Raw Vegetables and Cancer Prevention
Posted by Randomguru | Filed under Life, Raw Foods
We’ve always known that vegetables are healthy for you. It’s just a matter of eating them, right? Didn’t our mothers and grandmothers tell us to eat our broccoli?
Well there’s no doubt that vegetables are a natural source of vitamins and minerals, not to mention a great source of natural fiber.
But more research is pointing to the fact that raw, organic vegetables are even healthier and can help prevent cancer, and in a few cases, it has actually cured cancer.
One such case in which a breast cancer patient foregoes traditional treatment for a raw diet is that of Shelley Abegg, who after surgery and traditional treatments was told that her cancer had advanced to Stage III and would require even more surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. And at that point she turned to a raw food diet as an alternative treatment.
“Shelley had been interested in trying to look for different ways to combat cancer, and had talked to me about her breast cancer and about how she was approaching it with raw foods,” O’Neill said. “I definitely recommend conventional medical treatments, but also I know that there’s a lot of power in fruits and vegetables.”
Gradually, the cuisine improved, Shelley said. Surprisingly, so did how she felt.
“Back in 2001, I was so weak and getting worse,” she said. “When I would eat the food, the energy came back. I wasn’t tired anymore.”
People started commenting that Shelley looked younger than ever before — glowing skin, shining hair. Nothing like a cancer patient should. At the end of the first year, tests showed she was winning the fight. That was a huge psychological boost, she said.
Seven years later, the Abeggs are cancer-free diehard raw food converts. Shelley now uses cuisine as an outlet for her artistic leanings, having started a business online called Raw Food Art. She says she’s never felt better — but stresses again and again that she doesn’t claim to have the cure for anyone else.
“I am teaching the art of raw food as a career, not as the answer for curing cancer,” she said. “It depends on the individual and where they are for themselves.”
But in the case of raw vegetables, which ones are the best vegetables to eat in helping prevent cancer?
So which ‘powerhouse vegetables’ exactly do we need to incorporate in our diets? Cruciferous vegetables includes not only cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, but also arugula, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, daikon, garden cress, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, radish, rape (canola), rapini, rutabaga, tatsoi, turnip, wasabi and watercress.
But raw vegetables aren’t really emphasized enough…
Modern nutritional researchers remain ignorant about raw foods vs. cooked foods, and they group them all together, oblivious to the fact that cooked foods lack the natural medicine of raw foods…
The plant-based medicines in vegetables are delicate molecules that are easily destroyed by heat. Cooking these foods destroys the medicine they contain – by the way: Microwaving broccoli destroys up to 98 per cent of its phytonutrients (components that promote health), including its anti-cancer nutrients.
More and more evidence, of course, is pointing to the fact that you are what you eat. And as more people are seeking a healthier lifestyle they are turning to raw fruits and vegetables as a means to help prevent cancer.
If you are given the choice between donuts and broccoli, which one would be more healthy and nutritious? So, when your Mother told you to eat your broccoli, you might’ve thought that eating a donut would be more satisfying, but we all know that Mom was right. Eat your broccoli, Junior!
Carlos is a professional musician living in the San Diego area. He specializes in drums & piano, and loves to perform Jazz and songs from The Great American Songbook.