FOOD for THOUGHT: We All Have Cancer…

(Dietary changes should be discussed with a health care provider.)

…cells growing in our bodies.  Cancer cells result when a perfectly healthy cell goes through this 3 step process: 1.  A mutation occurs in the DNA.  Now this mutation can result from genetic predisposition, natural or induced free radicals, environmental factors including pollution, chemical contamination, pesticide use, radiation exposure, etc., etc., or spontaneous alteration -- (as Professor McGonagall would say, “sheer dumb luck” -- in this case bad luck), but the why does not so much matter at the moment as just the fact that the mutations occur more regularly than we might think.  Fortunately, our bodies recognize these cells as undesirable and our natural immune response is to try to eliminate them before they become a problem.  2.  The mutated buggers are prone to clone themselves creating clusters of precancerous cells.  3.  As more genetic damage occurs and more cells proliferate, tumors form.

Don’t think of this this as 3 portents of doom, think of this as three opportunities to interrupt the process before it reaches completion – cancer, metastasization, death.  How do we go about interrupting the process?  You’ll just have to stay tuned this season to find out.  What I will say is that the system we use now can be compared to a heavy smoker with lung cancer saying, “Well I don’t like the thought of being bald so just give me half the chemotherapy, but I do like smoking; so, I’ll just cut back to two packs a day; together that will make the difference.”

CHALLENGE #15 of 50:

Keep up the eating habits we have reformed thus far.  Stay tuned for the next step.

QUOTE of the WEEK:

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.

Edward Abbey