Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - My brother has just gone through a physical and emotional trying time with dealing with prostrate cancer. I want you guys to know, there are a couple of things you can do for yourself to PREVENT it.

Here goes... first the scary stats.

Prostate cancer kills more men than any other kind except for lung cancer. Each year, 680,000 men worldwide are diagnosed with the disease and about 220,000 will die from it.

Now the info...

Just a few additional portions of broccoli each week could protect men from prostate cancer. Researchers believe a substance called isothiocyanate in the broccoli sparks hundreds of genetic changes, activating some genes that fight cancer and switching off others that fuel tumors.

Broccoli (as compared to other cruciferous vegetables) has a particularly powerful type of sulforaphane, which the researchers believe gives broccoli its particular cancer-fighting properties. It appears that broccoli contains the necessary ingredients to switch ON genes that prevent cancer development, and switch OFF other ones that help it spread.

The benefit derived from broccoli would likely also be available from other cruciferous vegetables that contain isothiocyanate, including Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, arugula, watercress and horseradish.

How much broccoli do you have to eat to reap these benefits?

Studies have indicated that people who consume more than one portion of cruciferous vegetables per week are at lower risk of prostate cancer. In the study I mentioned above, the control group ate four extra servings of broccoli for 1 year, then the researchers collected tissue samples over the course of the study and found that the men who ate broccoli showed hundreds of beneficial changes in genes known to play a role in fighting cancer!

That's pretty impressive. What's even more impressive is the fact that you don't have to make that drastic of a change to reap the benefits. After all, one serving of broccoli equates to about two spears. So we're only talking approximately 10 spears a week, big deal, right? You can exchange potatoes for steamed broccoli... steak and broccoli, not a bad combo.

Best type of Veggies...

While I believe foods, especially vegetables, are a far smarter choice to treat serious health challenges like cancer than using most drugs, all foods may still not be the right choice for you. And even though vegetables are one of the healthiest food categories on the planet, not all vegetables are beneficial for everyone.

This is where a deep appreciation of nutritional typing will assist you in selecting the best vegetables for you.

One of the most serious mistakes is for a protein type, (meat eater type O blood) to consume many dark green vegetables. This tends to over-alkaline your system and worsens rather than improves your health if you're a protein type.

However, other vegetables such as cauliflower, which happen to be beneficial for protein types, can also have a similar effect.

I want you to be aware of just how important it is to understand your body at a deeper level, because if you are a protein type and were to eat broccoli, the other effects of broccoli might push your metabolic biochemistry in the wrong direction and thus override its benefits.

The best way to understand specifically what foods are ideal for your body in particular is to learn your nutritional type. When you eat properly for your particular type, you will experience increased daily energy, improved emotional well-being, a feeling of satiety and satisfaction, and, of course, optimized health and weight so you live longer with a better quality of life.

However, even if you were a mixed or vegetarian/carb type and broccoli are good for you, ( smaller muscle mass, A, B, AB blood types) there may be an even better way to get these cancer-fighting benefits than eating whole broccoli!

Better than Broccoli?

Small quantities of fresh broccoli sprouts contain as much cancer protection as larger amounts of the mature vegetable sold in local food markets.

Just 5 grams (0.17 ounces) of sprouts contain concentrations of the compound glucoraphanin (a precursor to sulforaphane) equal to that found in 150 grams (5.2 ounces) of mature broccoli. Another major benefit is that the sprouts don't smell since you don't have to cook them. They are eaten raw, usually as an addition to salad. (Local P.V. source, organic-select.com)

Nitty Gritty

1. Optimize your vitamin D levels with appropriate sun exposure by taking morning sun before 11 am, or after 4 pm.

2. Cut out processed sugars... that means honey and sugar substitutes too. Eliminate sugar as much as possible as it's been shown again and again that sugar feeds cancer. Use Agave or stivia to satisfy your sweet tooth.

3. Get appropriate exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.

4. IP6 (phytic acid) is a powerful tool to lower high iron levels (serum ferritin levels). Excess iron can be a major cause of many cancers.

5. Selenium - 400 mcg per day.

6. Consume freshly ground flaxseeds or chia seeds - two ounces every other day.

7. Vitamin E - 400 units per day. (Please note: Only natural vitamin E should be used, not synthetic. Additionally, mixed tocopherol is more preferable than alpha-tocopherol, as the gamma tocopherols are particularly useful antioxidants.)

8. Consume fresh vegetable juice daily - including one small tomato (lycopene) if you do not have arthritis, other good ones are wheat grass and beet juice... invest in a good juicer and the Juice Man book.

9. Eat broccoli or cauliflower sprouts, depending on your nutritional type.

10. Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. My favorite tool is meditation, yoga, down time.

11. Get enough high-quality sleep!

12. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins heavy metals and pesticides.

13. Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them.

14. Eliminate your intake of processed foods, chips, dips, salsas, canned soup, etc. etc.

15. Cut out the processed salt and turn to the natural salt, there are some local salts from the coast of Jalisco that are good.

16. Get yourself an alkaline drinking water source.

17. Avoid IMPORTED FOODS, it's gassed at the border with some very nasty stuff.

The power of food in normalizing chronic disease and helping you achieve optimal health is quite profound and the reason that I am so obsessed with diet, among other things.