Change No.5 : Eating Clean
I consider food to be "natural chemotherapy".
Through some extensive research, I had made the decision to abstain from eating sugar and red meat. Then, two years later, I made the decision to become a vegetarian. No matter what type of cancer we have, the one thing science has confirmed is that requires fuel to grow. Different types of cancer require different types of fuels, but the primary fuel that almost every cancer cell needs to spread to thrive is sugar and protein.
From the common white sugar (glucose), to the sugar in fruits and vegetables, to the sugar that lurks in processed foods (fructose), are all important fuels for both cancerous and non-cancerous cells. Cancer may continue to exist with other substances within the body, but they cannot spread strongly if the body does not provide them with sugar. If a car does not have gas, the car may still exist, but without gas, it cannot be driven. The tricky part here is that we are accustomed to eating sweets, and often, we consume sugar above the usual norm. Vietnamese dishes contain countless amounts of sugar, from sticky rice, to smoothies, to fish sauce.
Vegetables can also that contain large quantities of sugar. I should only consume about 50 grams of sugar per day. An apple contains 17 grams. So how many grams of sugar do we typically consume per meal? The average American consumes between 80 grams a day. (This is statistically speaking, but I believe the number is higher.) It is far too easy to create an environment for cancer cells to multiply! Without sugar, of course, some cancers are still able to survive and reproduce. However, lowering your sugar intake to a minimum is an effective strategy to fight cancer and prevent other diseases.
On average, I do not eat more than 50 grams of sugar per day: no rice, no starch, no bread, no pasta. The sugar that I consume comes only from fruits and vegetables, and sometimes in small amounts in grains like quinoa or farro. (These two are low in sugar and have many other nutrients). Upon hearing the news about sugar, many of you may be feeling disappointed about the bland food you’ll be exposed to. People have asked me, "How can I live?" or they’ll say, "I can't do it. I have a sweet tooth." I am here to tell you that you can. We don’t give our body enough credit. Our body has an amazing ability to adapt to change. After two weeks, I longer craved sticky rice!
I have a friend who serves as a psychologist for children with cancer. The first two times he advise me to cut the sugar out of my diet, I refused because I could not handle the thought of a diet without rice, noodles, and sticky rice. But the third time he urged me by saying:
I've had to see too many deaths.
Bone cancer is one of the most tragic deaths because in the end stages, the pain will make people lose their hope.
I love you very much and don't want to see you have to go through the same thing.
I am begging you to cut out the sugar for two weeks. After that, you can decide what you want to do.
He was a Bodhisattva for me during that time. The first three days without rice was difficult, but his words were still floating around me. After two weeks, quitting was no longer an issue. Almost three years have passed, and abstaining from eating sugar has become my natural way of life. I am able to go for long periods without it. Occasionally, I will still eat sugary foods, but a few days later, I will continues to fast from sugar without difficulty. When I go out to eat, I ask for the fish sauce to be remade, because my taste buds have changed, so the fish sauce is now too sweet. Now that my body is used to a sugar-free diet, it doesn’t accept sugar, or crave it, like it used to.
If you do not consume sugar, consider increasing your vegetable fat intake, like olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, avocado oil, etc. I avoid oils made from vegetables or peanuts.
Proteins contain sugar, or rather, when we eat more protein than our bodies need, some of its amino acids will be turned into sugar (gluconeogenesis). Knowing that most cancer cells needed amino acids (about 20% -40%) [2] to thrive, I took extra care when eating meat and seafood for the first two years. Eliminating red meat and cutting back on other meats is helpful in our healing. More recently, I have given up on meat and seafood. When people find out about these dietary cuts, they ask, "Then what do you eat to live?" Worst of all, I can't eat tofu or soybeans because I must avoid estrogen. But life offers us so many miracles. A new path has given me new joy…
Human habits have created a fertile environment for over-consuming meat, seafood, and animal products such as cheese and dairy. When eliminating these foods from my diet, I was forced to find plant-based alternatives. In doing so, I stumbled upon a whole new world. A world rich in color and in love! I was raised in a temple and grew up to the sound of the monks' gongs. Back then, I wasn’t able to go vegetarian for long. After trying for a day or two, I missed the meat and fish. I became “addicted" to cheese again after my trip to Europe. But since I understood the ability that I had to change my own body, I decided to do away with the foods that I knew would hinder my healing.
When I left these foods behind, it was only natural that I saw the beauty, deliciousness, and fertility of the plant world. Legumes, fruit, and chestnuts are beautiful and delicious and healthy. Before I lived the vegetarian lifestyle, I misunderstood vegetarianism as lacking flavor and richness. Plant-based dishes are also fatty, sweet, rich and nutritious. In addition, my conscience is more at rest, and I feel more responsible since I am no longer assisting in the killing of animals. Today, most breeding and manufacturing methods are cruel. The cow always cries before being executed. The antibiotics and chemicals mixed in their food makes fish and meat toxic to the human body. Since becoming a vegetarian, I have felt relieved, happy, and at peace. "Don’t you crave the food you used to eat?", people ask. Crave?! I do miss the eggrolls! But when I replace the meat with beans, these dishes are still just as good!
This new way of life is simple. Upon entering the market, I was almost overwhelmed with the overly abundant array of vegetables, fruits and beans. I was no longer interested in areas near the butcher shop and deli. I encourage everyone to pay more attention to their own way of shopping. If you are spending a lot of time in the middle areas of the supermarket, this is not a good sign-- this is usually the areas wherein packaged and processed foods are sold, foods that are prepared with chemicals. These are not the food that nature offers to us. These are not the foods that our bodies were made to consume. I invite you to try shopping in the way that I shop now. You'll find that it takes much less time and is much less expensive!
How can we get enough nutrients if we eat just eat vegetables?
So if we think about the largest beasts the roam the land, like gorillas, elephants, and herbivorous dinosaurs, they eat vegetables. Nature is extremely rich in nutrients, and almost everything that we need to live is in contained in plants.
(It is true that "God gave birth to a herbivore.") If there is a deficiency, only vitamin B-12 is lacking. I takes 1 capsule daily as recommended by experts. Protein comes from both plants as well as animals. Our cells, cancerous or non-cancerous, need protein. However, cancer cells need more protein to live. On the advice of experts, we only need about 0.8 - 1.1 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. For example, a person who weighs 50 kg, or about 110 lb, should consume about 50 grams of protein.
If you eat eggs in the morning, eat fish in the afternoon, and eat chicken, vegetables, beans and fruits in the evening, the total protein can be up to 100 per day. According to statistics, Americans currently consume too much protein. The average protein-intake is about 70 g for women and 102 g for men. This is about 10% to 40% above average daily needed. Is this my submission to the enemy that is cancer?
Right now, the protein I consumes comes from vegetables, seeds, and beans. Eating a garden salad twice a day provides me with enough protein. I weigh an average of 52 kg and my current protein intake is no more than 42 g/day. A cup of cooked black beans is about 30g, but I have never finished a cup of beans, usually 2/3 a cup at the most. I eat 23 almonds a day (1/4 cup) which is about 6g. How many new things can equate to 42g? As a vegetarian, I need to regulate my protein without a lot of meat and seafood.
In short, the food should be very low in sugar, and consist of moderate to low protein, and high in vegetable fats (not animal fats).
