FAQ – Why Do Alternative Cancer Therapies Forbid Meat?
First of all, understand that during a cancer treatment, a person should not eat anything that is not building the immune system or killing cancer cells. Meat does not contribute to curing the cancer, so meat is normally forbidden in cancer diets. There are plenty of foods that help cure cancer, so there is no need to eat meat.
For some kinds of cancer, meat eaters (especially red meat) have a higher probability of getting those kinds of cancer, such as colon cancer and prostate cancer. The reason for this is not entirely clear, but may have something to do with too much animal fats or a lack of fiber.
See:
http://www.klsdesign.com/anti-ox/healthy-mind-colorectal.html
Meat also uses up the two critical enzymes trypsin and chymotrypsin, which are critical to allowing the immune system to kill cancer cells, though more potent enzymes have now been found. Vegetable proteins do not use up those enzymes.
- “Pancreatin enzymes can be destroyed by contact with acids. Many popular cosmetics that contain acids are a special concern for skin cancer. Also, a diet comprised mostly of refined foods and meats may result in an acidic body chemistry that depletes these enzymes. Cancer cells metabolize foods very inefficiently and generate acidic wastes. This extra acidity can further compound an already bad environment for pancreatin enzymes. The excess acidity also enables the cancer to spread by using acid dissolved normal cells as its food source. I think this strongly acidic environment, especially local to the cancer, is the primary reason that cancer does not normally heal on its own.”
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Another reason to avoid meat is the accumulation of fecal matter in the colon. The colon should be relatively clear during a cancer treatment so that the body can absorb as many nutrients as possible. “All foods which ferment in the bowel should be avoided. Absolutely no meat or fish!”
Then there are the hormones in meat:
- “Diethylstilbestrol (Des) has been shown by the FDA to cause cancer of the uterus, breast and other reproductive organs. This is an artificial sex hormone widely used in food production. Dangerous residues of stilbestrol are in 85% of all the meat sold in the United States. This is the main reason why 15 countries around the world now refuse to import American meat; 21 nations have a total ban on the use of stilbestrol in food production or processing.”
http://www.pathlights.com/nr_encyclopedia/17canc02.htm
And there is more:
- “Nitrosamines cause cancer of the liver, stomach, brain, bladder, kidneys and several other organs. Dr. William Lijinski, of the University of Nebraska, says they are “perfect carcinogens.” When chemical preservatives and color enhancers are ingested, they cause the body to produce nitrosamines. Another source is nitrates and nitrites, which are heavily added to meat during processing. Runoff of nitrates and nitrites from fields sprayed with chemical fertilizers get into aquifers and wells and, when the water is drunk, can lead to cancer… Avoid amines (which are in cheese, meat, and unrefrigerated foods).
http://www.pathlights.com/nr_encyclopedia/17canc02.htm
Another problem with meat is toxins: “avoid meat (if the digestive system is weak, digestion of meat could produce toxins in blood).”
http://www.boobboutique.com/aboutbreastcancer/alternatives/Issels.htm
- “Avoid meat in all forms. It is dead matter, low in minerals, and produces uric acid in excess which is a waste product. The incidence of cancer is in direct proportion to the amount of animal proteins, particularly meat, in the diet. However it is true that devitalized, processed, and sugared food can also cause cancer—even in vegetarians. But far more often, when cancer strikes, those eating the junk foods are also eating meat. Nations and groups which consume less meat have less cancer. Hospital records show that Seventh-day Adventists, who eat little or no meat, suffer far less from cancer than the average meat-eating American. Dr. Willard J. Visek, research scientist at Cornell University, stated that the high protein diet of Americans is linked to the high incidence of cancer in the U.S. Another cancer physician, who also worked with hundreds of cancer patients, said that anyone who does not eat meat, eats only good food, and does all he can to protect his liver, may never get cancer. Cancer is less a disease than a condition existing in the whole body. Cancer would be almost unheard of if no devitalized food or meats were eaten. Cancer cannot exist where there is a pure bloodstream.”
http://www.pathlights.com/nr_encyclopedia/17canc02.htm
Here is another quote on acidity and cancer:
- “The second solution is to introduce the appropriate calciums into the body since the body uses calcium as the chief alkalinizer of all body fluids including the intra-cellular fluids. Remember that cancers and tumors can only exist in a predominantly ACID environment caused by a diet rich in: Diary foods, meats, grain products, sweets and strong condiments such as black pepper. This is always accompanied by an acute lack of living fruits and vegetables (uncooked and non-preserved).”
http://seasilver.threadnet.com/Preventorium/thesis.htm
There are many ramifications to what cows and what other animals eat, because it eventually affects the quality of the meat we eat.
- “Lactobacillus acidophilus is a ‘friendly’ organism which helps the body fight disease and restore health. Modern research has discovered that acidophilus kills the harmful bacteria strain of E. coli in the intestinal tract. Acidophilus breaks milk sugar down into lactic acid. Bacteria which produce putrefaction and gas in the intestines cannot live in lactic acid. Acidophilus also has the unique ability to help the body synthesize, or manufacture all of the ‘B’ vitamins in the system. This makes it especially valuable since there is literally a host of agents which destroy B vitamins. A few are antibiotics, birth control pills, eating sugar and refined foods and drinking coffee. A diet high in red meat will destroy the beneficial bacteria, due to the concentration of antibiotics and steroids given to the animals before they are slaughtered.”
http://www.all-natural.com/herbnutr.html
Like sugar, meat feeds cancer cells:
- “Cancer is fundamentally involved with mal-utilization of protein. Oncologists generally agree that the actual cause of death in cancer patients is cachexia, a condition of severe weight loss and wasting associated with protein mal-absorption. In fact cancer cells are able to grow by making the amino acids of protein available for their growth at the expense of the body as a whole. Meat, especially red meat, being the most readily assimilable protein, becomes a banquet for cancer cells. Emphasizing the use of plant sources of vegetable protein such as legumes and beans that contain cancer-fighting compounds should be a prominent part of an anti-cancer diet.”
http://www.planetherbs.com/articles/cancer.html
Robert O. Young, PhD, in his book: “Sick and Tired? Reclaim Your Inner Terrain,” has more than a page and a half of things that are wrong with eating meat products (see pages 87-89).
And the list goes on.
But perhaps the most damaging evidence that meat is a major cause of cancer are studies of people who went into “spontaneous remission” solely because of a change in their diet!! These people almost universally went from a cooked food, meat-centered diet and gave up their meat, their dairy products (except for specific treatments such as the Budwig diet), their refined sugar, etc. and switched to a raw food vegetarian diet, and by simply changing diets their bodies were able to cure their cancer!
Also remember that, by experience, alternative cancer treatments have evolved to almost universally exclude meat in the diet.
The Good News About Meat
Meat does have some nutrients that help prevent and deal with cancer. Meat does have nutrients that are good for your immune system. Meats have a low glycemic index, which is good. And so on. The problem is that meat overall does far more harm that good to your cancer treatment.
However, there are situations where eating meat, especially turkey or chicken, is not only acceptable, but advised. For example, if a person has been on a very restrictive liquid diet for two weeks or more, it would be advisable to eat some meat to rebuild the protein in the person’s body.
Also, consider a person who weighs very little (i.e. less than 120 pounds) when they begin a cancer diet. A cancer diet typically causes a person to lose weight, but by eating some meat while on the diet, the weight of the person may stabilize before it gets too low.
All in all, the bottom line is to avoid meats as much as possible, but know that there are situations where a little meat (preferably poultry) can be beneficial, at certain times, in a cancer treatment.