Nutrition: Why it Matters Both Before and After a Cancer Diagnosis

Food Is Information

Food isn’t simply calories in and out; it is information.

Within a piece of food are the tools to instigate processes such as bone building, create hormones which affect every bodily system, keep gut tissue healthy and sealed, support the function of your liver cells, and balance hormones like estrogen.

Eating real, whole foods vs processed, refined, and nonorganic foods really is the difference between eating food and eating carcinogens.

Food can spread positive information, or misinformation.

Food that Disrespects your Body

Take for instance, a non-organic chicken nugget or a fried chicken sandwich.

The Pros
Protein, fat, some vitamins and minerals. Calories.

The Cons
Breaded with enriched flour, vegetable oils, and cooked at high temperatures.

• Enriched flour contains synthetic folic acid, which is toxic at even moderate levels of consumption. Folic acid disrupts the uptake of natural folate, leading to negative effects for mental health, fertility, heart health, and many more. Wheat flour is also implicated in many cases of autoimmune disease, and is a risk factor for thyroid cancer.
• Vegetable oils are created using high heat and solvents and are oxidized even before you open the bottle. This leads to breaks within the DNA, the creation of abnormal cells, and inflammation.
• The same is true for high heat cooking: high temperatures damage proteins, leading to oxidative stress, DNA breaks, and inflammation.
• Conventionally raised chickens are fed grains (which are not part of a chicken’s natural diet) and kept “healthy” with the use of antibiotics. In short, this animal is malnourished, and sick. The chicken can’t give you the nutrients it didn’t get, but it can pass along the antibiotics in its flesh.

This leads to misinformation: a lack of nutrients from a high calorie food, cellular breaks from oxidative stress, and antibiotics which disrupt digestive health and lead to antibiotic resistant pathogens.

Food That Loves Your Body

By contrast, take an organic pasture-raised chicken thigh with spices and organic olive oil, cooked at 300 degrees F or under.

• Nutrient-rich: This chicken was allowed to roam, soaking up vitamin D while eating insects, worms, and other key parts of its intended diet, making it much higher in all of the B vitamins, plus vitamins D and K, and selenium.
• By cooking low and slow, what ends up on your plate has complete, undamaged proteins.
• The olive oil contains omega 3s important for managing inflammation, brain and heart health, and hormone and neurotransmitter production. You will also stay full longer.
• The spices (such as chili pepper, cumin, oregano, and parsley) contain phytochemicals capable of killing abnormal (potentially cancerous) cells, reducing oxidative stress with antioxidants, and have antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. This food contains information.

Food Matters.

Food and Cancer Care

Food can also have a major impact on your outcomes post diagnosis.

What you eat can influence your labs more quickly than you realize, and have repercussions for your treatment plan.

The Conventional Model 

For example:
If your doctor sees abnormal white blood cell counts (WBC), they will either put you on additional prescription drugs, such as steroids, which come with side effects, including immune suppression (quite ironic), and increased inflammation which can lead to more weight and muscle loss (cachexia). Or if your WBC or other markers drop too low, you may be forced to stop your treatment plan.

This and other major changes in lab results can happen when patients attempt a vegan or vegetarian diet, which is yet another example of why food and its quality matters greatly.

Where Nutrition Shines

When presented with the same abnormal labs, this is where nutrition shines.
Rather than add to your list of pills, we recommend organic bone broth, complete organic proteins, and medicinal mushrooms which work wonders for improving white blood cell counts, strengthening the immune system, and maintaining the high protein requirements of treatment.

Even post-treatment, survivors must maintain their immune health with quality nutrition to fight abnormal cells as they arise, before they become cancerous. 

We also customize recommendations based on the type of cancer you have; bringing in phytochemicals which research has shown are capable of killing off specific cell types.

Integrating Nutrition with Medicine for Better Outcomes

Thankfully, more health professionals are recognizing that food and the information it provides are actually important to health. However, we have to meet them halfway. For most MDs, nutrition was not a part of their medical school curriculum.

Integrative nutrition does not eliminate or disregard the need for conventional medicine. It works alongside it. Research shows that patient labs and outcomes are improved when nutrition and lifestyle changes are consistent, and environmental toxins are removed.

Personalized Care Is the Gold Standard

Cancer is complex, and people are complex. The very best care you or your loved one can receive is personalized.

Purchase an Oncology Health Assessment to start receiving individualized care as soon as possible.

Still unsure? Schedule a Discovery Call with me to discuss how personalized diet, lifestyle, and environmental changes can make a difference during treatment, recovery, and support long term survivorship.

Is DIY more your style? Check out my Basics of Anticancer Nutrition Course. 

References 

Gropper SS. The Role of Nutrition in Chronic Disease. Nutrients. 2023;15(3):664. doi:10.3390/nu15030664

Chen KL, Jung P, Kulkoyluoglu-Cotul E, et al. Impact of Diet and Nutrition on Cancer Hallmarks. J Cancer Prev Curr Res. 2017;7(4):240. doi:10.15406/jcpcr.2017.07.00240

Anand P, Kunnumakkara AB, Sundaram C, et al. Cancer is a preventable disease that requires major lifestyle changes. Pharm Res. 2008;25(9):2097-2116. doi:10.1007/s11095-008-9661-9

‌Bian Z, Zhang R, Yuan S, et al. Healthy lifestyle and cancer survival: A multinational cohort study. Int J Cancer. 2024;154(10):1709-1718. doi:10.1002/ijc.34846

Narimatsu H, Yaguchi YT. The Role of Diet and Nutrition in Cancer: Prevention, Treatment, and Survival. Nutrients. 2022;14(16):3329. Published 2022 Aug 14. doi:10.3390/nu14163329

Soares CH, Beuren AG, Friedrich HJ, Gabrielli CP, Stefani GP, Steemburgo T. The Importance of Nutrition in Cancer Care: A Narrative Review. Curr Nutr Rep. 2024;13(4):950-965. doi:10.1007/s13668-024-00578-0