Information Connection: Prostate Cancer Treatment Vs. Cure

While this article does not reference its sources, all of the information presented as fact is verifiable against primary and secondary sources (except as noted). It's interesting that people will accept as fact whatever their doctor tells them, even though the treatment is failing and they feel miserable, but when presented with a solution to their crisis they are skeptical.

Impetus for writing this

My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999, and during the first 11 years of his treatment his main risk factor--easily reduced--got worse. He's undergone extensive, expensive treatments that have left him with osteoporisis, incontinence, and a long list of other illnesses. He is now living out his final months in pain, weakness, dependency, depression, and, yes, prostate cancer. This was completely avoidable.

We taxpayers and insurance policy holders pick up the tab for this torture disguised as "medical help." In one month alone, the treatment costs were $43,000. This was all medical care; at no time did he receive actual health care. For those who do not understand the difference, think of medical care as the fireman who douses the flames and think of health care as all the things you do to prevent fires.

Prostate cancer risk factors

Prostate cancer has many risk factors. For example, eating a single bowl of Wheaties doubles a man's risk of prostate cancer due to the way the folic acid in the enriched flour is manufactured (source: John Tesh; not a primary source but a reliable one). But of all risk factors, body fat percentage is king. It so overshadows all other risk factors, many experts are fairly certain that if a man reduces body fat to an acceptable level he'll stop the cancer from recurring once they knock it out by cutting, burning, or poisoning the patient.

This is exactly the approach holistic cancer specialists take, and the results speak for themselves. By reducing body fat, they eliminate the creation of new cancer cells, effectively curing the prostate cancer. This process, however, is defeated by standard treatment and I will explain exactly how they get it completely bassackwards and kill the patient.

First, we need to answer a basic question. How lean is lean enough? One measure that works for men is a body fat scale. A man with double digit body fat is too fat. He's starting to court danger as his body fat rises past 7%. However, nobody has a number that applies to women.

Why 7% for men? The key is the brown adipose tissue, or "brown fat." Contrary to the hype about it, this fat has no physiological significance in adult humans (source: The New England Journal of Medicine, April 2009). It is not a fat furnace; it IS fat.

This fat is basically a cancer factory. It has other deleterious effects on health, also. So the less of it you have, the better off you are. Remember, though, we are talking about fat. Not about weight. What matters is the ratio of lean mass to body fat. Yes, of course, a morbidly obese person weighs too much. But you can lower your weight by amputating a leg. Obviously, that isn't a great long-term solution to being too fat. Weight loss is not the issue. Fat loss is.

My dad was over 50% body fat for the first 11 years of his treatment. At no time did his doctors work on eliminating the creation of new cancer. They just kept ringing up the cash register while ruining my dad's health. And a core strategy of their treatment actually made the body fat problem worse. More on that, shortly.

During this time, he kept eating foods with a high correlation to risk for cancers of the prostate, colon, and stomach. Doesn't it seem like a "first step" to ensure the patient stops making the problem worse?

Imagine if your house is burning. The firemen arrive, only to find you walking around dumping gasoline on the walls, even where they already doused flames. Do you think any sane fireman would consider that to be OK? Yet, this is exactly the attitude in standard cancer treatment.

Going metastatic

Cancer needs sugar to metastasize. If it doesn't get sugar, it can't metastasize. Of course, your body also needs sugar (we are talking of glucose your body makes from carbohydrates, not table sugar). So the trick is to manage the carbohydrate intake right along a very thin line.

If you can keep your carbohydrate intake to the minimum your body needs, for at least some kind of time window around the tumor removal, the cancer will not have the fuel it needs for metastasizing. In my dad's case, the doctors didn't do the first thing about managing this. In fact, contrary to my admonitions, he was carbo-loading during this time and his cancer spread to his bones.

