What do you do about cancer?
Is cancer always a life-destroying expense, or worse, a death sentence?
Are there herbs that resist or elmimnate cancer cells?
Maybe it’s time to update your home apothecary.
Cancer-fighting herbs and spices have been studied for their potential to inhibit cancer growth and promote cell death. Several herbs and spices are known for their anti-cancer properties. They include:
- Turmeric – Contains curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that can help reduce inflammation and inhibit the growth of tumors. It should be number one in your home apothecary.
Curcumin is the active ingredient in termeric. It has been used in both Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine. These traditions are thousands of years old, treating such conditions as skin problems, digestive complaints, joint pain and respiritation issues.
During the last few decades, more research has been done on this amazing herb, uncovering even more potential that originally believed. In addition to its anticancer properties, turmeric has shown great potential in anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antidiarrheal and antidiabetic benefits.
To achieve these benefits daily, you only need to use turmeric as a culinary spice. It has an amazing flavor, enriching beverages, including coffee and tea, soups, adding flavor rice dishes, vegetables, beans and rice.
One popular beverage is Golden Milk. To a cup of warm milk, add 1 teaspoon (or more) of turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper and a natural sweetener such as honey or maple syrup. Put the mixture back on very low heat for an additional 10 minutes to combine all the flavors, and sip slowly. You want to enjoy every drop.
Of course you can take turmeric supplements, but be sure to let your doctor know, just in case any medication you are on won’t interact with them. Like Golden Milk, natural turmeric is much gentler on your body.
- Ginger – Has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that protect against cancer. It is also used as a herbal remedy for upset stomach and nausea.
If you are already undergoing traditional cancer treatments, ginger can make chemo discomfort easier to handle.
That said, many women swear by ginger easing the nausea of “morning sickness” while pregnant. It also helps with menstrual pain and pre-menstrual gas and bloating.
But you need not be a woman to enjoy relief from the nausea, gas and bloating ginger eases.
There is growing evidence that ginger is also an anti-inflammatory herb. So if you have issues with respiratory inflammation or pain due to rheumatoid arthritis, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Ginger isn’t only a spice for pumpkin pie. It works well as a tea asa well. Just add a little lemon for a bit of extra zing.
- Cayenne Pepper – Contains capsaicin, a powerful antioxidant that helps with weight loss and is an anti-inflammatory food. It is known to be toxic to cancer cells and helps prevent growth of cancer cells.
Cayenne pepper works on your metabolism. That means the capsaisin in it not only increases your body heat, causing you to burn more calories after consuming it, but according to at least one study it actuall dulls your hunger. It seems to reduce the making of ghrelin, a hunger producing hormone.
There is a compound in capsaisin that also lowers high blood pressure. That’s nice to know since high blood pressure is a problem for almost half of people worldwide that suffer from it.
While people suffering from stomach ulcers may be reticent to take a little cayenne pepper with their food, the opposite may be true. While it’s wise not to over-indulge in hot peppers like cayenne, it acutally helps with digestion. It stimulates the nerves to the stomach lining, causing them to protect the it from injury.
You might also think that as hot as cayenne pepper is, you’d want to keep it away from a part of the body in pain. Maybe so, externally, but capsaisin works internally to reduce pain from joint and muscle pain, shingles, post-surgery pain and lower back pain.
- Oregano – The richest source of antioxidants among herbs slows cancer growth and promotes apoptosis (cell death). It carries antibacterial properties and is a natural disinfectant.
But that’s not all. Oregano is filled with antioxidants, meaning it helps keep your cells healthy. This means it helps increase your resistance to chronic diseases.
It also has anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation has been known to contribute to several diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. It’s nice to know that something that tastes so good is good for you as well.
In some recent studies, it is also showing help in relieving anxiety and depression. In our over-stressful world that is very comforting indeed.
Oregano tea, a lovely beverage, works on digestion. Being a natural anti-spasmodic, it relaxes the stomach muscles to break down food.
One caution, however: If you’re pregnant or nursing, it is wise to stay away from oregano as a tea or in a concentrated form as in an oil, but it poses no problem in food.
- Garlic – The most powerful anti-cancer spice is part of the cancer-fighting allium group. Garlic helps boost the immune system to help fight diseases, as well as colds and flu. It also decreases the growth of cancer cells.
I don’t think enough can be said about the benefits of garlic. It is a natural antimicrobial, meaning it fights disease, from the tiniest cold to the worst of microbial conditions.
Garlic reduces blood pressure. Depending on how many cloves a person takes in a day’s time, it can even be more effective than some high blood pressure medications.
It is filled with antioxidants. As the body ages, a person becomes more at risk to develop various kinds of mental decline. Some recent studies are showing that garlic supplements may actually slow certain types of dementia.
