I’ve had kids home the last couple of weeks almost every day for one reason or another so it’s taken me time to get this post out to you.
Before I get into the topic, since it’s the first day of Chanuka and every year people ask me for my recipe for doughnuts, I’m linking it here for you so you don’t need to search. It’s heartwarming to know that some of you have been making this recipe since I first posted my recipe here thirteen years ago!
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I’m going to continue to respond to questions asked about doing screenings for cancer. I’d like to start by addressing an underlying attitude towards screenings that you may not have considered.
The thought behind the need to do screenings, is that there are all of these scary things that can happen to us, to any of us, any time, randomly, and we need to take every precaution to catch them before they bring us down. Inherently, that leads you to think of yourself as a potential problem waiting to happen.
For me, thinking in this way would lead me to living in a perpetual state of low grade anxiety and fear, worrying that something could be wrong with me and running to get tested to reassure myself that I’m okay. Instead, I choose the baseline position that I’m a healthy person. This is not from a place of denial, but I actively choose to view myself as strong, healthy and capable; it’s empowering and psychologically healthy .
>> sometimes it is important to do preventive testing. My 40-year-old sister-in-law decided to go for a mammogram only because her close friend was diagnosed with breast cancer and it scared her. My SIL had no symptoms whatsoever and was healthy and energetic. Sadly, she was also diagnosed with breast cancer. Boruch Hashem after chemo and double mastectomy and oophorectomy, she is in remission, but had she not done that mammogram, things could have been very different. <<
I am so glad to hear that your sister-in-law is doing well, and I’m not questioning in any way if this was the right decision for her to make.
I’m going to share some thoughts for you to consider – I’m asking you to not reflexively respond but to let the points sit with you for a moment.
I’ll begin with briefly referencing a summary by the American Cancer Society of concerns with the effectiveness and accuracy of mammograms that include false negatives, false positives, overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
You can read the link, but I’ll sum it up more briefly here: One in eight breast cancers aren’t picked up by the mammogram, leading to a false negative. That means there are women who have done the testing who think they’re fine who actually have cancer.
Over a ten year period, half of women having mammograms will get a false positive – they will be told they have abnormal results when they don’t have any cancer whatsoever. That leads to further testing and treatment, as well as stress and anxiety.
Finding a cancer that wouldn’t cause problems is referred to as ‘overdiagnosis’. There are cancers that wouldn’t be found and wouldn’t grow or spread if there hadn’t been a screening for them; they will not become life-threatening. It is possible to be completely unaware of the presence of the cancer, and live a long and healthy life, untreated.
Treating cancers that wouldn’t cause any problems is called ‘overtreatment’. When a cancer is found, a doctor can’t know which will cause problems and which won’t, so he will advise treatment for all of them. That means that a lot of women will unnecessarily undergo cancer treatment.
And finally, just because they find a cancer when it’s small doesn’t mean it can be treated successfully.
Mammograms also expose women to radiation. While the phrasing that is consistently used for all sorts of medical procedure is ‘the benefits far outweigh any risks’, there are a number of reasons for a woman may question if this is a screening that is actually to her benefit to participate in.
If you’re interested, here’s an article from the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine: Mammography is dangerous and should be abandoned.
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Let’s say that you do testing that shows you have cancer, and now you have to do something about it. Now what?
The standard of care is chemotherapy and radiation, and this is what doctors are obligated to recommend. It’s considered malpractice for them not to suggest that.
Chemotherapy is poison. The goal is for the chemotherapy to be more toxic to the cancer cells than the human receiving it, and kill the cancer cells before it kills the human. That’s how it works. It’s brutal, and the person who is ‘cured’ is one who can survive chemo. One day we’ll look back with horror on this barbaric treatment but currently this is our standard of care.
Another aspect of standard care is radiation therapy. According to the American Cancer Society, radiation therapy used to treat cancer is linked to the further development of cancer. So it’s a treatment that contributes in the long term to what it’s supposed to be eliminating in the short term.
Here’s an emotionally charged point to consider: When a person is diagnosed, treated for cancer and then dies, we make the presumption that it’s the cancer that killed them. We don’t question if the treatment contributed to their death, and if they would have lived longer and with less suffering without the chemo and radiation.