A tumor protects itself against other tumors by releasing its own anticancer chemicals. If you leave a tumor intact, the cancer may not ever metastasize. Of course, the tumor will kill you--so it has to go. This is a conundrum for cancer doctors, but some have figured it out. There are several good books on holistic cancer treatment centers that provide health care in addition to tumor removal. Rates of metastases are profoundly lower than in traditional settings. Their basic approach? Limit carbohydrate intake to starve the cancer, while also reducing overall calories to reduce the patient's body fat level while preserving lean mass.

Note that we are not talking about starving to "get thin." The starvation effect, in fact, is a problem for cancer victims. They waste away. We are talking about proper feeding to keep the body strong but the cancer weak. Any serious bodybuilder knows exactly how to do this. You'll find plenty of free information on it at www.supplecity.com.

Why standard prostate cancer treatment perpetuates the cancer

As all serious body builders know, testosterone signals the body to reduce body fat. Any practicing endocrinologist will tell you the same thing. Testosterone also signals the body to store calcium in the bones and to add lean muscle mass.

Standard prostate cancer treatment focuses on managing the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) number around some imaginary ideal. Many, many experts say this is idiotic at best. Yet, it's what patients get subjected to. A quick way to lower PSA is to administer drugs that feminize the man, lowering his testosterone to levels that are dangerous even for a woman and raising his estrogen. Nobody can say why this works, because, frankly, it doesn't.

Some results of this approach:

• The body accumulates fat, thus promoting the generation of new prostatic cancer cells and other kinds of cancer.
   
• Muscles waste away (actually, the body is digesting these tissues in this hormonal environment).
   
• New bone doesn't get laid down properly (the body is continually digesting and rebuilding its bones; shutting down testosterone diminishes that second process).
   
• Calcium is not being stored in the bones.
   
• The man becomes excessively emotional, which he is aware of. That awareness produces embarrassment and shame. This raises cortisol, the stress hormone, further exacerbating the bone loss and other problems.

Some other effects of standard prostate cancer treatment

Nearly everyone is aware of the risks involved in doing anything to the prostate. Infertility and incontinence are real possibilities. If a tumor needs to be removed, well, that's pretty risky. You can probably get by with it once. But going back after the cancer has gotten a new life due to the factors identified above means yet another chance of destroying a guy's plumbing. This game of Russian roulette is standard protocol in standard prostate cancer treatment.

Rather than curing the patient of the cancer, the doctors just keep (mis)treating the patient for new cancer. This inevitably reduces a man to wearing diapers. The consequences of this condition are far from minor. The diapers are not odor free, so social activities become off-limits. The management of diapers is costly in terms of time and money, plus accidents happen. This situation requires an iron will to deal with, but by the time a man gets there he's been worn down by everything else.

Curing the cancer

Rather than depress testosterone and perpetuate the cancer, the solution is to raise testosterone as part of an aggressive fat loss strategy. There is no reason any man cannot get his body fat down to 6%, unless, of course, doctors are holding his testosterone down.

Many people, having tried various diets and potions, think getting to 6% body fat, or even 9%, is not possible for them. But the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. Many people in the medical industry think 6% is super-lean. It's not. Serious body builders get much leaner than this.

If you are being treated for prostate cancer now, your treatments probably work against the cure. Trying to continue standard protocol and cure the cancer is like putting one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake at the same time. Trying to cure the prostate cancer by yourself is courting disaster, for the same reasons you got this cancer in the first place.

Don't reject your doctor outright, thinking you can handle this yourself. Handled properly, your doctor can be a wonderful resource for defeating this disease.

Tell your doctor you know that body fat is the single greatest risk factor for prostate cancer and you want to get down to single digit body fat as quickly as possible. To do that requires not depressing testosterone. You also know that PSA doesn't provide a reliable indicator, so you want to avoid doing anything based on it. Work out a plan with your doctor for monitoring some other way. Continue with the other treatments, if those cannot wait.

Discuss with your doctor some means of temporarily elevating your testosterone (with shots or supervised supplementation) so that you can experience a very rapid change in your body composition. Your doctor, if brainwashed in the PSA school of treatment, won't go for this. Find another doctor. Some actually do think about what they are doing.

