The Best Cancer-Fighting Foods

The best cancer-fighting foods
A doctor with a malignant tumor changes his diet to stave off his disease
by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, Prevention
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26559677/?pg=1#Health_EdibleHealing

I was diagnosed with brain cancer about 16 years ago. I received chemotherapy and went into remission, but the cancer came back and I endured two surgeries and 13 months of chemotherapy. I asked my oncologist if I ought to change my diet to avoid another recurrence. His answer was perfectly stereotypical: "Eat what you like. It won't make much difference."

He was wrong.

The extensive research published in the last decade alone proves that what you eat can have a profound effect on your protection against cancer. But my doctor's answer was hardly surprising. It's a little-known fact that nutrition is barely taught in med schools, where the solution to most problems is a drug. And doctors don't trust patients to make lifestyle changes. I recall a conversation with a fellow physician at a conference after I spoke on the importance of a healthy diet in fighting disease. "You may be right, David, but people don't want to change," he said. "They just want to take a pill and forget about it." I don't know whether he's right, but after all the study I've done, I know it isn't true for me.

I spent months researching the healing powers of food before I fully grasped my own natural cancer-fighting potential. I met with a variety of researchers, scoured medical databases, and combed scientific publications. I traveled all over the world and consulted experts from nearly every continent.

In my quest, I discovered that the list of anticancer foods is actually quite long. Some foods block natural bodily processes such as inflammation that fuels cancer growth. Others force cancer cells to die through a process that specialists call apoptosis. Still other foods assist the body in detoxifying cancer-causing toxins or protecting against free radicals. But most of them attack the disease on a variety of fronts. And they do it every day, three times a day, without provoking any side effects. To avoid the disease, it's essential to take advantage of this natural protection, and nurture it.

I've learned that the anticancer diet is the exact opposite of the typical American meal: mostly colorful vegetables and legumes, plus unsaturated fats (olive, canola, or flaxseed oils), garlic, herbs, and spices. Meat and eggs are optional. Through extensive research, I devised a list of the most promising cancer fighters, along with recommendations on how to make the most of their potential. Include at least one, and preferably two, at every meal, to maximize your protection.

To date, there is no alternative approach that can cure cancer, and I believe that the best of conventional medicine — surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, and soon, molecular genetics — must be used to treat this disease. But to neglect your own natural cancer-fighting capacity is folly. I've kept cancer at bay for 8 years now, and I attribute my survival largely to the changes I've made in my diet and lifestyle. I exercise and meditate more and eat wholesome anticancer foods on a daily basis. Still, the medical establishment is slow to embrace this approach. After my last screening at the university's cancer center, I stopped at the cafeteria and discovered eight different types of tea: Darjeeling, Earl Grey, chamomile, and several fruit-flavored herbal teas. Sadly, there was not a single packet of green tea in the lot.


Japanese green tea
Green tea is rich in compounds called polyphenols, including catechins (and particularly EGCG), which reduce the growth of new blood vessels that feed tumors. It's also a powerful antioxidant and detoxifier (activating enzymes in the liver that eliminate toxins from the body), and it encourages cancer cell death. In the laboratory, it has even been shown to increase the effect of radiation on cancer cells.

Japanese green tea (sencha, gyokuro, matcha, etc.) contains more EGCG than common varieties of Chinese green tea, making it the most potent source on the market; look in Asian groceries and tea shops. Black and oolong teas, commonly used to produce popular tea blends such as Earl Grey, are less effective because they've been fermented, which destroys a large proportion of their polyphenols. Decaffeinated green teas, which retain the polyphenols despite the process of decaffeination, are also an option if you're sensitive to caffeine.

How to drink it: Sip 2 to 3 cups a day within an hour of brewing. Green tea must be steeped for at least 5 to 8 minutes — ideally 10 — to release its catechins, but it loses its beneficial polyphenols after an hour or two.

Pomegranate juice
This juice, which tastes like raspberries, has been used in Persian medicine for thousands of years. Its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties are well confirmed; studies show it can substantially reduce the development of even the most aggressive prostate cancers (among others). In addition, drinking it daily slows the spread of an established prostate cancer by more than 50 percent.

How to drink it: Have 8 ounces daily with breakfast.

