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20 May Can weight loss cause cancer?As I mentioned in my last blog entry, there are some risks associated with rapid weight loss, or weight loss programs that help take off the weight without helping to improve your nutritional balance. Among the risks is malnutrition, muscle wasting, ketoacidosis, and cancer. I am going to focus on cancer, because the steps we need to take to decrease our risk of cancer will also prevent the other risks associated with weight loss too.
Cancer does not just form overnight. There is a whole process involved, that sometimes takes years. There are several steps in the formation of cancer. If you interupt the cancer formation at just one step, you may have given yourself more time. If you take measures to interrupt cancer formation at every step, you will probably save your life.
So let's look at the primary cause of cancer. 70%-75% of all cancers are caused by synthetic chemicals. Other causes include microbes, hereditary, radiation, and electromagnetic waves. Basicaly, anything that can damage the part of the DNA controlling cell division can cause that cell to start muliplying uncontrolably, creating a cancerous tumor.
When synthetic chemicals are processed by the cells, they produce free radicals as by-products. I like to compare free radicals to Flubber, especially the scene in the movie when it is bouncing around the room breaking everything. That is what the free radicals do inside the cell, and they can damage the DNA. If they happen to damage the specific part of the DNA that controls cell division, and multiplication, it turns into a cancer cell.
Many people don't realize that we have several thousand damaged, potentially cancerous cells in our body at any given time. When the cell changes to a cancer cell, the cell wall changes, it thrives on anaerobic (without oxygen) respiration, and starts producing lactic acid as a result, which can cause pain. Most uf us have a healthy immune system, that quickly recognizes that these are not normal cells, and they are destroyed by the immune system before they have a chance to form any type of cancer. But if the immune system is overloaded, depressed, or not running at peak performance, for any reason, that cancer cell has a chance to cover itself with a protective membrane, and disguise itself as a normal cell. Then later, if the immune system recovers, and is able to do proper inspection of all the cells, it thinks that the cancer cell is just a normal cell, and leaves it in place where it is free to multiply out of control. (This is why people with AIDS are more suseptible to certain types of cancer. These same types of cancer cells can start in all of us, but our healthy immune systems zaps them before they turn into a cancerous mass.)
So lets look at the key steps in the chain of cancer formation: 1. Synthetic chemicals (toxins) 2. free radicals 3. weakened immune system 4. acid environment 5. anaerobic (without oxygen) environment.
If you break even one of these links in this chain, you stop that cell from turning into a cancerous tumor. But what about other cells that are at different steps in cancer formation? If you take measures to break all the links in the chain, you can stop other cells that are in other steps of cancer formation.
In this blog, I am going to focus on synthetic chemicals, toxins. We are exposed to toxins all around us, that we can't do anything about. They are in the air in the form of pollution. They might be in the walls of your home, being an ingredient in the paint, glue, wood treatments, or other construction materials. They are in the food that we eat, in the form of pesticide, and fertilizer residue. They are in the water we drink, including chlorine, and contaminates that the water picks up on the way to the water treatment plant, and then to your home. They are even in the shampoos, lotions, and makeup that you apply to your skin every day, sometimes more than once a day, and in several different products. You ever read the list of ingedients in your shampoo or lotion? Many of those huge words you have a hard time pronouncing are actually harmful synthetic chemicals. Manufacturing companies use cheap synthetic chemicals because they only care about profit.
They make excuses, saying that these toxins are in such tiny amounts, that they can't do damage.
Even in tiny amounts, it only takes 1 toxin molecule to release 1 free radical to damage the DNA of 1 cell, which can multiply to become a cancerous tumor, if all the conditions are right.
They make more excuses, saying that these ingredients are only in products that are applied to the skin, and so they actually don't get inside the body.
Well, as a nurse, I have applied several different types a medication patches to the SKIN of my patients. If chemicals didn't absorb through the skin, they medication patches wouldn't be on the market today. And some ingredients, like alcohol and propylene glycol, actually help other harmful chemicals penetrate the skin.
A study done a few years ago that go a lot of attention in the news media was done with one ingredient called DEA. When they applied DEA to the SKIN of lab rats, these rats developed kidney & liver cancer. I have a DVD with recording of the actual news reports as they appeared on the nightly news. Click this link, write that you want a copy of the "Are you being exposed" DVD. Include your address, and I would be glad to send you a copy for FREE. I will even pay the shipping.
These synthetic chemicals are getting into our bodies, and they are even being passed from pregnant mothers to their unborn children. Just last fall, there was a news report that revealed that in random umbilical cord blood samples they found an average of 150 toxic chemicals in each new-born baby!!! (2004 study in USA Environmental Working Group.)
So, even though these harmful ingredients might be in small amounts, would you want to take the chance? Wouldn't you want to eliminate your exposure to toxins that you actually have control over? Why take the risk, if there are safe alternatives available?
Not only is there an increased risk with just 1 toxin molcule, but these toxins are often stored up in the body tissues, especailly fat tissue, and build up over time. This is where rapid weight loss is a concern, and actually any weight loss can increase your risk of cancer. When you are losing weight, those fat cells are being converted to energy, and they release the toxins that have been accumulating there. And that starts the cancer cascade. So, for those of us losing weight, it is even more important to minimize our exposure to harmful synthetic chemicals.
By purchasing organic foods, we know that we are eating food that has been grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. When we purchase personal care products, we need to read the labels. Don't trust the word "Natural" that is put on some products. The word natural is not regulated. Any one can put "natural" on their label without meeting any certain qualifications. You HAVE TO read the labels to be sure the product doesn't have any harmful ingredients, or look for the "Certified ToxicFree" seal from the Toxic Free Foundation.
The list of harmful ingredients is so long, that it would be impossible to memorize. I will give you a few of the harmful ingredients to watchout for:
1. DEA, (mentioned above) and its cousins, MEA, and TEA
2. Parabens, any ingredient that ends in paraben i.e. propylparaben, or butylparaben, ect. (has been linked to breast cancer)
3. Propylene glycol, an industrial antifreeze (can even be processed food products.)
4. Anything that has ETH in it's name has dioxin as a by-product which is usually present with that ingredient. 1 drop of dioxin almost killed Viktor Yuschenko, the Ukrainian president. i.e polyETHylene glycol (PEG), & sodium laurETH sulfate, also DiETHanolamine (DEA).
5. Triclosan (anything that says "antibacterial" on the label has triclosan) is a cousin to agent orange, and may have dioxin present as a by-product.
6. Fragrances May consist of up to 4,000 different synthetic chemicals, disguised under the name "Fragrance." Have you ever gotten a headache when sitting next to someone who was wearing a lot of perfume? The toxic effects of the chemicals in that perfume were immediatly noticable. Just imagine how many of those chemicals have toxic effects that are not detected right away.
7. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, engine degreaser.
I recommend finding a company with integrity that makes sure all the products that it makes are safe, and free of ANY harmful ingredients.
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