Can you Reverse Cancer with a Plant-Based Diet?

Reverse Cancer. Plants are rich in a variety of different vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other powerful compounds that are well-known and studied for their incredible health benefits. Following a predominantly plant-based diet ensures your body receives a plethora of these micronutrients and helps you fight inflammation, relieve pain and tension, establish a balanced microbiome, and even heal from disease and infection. 

Cancer is one of the most severe and yet still pretty unknown diseases and fighting it with tools that Western medicine provides sometimes simply isn’t enough. It’s up to you to find alternative ways to support your medical treatment or even scratch it all together and try to fight this often fatal disease with an approach you believe will be the best for you. Following a plant-based diet for cancer might be one of the best ways to start as what you choose to put on your plate is almost completely in your control. 

How to Follow a Plant-Based Diet?

People choose to go vegan or vegetarian for a variety of reasons, from a purely ethical standpoint and animal cruelty to learning about the inflammation that animal sources can induce in their bodies or as a consequence of watching the infamous Netflix movie. 

But, switching to a plant-based diet doesn’t mean you go from eating meat and fish every day to having a pound of carrots for lunch and blueberries for dinner. It means you learn how to add specific foods into your diet and in which capacity and volume to truly support your gut microbiome, immune health, and lower your inflammation while still supplying you with enough calories and muscle-building protein. 

Why do Macronutrients Matter?

Plants have a variety of micronutrients they can bring to the table, but they’re also made of macronutrients: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. All three food groups are essential for optimal health, but it’s their ratio and daily intake that will ensure all processes and functions in your body are working properly and for you to have the energy to focus and perform all of your tasks and activities. 

Proteins have a role in over 300 processes in the human body with the most important being building your musculoskeletal system, protecting your heart health, boosting brain health, and supporting your immune system. 

Carbohydrates are your primary source of energy and they exist in a variety of different forms. Plants offer both, simple and complex carbs, nourishing your body with all it needs to maintain optimal health. 

Fats are the third main food group and even though they exist in different types, some of which are healthier than others, they are extremely important for hormone health and the proper function of your immune system. 

While most plants offer carbohydrates, whether in their complex or simple form, we are used to taking protein and fat from animal sources. When switching over to a more plant-based diet, people are usually struggling with keeping up with their protein and fat intake, often falling short of both. This can create a variety of other health issues as being deficient in these important macronutrients can be the cause of many health conditions and leave your body at risk for diseases and infections. 

Focusing on the right plants to fuel your diet and fill you up with all important food groups is crucial for not just your everyday health, but also when you’re on your cancer-healing journey. That’s why learning about superfoods and their amazing macro and micronutrient profiles can do wonders for your health.  

Antioxidants and Their Powerful Impact on Cancer

Many plants, and especially those named superfoods are rich in antioxidants, substances that are one of the key factors in improving your health, reducing inflammation, and protecting from further disease. Their greatest role is fighting free radicals that create oxidative damage to your cells and DNA, increasing your risk of developing cancer. 

Free radicals are usually a natural part of the human functioning system, but when their numbers start outgrowing antioxidants, they wreak havoc in your body and create damage that can sometimes be irreparable. This imbalance is usually caused by poor lifestyle choices and habits, low levels of exercise, excessive consumption of processed foods, sugars, and animal products, alcohol and tobacco abuse, chronic stress, and environmental toxins. 

And although many of these factors are in our control, once the imbalance occurs, it puts an incredible amount of stress on our immune system, impairing its function and making it almost impossible for us to fight off infection, inflammation, and disease. Changing your routines and habits will help immensely, but you’ll need additional aid to strengthen your immune system and support its efforts in fighting off harmful agents. 

That’s where antioxidants come in and help you not only heal your body inside out but also prevent whatever might be lurking to harm you. 

Plant-Based Diet and Cancer

Most experts will recommend you switch to a plant-based diet or simply include more fruits and vegetables into your meals as the main goal of fighting cancer is to kill cancerous cells and provide nourishment to the healthy ones. Radical treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy are successful in the first part of the goal, but they also kill off many healthy cells, weakening your overall defense system and making you even more prone to a plethora of different infections. 

Focusing on adding powerful foods and superfoods into your diet will help replenish your stores and give you enough energy and fuel to sustain your fight against cancer. Your body needs all the resources it can get and avoid adding any factors that could even potentially contribute to inflammation and growth of the cancerous cells. 

Some of the major food factors that contribute to inflammation are processed foods, sugars, hydrogenated oils, trans fats, and animal products, especially if treated with hormones. Sticking to a more plant-based approach or going vegan altogether can be a very serious and successful ally in your fight against this serious disease and help you focus on other aspects without worrying about how your diet might be harming you. 

Final Thoughts

The key to a long and healthy life is not just avoiding and limiting toxins and toxic foods from your daily diet, it’s also adding powerful allies to help you fight whatever might attack you and cause harm. Plants have so many incredible healing properties and by adding them into your diet, you’re already on a great path towards healing as you’re working on reducing overall inflammation, fighting free radicals, feeding your microbiome, and turning your body into a powerful system that’s ready to face whatever may threaten your overall health and wellbeing.