Kind: captions
Language: en
if you want to lower your risk of cancer
you need to know that inflammation is a
major trigger for cancer growth and
we're also talking about cancer from the
perspective of prevention as well as
intervention I'm a cancer researcher so
you come to the right place to learn
about what's real about cancer
prevention what's the science what's the
human evidence how do we apply this into
our own lives so if this is something
that you want to actually apply to
yourself then you got to watch the end
of this video okay
all right ready let's go so the first
thing that we're going to talk about is
what is a legume all right uh that's set
the stage for figuring out uh which ones
are actually good for cancer prevention
and which ones are my favorites frankly
so first thing you need to know is
legumes are a whole family of foods and
these Foods actually date back 40,000
human years of
History way back to like Neolithic
period so actually what we discovered
these include the beans and the peas
right so basically legumes
are kidney beans Navy beans lima beans
mung beans soy beans
chickpeas regular um spring peas lentils
so these are probably um beans and uh
peas that you've actually eaten before
uh and B by the way they're all fruits
or the seeds of fruits that can be dried
and stored for long periods of time
which is why they date back so long
because they were actually easily
preserved all right um the other reason
that they were eaten for so long going
way back is that these uh legumes the
beans and peas are great sources of
protein to be able to keep the body
running and they're also good sources of
dietary fiber so whether long before we
knew about the M microbiome um humans
were eating these because they knew that
they actually did something good for
them and the fiber uh as we'll talk
about helps to lower inflammation in the
body which actually helps us uh Move
Along healthier and the protein fuels
our strength all right the other thing
about legumes all right beans and peas
that they are good sources of
micronutrients micronutrients like
vitamin B like iron like pottassium like
zinc now none of these micronutrients by
themselves are game changer but when you
actually add them all together and stick
them into a little tiny thing that's got
good protein and good fiber that can be
stored dried for months to years you're
talking about a really valuable uh food
uh uh ingredient all right uh and this
is an ingredient that goes into some of
my favorite dishes we're going to talk
about all right so uh oh by the way
another interesting thing is my friend
Dan Butner who who uh wrote about the
blue zones and actually uh researches of
blue zones told me that beans are
actually one of the common denominator
Foods across all the blue zones you
probably heard of blue zones these are
the countries around the world where
people tend to live long longevity and
they T tend to live well uh and if
you're living long and well you're
probably fighting cancer you're probably
lowering inflammation and you're
probably healing yourself really well
which is basically why Rie talking about
Le legumes uh in this uh video all right
so what are some of the legumes that are
my favorites that can actually achieve
this goal of longevity and fight cancer
and help
healing well the first one is the lentil
all right you've probably eaten lentil
before but if you haven't you're really
missing out they're absolutely tasty and
delicious now lentils are small flattish
edible seeds that come in a whole
variety of colors there's green lentils
there's black lentils there's Brown
lentils and there's yellow lentils and
if you go to the middle section of the
grocery store and look by the bean
section they you know lentils will
actually come in bags sometimes in cans
canisters uh and they are powerhouses
for your gut because of the amount of
dietary fiber uh they actually have now
I wrote about uh lentils in my book Eat
to beat the disase I got it right here
check it out if you haven't read it I
strongly recommend it heat de beat
disease it's got a lot of stuff in here
uh about food Doses and all the
different kinds of foods that can
activate your health defenses to fight
cancer this whole sections about cancer
fighting Foods in there but for uh
lentils the dietary fiber and the
polyphenols feed the gut microbiome okay
that's one of the reasons that lentils
are good for you and when the good
bacteria in your gut microbiome are well
fed they produce these uh
anti-inflammatory substances that they
release into the bloodstream and these
substances are called short chain fatty
acids short s chain C fatty F acid a
scfa we sometimes call them scaas all
right that's what scientists do we come
up with abbreviations for tongue
twisters but basically when you eat
dietary fiber and uh which is uh
Prebiotic as well as polyphenols also
Prebiotic and you really make your gut
bacteria happy because they're basically
like eating up the dietary fiber and the
and the polyphenols which make them
Thrive they will um generate metabolites
so as a matter of their own life they
spit out these um scaffa short chain
fatty acids that goes into our
bloodstream and you know what the short
chain fatty acids do it lowers
inflammation really really important
thing okay so if you want to lower your
risk of cancer you need to know that
inflammation is a major trigger for
cancer growth so by lowering
inflammation by activating your gut
microbiome by feeding yourself and your
gut bacteria dietary fiber and
polyphenols that are prebiotics and
getting those um fiber and prebiotics
from lentils one of my favorite uh
legumes you're actually able to help tip
the balance in your body um against
cancer growth by lowering inflammation
all right now let me tell you how
inflammation actually Sparks cancer
