The Vegetarian Keto: What is it? How is beneficial to cancer patients?
You are what you eat! According to Cancer.Net (website of the American Society of Clinical Oncology - ASCO), people with cancer need to maintain healthy body weight and have a healthy diet with essential nutrients, including protein, carbohydrates, fats, and water. In this article, Jenny will introduce to you the vegetarian keto diet (also known as Keto Veggie, Ketotarian). This diet approach is a combination between the keto diet and the vegetarian diet, allowing you to take advantage of both methods in fighting cancer. Find it out with Jenny!
What is Keto?
According to the US National Library of Medicine, the ketogenic diet is a high-fat diet, with a moderate amount of protein and a very limited amount of carbohydrates. In the traditional keto diet, around 70% of your total daily calories come from fat, including food sources such as oils, meat, fish, or full-fat dairy, while the amount of carb intake should be limited to 20 - 50g per day. The Keto diet allows prompting ketosis, a metabolic state in which your body burns fat for fuel instead of glucose.
So why is a ketone-based metabolism (from fat) better for cancer patients than glucose-based (from starch) metabolism? Normally, mitochondria produce energy for cells by taking either sugar or ketones and turning them into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that bring energy to the body. Unlike normal cells, pioneering researchers Otto Warburg and Dr. Thomas Seyfried have found that cancer cells contain abnormal mitochondria and they can only produce energy from the sugar, not ketones. Therefore, a low-carb, sugar-poor diet will make cancer cells "hungry" as they lose their preferred fuel source, while all healthy cells in the body will be nourished with ketones.
What is Vegetarian Keto and how does it exert a positive impact on cancer patients?
When talking about the Keto diet, one thing to keep in mind is the source of protein in the body. According to Cancer.net, most researches have shown that red meat (pork, beef, veal, lamb) and processed meat (bacon, ham, sausage, salami...) cause concerns about cancer risk and the spread of cancer cells. Studies have also demonstrated that people who consume around 18 ounces (equivalent to 510 grams) of unprocessed red meat a week have a higher risk of cancer compared to others.
From the above scientific research, we may have come up with a solution to take advantage of the keto diet while limiting its disadvantage. This is the vegetarian keto regime. Most vegetarians eat animal products like eggs and dairy but avoid meat and fish.
The Vegetarian Keto (also known as the Keto Veggie, Ketotarian) is a combination of the Keto and Vegetarian diets. This diet approach allows us limiting carbohydrate intake, increasing plant-based protein like peanuts, cashews, hemp seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds as well as relying on healthy fats like coconut oil, avocado, eggs, nuts, and seeds. Besides, a vegetarian diet supplemented with plant-based foods will help fight cancer strongly. In fact, according to the US National Library of Medicine, there are many plant-based compounds, such as polyphenols, brassinosteroids, and taxols that have been shown to be a natural cancer-fighting to increase the body's resistance.
According to The Truth About Cancer, there are four main pathways in the body for cancer, including AMPK, IGF-1, mTOR, and the p53 gene. Find out how the vegetarian keto diet can impact them with Jenny:
AMPK (Adenosine Monophosphate-activated Protein Kinase) activity can be understood as the trigger mechanism to signal ATP production, supplying energy to the body. By limiting carbohydrates intake and supplying multiples plant-based compounds, AMPK will help the body fight cancer by converting the sugar from cancer cells to healthy cells, thereby limiting the fuel supply for cancer cells.
IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) is a growth-stimulating hormone that regulates the reproduction and regeneration of cells. For cancer patients, a high IGF-1 ratio in the body can be a catalyst for cancer growth. Protein restriction, exercising, supplementing curcumin, resveratrol and other plant-based compounds can inhibit excess IGF-1 production.
mTOR is a physiological pathway that regulates cell growth and multiplication, which may contribute to the rapid cell division found in cancer. A high-sugar diet leads to activation of high insulin levels, which contribute to cancer by increasing the activity of mTOR. A vegetarian keto diet with limited protein helps our body to halt the growth of mTOR and cancer.
The p53 gene plays an important role to regulate damaged DNA sequences. When functioning properly, the p53 gene allows the repair of defective DNA, therefore the cells can go back into their normal cycle of growth and reproduction. Also, the p53 gene triggers the removal of irreparably defective DNA. This gene is usually inactive in many cancer patients, and the supply of metals such as zinc and other plant-based compounds will help restore proper p53 function.
Conclusion
We hope that the above article provides helpful knowledge for you on your journey of fighting cancer.
Let us summarize two important aspects of the vegetarian keto diet for cancer:
Cancer thrives on sugar
Cancer is affected by a number of epigenetic mechanisms. Implementing the following principles will help you optimize your diet to prevent and fight cancer:
Consume healthy fats
Reduce carbohydrate consumption to around 5% or less of your daily recommended calorie intake.
Limit protein intake to 0.5 g/ kg of body weight to reduce mTOR.
Consume a variety of plant-based foods, such as green vegetables, berries, herbs, turmeric, cruciferous vegetables, and sprouts.
Consume green tea, grass-fed butter, pasture-raised eggs, and omega-3 fatty acid sources.