Vegan Diet vs. Meat Eaters for Healing Cancer

The subject of whether a vegan (vegetarian) diet or an omnivorous (meat-eater’s) diet is the best for healing cancer is controversial. There are many who advocate for both positions. The diet that works for me personally is 80 percent plant-based and 20 percent meat, a category in which I include grass-fed beef, game meat, organic free-range chicken, and wild-caught fish. Also, I avoid dairy and gluten. I strongly advise you to use your inner guidance system to determine what works best for you in boosting your immune system and strengthening your body.

When the author Anita Moorjani (who survived a near-death experience during her illness) got cancer, everyone told her to eat raw vegan, so she did. But then she felt worse, and her cancer worsened quickly. Incorporating cooked vegetables and a small amount of animal protein in her meals brought Anita total healing. Christiane Northrup, M.D., whose advice has been followed by women around the world, recommends eating a lean protein (poultry, egg, beans, as you prefer) at every meal when healing cancer. Sometimes physicians will specifically recommend that individuals undergoing treatment for cancer add some red meat to their diets. This usually happens if they have identified a deficiency of iron or a need for a surge of protein.

My take is that it is such a personal choice whether you want to go vegan or eat mostly plant-based foods with a few animal products. I can think of numerous other sources of quick protein than red meat. Some people are truly able to thrive from a completely plant-based diet.

There are plenty of vegan healing diet advocates who swear their 100-percent approach helped them heal: Kris Carr, author of Crazy Sexy Cancer and other books, who now has been living happily and productively with vascular cancer for over 15 years for one. Chris Wark, author of Chris Beat Cancer, survived stage three colon cancer at age 26 and declined to take physician-recommended chemotherapy after surgery is another. He eats fish but advocates for a vegan diet when healing cancer. Other well-respected individuals say the same.

Here’s the key question to answer: Does eating meat, poultry, or fish make you feel stronger and more energized or does it seem to drain your energy? Either way, you’ll mainly be feasting on plant-based foods and changing the environment in which your cells are grown.
The Cancer Free with Food diet is like a healing garden.

Welcome to the cancer-healing garden. It’s a great place for a picnic. This garden is abundant with nutrient-rich, brightly colored and vibrant produce—fruits, vegetables, herbs, seeds, and nuts. It has spiritual and energetic properties too. Remember, food is never just about nutrients. There is more to food than the fats, protein, and vitamins it contains. When you make food at home, be sure to add love to the recipe. Can you pick the ingredients you’ll cook with yourself? Can you practice feeling gratitude while you’re stirring the pot? Can you farm the ingredients in your backyard? There’s tremendous healing energy in raising and picking your own produce.
From the emerging science of epigenetics, we know that we can influence the way our genes express themselves through the foods we choose to eat. Mark Hyman, M.D. “After just three months on an intensive lifestyle program including a whole-foods, plant-based diet, over 500 genes that regulate cancer were beneficially affected, either turning off the cancer-causing genes or turning on the cancer-protective genes. No medication can do that.”[i]
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Through lifestyle modification alone, we can literally rewrite our genetic code. Just because your parents, grandparents, or siblings had cancer doesn’t mean you have to! Healing foods will help you change your genetic code for the better.

The Doctrine of Signatures
Indigenous people from ancient cultures have medical traditions that use food as medicine which predate our diagnostic machinery and medications. How did they know which food was best for which kind of cancer? No doubt through trial and error. But also by observation of nature. Thiers was an intuitive approach to medicine—one that I, as a chef, believe has merits. You see, they knew they were not separate from nature and they trusted that nature was “coded” to help them.
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Almost every indigenous culture that uses nutrition to heal has a variation on the system of belief—including Europeans before the industrial era.

It’s time to turn your kitchen into your pharmacy. Let’s go!



Resources
[i]     Mark Hyman. “Five Strategies to Prevent and Heal Cancer,” Dr. Hyman blog (accessed July 9, 2018), http://drhyman.com/blog/2015/08/07/5-strategies-to-prevent-and-treat-cancer.