Ginger
Fresh ginger, or gingerroot, is a powerful anti-inflammatory that combats certain cancer cells and helps slow tumor growth. A ginger infusion can also alleviate nausea from chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

How to use it: Add grated fresh ginger to a vegetable stir-fry or fruit salad. Or, make an infusion by slicing a 1-inch piece of ginger and steeping it in boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes; drink hot or cold.

Turmeric
Found in curry powder, this spice is the most powerful natural anti-inflammatory available today. It encourages cancer cell death, inhibits tumor growth, and even enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Some research shows that turmeric is most effective in humans when it's mixed with black pepper and dissolved in oil (olive or canola, preferably). In store-bought curry mixes, turmeric represents only 20 percent of the total, so it's better to obtain ground turmeric directly from a spice shop.

How to use it: Mix a teaspoon of turmeric powder with a teaspoon of olive oil and a generous pinch of ground black pepper and add to vegetables, soups, and salad dressings. Use a tablespoon if you already have cancer. If it tastes too bitter for you, add a few drops of honey or agave nectar.

Cabbages and other cruciferous greens
Cabbages and other cruciferous greens
Brussels sprouts, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower all contain sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinols (I3Cs), two potent anticancer molecules. These molecules help the body detoxify certain carcinogenic substances and can help prevent precancerous cells from developing into malignant tumors. They also promote the suicide of cancer cells and block tumor growth.

How to prepare them: Cover and steam briefly or stir-fry rapidly with a little olive oil. Avoid boiling cabbage and broccoli, which destroys their cancer-fighting compounds.

Garlic, onions, leeks, shallots, chives
The sulfur compounds found in this group (the alliaceous family) promote the death of colon, breast, lung, and prostate cancer cells. Epidemiological studies also suggest a lower risk of kidney and prostate cancer in people who consume the most garlic.

How to eat them: The active compounds in garlic are released when you crush the clove, and they're much more easily absorbed if they're combined with a small amount of oil. Sauté chopped garlic and onions in a little olive oil, mix with steamed or stir-fried vegetables, and toss with black pepper and turmeric. They can also be consumed raw, mixed in salads, or layered on sandwiches.

Soy
Compounds called isoflavones (including genistein, daidzein, and glycitein) prevent tumor growth and block the stimulation of cancer cells by sex hormones (such as estrogens and testosterone). There are significantly fewer breast cancer cases among Asian women who have eaten soy since adolescence, and when they do have breast cancer, their tumors are usually less aggressive with higher survival rates. Isoflavone supplements (in pill form) have been associated with an aggravation of certain breast cancers, but whole soy, eaten as food, has not.

How to eat it: Replace conventional milk products with soy milk or soy yogurts for breakfast. Also, use tofu, tempeh, and miso in soups and stir-fries.

Fatty fish
The risk of several cancers is significantly lower in people who eat fish at least twice a week. Several studies discovered that the anti-inflammatory long-chain omega-3s found in fatty fish (or in high-quality purified fish-oil supplements) can help slow cancer cell growth in a large number of tumors (lung, breast, colon, prostate, kidney, etc.).

How to eat it: Have a seafood-based meal two or three times a week. Choose small fish, such as anchovies, small mackerel, and sardines (including canned sardines, provided they are preserved in olive oil and not in sunflower oil, which is too rich in pro-inflammatory omega-6 fats). Small fish contain fewer environmental toxins such as PCBs and mercury. Wild salmon is also a good source of omega-3 fats, and the level of contamination is still acceptable. Choose fresh over frozen whenever possible, because omega-3 content degrades over time.

Citrus
Oranges, tangerines, lemons, and grapefruit contain anti-inflammatory compounds called flavonoids that stimulate the detoxification of carcinogens by the liver. Certain flavonoids in the skin of tangerines — tangeritin and nobiletin — can also help promote the death of brain cancer cells.

How to eat it: Sprinkle grated citrus zest (from organic fruits) into salad dressings or breakfast cereals, or steep in tea or hot water. Eat whole fruits out of hand, toss with other fruits in a salad, or use in a salsa to season grilled fish.

Strawberries
Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and cranberries contain ellagic acid and a large number of polyphenols, which inhibit tumor growth. Two polyphenols found in berries, anthocyanidins and proanthocyanidins, promote cancer cell death.

How to eat them: At breakfast, mix fruit with soy milk and multigrain cereals. (The best cereal options combine oats, bran, flaxseed, rye, barley, spelt, and so on.) Frozen berries are just as potent as fresh.

