Excerpts
Healthy Eating for Life to Prevent and Treat Cancer

From Chapter 1
New Power Against Cancer

We've heard that certain types of cancer, such as breast cancer, can "run in the family," suggesting that genetic factors are decisive and that diet may offer little benefit. But research shows that, although genetic factors do play a role in some cancers, the way we eat also "runs in the family." Food choices, handed down generation after generation, are a far bigger factor for cancer risk than our genes. A look at how cancer rates change as people migrate from one part of the world to another is very telling. Their genetic makeup doesn't change, but dietary habits do, as people adapt to new ways of life. For example, when people moved from Japan to the United States, many traded their traditional diet, which had plenty of rice and vegetables and very little meat or dairy products, for a Western menu, heavy with meat and dairy products. With this transition, their breast cancer rates more than tripled, and prostate cancer became almost five times as common.

From Chapter 2
Tracking Down the Culprits

Studies on 34,000 Seventh-day Adventists in the United States conducted over several decades, compared cancer rates of vegetarians and meat-eaters. Other aspects of lifestyle were similar; there was little smoking or use of alcohol in either group. Yet those who avoided meat, fish, and poultry had dramatically lower rates of prostate, ovarian, and colon cancer compared to meat-eaters. Even occasional meat consumption, red or white, increased the risk of colon cancer.

A 12-year British study looked at cancer rates among 6,000 vegetarians. It found cancer rates to be 40 percent lower than for nonvegetarians who were similar in body weight, social class, and smoking patterns—a powerful example of what a diet change can do.

From Chapter 3
The Right Stuff: Getting the Nutrients You Need

The ideal fuel for our bodies is carbohydrate. In fact, our brains and nervous systems depend on it. Carbohydrate comes from the sun's energy, which is captured by plants through the process of photosynthesis and packaged into various plant foods. It takes the form of long chains of natural sugar, bundled together with fiber. When you eat and digest these foods, their sugars gradually come apart and provide a slow-release energy source. Our systems function best when 55 to 75 percent of our calories come from carbohydrate. When carbohydrate intake falls below 55 percent, our diets are too high in protein and fat, and there is greater risk of cancer, heart disease, and other chronic diseases.

From Chapter 4
Cancer: Dietary Self-Defense

Let's compare two 55-year-old smokers, Veggie Vic and Pretzel Pete. Vic's typical menu on any given day looks something like this: oatmeal with fresh berries, a slice of cantaloupe, and a cup of tea for breakfast; a banana and orange juice smoothie for a snack; a veggie sub on wheat bread and a bowl of minestrone for lunch; and hearty pasta with tomatoes, eggplant, and basil for dinner. With his preference for these healthy and delicious foods, Vic has just one-quarter the risk of dying from lung cancer during the next four years, compared with Pete who munches on pretzels and other highly-refined foods, hardly thinking of eating a vegetable or fruit.

From Chapter 5
Foods for Cancer Survival

In the early 1960s, Dr. Ernst Wynder, one of the medical pioneers who uncovered the role of tobacco smoke in lung cancer, among other discoveries, was struck by a surprising finding in Japan. Not only were Japanese women much more likely than American or European women to stay free of breast cancer, when it did strike, they were much more likely to survive.

In teasing apart the various reasons why this might be so, the explanation that emerged most strongly related to the traditional Japanese diet. Low in fat and high in vegetables, grains, and the natural cancer-fighting compounds they hold, this diet worked almost like a medicine.

From Chapter 6
Nutrition During Cancer Treatment

Here are tips from a woman who appreciated her experience at the Block Medical Center in Illinois.

"I was extremely apprehensive about taking chemo, but in retrospect, I am glad that I did it. I think a good whole foods diet makes a huge difference, not only in how you feel, but also in how you respond to the treatment. Also the supplements I took, I believe, kept me strong throughout. I was able to continue working during that time. Every treatment gets easier, in part because you know what to expect, and also because the body tolerates it better. Here are some things I found to be extremely helpful:

1. Walk as much as you can. It makes a difference in how you feel during treatment and also makes it easier to sleep. (The fatigue is one of the worst side effects.)
2. Miso soup and tamari broth soups are wonderful for nausea. They work better than Zofran. During the last three rounds I didn't use it because the soup worked better.
3. Sparkling water helps a lot too, to settle the stomach.
4. I ate lots of leafy vegetables, usually three times a day. Kale, collard greens, cabbage, broccoli, etc. I believe that they counteracted some of the negative effects of chemotherapy, and also helped clear it from my system."

—M.L., Illinois

From Chapter 7
Putting Foods to Work Against Today's Common Cancers

Not only are fruits and vegetables important in preventing lung cancer, they also improve the prognosis if it strikes. In Hawaii, nearly 700 men and women with lung cancer were asked about their dietary habits in the year before their diagnosis, their history of tobacco use, and other lifestyle and environmental conditions. Survival clearly improved with the increased consumption of certain fruits and vegetables. If particular components of vegetables and fruits can prolong survival in patients with lung cancer, you can imagine how industriously these little nutrients work on you (and in you) each and every day. All you've got to do is eat up! It's the most cost-effective and enjoyable step we can take to protect ourselves from cancer risk.

From Chapter 8
Treating Yourself to Good Food and Great Health

Some people may find that cooked foods are easier to chew and digest. You may not have realized that cooking makes it easier to absorb some antioxidants. (Chewing well helps, too.) For example, you'll get 33 percent more beta-carotene from cooked, puréed carrots than from raw carrots because the heat breaks the plant cells open, making some protective substances more readily available. Cooking also increases absorption of lycopene from tomatoes. And, while you're making your next meal, remember this: Some cell-nourishing substances actually form during cooking. Whereas raw garlic contains dozens of protective compounds, even more are created when you mince the cloves and then simmer them in your pasta sauce. The same is true for dozens of other plant foods. When eaten with the peel (as with carrots or baked potatoes), the amount of antioxidants and fiber is considerably higher than when the peel is removed. (Use organic produce to avoid pesticides in the peel.)

From Chapter 9
Fitness, Friendship, and Freedom from Stress

Exercise is a vital way to send extra pounds packing, and lower your risk for cancer. It also lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, while improving your circulation, sleep, sex life, social life, and frame of mind. In the long run, exercise reduces risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, and obesity.

Its effectiveness has been most clearly demonstrated against colon cancer. One major study looked at cancer rates among 17,000 male alumni from Harvard University. Those who burned 2,500 calories a week cut their risk of colon cancer in half. No, they didn't spend hours in the weight room or running around a track. This activity level is the equivalent of a brisk, one-hour walk every day, plus an extra hour of gardening or golf somewhere during the week.

From Chapter 10
Putting It All Together

As you'll see in the recipes that follow, we have taken humble foods—vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes—and allowed their full healing powers to blossom.

Incorporated into wonderful recipes, they are a delight for your taste buds. And a cancer-fighting menu has other benefits you may not have expected. It will likely give you extra energy, trim your waistline, and lower your cholesterol level—by a great deal. If you have high blood pressure or diabetes, the same foods that fight cancer will do wonders for these problems, too.