Edible Cancer Cures
Food Cures For Cancer
A doctor with a malignant tumor sets out to find his cure. And comes back with dinner.
My Diagnosis
Diagnosed with brain cancer 16 years ago, David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD was told by his oncologist that changing his diet would not impact his results. He was determined to prove his doctor wrong. Through months of research and traveling the globe, he discovered a multitude of cancer-fighting foods that helped him live a longer, healthier life. Now, you can benefit, too. Add one or more of these foods to every meal to optimize your full potential to prevent and fight cancer.
Adapted by arrangement with Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. From Anti Cancer, A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, published in September 2008. Copyright by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, 2008.
Cancer-Fighting Recipes Find easy, healing recipes containing these foods, plus watch Servan-Schreiber discuss more ways to beat and prevent the disease in his video, at prevention.com/cancer.
Anticancer Diet
Provided by Prevention
Anticancer Diet
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.
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Best Seasonings
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 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.
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Ginger
Fresh ginger, or ginger root, 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.
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Best Drinks for Bettering Your Body
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.
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.
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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.
How to Drink It: Have 8 ounces daily with breakfast.
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Vital Veggies
Brussels Sprouts, Bok Choy, Chinese cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower
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
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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.
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Proteins for a Better Prognosis
Soy Products
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.
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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.
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Disease-Fighting Fruits
Oranges, Tangerines, Lemons, and Grapefruit
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.
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Doctor's Orders
How I fought my diagnosis
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.
Quest for Change
Discovering cancer-fighting foods
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.
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.
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Healed and Save 01:22:44 PM Jun 03 2009
Healing comes from a relationship with God, and daily prayer. "By his stripes we we healed". Our body is his temple from the beginning to the end. I am a 2 year breast cancer survivor. My whole regimen is prayer, eating right, exercise and being kind to others. Their is no other way around the healing process.If we go back to the plan of God for our lives, we will see that we were not created to be sick. This whole scam from medicines to diagnose, goes directly to the pockets of the health provider. America is the largest country with sick people. Step back and look at the health rates and death of our sister countries. We are the pills and treatment haven. Go back to the basis. and Eat from the land that was given to us. It is being destroyed by us also. We have to power to stop the vicious cycle of slow death my toxic medicines
Healingwater123 02:03:44 PM Mar 31 2009
ALKALINE.........ALKALINE............ALKALINEEat Alkaline rich foods and drink Alkaline Water (Kangen)Cancer cells cannot live in a balanced alkaline body.www.riversoflivingwater.org sign up and I will send you testamonies of patients that have drank the water and changed their diets and have gone into remission.
DBoyne 12:47:26 PM Mar 31 2009
I had cancer and I started licking rocks and I went into complete remission. Yes, it's hard to believe that licking rocks and cure cancer but it did. I still do it too. I try to use one rock for a week and then I go out in the backyard and get a new rock. Any rock will do. You can use rocks that you can pick up like small one pounders, or you can just go up to a big boulder or the side of a cliff and lick it for awhile.After about 5 minutes you will have enough of the stuff in your system so dont overdo it or your tongue will get a little sore. I think the beneficial effect has something to do with all the minerals in rocks. Afterall, rocks have been just sitting around for 5 billion years, sometimes traveling slowly all around the planet as the Continents moved across the oceans.Doctors and hospitals dont want you to know that licking rocks can cure cancer. After all, its free, and if it ever became common knowledge it would devastate the pharmaceutical industry and the Cancer Treatm
Meansplace50 11:30:50 AM Mar 31 2009
No offense this DOC. is full of sht. Yes these things are better for you than many other things but are they miracle foods no. I have yet to see anyone live a longer life based on what they eat. My grandpa ate fried patatos meat etc all his life and live to be 89. He died of old age? Stress is what kills and yes if your diet is bad enough it might add to your problems but it does not cause cancer and nor will it cure cancer.
Bailoutsos 10:57:31 AM Mar 31 2009
Eliminate fast foods and most processed foods from your diet. Cut down on red meat. Exercise.
SHASTA4737 10:03:49 AM Mar 31 2009
I wonder why all the foods that are so good for you are always expensive? A lot of us can't afford blueberries and tumeric, etc. How I wish scientists would find that white bread and pancakes cure cancer!
Kimba2525 09:53:39 AM Mar 31 2009
I have a friend who has cancer of the liver. When she first got it years ago..her cousin who is a doctor in Equador told her to start juicing vegatables and fruits. She drinks one large glass of green veggies and one large glass of mixed fruits per day. She has had this cancer for 7 yrs, and does not look sick at all. She has never needed blood either or a procrit shot. One doctor has asked her what she is doing since she is pretty healthy looking. The answer was simple. Juicing Veggies. Amazing isn't it? The chemo is what's killing her.Sometimes other countries and their ways of thinking are much more advanced than ours. I always tell people about her and recommend they try juicing too.
ILuvDogsAndCats2 09:52:12 AM Mar 31 2009
I take a supplement that contains 4 super foods,Acai Berry, Hawaiian Noni, Green Tea, and Resveratrol. There's not another supplement that has a comparable ingredient list. Since I can't always eat the ideal foods this supplement really does the trick for me. I don't think there is another supplement that can do so many things. The green tea helps oxidize fat and speed up my metabolism and then I have three of the strongest antioxidants to help keep me healthy and youthful. The net result is that after using it for 3 months I have been losing weight steadily and I am full of energy all day long. I think in the long run these super foods will help me fight off diseases http://bestslimacai.info/
Paladikal 03:46:42 AM Dec 20 2008
The author should try Graviola. This is reputed to be a cancer killer and or he could try a Rife Machine. This machine cured cancer in experiments until the AMA and FDA destroyed most of the research and the lives of the Dr's and Medical Professional who used it. The FDA and AMA don't like anything that reduces or does away with the need for drugs you see... too much profit there. So they would rather you die.Every Doctors Surgery should have a Rife Machine. Now of course we don't have all the data Royal Rife collected but still the machine is effective for many.
Tese42s 01:58:38 AM Dec 20 2008
Seems like there is a lot of things that they don't teach doctors. Some of them don't learn common sense. Others don't learn compassion. Many don't learn to put themselves in their patients shoes. Oh wait that is just suppose to be built into all of us, isn't it? Guess not.
