Michael Pollan's recent little gem of a book "Food Rules" inspired me to compile my own "rules" about what I'd like every person to know about how they can help avoid cancer - or slow it down if they have it.
FOOD RULES
1. Go retro: Your main course should be 80 percent vegetables, 20 percent animal protein, like it was in the old days. Opt for the opposite of the quarter pounder topped with a token leaf of iceberg lettuce and an anemic tomato slice. Meat should be used sparingly for taste, as when it used to be scarce, and should not be the focus of the meal.
2. Mix and match your vegetables: Vary the vegetables you eat from one meal to the next, or mix them together -- broccoli is an effective anticancer food, and is even more effective when combined with tomato sauce, onions or garlic. Get in the habit of adding onions, garlic or leeks to all your dishes as you cook.
3. Go organic: Choose organic foods whenever possible, but remember it's always better to eat broccoli that's been exposed to pesticide than to not eat broccoli at all (the same applies to any other anticancer vegetable).
4. Spice it up: Add turmeric (with black pepper) when cooking (delicious in salad dressings!). This yellow spice is the most powerful natural anti-inflammatory agent. Remember to add Mediterranean herbs to your food: thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, marjoram, mint, etc. They don't just add flavor, they can also help reduce the growth of cancer cells.
5. Skip the potato: Potatoes raise blood sugar, which can feed inflammation and cancer growth. They also contain high levels of pesticide residue (to the point that most potato farmers I know don't eat their own grown potatoes).
6. Go fish: Eat fish two or three times a week - sardines, mackerel, and anchovies have less mercury and PCBs than bigger fish like tuna. Avoid swordfish and shark, which the FDA says pregnant women should not eat because they contain a high concentration of contaminants.
7. Remember not all eggs are created equal: Choose only omega-3 eggs, or don't eat the yolks. Hens are now fed on mostly corn and soybeans, and their eggs contain 20 times more pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids than cell-growth regulating omega-3s.
8. Change your oil: Use only olive and canola oil in cooking and salad dressings. Go through your kitchen cabinets and throw out your soybean, corn and sunflower oils. (And no, you can't give them to your neighbors or your relatives... They're much too rich in omega-6 fatty acids!)
9. Say "Brown is beautiful": Eat your grains whole and mixed (wheat with oats, barley, spelt, flax, etc.) and favor organic whole grains when possible since pesticides tend to accumulate on whole grains. Avoid refined, white flour (used in bagels, muffins, sandwich bread, buns, etc.) whenever possible, and eat white pasta only al dente.
10. Keep sweets down to fruits: Cut down on sugar by avoiding sweetened sodas and fruit juices, and skipping dessert or replacing it with fruit (especially stone fruits and berries) after most meals. Read the labels carefully, and steer clear of products that list any type of sugar (including brown sugar, corn syrup, etc.) in the first three ingredients. If you have an incorrigible sweet tooth, try a few squares of dark chocolate containing more than 70% cocoa.
11. Go green: Instead of coffee or black tea, drink three cups of green tea per day. Use decaffeinated green tea if it gets you too wired. Regular consumption of green tea has been linked to a significant reduction in the risk for developing cancer.
12. Make room for exceptions. What matters is what you do on a daily basis, not the occasional treat.
NON FOOD RULES
1. Get physical: Make time to exercise, be it walking, dancing or running. Aim for 30 minutes of physical activity at least 5 days a week. This can be as easy as just walking part of the way to the office, or the grocery store. A dog is often a better walking partner than an exercise buddy. Choose an activity you enjoy; if you're having fun, you're more likely to stick with it.
2. Let the sun shine in: Try to get at least 20 minutes of daily sun exposure (torso, arms and legs) without sunscreen, preferably at noon in the summer (but take care to avoid sunburns!). This will boost your body's natural production of Vitamin D. As an alternative: discuss the option of taking a Vitamin D3 supplement with your doctor.
3. Banish bad chemicals: Avoid exposure to common household contaminants. You should air our your dry-cleaning for two hours before storing or wearing it; use organic cleaning products (or wear gloves); don't heat liquids or food in hard plastics; avoid cosmetics with parabens and phthalates; don't use chemical pesticides in your house or garden; replace your scratched Teflon pans; filter your tap water (or used bottled water) if you live in a contaminated area; don't keep your cell phone close to you when it is turned on.
4. Reach out (and touch someone!): Reach out to at least two friends for support (logistical and emotional) during times of stress, even if it's through the internet. But if they're within arms reach, go ahead and hug them, often!
5. Remember to breathe: Learn a basic breathing relaxation technique to let out some steam whenever you start to feel stressed.
6. Get involved: Find out how you can best give something back to your local community, then give it.
7. Cultivate happiness like a garden: Make sure you do one thing you love for yourself on most days (it doesn't have to take long!).
Dr. Servan-Schreiber wrote the best-selling Anticancer, A New Way of Life.