growth there's a lot of different ways
um one thing is that inflammatory cells
can release cyto kindes these are sort
of growth fertilizers to the cancer
cells in order to make the cancer cells
divide and grow more aggressively so the
cyto kindes from
inflammatory cells that are part of
inflammation um actually just make the
cancer start uh rip roaring in terms of
its own growth potential the other thing
that inflammatory cells do inflammation
is they trigger blood vessels to grow uh
around cancer cells around the tumor and
these blood vessels actually grow uh
towards the inflammation and into the
cancer cells uh Mass where they begin to
feed uh the cancer cells cell what I
mean by that is that um cancer cell when
a cancer starts it doesn't have a blood
supply but when actually inflammation
sets in it's one of the factors that can
actually attract new blood vessels that
grow up towards the tumor and those new
blood vessels uh bring oxygen and
nutrients uh that begin feeding the
cancer now I worked in a laboratory that
studied this and what was shown is that
if you keep a tumor without a blood
supply it can't grow larger than two 2
to 3 mm in diameter that's about the
size of the tip of a ballpoint pen but
if you allow the blood vessels to grow
up and touch that uh nest of cancer
cells and bringing that oxygen bringing
those nutrients um it can actually cause
the tumor the cancer to grow
16,000 times in just two weeks all right
that's explosive cancer growth permitted
by uh angiogenesis angio blood blood
vessel growth how they grow so so tumor
androgenesis is not what you want but
inflammation actually helps spark that
tumor androgenesis so by eating foods
that lower inflammation you're actually
tipping the balance away from growing
cancer right that's cancer prevention
all right um that's very important to
understand now the other thing that
inflammation can actually do to a cancer
is it can actually help to spark more
mutations within a cancer because
inflammation
you know starts to releasee all these
cyto as I mentioned to you earlier as
the cancer cells are provoked to grow
all right uh it's kind of like just
chugging gasoline onto the Embers of a
fire and now the fire is burning go like
crazy mutations can occur more mutations
than had than the tumor had originally
and that will actually cause the cancer
to get more aggressive as well okay
cancers are normal cells that become
abnormal because of mutations and those
mutations are damaged to the DNA all
right so back to the lendol the short
chain fatty acids that your gut
microbiome will release after you eat
lentils actually helps uh quell the
inflammation which then makes uh tumors
much less likely to grow aggressively
now the other thing that is really
interesting is that uh lentils can help
your body's Health defense system cut
off the blood supply uh to Growing
tumors now I talk about the blood
vessels and how to cut off the blood
vessels feeding cancer uh in an online
course that I teach um so if you're
interested in learning a lot more uh
check out my online course I teach it um
every now and then uh and um it's it's
really uh I've actually had more than
6,000 uh people from 90 countries that
have taken my courses now all right now
what you need to understand is that that
your body's own and your Genesis Health
defense keeps good healthy blood vessels
maintained wherever they need to be but
also prevents extra blood vessels like
cancers are trying to get for themselves
um quelled all right so you don't
actually grow extra blood vessels so
it's anti-angiogenesis against tumors
but keeping good circulation where they
need to be all right so to fight cancer
and prevent cancer you want to eat foods
that can actually help your body block
those tumor uh stimulated blood vessels
uh at all costs now uh lab Studies have
shown that that what's a lentil can
actually do that which is pretty cool
all right now lentils are also packed
with folate folate to kind of Vitamin B
and that kind of vitamin actually helps
to your body repair DNA so that's
another advantage of how lentils can
prevent cancer um basically you got a
mutation could be a cancer actually goes
in there to actually fix it so think
about like a um you know somebody who
comes in to uh replace a crack bathroom
tile before you wind up actually having
leaking from your shower into the wall
um so by fixing that uh crack tile uh
which basically how um folate can
actually repair DNA it helps to avoid
mutations and all the complications and
damage that can occur Downstream and by
the way where do those mutations
actually come from well a lot comes from
our environment about uh 90 to 95% of
cancers are linked to our our diet and
lifestyle only 5 to 10% are actually
linked to our genetics so we hear all
the stuff about cancer and genetics and
screening and braa those are all really
important but the vast majority of
cancers that you've heard about that you
know people who might have suffered from
cancer maybe yourself those are linked
to diet and lifestyle okay check this
out I've got a free guide on my favorite
breakfast foods to eat for longevity
from what's in my mug to what I look for
when I buy these staples at the grocery
store it's all right here all you have
to do is click on the link and enjoy now
let's talk about diet and lifestyle and
environment got to include the
environment there because factors like
ultraviolet radiation from the Sun
chemical additives um in your food uh
fumes from the off gassing of your new
carpet or your new furniture or your new
car uh or inhaled smoke uh that comes
from air pollution you don't even uh see
the smoke necessarily but there's a lot
of pollution in the air all those things
when we when they get into our body one
way or the other can actually set up the
the situation where DNA is mutated those
