Using food to amplify your body’s natural ability to heal itself

Each of us has an enormous opportunity to take charge of our lives by using food to amplify your body’s natural ability to heal itself. More than one hundred foods can enhance your body’s ability to starve cancer and keep cancer tumors small and harmless. Understanding that angiogenesis is one of your body’s health defense systems is key to unlocking new secrets for long-lasting health inside your body and outside of the health-care system.

How is Angiogenesis Important for Health?

Angiogenesis, the growth of new capillary blood vessels in the body, is an important natural process used for healing and reproduction. The body controls angiogenesis by producing a precise balance of growth and inhibitory factors in healthy tissues.

When this balance is disturbed, the result is either too much or too little angiogenesis. Abnormal blood vessel growth, either excessive or insufficient, is now recognized as a “common denominator” underlying many deadly and debilitating conditions, including cancer, skin diseases, age-related blindness, diabetic ulcers, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and many others.

Here are some of the best foods for keeping angiogenesis in balance.

Soy – Research shows that soy is connected to longevity and better health. In a study of more than 5,000 women with breast cancer, the more soy the women ate, the longer they lived. And in fact, their soy consumption was associated with a decrease, by almost 30%, in the risk of death. For the women who had their breast cancer completely eradicated, they also looked at how much soy they ate. In the women who ate more soy, (about 10 grams of soy protein a day), the cancer was less likely to come back.

Tomatoes – Tomatoes are a great source of health defense activating bio actives. Tomatoes contain the chemical lycopene, which restricts blood vessel growth. Sautéing a tomato for two minutes can increase the amount of lycopene absorbed into the body by 50 percent. Cooking tomatoes in olive oil increases the absorption of lycopene by twice as much.

Green tea – There are remarkable epidemiological studies supporting the health benefits of green tea. Your DNA is the blueprint for your health. Green tea contains a bioactive called EGCG that makes a natural antioxidant enzyme called GSTP1 that protects your DNA from oxidative stress. EGCG can also activate tumor suppressor genes that stop cancer cells from growing.

Recently, a study from cancer researchers in England was published showing that Matcha green tea has the ability to fight breast cancer. The researchers found that Matcha cuts off the fuel lines to breast cancer stem cells and interferes with their metabolism, causing them to become inactive.

Coffee – Coffee beans contain polyphenols that trigger beneficial DNA functions. Similar to soy, coffee polyphenols epigenetically turn on the tumor suppressor gene RARB2. Scientists at the University of South Carolina have documented these effects in the lab, where they exposed human breast cancer cells to two bio actives found in coffee: chlorogenic and caffeic acid. Both of these polyphenols changed the cancer cells so that the tumor suppressors in their DNA were unleashed, thwarting the ability for cancers to grow.

Dark chocolate - Dark chocolate containing 70 percent cacao or higher is packed with nutrients that can strengthen your body’s defense systems. Epidemiologists have long-established a connection between consuming foods with flavanols—a potent antioxidant found in dark chocolate and the following outcomes:-

A lower incidence of death from cardiovascular disease.

Increases in good gut bacteria while controlling bad gut bacteria. Reduction in biomarkers of anxiety and stress in the body. (cortisol and adrenaline).

Bio actives called procyanidins in cocoa have potent antiangiogenic effects through their ability to stop the signals activating blood vessel cells.

Dark chocolate can mobilize your stem cells to carry out their job to the fullest.

Antioxidant compounds found in dark chocolate—like flavanols and other polyphenols—have been discovered to support DNA repair and strengthen your body’s regenerating abilities.

Prebiotic- and Probiotic-Rich Foods - Prebiotic foods can improve bacterial function by fueling the bacteria in our intestines while probiotic foods contain live microbial organisms. Prebiotic foods are typically made up of dietary fiber. Probiotic-rich foods include fermented variations such as sauerkraut, kimchi, cheese, and kefir.

Caloric Restriction & Fasting - Beyond the types of foods that we consume, another way in which food is connected to wellness and longevity is by the amount in which we consume it. It is now a well-known fact in the science community that reducing the intake of calories by 20-40 percent can increase longevity and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

Restricting calories activates stem cells in the intestines, which regenerate cells in the gut.

Fasting, or the complete restriction of food for a period of time, has been shown to stimulate brain regeneration in mice.

The variety of foods we eat also has a beneficial impact on longevity. Diet diversity is a prerequisite for longevity. Using food to amplify your body’s natural ability to heal itself

requires you to take control of the mix of foods that enter your body in order to tip the scale in your favor against disease.