According to the genetic disease model, there’s not much to do in the way of prevention other than screening and preemptively removing body parts. People do what they feel they need to do to save their lives, and if this is the best option presented to them, then of course they’re going to do that.
Are the only ways to treat cancer with chemotherapy, radiation and the removal of affected body parts? Is there anything more effective and less toxic that can be done? Are there any preventative steps that can be taken?
Cancer researcher Dr. Thomas Seyfried has written extensively about cancer being a metabolic disease. This is counter to the prevailing view of cancer as a genetic disease. Metabolic therapies that lower blood glucose and elevate ketones will quickly reduce tumor growth, extend lifespan and in some cases cause complete remission.
Several years ago I was on a group hike with a bunch of women, and got to chatting with someone I hadn’t met before, who mentioned she doesn’t give her children sugar. Naturally, I asked her why. She told me as a lab researcher she’s seen what happens to cancer cells in a petri dish when they are given sugar- the cancer explodes. And she just can’t give that to her children to eat.
What fuels cancer cells? Glucose and glutamine. That’s sugar. Glucose immediately goes into blood stream and into the tumor cell. A tumor cell is one that has out of control division. The only way to shut down growth of these cells is to get rid of their fuel and transition the body to a fuel that the cancer cells can’t use to grow. Starve the cell and the cancer can’t continue to grow.
Unfortunately, cancer patients are generally told they can eat anything they want, and cancer wards tend to be filled with sugary foods. It’s interesting to consider the ethics of giving a patient chemo to kill the cancer cells, giving them no dietary guidance to reduce or eliminate sugar, and then following up their treatment with a hospital tray of sugary foods.
The highest risk factor for cancer are processed carbohydrates in your diet; the constant barrage of these foods is the highest risk factor for all of the most common diseases. Elevated blood sugar leads to systemic inflammation. Yet not only is that the standard diet, the dietary pyramid recommends high carbohydrate consumption as the foundation of a healthy diet.
***Edited to add – I am not suggesting that if someone is diagnosed with cancer, all that is necessary to treat it is a dietary approach. Not at all. There are other alternative therapies that I would personally look at in that case. What I am stating is that prevention is better than the cure and it would be wise to take a preventative and preemptive approach to minimize the development of systemic inflammation in our bodies that leads to all kinds of diseases. As such, diet is an important preventative factor to be aware of.***
Massive amounts of money have been spent on the ‘war on cancer’ but it doesn’t seem to me that it’s doing much good. Cancer rates are steadily rising – right now it’s predicted that one of every two people will develop cancer by the time he is 85. That’s downright scary, and if you believe it’s screening that will save your life, those statistics will probably send you running to do some testing to be assured you’re not one of those two people.
Though previous generations of my family had a high cancer rate and that would seemingly dictate that genetically I’m at high risk, I take a different approach. We live in a world of toxins and eating well won’t eliminate the poisons in our foods, air, and all the products that are part of our every day lives (for example, microplastics in just about everything). However, if I can change my diet and eliminate the highest risk factor, it makes sense to me to do that.
I’m not a passive victim waiting for cancer to strike me. There are things I can do to make myself less of a likely target, and I’d rather do them than participate in screenings and the follow-up treatments with all of the risks they entail.
Avivah
Avivah, it’s refreshing to read your rational, level-headed thoughts and advice about cancer screening, treatment, and nutrition. Like many others, I believe that most of the public has been duped by the “system” — Big Medicine and Big Pharma — whose practitioners deliberately and/or unwittingly concoct protocols that lead to high death rates, horrible suffering, low quality of life, and false hopes of getting cured (when that’s not the bottom-line objective of these Industries). Adding insult to injury, this has probably cost the public trillions of dollars, with only an upward trend in sight.