Dark chocolate
Chocolates containing over 70 percent cocoa provide a number of antioxidants, proanthocyanidins, and many polyphenols. In fact, a square of dark chocolate contains twice as many as a glass of red wine and almost as many as a cup of green tea properly steeped. These molecules slow the growth of cancer cells and limit the blood vessels that feed them.

How to eat it: Enjoy about one-fifth of a dark chocolate bar a day guilt free. Milk chocolate isn't a good alternative because dairy cancels out the cancer protection of the polyphenol compounds.

Adapted by arrangement with Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. From "Anticancer, A New Way of Life" by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, published in September 2008. Copyright by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, 2008.

Wednesday...

Today is Wednesday... but what is new about this Wednesday?

1. Gary Jackson is having back surgery.
2. I am excited about Cross Fit (www.CrossFit.com) and p90x.
3. I am ready to seriously start my Chinese schedule.

1. Gary Jackson is having back surgery.
He should be out any time soon. So many people are praying for him. I pray that he will recovery quickly! He is an active guy, he needs to be active. :-)

We have all been praying for him since the beginning of his pain. We pray everyday, all day long for the Father's Spirit & strength to be with him.

2. I am excited about Cross Fit (www.CrossFit.com) and p90x.
I have begun getting ready for some intense workouts. Not that I am going to be doing any major competitions, but if I am going to the gym I want to see results. I am not one for playing sports lightly, I compete with myself to always improve. Naturally results will be needed in the gym. Eating habits are getting modified so that weight can be added (for the first time in my life). This weight will be muscle mass.

3. I am ready to seriously start my Chinese schedule.
I have established a serious schedule of 7-8 hours per weekday of studying Mandarin. I will be getting this into high gear really soon. I have had delays all this week - needing to add pages to my passport, getting my schedules all synced, visiting friends, etc. I will probably need to make a contingency plan, because schedules always get interrupted, changed, and mangled.

Hope you all are excellent! May He provide for all your needs!

Working Out

This is our first week to go to the gym. It is a real gym, with a swimming pool, nautilus style machines, treadmills a plenty, and of course free weights. I have begun designing a regiment for a rotational full body workout and soon will be over that initial pain of starting physical conditioning. Then sometime later, I hope to do a p90x workout...

Language school is another kind of workout. My brain feels like it is going to pop in class - my teacher's liquid fast procession of Chinese gives me a serious workout. I am amazed at how much I understand, but I'm still translating everything. I want to push past that. The good thing about the linguistic workout - my brain won't actually pop. A physical workout can snap-crackle-pop muscles from their connective tissues... but I can keep cramming stuff into my brain for a long time. However, the more that goes in, the more tired it makes me. Language learning really takes a toll on the entire body.

Here is something fun - when I first start working out my body doesn't know how to handle it. I don't have much extra energy hanging around on my body, so I get really jittery and need to eat every couple of hours. I eat fruit when I wake, breakfast with Jaime, a mid-morning snack, lunch, then something mid-afternoon, and a nice simple dinner. I feel like a Hobit: They enjoy at least six meals a day, when they can get them - breakfast, elevenses (sometimes known as 'second breakfast'), luncheon, tea, dinner and, later in the evening, supper.

First Day of School

Monday was the beginning of New Bridge, our language school. Jaime and I are finding that being a student again is a lot of work. Jaime is in the beginning class and I am one level up from that. With all of our classmates being Korean, we are doubly challenged. Koreans are taught 1,000 Chinese characters as children and use them to some extent in daily life. They are ahead of us to put it mildly. Imagine a Korean taking Spanish classes with a bunch of Texans... that's about the equivalent.

We have already met with fellow teachers & new friends from Shiyan! We went to Pete's Tex-Mex near the Lido Hotel - a Holiday Inn that is famous, very famous, yet many people have never heard of it - go figure. Then we met up with Yulin, a friend and LST Reader from the University at Buffalo work. And a few of our Chinese friends/students from Shiyan are here in Beijing studying or doing internships. We hope to get a group going from these friends - one of them is a faithful brother.

We are working on preparing our home for all of you to come visit us! We will have an open house policy something like this: 1. Tell us when you are coming to visit, 2. Consider working with www.LST.org (a separate apartment is provided!), 3. We will arrange for your arrival with a special reception and tour.

We are still needing to spend a good couple of days buying small appliances and most everything for the kitchen. The kitchen came with a fridge and a cooktop with two gas burners - that tells you how much we need to shop! However, we like to eat cheaply in the local hole in the wall restaurants, so the kitchen isn't super important - until you realize our next endeavour.

