Sugar & cancer

This post is inspired by the many questions that arise about sugars and cancer...specifically natural sugars. This is my own opinion on the topic and I am not a trained nutritionists, doctor, oncologist,etc. I am a wife whose husband is LIVING WELL with cancer and who studies up hard on all things about cancer.

Refined sugar is a big no-no when fighting cancer. Cancer feeds on sugar. It loves glucose and even steals it from other healthy cells in the body. Many healthy foods, fruits & veggies, contain natural sugars. So what do you do if you are trying to avoid sugar when dealing with cancer? Do you eat the carrot or not? Well there are several theories on this topic but most agree, in my experience, that it is not possible to eliminate all natural sugars nor should we. If a fruit or veggie has proven cancer fighting nutrients than it is worth it to eat it. For example...carrots have a high level of glucose and cancer cells suck it up but they are also getting cancer fighting nutrients from that carrot when they allow in the glucose. So if a fruit or veggie is high glycemic with proven cancer fighting properties when it is eaten it directly delivers the fighting properties into the cancer cell. That pro outweighs the con. Our Naturopath says that our body talks to us so if we have a craving for a whole healthy food than we should eat it because our body is telling us we need it to function. An example...my husband was craving pineapple but b/c it is high glycemic I did not buy it. We asked her about this and she asked him if he was having digestion issues and he was. So she said eat it b/c his body was asking for the bromelene to aid in digestion. He ate it and it worked. Certain berries are great cancer fighters but high glycemic. We eat them. Bananas are high glycemic with no cancer fighting properties so we do not eat them. I made a raw chocolate cake for Thanksgiving which called for dates. Dates are high glycemic so I used figs instead which have tumor fighting properties and it rocked. So I do not believe that we should eliminate fruit sugars and veggie sugars from a cancer diet but we do need to be educated on the cancer fighting foods so that we make the proper fruit and veggie choices. Our bodies need the natural sugars of fruits and veggies to function properly. When you toss in serious illness particularly one that feeds on sugar it is necessary to educate yourself on these foods. It is really not optional. It can be confusing and overwhelming but we have to do what we have to do. Food has a function in our bodies. I like to think of what we eat as the weapons that the immune system warriors need in order to fight off the beasts that might be lurking. I also think that we should eat to nurture ourselves and show love to ourselves. We feel good when we do this. And let me ask you when was the last time you ate a junk food meal followed by a large soda, make that a diet soda and felt good or nurtured? Honestly