mutations turn into abnormal cells uh
turn normal cells into abnormal cells
and those abnormal cells actually very
quickly when they're copy and pasted can
become a microscopic Cancer all right
all DNA damage is actually one of the
Hallmarks of cancer and guess what
folate that's present in the lentil can
counter that fix that error in the
DNA now the other thing is that lentils
are great soci or protein now if you
want to have healthy aging so we're not
talking about cancer now we're just
talking about healthy aging you need to
have enough protein that's really
important you know really after the age
of 40 you got to really pay attention
how much protein you're actually eating
now the protein also helps your body
heal right so if you've got an injury uh
or you have surgery and you're going to
need to heal up your wounds you need an
adequate protein for your body to be
able to create those building blocks to
be able to heal that wound all right so
again uh lentils are a good source of
the proteins the uh polyphenols and the
dietary fiber to be able to cause
healing to be able to extend longevity
to be able to lower inflammation so you
don't get sick and that includes
preventing cancer by tipping the balance
in your body body away from the tumor
and towards your longevity without
Cancer all right so let's talk about uh
how much protein lentils have so one cup
of lentils actually have 24 grams of
protein so you know on a uh weight basis
lentils are one of the most highly
protein packed plant-based foods that
you can actually eat all right um how do
I like to incorporate lentils into the
diet my diet pretty easy all right and
by the way lentils are not not expensive
so they're very economical and in terms
of uh protein power uh and fiber they
are really hard to match right okay so
here's what I do I like to make lentil
soup or lentil stew in fact I remember
when I was um uh in medical school I
really wanted to be able to uh cook some
food that would actually be delicious
tasty satisfying warming that I could
have some leftovers on lentil making a
lentil soup or lentil stew is a
basically a One Bowl meal all right so
how do you make lentil soup yeah you
know take a take a pot or or a cast iron
pan little extra virgin olive oil sauté
some chopped garlic and
onions chop up some carrots all right
add in the lentils pour in some
vegetable stock um if you're a
vegetarian or vegan all right lentils
are great for that uh or if you're not
uh and you want to get some protein
extra protein for collagen uh use some
bone broth it's a great way so now
you're putting it in there and then add
some herbs uh herbs like coriander uh
spices like cumin and turmeric all right
now you're really beginning to flavor
that lentil all right and then you cook
it um and by the way spices have their
own cancer fighting activities they can
be anti-angiogenic cover of blood supply
to tumors uh they can be have their
healing
um uh properties for example um turmeric
has curcumin which actually accelerates
healing um and by the way when you cook
that up the lentils will absorb the
fluid uh all those other flavors with
the SP herbs and spices the onion and
the garlic and the extra virgin olive
oil which is healthy by itself will
start to co-mingle you'll get this
incredibly tasty bowl of food it's a
complete meal uh in a bowl with all the
protein uh uh that you actually need for
basically a day it's got some veggies in
it prebiotics could be in there um you
got put some carrots in there now you
get some beta carotene carotenoids that
are good for your eyesight important for
longevity right you're going to live a
long time you want to be able to see
clearly for as long as you need to uh
because vision is such an important part
of enjoying uh life no matter how many
years you have and then herbs and spices
can lower inflammation and also they
light up our taste buds right so you
want to be able to eat something that
tastes really great that's how you get
to make a bowl of lentil soup okay so
whether it's fall or winter or spring I
personally find lentil soup or lentil
stew if you want to actually make put
some more stuff in it make it a little
thicker it's a comforting warming meal
that is super healthy uh and actually
contains just what your body needs to
help uh fight cancers prevent cancer
lower inflammation improve your
metabolism by the way um and help you to
uh live longer and also for healing all
right now you ready for my next legume
legume number two all right
chickpea the chickpea is another legume
that packs a punch when it comes to
boosting your health defenses which you
need for cancer prevention and healing
and living longer all right and just
like lentils uh chickpeas great source
of protein and a good source of dietary
fiber right can sign all of these up for
the health benefit I talked about
earlier uh in this video and by the way
there are different ways of cooking
chickpeas if you look at Middle Eastern
cooking just type chickpeas Middle
Eastern recipe and hit video and you can
watch people who really know what
they're doing um show you how chickpea
are chickpeas are cooked in a lot of
different ways all right now I like to
cook chickpeas in a curry sauce and this
is like a vegetarian dish that you can
serve over brown rice mouthwatering to
me when I think about it like actually
my mouth starts with water but it's
super easy to make right so you get all
the benefits of the uh of the chickpea
plus the sauce which is really delicious
uh and the benefits of brown rice so let
me tell you how I do that get a large
heavy bottom pot all right I get just
like the lentils extra virgin olive oil
chop some garlic up some onions um in my
case I like to put for chickpeas a
little bit of red chili pepper all right
if you like to have a little bit of heat
all right now chili has capsacin that's