And yet, the beat goes on. It’s easier for most cancer patients to go with the flow, and sign up for the protocols. Over at least two generations, the public has been programmed by their physicians, expensive advertising, and puff pieces in “prestigious” journals. Many physicians and scientists who dare question the system, pursue independent research, and speak the truth, have been gaslighted, deplatformed, and sometimes delicensed. In Russia, more than a couple have clumsily fallen from upper-story hospital windows (perhaps to suggest that they were imbalanced?). The system takes care of itself.
I’m no psychologist, but I believe that many sufferers do understand that chemo and radiation are of dubious value. However, their own families and society would consider them foolish for refusing their doctor’s orders. Subliminally, they know that should they ultimately succumb to the poisons, scalpels, and ionizing radiation, they will still be lauded and remembered for ‘fighting valiantly for years to defeat their cancer’ — the stuff of far too many a eulogy. Death before dishonor!
Avivah, thank you for continuing to think independently and for expressing yourself so clearly and honestly.
As for the cancer itself — שלא נדע! Chanuka same’ach…
Thank you so much for your response, Josh! Funny that you can know someone in real life and have no idea that you have compatible views on something until a blog comment. 🙂
Very interesting. A friend of mine is currently dealing with breast cancer. She almost refused chemo, until it turned out that in her particular case, with her exact type of cancer, chemo did substantially increase the chance of survival. We looked at the research. Chemo is not always the lifesaver that it is touted to be. I forwarded the links to her.
But here’s my question. You write that sugar and carbs can kill you, and will likely lead to all sorts of ills. And you also post a donut recipe!
What balance do you strike between feeding your family in the most physically beneficial way, with being more “normal,” and less restrictive, which is arguably more emotionally healthy? I think we can all agree that letting kids stuff themselves on endless amounts of store bought sufganiyot is a bad idea, and that not letting them (or trying to talk them out of) ever eating any sufganiyot of any form is a big deal in this society. I can go through an entire channukah not eating more than a half of two of a sufganiyah, but I don’t expect that of my kids. My daughter who is sensitive to white flour passes up on most of the standard sufganiyot that come her way, and I do my best to make homemade spelt sufganiyot once every Channukah.
If you’re forwarding information to your friend, a worthwhile thing to learn about is laetrile – https://www.amazon.com/World-Without-Cancer-Story-Vitamin/dp/0912986506. Another approach that is low cost and simple is oncologist Dr. Tullio Simoncini’s baking soda protocol (effective with the exception of bone cancer). Of course there are other options to consider but I mention these two since they’re both deceptively simple, inexpensive and easily implemented.
When I posted the link at the top of the post, I recognized the incongruity of sharing a doughnut recipe together with a post referencing cutting sugars. But I did it anyway because I didn’t know if I’d have a chance to post again until Chanuka was over and it’s something readers appreciate having accessible.
Your question is a good one; BH I’ve found a balance in this area that has worked well for us for many years and food isn’t a major issue in our home. It’s a topic for another post! Regarding Chanuka – we made doughnuts on Friday, then Sat night had an event where they each had one doughnut, and Monday night we’ll have our family Chanuka party so there will be doughnuts. I don’t try to avoid everything all the time, but generally I save treat foods for Shabbos.
Avivah, thanks to responding to my comment. I actually agreed with most of what you wrote about blood pressure and diabetes since a healthy lifestyle will largely prevent those. Regarding cancer, as someone who both had a SIL who defeated it and a young brother who didn’t make it despite being completely off sugar and processed carbs, I was going to refute what you wrote line by line since there is a lot of misinformation in your post, but I changed my mind and decided instead just to daven for good health for you and your family so none of this should be relevant. Have a good Shabbos and a happy Chanukah!
Thank you for your bracha, Tammy, I appreciate it very much. I’m sorry about your brother. 🙁
This is a post that I hesitated to write, knowing that there are readers for whom it will be difficult to read.
I’m sorry you think I shared misinformation. Everything I shared is from reputable sources that I linked to for readers to look into more details for themselves. Perhaps you meant that the information I shared was incomplete? If that was your intention, I completely agree. I have a lot more that I could have written but as a blog post and not a book, I had to choose what points to write about to keep it readable and concise. I trust that readers understand that a blog post is a jumping off point for further exploration of a topic of interest.