He regularly posts Anticancer research & insight on his Facebook Page & Twitter Account
Visit Anticancerbook.com for the complete Anticancer Lifestyle Guide
Follow David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/servanschreiber
I just wanted to let you know that Dr. Servan-Schreiber is posting his latest insight and research through his official Facebook page: http://www.Facebook.com/Anticancer and his new website: http://www.Anticancerbook.com
Most recently, Dr. Servan-Schreiber and 40 renowned physicians & scientists presented new groundbreaking research regarding Vitamin D, while launching an international appeal and calling for new standard recommendations. http://www.anticancerbook.com/post/Vitamin-D-is-essential-for-the-prevention-of-cancer-heart-disease-osteoporosis.html
Thanks
Haysam
http://twitter.com/hisom
So we should not be great meat eaters and this l believe is related to our need to kill animals for their coats to make clothes a long time ago and we used the carcasses as food, l am not sure of the exact way this took place but it is a theory. I would be Interested to hear from anyone studying the subject and can shed light on this particular area.
Joel Furhman M.D. is the leader in nutritional excellence. His books have saved countless patients in overcoming diabetes, obesity, heart disease , high BP. The data speaks for itself. I've been a nutritarian for almost 2 years now, have lost 30lbs, my LDL went from 160 to 90 and my fasting sugar went from a 105-110 range to a solid 90. I was borderline hypertensive and now have a BP that is safe and healthy .
http://www.prlog.org/10522743-new-research-links-inflammations-with-early-death-what-you-can-do-to-prevent-it.html
Ted Schettler MD, MPH
Despite claims about the high quality of food in the US, many food analysts and public health professionals note with concern the increasing incidence of obesity, diabetes, food-borne illnesses, and other health conditions that are linked to nutritional factors and the food production and distribution system more generally.
http://www.sehn.org/rtfdocs/foodproduction.doc
Surely at least some of the poor live in houses, even if they are rentals, with yards where gardens could be planted? Community gardens abound in many cities, where one can get a plot for little or nothing. What about community gardening collectives too? Many communities also have gleaning programs. Discount grocers of the bag-your-own stuff variety often offer fruit and produce relatively inexpensively. If you have to buy at regular chain grocers, buy seasonal. Then too, all grocers offer loss leaders in ther weekly ads. Look for produce and packaged goods that are on sale and relatively healthy. As to healthy grains, a big part of sensible eating plans, including the one in this article, many grocers offer bulk quantities.
And when all else is said and done, people who are poor, especially those on food stamps, can make a more conscious effort to spend their food dolalrs more wisely, evne if not exactly according to the suggestions in this article. I've worked in grocery stores and can't count the number of food stamp users I've seen using a large portion of them for expensive packaged junk foods -- chips, cookies, candy, pop, etc. (Not that rest of us don't do the same, I know.)
Your pH is going to stay 7.43 unless a condition like diabetic ketoacidosis overwhelms your body's normal acid-base regulatory system.
If we are to really CARE about the health and welfare of ALL our people, we must make those tools to help people available to EVERYONE.(not just the few and wealthy) Organic foods need to be available and AFFORDABLE to everyone, not just a few people. WE NEED TO CARE because not caring will affect everyone.
You bring up an excellent point.
As someone who has covered, reported on, advocated and practiced integrative and self-help health approaches for over twenty years, I have to congratulate Dr. Servan-Scheriber for in this post, he covers the territory superbly well.
But the very fact that nearly all advice about health is sought from and given by a doctor means that all that is said or covered when we talk about health is this: "What I should do now about this or that health concern?"
How shortsighted!
As a working journalist of this field, I ask you to look around at how much media covers systemic contributors to health issues that affect many people. These include the lack of availability of fruits and vegetables in lower income neighborhood--- and many other factors that influence the health of many people.
The job of doctors is offering prescriptions; but there are a host of societal factors impacting health that people must become informed about, and take action to address.
On the one hand, a host of contributors and writers will convey the loving understanding that we are all connected. But when it comes to exploring the contributors to health concerns, it's still sadly everyone for him or herself.
For health, collective psychology, and action get the free Health Outlook at www.healthjournalist.com
2 words: community garden
This is actually a misnomer if he is referring to the anti-cancer properties of something known on the Internet as "hemp oil".
This is distinctly different from hemp seed oil which is in many supermarkets and supplement stores.
Hemp oil is the name given because the word hemp brings up the image of the medicinal properties of cannabis during the early 20th century. They are not using hemp though in this new hemp oil.
Yes, hemp and cannabis are one in the same, but hemp does not contain THC, while cannabis meant for medicinal purposes must contain this, because THC is the active medicinal ingredient in this "new" cure (I say new because I don't know for how many centuries before our modern era this has been used as a medicine).
I encourage everyone to please research this on your own, and make the distinction between hemp seed oil, which is also very healthy, and hemp oil, which is nearly miraculous in it's scope.
Take Rick Simpson's hemp oil. Google him if you want, the man has cured cancer. Watch "Run From The Cure" on YouTube, and if you dispute what he says, at least give the claim of curing cancer the decency to be explored.
He is telling people how to make it themselves so if making a profit was his motive, it'd be the worst sell in history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjhT9282-Tw
Nearly half a million views, people are learning that the cure is out there, but those who stand to profit are suppressing it.
I know it sounds completely absurd and like it would be reported everywhere, but please just do the research and I promise you'll be as astonished as me.