We do sell testosterone test kits at Mindconnection. These are, unlike the blood test, actually accurate. The blood test measures total testosterone, which is a meaningless number because the protein-bound component is inert. The saliva test measures free testosterone, which is a meaningful number. You will need to monitor your actual testosterone level if you want to cure your prostate cancer.

Now, just so you don't have any illusions. What we are talking about is a very intense (OK, since we mentioned the prostate we can say "balls out" here) program of fat loss. Not weight loss. Fat loss.

Don't take any dietary advice from your doctor; s/he has no more diet expertise than your plumber. Really. You can agree with your doctor that you will work with a registered dietician (who does have expertise).

Your program will focus on diet and exercise.

Diet tips:

• Six small meals a day. This is not negotiable. Do it. For more info, see http://www.supplecity.com/articles/6mealsaday.htm
   
• Eat greens, not grains. Do not eat any corn or wheat products. Not that corn and wheat are necessarily toxic, but most products containing them are. Eliminating them from your diet simplifies things.
   
• No fruit juices. Ask any endocrinologist why.
   
• No sodas. This stuff isn't fit for human consumption. It's osteoporosis in a can, and it has other health-adverse effects.
   
• Consume about 0.75 grams of protein per pound of lean body weight. Most people have no idea what their lean body weight should be, but it's a whole lot less than you probably think it is. Ask your personal trainer (more on that, shortly) for advice. Rule of thumb: A man who is 5'10" and of average build has a lean mass of about 120 to 130 lbs. Use a body fat scale to get an accurate number.
   
• No meat, unless it's organic. Reason: the meat supply in the USA (and in many other countries) is horrendously contaminated.
   
• No bread. It contains enriched flour, which is helpful to prostate cancer but not to you.
   
• No cereals. See the note about bread.
   
• Load up on brassicas (kale, broccoli, cabbage, etc.), eggplant (raw and cubed, added to other things), bell peppers, squashes, and sweet potatoes. These foods are antagonistic to cancer and very good for the human body. Except for the sweet potatoes, eat all of this raw.
   
• You can dice things up and flavor with a dressing you make in a cruet using only olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, and Dijon mustard. Very delicious. If you really want to put something on the sweet potato, cinnamon is fine.
   
• Eggs from properly-treated chickens (those not kept in tiny cages and fed corn) are high in omega 3 and do not raise your cholesterol. Two hardboiled eggs will give you 14g of protein and make any veggie mix a complete meal. Just slice them into quarters and you are all set. Contrary to what some people say, egg yolks are not bad for you. Eat the whole egg; it was designed that way.
   
• Generally, avoid food with labels. If you read corn syrup or hydrogenated oil on a label, do not ingest what's in the container.
   
• No restaurants. If travel makes eating out necessary, then order plain beans and plain vegetables. No meat, no sauces, no bread. A little black pepper can make these taste just fine.
   
• Avoid fish. It's at the top of the food chain, generally. That means you get a concentrated dose of toxins in each meal. Remember, the goal here is to get well rather than to get sick. So, no fish.
   
• No alcohol. Period. This isn't negotiable, and you can't do it "in moderation." Health claims about wine are false. Adding nutrients to, say, gasoline, does not make it a health beverage. It's still toxic. Same with booze of any sort.

Exercise

• Find a personal trainer who thinks front squats are a necessary part of everyone's program. This is a person who knows what s/he is doing. Don't worry about the cost of a trainer; we are talking about your life here. If you already have your own equipment, visit a gym anyhow. Pay the guest fee and look around or inquire about a trainer.
   
• Do not hire someone who thinks weight machines are better than free weights. They aren't. Do not hire someone who thinks doing cardio training before weight training makes any sense. It doesn't. You have only so much energy and you need to expend it in a burst to make your workout intense. Please note that "warm up cardio" and "cardio training" are not the same thing.
   
• Get your trainer to put you on a "split routine." Any good trainer knows what this is. Any great trainer will insist on it.
   