To clarify my points about glucose – if you understood from what I wrote that I was suggesting removing sugar and processed carbs would be the only dietary recommendation, that would be inaccurate and it would be inadequate. If a person is still eating other sweeteners, grains, fruits and starchy vegetables, they would still be eating foods that turn into glucose in the body.
Thank you again for your good wishes, and may we all have continued good health!
Avivah, thanks for responding and thanks for your kind words. I did not mean that your post was incomplete, but I don’t want to go into a longwinded debate about this.
Specifically about my brother, I will just add that he did not only eliminate sugar and processed carbs. He was followed closely by a holistic cancer doctor and was off all the food groups you listed and still did not make it. In addition, he was in touch with many, many survivors over the years of his illness, and while he met several who were on a similar diet and pulled through, he did not meet even one person who cured his cancer by diet alone. Every single one of them did it in conjunction with conventional cancer management such as chemo or radiation or a combination of both. They felt the diet did help improve their response to chemo, but he literally searched the country to find that one survivor who could say he cured his cancer only by starving it of sugar and other things that cancer thrives on, and he was unsuccessful.
I don’t disagree with you that chemo is terrible. It destroys the body, often irreparably. Sometimes, however, it is a necessary evil. There’s no denying that cancer survival rates are tremendously increased since the development of chemotherapy. Yes, sometimes it’s the killer so it’s never a simple choice, but more often that not, it’s the lesser of the two evils.
I’m writing this as someone who in general is aligned with your approach to medicine. As I wrote, I nodded my head when I read your previous post about blood pressure and high cholesterol and heart disease. That said, I wouldn’t want the responsibility of even one person denying chemo when he needs it because of what he read here, so I feel a need to speak up, even if I’m not going into specific detail.
Hashem should give everyone good health!
I appreciate you speaking up and sharing your concern, Tammy. I also wouldn’t rely exclusively on a dietary strategy to treat cancer, though diet is a huge important piece of healing. I’ve added an edit to the post to clarity that, as I also wouldn’t want someone to come to a conclusion I wasn’t making.
My point wasn’t about treatment, but suggesting that by removing the problematic foods before there is a diagnosis, it greatly reduces the likelihood that cancer will develop.
I want to be clear that I’m sharing why *I* don’t do screenings, and as I’ve said repeatedly, this is what I do for me. I’m sharing my personal decisions to provide food for thought. What I want is not for anyone to do what I do, but to be an active participant in their own health.
Thank you for more details on your brother’s experience. Again, I’m so sorry for your loss. You’ve shared a perfect example of someone who took responsibility for his own health and did the research to become educated about what the best approach was for him.
Avivah, I appreciate you adding the disclaimer.
There’s a YouTube channel I wonder if you’d be interested in following. Dr. Paul Thomas is a well-known retired pediatrician who practiced what he calls integrative medicine, using alternative therapy combined with conventional medicine. (He actually lost his license due to his approach to vaccines, which the medical system frowned upon.) His son Noah was just diagnosed with appendiceal goblet cell adenocarcinoma grade IIIc, which has a very poor prognosis with conventional cancer treatment. They are exploring alternative treatment including diet (they’ve discussed how cancer feeds on glucose and glutamine), high-dose vitamin C, high-dose melatonin, and some repurposed drugs such as ivermectin and mebendazole. They’re still very much in the research stage, but he posts updates every day and it will be interesting to see how he fares.
If you’re interested, look up bignoknow – Noah Thomas or his father, Dr. Paul Thomas.
I forgot to add: Noah was super healthy and fit when his cancer was discovered. He owns a CrossFit gym and would work out every day, sometimes several times a day, and was very conscious of what he ate. The doctors who removed his tumor commented that they had never done surgery on someone with so little fat and so much muscle.
Thank you for the recommendation, Tammy!
About Noah being so healthy – years ago a naturopath I spoke with said that people assume that people like him should never get sick. But, he continued, it’s not true, because Hashem has messages he sends everyone and no one is exempt.
In the physical realm, there are many factors other than diet that affect health, and it would be wrong for anyone to assume that nothing will happen to us. We make our best effort and the results aren’t in our hands.