Fitness and Health: A Practical Guide to Nutrition, Exercise and Avoiding Disease

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of the inflammatory problem, are one of the primary
causes of cancer. Environmental chemicals include the
tens of thousands of synthetic compounds used every
day by unsuspecting men, women and children. They’re
on our lawns and in our cars, under our kitchen and bath-
room sinks, and in our food and water — we live in a sea
of toxicity. We can’t eliminate them all because our air and
oceans are polluted, but we can significantly reduce their
presence in our local environment. Once inside your
body, many of these chemicals reside in body fat — by
reducing and maintaining body fat to healthy levels you
can eliminate their buildup in the body. The issue of free
radicals is discussed separately in the next chapter.


  1. The second cause of cancer is chronic inflammation. If
    you control inflammation — by balancing fats and all the
    other factors discussed throughout this book — you sig-
    nificantly control the process of cancer.

  2. The third cause includes nitrogen-containing chemicals.
    These are commonly produced, for example, from foods
    during cooking. The most commonly discussed problem
    is barbecuing meat, but many foods produce these nitro-
    gen compounds when cooked. Preventing overheating
    can easily be done — turning your steak every minute,
    avoid very high heat and not overcooking foods can pre-
    vent much of this problem.

  3. The forth step is to provide your body with raw materials
    it needs to stop and slow the process of cancer. We can do
    our best to reduce environmental chemicals, but we can’t
    create a toxic-free environment. We are constantly
    exposed to triggers that start the process of cancer.
    Fortunately, the body can control this, but it needs various
    nutrients to accomplish the task. This includes nutrients
    that help control inflammation, a balance of fats, antioxi-
    dants for the immune system to stop or slow the process
    of cancer, and phytonutrients such as sulphoraphan, for


BEATING THE CANCER ODDS • 327
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