protein). May add a scoop of the Daily Fruit and Vegetable Blend (equi.life) as well.
Lunch:
Spinach (Lutein) and arugula (Glucosinolates) salad with roasted pumpkin (Beta-carotene), pomegranate seeds (Ellagitannins), and a balsamic vinaigrette.
1 Wild Salmon (wild caught) fillet. 1/2 stalk Celery (diced). 1/4 Cucumber (diced). 1 tbsp Capers. 6 Pitted Kalamata Olives (chopped). 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil. 1/2 Lemon (juice of). Sea Salt (to taste). 4 cups Baby Spinach
Dinner:
Grilled portobello mushrooms (Ergothioneine) with a side salad of mixed greens (Lutein & Zeaxanthin), avocado (Beta-sitosterol), and lemon dressing (Limonoids).
Scrambled Chickpea bowel. 15 oz chickpeas, 1/4 onion, 1/4 cup of water, 1 Tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 avocado, 5 cherry tomatoes sliced, handful of spinach, and 1/2 tsp of Himalayan Sea salt. First add water and onions to pan over medium heat. After about 2-3 minutes, add chickpeas and spices. Mash the chickpeas with a fork and let cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes. Serve over bed of spinach and top with avocado.
Thank you for taking the time to be a part of this journey with me. If you found any of the information in this series useful, please share it with your friends and family.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.
*Please note that some links contained in this post are affiliate links and I do receive a small commission on orders placed. My deepest gratitude and thanks to those who do choose to purchase items through those links!! Thank you for supporting small businesses.
Resources:
Sleep and Circadian Rhythm — Brain Health Leadership Foundation (bhlfoundation.org)
Earthing® & Grounding Products | The Original Grounding Innovators
Pao Pereira | Traditional Use and Mirko Beljanski's Discoveries (sylviebeljanski.com)
Ginkgo biloba: Health benefits, side effects, risks, and history (medicalnewstoday.com)
Coenzyme Q10 and Immune Function: An Overview - PubMed (nih.gov)
Perfect Pair: How Shilajit Boosts Effects Of CoQ10 - Life Extension