We are wanting to establish ourselves in our building and community. The building has 30 floors with 10 (?) apartments each. Let's say that 75% of those apartments are rented. 300 x .75 = 225 families in this building. If we made a dozen cookies for each family, that would be 225 x 12 = 2750 cookies... I don't know that we'll be able to do that. 12 is a good number in the states when making cookies, but 8 is a good number here! What if we only made 8 cookies for each family? 1800 cookies? That is still a lot of cookies!

Our friend and family member told of his cookie conversion. "When I ate the cookies that Marcus & Julia made, my mouth opened and my heart opened, and I began learning about true Love from the Creator. I kept eating cookies, the cookies changed me, but the Creator's Love changed me more." (This is a very poor translation of a great story!) This is why we want to make cookies... we'll start with the families on our floor, that'll only be 72 cookies.

Many of our friends in the States are asking how they can get involved in the work here. Some are wanting to come to China as teachers, others with Let's Start Talking, and still others just to visit. We want you to know questions are welcome, we would love to share more with you, and to share China with you! So bring it!

IKEA

We went to Ikea... it was great, it was horrible, it was too much, yet not enough.

We have been going through a lot of discussions about all the things we need, want, and have differing opinions about. If you have ever done a lot of purchasing all at once, you know that it is a great opportunity to learn about preferences, ways of making decisions, and build a deeper relationship, if you are willing to work through all the underlying issues.

There is always a wonderful anticipation in going to Ikea, then the prices get in the way. Then the choices get in the way. Then the reality of needing to get it all into a taxi, out of the taxi, and into the house in one trip gets in the way. We would like to have a lot of stuff from there, however we are not made of money.

We got a few things for the apartment: rolling end tables that will triple as storage, coffee table (together), and computer work station (did that somehow quadruple?). Let's add some excitement and talk about the food! We got some lingonberry jam, huge round crackers, and a small assortment of cookies.

Dinner was nice - hotdogs, sadly without relish. Oh, how I relish my relish! Hotdogs seem to be best when they have a good mustard and relish combo. We shared the soda fountain cola.

Oh, back to the stuff - a set of dishes, silverware (which we only use when eating non-Chinese foods), cute smallish coffee mugs with little saucers... let me just say we got some good deals and will have some nice things.

So this blog is named "Inspire" - but what is inspiring about all of this? Maybe you can help me out, provide me with some answers, comments, questions, something. I am trying to revive this mostly dead blog, maybe qouting from The Princess Bride will help!

Miracle Max: He probably owes you money huh? I'll ask him.
Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk.
Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya: What's that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

Starting School

Jaime and I started school on Monday. Mandarin classes in Mandarin with very little English. We are at different levels, but the same style of teaching is employed. First we listen to the teacher read all the new words twice as we recite them. She adds more words for us to know and use, while she tells stories using an almost pantomiming body language to illustrate and explain everything. They constantly ask, "Ming bai ma?" which means, "Do you understand?" If you don't get it... they do it again a little differently.

These teachers have great attitudes! Jaime and I are the only Americans in our classes, the others are all Korean. We live in Little Korea or Korea Town or whatever the Chinese would call it.

We signed up for a year of language classes, so tomorrow we'll go get our physicals for the visa in the Haidian area - about an hour from us. The exams will take about 2 hours, starting maybe at 8:30am, we'll get done around 10:30 and need to hurry back for our 11am class.

Today, our landlord had the painter come to fix a set of cabinets in the kitchen. He mixed up something very foul smelling to smooth out the cracks, then painted a base coat. That foul smelling compound was rank, I really wish I could share it with you, like a glass of sour milk - "Hey taste this, isn't it awful?"

We are truly thankful here - so many opportunities. We met up with our friend Yulin from Buffalo - she lives here in Wangjing, just a few bus stops away. We invited her to our Sunday meeting and she accepted.

We are working on connecting with our other friends from Buffalo, Shiyan, and everywhere to see about getting a group together for learning more about our Wonderful King.

Let us here from you! We are so thankful for your petitions on our behalf, support, and general relational encouragement.

Of course I am going to plug our favorite way to visit us: www.LST.org - Let's Start Talking uses conversational English to share the Good News with people all over the world. Are you interested in visiting us and sharing the Good News? Check out www.LST.org!