“With all I’ve learned over these years of research, if I were asked to design a diet today that promoted the development of cancer to the maximum, I couldn’t improve on our present diet!”, says Richard Béliveau, PhD, researcher in biochemistry and professor at the University of Montreal. He runs one of the largest laboratories for molecular medicine specializing in cancer biology in the world.
Despite the gross-factor after reading the quote above, there IS something you can do. Or I can do. And I am doing…
As I mentioned a few posts ago, my first three weeks of the Swiss Detox diet was coffee-free. I am still not drinking coffee not because I can’t but because I decided not to. Instead, I introduced green tea to my diet. First, as a medicine – bitter, it was really difficult to drink and feel any sign of pleasure. Now, it reminds me yerba mate – traditional hot drink from south of Brazil and Argentina – and I really like it. But it still is medicine.
As Dr. David Servan-Schreiber states in his book Anticancer – A new way of life, “green tea blocks tissue invasion and angiogenesis” and explains what is angiogenesis or neovascularization: It involves the proliferation of new blood vessels. The process transforms a small usually harmless cluster of abnormal cells (known as in situ tumor) into a large mass that can spread to other organs. Intervention (dietary or other) that interferes with the making of new blood vessels can prevent the growth of tumors, maintaining them in a dormant state. Under some circumstances, it may even make an existing tumor regress (page 51).
So, “green tea contains numerous polyphenols called catechins and one of them, epigallocatechin (EGCG), is one of the most powerful nutritional molecules against the formation of new blood vessels by cancerous cells. It is destroyed in black tea but found in abundance in green tea. After two or three cups of green tea, EGCG is plentiful in the blood. They surround and feed every cell in the body, blocking the ‘receptors’ whose function is to set off the signal that allows the penetration of neighboring tissue by foreign cells, such as cancer cells. Once the receptors are blocked by EGCG molecules, they no longer respond to the orders that cancer cells send through inflammation factors to invade tissue and to make the new vessels needed for tumor growth”.
Complicated? Imagine that every sip of green tea is a powerful army that will defend your body against your own malign cells…
“The effect of green tea is quite remarkable. So why deprive ourselves?”, says Dr. Servan-Schreiber. Three to five cups a day is recommended.
But remember: your green tea should set something between 5 to 10 minutes before you start sipping it and you have to drink it in about an hour. Green tea has caffeine in it – after 3 pm, try it decaf. And do some research on your natural store, as some green teas are from China, others from Japan, like sencha and matcha.
Another tip is to try green tea mixed with some herbs, like mint, echinacea (one of my favourites!), ginger, lemongrass and so on – it’s a good way to get used to the bitter taste.
If you like to buy bulk tea, here is a nice website: teavana.com