a natural bioactive in chili that turns
on your metabolism so when you eat chili
peppers and you get a little bit of that
heat that little zing on your tongue
it's amazing because the receptors on
your tongue are like radar dishes or
buttons on an elevator okay the Caps
pushes those buttons on your tongue and
it sends a signal to your brain and your
brain will actually uh release um
neurotransmitters that go down your neck
and activate your brown fat
and what that does is that actually
burns down extra harmful body fat so
good fat burns down bad fat when you
have chili peppers and when you actually
lower excess body fat you're lowering
inflammation so um in a different D
Direction then your gut slowing
inflamation this is actually one way
that you're cooking chickpeas and making
a curry and add a little bit of red
chili pepper that's what I actually do
and also by the way capsacin has
anti-inflammatory effects I've always
been really surprised about that when it
comes to chili you'd think that chili
would spark inflammation right it's hot
actually not it actually quiets and
quells
inflammation and by the way so do the
bioactives in the garlic and the onions
they're actually going to put into this
chickpea recipe so lower inflammation
good for cancer prevention uh garlic and
onion are both healing in their Natures
as well all right now you stir in some
curry powder add some cumin um now
you're actually getting a lot of
different spices in there really
activates your senses when you smell
this cooking all right with chickpeas um
I like to then add some crushed tomatoes
all right so you get a little bit of the
uh acid from the tomatoes and it kind of
really just add some depth to the flavor
all right that so it's not just pure
spices um and by the way you don't have
to um grow fresh you grow your own
Tomatoes or even use fresh tomatoes you
can get tomatoes out of a can now I like
to use San Marzano Tomatoes if you can
find them because San Marzano is the
kind of tomato the varietal that has the
highest levels of lycopene that is one
of the many beneficial compounds that's
found in tomatoes San Marzano tomato has
one of the highest levels of lopine so I
would go for that and what does lopine
do lycopene helps your metabolism helps
to burn extra body fat again lowering
inflammation improves your metabolism so
you actually have more energy which is
good for longevity right it's what you
want for longevity it's antioxidant so
it protects your DNA slows down cellular
aging and lycopene has been shown in a
study of more than uh 36,000 men to
reduce the risk of prostate cancer all
right so the lopine cuts off the blood
supply uh to tumors as well so the
cancers actually can't grow all right
all these things you put that crushed
tomatoes right into the that mix into
the pan I'm telling you about okay uh
and then what you do is you stir that
all together and now you've got this
incredible fragrance sauce um uh that
actually is starting to cook together so
then in order to be able to blend all
the flavors together and finish a dish
um you can add some coconut milk if you
want some richness and creaminess but if
you don't want to use coconut milk
because it does have um some saturated
fat you can swap it out with almond milk
or cashew milk or another plant-based
milk what you got to know though is that
if you don't if you use those
plant-based milks it's not going to be
quite as creamy all right because it's
the uh nut milks have a lower fat
content coconut actually has a lot of
fat content um and the other thing you
can do is you if you do want to use
Dairy um here's another little uh hack
you can actually do all right so Dairy
let's say you're like I don't feel like
I want to use cream uh what would you
actually use I don't want to use nut
milk because it's too thin here's my
little uh homecooked
secret get some yogurt Greek yogurt be
great and put the Greek yogurt in there
and now you'll actually and then you can
add some nut milk to thin it out now
you're actually going to get that
creaminess from the yogurt that's out
there now if you're going to get yogurt
my tip to you is actually if you want to
use it to lower
inflammation get full fat yogurt don't
get lowfat yogurt let me repeat that get
full fat yogurt that's right um don't be
afraid of the saturated fat it's found
in full fat yogurt uh and the reason is
this when you have full fat yogurt it's
a probiotic food when you eat it it
actually contributes healthy gut
bacteria to your microbiome and that's
the formula to actually lower
inflammation right so that's actually
going to be good for you and don't buy
lowfat yogurt because when the factory
removes the fat from the yogurt good
well intentions supposed to be good for
your heart right that's work out that
way when you remove the yogurt actually
the fat from the yogurt it collapses it
becomes kind of like this you know weird
uh thickish milk um doesn't have any
mouth feel so the manufacturers add
emulsifiers thickeners in it
carogin uh chemicals like polysorbate 80
you know if that freaks you out to hear
about that yeah that's right you're
actually thickening it up with chemicals
and you know for a long time we didn't
really think too much about these
chemicals um but now we're beginning to
understand when you eat things like poly
serate 80 it damages your gut microbiome
those additives those thickeners those
emulsifiers in lowfat yogurt that which
are used to give it the mouth feel of
like regular yogurt they will actually
um damage your gut microbiome once your
gut microbiome is damaged guess what
inflammation levels rise in your body
totally not what you want to do if
you're trying to prevent cancer all
right uh as inflammation Rises it puts
put you at a higher risk for chronic
diseases which compromises your
longevity and inflammation actually