• Go for intensity, not volume. Share this article with your trainer: http://www.supplecity.com/articles/intensity.htm. This is a hard concept for most people to grasp. You will need to embrace it.
   
• Make every workout count. Don't cheat. Each workout is your chance to win one small battle against the cancer.
   
• Read every article at www.supplecity.com. Really. You will understand the principles behind destroying body fat and building a lean, strong, healthy body in which cancer must struggle very hard for existence.

Supplements

You can find some great promises if you read the claims in supplement ads. Some of these are true. Most are not. Don't start in with the supplements until you are at least four weeks into your intense training program. The exception would be to get a high quality Meal Replacement Powder. Most MRPs are junk. Look for one that doesn't contain all the sugar (Mindconnection sells good MRPs, but we aren't linking to them there because the purpose of this article isn't to sell you stuff but to stop prostate cancer cold).

A good multivitamin is a good idea. We sell those, also.

Some supplements to avoid:

• Do not consume whey protein isolate powders. You are likely to gain, not lose fat, with these. If you supplement with protein powders, get a blend. And don't just add it to your current calorie load, either. Exception: you add the whey isolate to some other protein source, effectively making your own blend.
   
• Do not consume fish oil or other oil supplements. These have calories. Use olive oil in food preparation, and leave it at that. Consuming extra calories in capsule form will work against you.
   
• Do not use any prohormones, unless doing so as part of your doctor's plan.
   
• Do not use those liquid MRPs like Ensure. These are loaded with cancer-feeding, fat-feeding, diabetes-inducing, tumor-metastasizing sugar. OK, I understated. The sugar most of these use is corn syrup. Ask any endocrinologist why you should never put this into your body, and you'll get either an incredulous "why don't you know that" look or a lecture on the health horrors of endocrine modifiers.
   
• Multivitamins with excessive levels of specific nutrients. Typically, this will be buttloads of vitamin A. If you're eating the veggies mentioned above, especially if you're growing your own in the summer (organically, no chemical fertilizers), the multivitamin is just insurance (strongly advised, though). It's unlikely you have a deficiency of vitamin A, so no need to overdose on it.

Generally, you don't want to take any supplements that affect your metabolism unless you have worked this out with your doctor. Many supplements interfere with the drugs administered to cancer patients, sometimes reducing the positive effects and sometimes multiplying the negative ones.

Some supplements, if taken prior to surgery, interfere with anesthesia. Unless dying on the operating table is your goal, don't take any fat loss supplements, decongestants, aspirin, or anything else from a bottle within three days of your surgery. Consult the anesthesiologist (not anyone else) if you have any questions.

You now have a good basis for curing, not merely treating, prostate cancer. Keep in mind that this is a basis for further growth in your mastery of this topic. Reading just this one article doesn't make you an expert. It gives you insight into what steps to take along a journey that will require you sprint rather than stroll.

If you already have cancer, you don't have room for error. You don't have time to fart around with half-hearted efforts, pansy-type workouts, or dietary mistakes. If you put 100% effort into this, you can cure your prostate cancer. If you put only 99% effort into it, your prostate cancer will cure you. It's really that simple. You decide.

Some key points about health:

• Health care and medical care are two entirely different things.
• Health is what you protect or damage via the decisions you make. Medicine is an attempt to fix disease or injury. Current medical practice generally works against health; good health practices support good medical outcomes.
• Health care requires attention to what you eat, how you exercise (and when), how much rest you get, how you handle stress, and how you manage your environment for toxicity.
• There is no real mystery to what behaviors and decisions improve or degrade health. Poor decisions are typically made due to carelessness and willful ignorance rather than not having access to "the secret."
• Exemplars of health are all around us, but the most famous was probably Jack LaLanne. We do have role models.
• We also have common sense. Obviously, eating a diet rich in nutrient-dense, low-calorie foods such as fruits and vegetables is a better choice than eating a diet low in nutrients but rich in toxins (such as corn sweetener and hydrogenated oil).