One of the plagues in our modern society is the prevalence of heavy metals in our soil and in our food. Garlic helps detoxify the body from that pollution.
Are you worried about garlic breath? First of all, for garlic to work as a medicine, you need to swallow it raw. I don’t mean chew it. You take a clove of garlic, smash it to remove the outer husk, then cut it up into small pieces. Let it sit for 30 seconds, no longer than 10 minutes. You want the active ingredient, allicin, to oxidize a bit. Then swallow the pieces of garlic like you would a handful of pills. As I’ve already said, don’t chew it.
You can take a clove of garlic daily without being afraid of your body becoming immune to it. REALLY nice to know!
- Saffron – Contains crocins (water-soluble carotenoids) that may inhibit tumor growth and progression of cancer.
But saffron does more than that. Known as the sunshine spice, it has been know to treat mild to moderate depression. Best of all, you’re not going to get the side effects of anti-depressive drugs.
Saffron provides relief from the symptoms of PMS (premenstrual symptoms). It used to be (in the dark ages when I was a teen and young woman) that women’s issues were treated with a bit of scorn by certain doctors. I’m glad we’ve come to the realization that the effects of fluctuating hormones can cause – and be treated effectively – with certain herbs that help to regulate them.
More research is needed, but saffron may reduce a person’s appetite and therefore aid in weight loss. I find that encouraging.
- Thyme – Used as an essential oil, in both a 2018 and a 2021 study, thyme inhibited breast cancer cell lines.
But its benefits don’t stop there. As a tincture, thyme has been used to address acne. Just take a cotton ball with the tincture and dab it onto infected skin. It works wonders.
Made into a tea, thyme also has also been used to treat coughs, not only due to colds and flu, but also to bronchitis. That’s because thyme is a natural antibiotic. For a sore throat, just make some thyme tea, let it cool, and a pinch of salt and use it as a gargle.
In the home, thyme tea, with a couple of drops of dish soap, can be used as a sickroom cleaner. Topically applied, it’s a disinfectant.
But don’t stop with medicinal and household uses. Time is also tasty sprinkled on roasted potatoes with a bit of lemon added, a delicious side dish.
- Parsley – Besides being highly nutritious, parsley has components that lower the risk of certain cancers. One of its nutrients is vitamin C, which has been known to fight cancer.
An unusual fact about parsley is that it is more antioxidant rich as a dried herb than as a fresh one. That makes the culinary herb you sprinkle on a bowl of soup or a saucy vegetable more nutritious than the fresh garnish at the side of your plate.
Because parsley is rich in vitamin K, it contributes directly to bone health. In fact, ½ cup of parsley contains 547% of your RDI (recommended daily intake). It is also very high in vitamin A, a ½ cup of chopped, fresh parsley providing 108% of your RDI. The high concentration of nutrients also makes this an ideal herb for heart health. Nice to know.
Being so rich in quality, it should come as no surprise that parsley extract also holds antibacterial properties.
- Rosemary – Rosemary extract is showing anticancer properties in colon and pancreatic cancers, even lowering the risk of cancer cell growth.
Rosemary is highly nutritious. One of its attributes is maganese. Due to its concentration of maganese, it helps the body clot blood faster.
It provides immune support. What the shot took away, rosemary helps restore. It has powerful antimicrobial and antifungal properties.
All by itself, those would relieve anyone of stress, but rosemary also has stress-reducing properties, even to the point of helping people get good quality sleep.
As an essential oil, rosemary is a powerful aromatherapy, improving memory and cognition performance by breathing it in for 20 minutes.
- Berberine – A natural compound found in the roots of Barberry and Goldenseal, suppresses the growth of lung cancer cells. It also reduces airway inflammation and damage to healthy lung cells exposed to chemicals from cigarette smoke.
But it doesn’t stop there. It works against metabolic dysfunction-associated steatosis liver disease (MASLD). This was a small clinical trial that revealed this, so more research is needed.
Berberine works against high blood pressure. Combined with your own high blood pressure medication, you may be able to lower the amount of medication you need to take by adding berberine.
Note: Everyone has cancerous cells in their bodies. We live in a poisoned world, and the pharmaceutical industry is taking advantage of that. They can’t make any money if you learn to stay healthy. The greatest money-maker for the pharmaceutical industry is treating cancer. It’s not to their advantage for you to find alternatives to their treatments. Worse, their treatments provide these solutions: “Do you want to be poisoned, burned, cut, or all three?” They do not provide cures. But a healthy body is its own cure.
So, what do you do about cancer?
Is cancer always a life-destroying expense, or worse, a death sentence?
Are there herbs that resist or elmimnate cancer cells?
Maybe it’s time to update your home apothecary.
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