makes healing a lot harder so we're
still talking about chickpeas and the
curry sauce and what where I was in case
you got lost is that you know you can
actually use some coconut milk to kind
of make it creamy and and thin it out
and give it this nice like kind of
blending uh uh texture so that the
chickpeas are in kind of a sauce um you
can use nut milks um or you can use uh
but it's going to be thin or you can use
yogurt and then add some nut milk in
order to get the right consistency all
right um you use yogurt you'll get the
probiotic effect of yogurt which only
helps your gut microbiome which actually
lowers inflammation as well all right
and by the way yogurt eating has been
Associated for a long time with
longevity all right uh there's a chemist
named Elia mechnikov this ISS going back
hundreds of years actually first noticed
that Bulgarian monks who seem to live a
long time uh he noticed they were all
eating yogurt and so he um began
speculating that there was something in
the yogurt like bacteria that actually
is uh healthful and that's really one of
the origin stories of um uh
understanding healthy gut bacteria so
you get this chickpeas you got it in a
Potter pan simmer it for about 30
minutes the chickpeas will soften up all
the flavors will blend together you're
going to actually have an amazing
delicious ious chickpea and curry sauce
it's really really healthy and by the
way you're going to have enough
leftovers for the next day all right now
you're saving money and saving time
which is important to me all right okay
next legume that I like Black
beans black beans are my third legume
let's talk about black beans yep they
got protein they got dietary fiber join
the party black beans they're good for
your gut microbiome they're good for
lowering inflammation right this is
makes you're starting to see the theme
now right all these beans all these
legumes they make sense why uh the blue
zones uh countries are all eating beans
um the key thing though with black beans
is that their color is black and the
black color from black beans come from a
natural dye uh found in nature bioactive
called
anthocyanin now anthocyanin this natural
dye um it's kind of like really really
deep blue purple
uh black all right it's what makes
blueberries blue actually kind of a
purpley blue and what makes blackberries
like look blue black purple black all
right so that's the same guy that's in a
black beam all right and anthocyanins
can starve cancer by cutting off the
blood supply now it's cancer
preventative anti-angiogenic cuts off
the blood supply uh to cancers
anthocyanins also a powerful
anti-inflammatory compound all by itself
so in addition to what the dietary fiber
is from the black beans now you're
adding the natural D anthoy to ramp up
that anti-inflammatory effect right
super important for healing super
important for uh cancer prevention and
anti-inflammation as I mentioned to you
also supports healthy cellular aging so
it doesn't your cells don't age as
quickly as it do if you are inflamed all
right um so the other thing about
anthocyanins uh that you have in Black
the other properties are antioxidants so
they protect DNA right we talked about
DNA damage a little bit earlier all
right so DNA damage uh is uh causes
mutations the basis for tumor formation
cancer formation and uh the oxidative
stress that occurs just in life actually
can damage your DNA that causes aging so
if you want to slow down cellular aging
having an antioxidant aboard like you
know with anthocyans coming from black
beans that's actually really great so
look I talk about um beans and how to
cook with them in my bookie Tob disease
um I showed you right here if you
haven't read it I'll put a link in the
video description so you can actually do
a deep dive uh into these uh natural
protective uh aspects of anthro is by
the way anthro is also found in other
foods like strawberries as well you know
it's it's just a great uh addition to uh
all all the healthy aspects already in a
black bean now you're adding that extra
bioactive anthroid to be able to ramp up
their benefits as well now if you like
my suggestions for cooking lentils or
Curry chickpeas um you're probably
wondering how I like to actually cook
black beans all right so when I'm
thinking about black beans I'm thinking
about a tasty Mexican dish so how do I
do it look you probably can guess take a
cast iron pan a little extra virgin
olive oil that's going to have hydroxy
tyol and ooin these are natural
bioactives found in extra virgin olive
oil all right um You can cook with it
contrary to the urban legend out there
you can't cook with extra virgin olive
oil yeah sure you can all right you
don't be deep frying with stuff but um
it's fine to cook with on a cast iron
pan all right and by the way why do I
I'm telling you about cast iron pans if
you're a woman and you're worried about
your iron levels in your blood cooking
with a cast iron pan actually get some
of the iron from the pan itself into
your food and so you can actually build
up your iron stores in part supporting
it by cooking in a cast iron pan okay uh
extra virgin olive oil in the pan chop
up some onions chop up some garlic mince
a few cloves all right and then you're
your you've got extra virgin olive oils
in it sauté together until the onion
starts to soften up all right it's like
3 to four minutes don't burn the garlic
all right so you want to take a wooden
spoon and keep all the stuff moving
around then add a can of black beans all
right don't bother rinsing them or
anything else just put the whole can in
there all right then what I like to do
uh is chop up some uh cilantro um it's a
leafy green it's an herb contains a lot
of bioactives that are also cancer
fighting
anti-inflammatory uh they help your body
heal some of the bioactives in uh
cilantro gallic acid fuic acid
chlorogenic acid Rose Beric acid you
don't have to remember all this stuff
you just to know that scientists like me
like we're studying this stuff so we
know that there's good stuff in central
all you got to do is chop some of it up
and stick it into this pan with the
black beans with the onions and garlic
and with the extrav virgin olive oil um
and then uh by the way then you add some
cumin all right cumin is a spice it
contains a uh bioactive called cumin
alide all right now this bioactive helps
to protect your nerves help to protect
the liver also very powerful
anti-inflammatory so you cook the beans
in the pan all right for about 20
minutes on low medium heat don't burn
them all right add a little water if it
looks like it's drying out uh and then
you can uh add some vegetable broth or
again a hit of of bone broth you want
some added protein or collagen and then
you're done all right now you've got
something uh cumin and black rice with
flavored of onions and garlic and cilant
Ro you can take a ladle of that put it
over some brown rice or you can stick it
in a taco all right and now you've got a
tasty delicious protein Rich fiber rich
uh Health enhancing cancer starving uh
meal anti-inflammatory meal all right
and you're going to have leftovers as
well the other Advantage by the way of
eating beans like this is that it
actually is very satiating all right and
when you eat beans because you're
satiated tells your bra brain
all right you know uh we're pretty full
you're less likely to snack between
meals and you're less likely to over eat
at the next meal because you're just not
going to feel as ravenous all right that
is I know I feel this way if I have a
bean burrito for example for lunch all
right I'm not going to be that hungry
for dinner all right so that's good
because it means you're going to uh
lower your caloric intake and that's
another thing that is cancer starving
when you go down on your calorie intake
it actually tips your body builds your
immune system improves your gut
microbiome but it also tips your body
into a cancer fighting mode all right
anti-inflammatory cancer fighting mode
all right Next Food we're going to talk
about bacon now Bacon's a big topic
because we all love bacon almost
everyone loves bacon I mean unless
you're a vegan or a vegetarian but let's
admit it even if you're a vegetarian or
you're a vegan today when you were a kid
you probably ate bacon and you probably
loved it because bacon tastes great so
let's talk about bacon what is bacon
bacon is salt cured pork and that says
it all curing okay is processing the
meat and using salt actually puts a lot
of sodium in it and that's really what
makes it taste good it's salty it's
cured and bacon can be made with
different cuts of meat from different
parts of the pig all right the most
common uh cut of the pig uh for bacon is
the belly all right but you can make
bacon from using different types of the
pig as well for example in Italy uh
bacon can be made from the cheek the
jowo inside of the jow of the pig it's
called Guan chal all right absolutely uh
tasty super tasty you've ever made bacon
with Guan chal like it's it's wayfer
thin um that's very very tasty it tastes
a little bit different because it's the
gel not the belly then there's Panetta
another type of bacon made from the
belly petta actually goes through this
intensive time intensive curing process
it's also used in a lot of Italian meals
and you'll find it on the recipe then
there's pruto which also is not cooked
generally um but it's uh cured uh and
pretty much every meat eater likes this
perso often served with melons and figs
um uh and you eat it cured they're at
room temperature not cooked and then in
Spain there's also kind of a a Spanish
version called hamon all right made from
a special kind of pig that is also eaten
cured not cooked then there's Lardo
which is actually just the cured fat on
the back of the pig back fat all right
so these are different versions of a
very similar thing um that we associate
with bacon and I just wanted to walk you
through that so that you know that bacon
isn't just whatever you'd find in the uh
uh the package meat section uh of your
grocery store all right but let's go
back to be breakfast bacon the kind you
get at the diner maybe at a Sunday
brunch uh that you might go to the kind
is really tasty but not healthy all
right so I got to break it to you you
but something that you probably already
know bacon is tasty but not healthy and
let me tell you why bacon is high in
saturated fat it's about 40% saturated
fat that's a huge amount of saturated
fat all right and just three slices of
bacon has 5 G of saturated fat that's
about half of what's considered
advisable by the American heartest
Association for the whole day all right
bacon is also super high in salt now too
much salt in your body leads to high
blood pressure all right also called
hypertension uh you put a lot of salt in
your uh blood a lot of liquid gets drawn
into your blood vessels now your you've
got your blood volume is high and that
actually causes wear and tear on your
circulation and then your arteries can
get hardened and then the blood pressure
is going to be high because you can't
relax the blood vessels quite as easily
and that's hypertension very common uh
in women as well as in men and it is a
silent killer hypertension high blood
pressure is a silent killer because you
don't always feel it all right most
people don't feel when they're
hypertensive some people do but most
people don't and being hypertensive
which is actually putting strain on your
circulation the lining of your blood
vessels is um uh increases your risk of
stroke and heart attack all right it is
really really bad for your heart and for
your brain and again when you have high
blood pressure and you got a lot of salt
it damages the endothelial lining that
that's that smooth lining that is inside
your blood vessels here's your blood
vessel it's it's got a it's Hollow in
the middle blood goes through it it's
lined by a layer called endothelium
think about like a Saran wrap a plastic
layer inside and it's really slippery
when it's healthy it's slippery because
it allows everything to flow right
through like an ice skating rink you
know after the Zamboni the ice cleaning
machine
runs over it it's so smooth on an ice
skating you can throw a sweater on it
and let the sweater will Glide all the
way to the other end of the rink all
right hypertension chops up the ice it
really damages that smooth layer lining
inside it and now your blood vessels are
not only hardened but they actually um
can stick to things things can stick to
your blood vessels a lot easier and that
damaged endothelium is a setup for
stroke and heart attack as well so
double damage when you have high salt
and you have high saturated fats now the
lipids from your bacon that you will
likely stick to the side of the blood
vessels now your blood vessels begin to
narrow all right the other thing about
high salt you need to know about it is
that high salt stuns your stem cells
your stem cells are naturally present in
your bone marrow they repair us from the
inside out normally if you got damage to
that lining inside the blood vessels
guess what your stem cells get called
out of your bone marrow like bees out of
a hive and they go and fix your damaged
areas of your blood vessel
all right they regenerate that lining
high salt stuns the uh stem cells all
right it's like budges them knocks them
on the head brass knuckles now your stem
cells groggy not really sure what to do
and you're not actually repairing your
blood vessels quite as well that's not
what you want you're damaging one your
body's Health defense systems for your
circulation here's the other thing about
bacon not only is it high fat saturated
fat not only as high salt is also a
processed meat processed Meats I got to
tell you I have a bad and deservedly bad
reputation because they are classified
by the World Health Organization as a
class one carcinogen a carcinogen is a
substance that causes cancer all right
um class one carcinogens um tobacco
which we know causes lung cancer and
throat cancer asbestos which we know
causes a type of lung cancer in your
chest a chest cancer called mesothelioma
and guess what process meets also cause
different types of cancer like
esophageal cancer stomach cancer
pancreatic cancer you do not want to get
pancreatic cancer very difficult almost
impossible to treat today colon cancer
prostate cancer breast cancer all right
now what are some of the processed Meats
besides bacon hot dogs sausages
commercial pepperoni salami basically
dely Meats the stuff we grew up with you
know lunch meat the lunch lady used to
give it to us in a sandwich all right
those are all processed Meats now we
don't understand exactly why they
actually cause cancer some people say
it's because of the nitrates or nitrites
that are made from a factory that are
poured in there for preservatives for
for tastiness but whatever it is I can
tell you that uh eating processed Meats
actually is not good for uh your health
and actually increases your cancer risk
so in fact a clinical study of
470,000 people looked at the intake of
processed Meats including bacon and
found that for every 20 G of increased
processed meat that you eat for every 20
gram that's not a lot of meat the 20
grams is about two bacon slices all
right it increased the Chance by 18% so
two bacon slices 20 grams increases um
uh your chance of developing colon
cancer by 18% now that's not oneof like
just eating two slices of bacon but
that's a habit continuously eating that
much uh bacon compared comp to people
who don't eat bacon that's actually what
you need to be able to understand how to
how to interpret that data so compar to
people who don't eat bacon eating 20
grams of bacon and then another 20 grams
of bacon then another 20 grams of bacon
increases your chance of developing
colon cancer by 18% all right that is
not something that you want to have
happen to you and it's completely
avoidable by avoiding bacon now here's
another thing about bacon um uh that
that makes it a problem is that when you
cook bacon you're frying it because so
much oil comes out you're essentially
frying the bacon and when you fry foods
like bacon you're you're um it's
generating the chemical reaction from
frying generates um something called
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons these
are pah's all right um it's carcinogenic
and another carcinogen is called
heterocyclic amines heterocyclic amines
are hcas and they're generating ages
Advanced like a and products and I'm
just spelling these out to you because
we know exactly what these chemicals are
and they are cancer causing chemicals
that in the lab when you expose animals
to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons okay
um to heterocyclic amines or to Advanced
glycation and products they actually
spark development of cancer in animals
so when you fry bacon you're causing
some of these chemicals to be generated
and the darker and crispier you fry the
bacon the more of these heterocyclic
means you're actually generating into
the bacon itself right so that's what
I'm telling you those that that dark
bacon you might even break off the the
burnt parts of it and eat the rest of it
but the rest of it also has these um
carcinogens that occur just by frying
all right so people ask me so Dr Lee
should we avoid bacon at all costs like
just totally cut it out here's my answer
all right uh and again like I I practice
reasonableness all right if you want to
avoid all harmful foods for your health
then yeah stay away from bacon but like
most things in life some of the
pleasures in life aren't so good for us
so if you really really love bacon and
you really feeling sneaking in a few
slices for your breakfast what you need
to do is just approach it uh with eyes
wide open you know that eating processed
Meats like bacon is damaging to your
health you know that it actually
increases uh your chances for diseases
like cardiovascular disease and cancer
but if you actually are generally
healthy and you generally eat to improve
your body's Health defense systems a
couple of slices of bacon aren't going
to hurt you but just recognize do it
with eyes wide open it is not healthy
for you okay so let me give you a couple
of tips that if you are going to eat
bacon um uh what you might want to do to
make it a little bit less unhealthy
number one if you cook the bacon cook it
so it's lighter in color don't make it
really really dark brown and don't burn
it now then you'll actually have fewer
heterocyc a means fewer carcinogens less
carcinogens to it now less doesn't mean
no it just means less so lighter color
of cooked bacon number two here's a pro
tip twoo to make bacon less unhealthy if
you're going to cook bacon in oil you
know um uh why don't you cook it in some
oils that actually have polyphenols like
a little extra virgin olive oil all
right so rather than use butter or use
vegetable oil or whatever you might be
using for cooking your bacon and and by
the way it's true that that cooking
bacon you use a lot of its own grease
but guess what if you add a little bit
of extra virgin olive oil into the pan
uh and you heat that pan and put your
bacon slices in it your bacon will cook
a little faster which is good so you
don't you're less likely to burn it and
the bacon will actually absorb some of
the polyphenols from the extra virgin
olive oil now here's the interesting
about those polyphenols in extra virgin
olive oil they neutralize some of the
carcinogens that come when you actually
fry
extra virgin olive o contain polyphenols
that neutralize some of the carcinogens
um that are actually found in cooking
bacon so these are a little Pro tips if
you're going to eat bacon uh the message
I want to send you though is that bacon
is not in any way a health food but I
got to admit they taste pretty good so
if you're going to enjoy a slice or two
occasionally it's probably okay if you
spend the rest of your time eating
healthy plant-based Foods including for
breakfast you're you're going to survive
it and there are ways to actually make
Bacons less unhealthy because you know
basically what's happening is that
fruits vegetables legumes they all raise
your Shields they elevate your health
defenses and all those things counter
the danger of eating bacon and other
processed Meats what can we do from a
preventative perspective to prevent
colon cancer I think this is a good time
to talk about that because nobody wants
to have colon cancer so researchers have
shown that there's certain foods that
actually are correlated with a lower
risk lowering your risk of colon cancer
all right green tea is one of the foods
that beverages that if you actually
drink it uh it contains a kaken a
polyphenol called egcg that's epig Gala
kaken 3 galate
egcg all right and egcg is a potent
inhibitor of angiogenesis it inhibits
blood vessels that the tumor might want
to hijack abnormal blood vessels
to feed the cancer so when you actually
cut off the blood supply to the tumor it
it doesn't grow or it can't grow as
quickly and so you're actually lowering
risk of ccal cancer uh and studies
eventually shown that people who drink
three to four cups of green tea a day
have a lower risk of colon cancer here's
another food that's actually been shown
to have some effect in lowering the risk
of colon cancer um from live research I
guess what it is purple potatoes you
know when you go to the grocery store
you look for your potatoes you got your
Russa potatoes you got your white
potatoes and then you'll see these
unusual kind of um Dusky looking
purplish looking potatoes if you try
that um potato it's actually really
delicious and it's beautiful if you cut
it in half you'll see the inside is
actually a really really deep purple and
by the way here's a cool thing if you
put it in the fridge after you cook it
you'll see this uh purple turns actually
blue and it actually has got resistant
starches that actually occur which is
featured got my biome uh as well but
here's a key thing purple potatoes are
purple because of a natural dye that's
called
anthocyanins it's the same thing that
makes of blueberry blue Blackberry dark
dark purple those are anthocyanins uh
and they are present in purple potatoes
and studies in the lab have shown that
anthocyanins can kill colon cancers but
even more they can actually kill colon
cancer stem cells now stem cells are the
little tiny baby cells um uh in a cancer
that can turn into cancer cells and make
more cancer cells and this is how cancer
cells keep coming back or tumors keep on
coming back through their um stem cell
now we don't have a drug there's no
oncology drug or cancer treatment that
actually can get rid of Co colon cancer
stem cells but purple potatoes can and
if you like purple potatoes you want to
try something uh in my first book Eat to
beat disease I actually included a
recipe for purple potato noi I think I
put Walnut with a walnut pesto or a
walnut sauce oh about walnuts guess what
walnuts have also been shown to uh kill
colon cancer stem cells as well purple
potatoes and walnuts so a purple potato
Miyaki with a walnut pesto that's
actually uh not only delicious but it
actually has some health benefits as
well that's it I hope you learned
something and thanks for watching Dr
Willie
out hi there if you enjoyed watching
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