Live Longer and Healthier

The Principles of a Healthy Diet

Ø       Low fat (15% of total energy intake - avoid partially hydrogenated and polyunsaturated fats)

Ø       Avoid all sugars (fructose found in fruits is fine)

Ø       High fiber (25 to 35 grams per day)

Ø       Vegetables (Half of your total intake). Half of your vegetable intake should be uncooked. National Cancer Institute recommends At least 5 daily servings of a variety of vegetables and fruit per day. Do not count potatoes as part of your vegetable intake.

Ø       Fruit (10%+ of total intake)

Ø       Eliminating heavily refined, highly heated, over-processed, artificial, and chemically adulterated foods.

Ø       Low animal protein (increase Soy protein instead to 40 –60 grams per day)

Ø       High enzymes

Ø       Acid/alkaline ratio of 1:4

In other words, cut out fat, sugars, processed foods and use organic, unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Also keep in mind that milk and cheese from an organically raised cow is so much better for you than butter from conventionally raised cows. 

ERALL GOALS:

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What to Eliminate

Ø       Sugar

Ø       Oils (except olive oil)

Ø       Fried food

Ø       Meat from animals that have been raised with hormones or antibiotics

Ø       White flour

Ø       White rice

Ø       Milk

Ø       Coffee

Ø       Tea (with too much caffeine)

Ø       Red meat (eliminate it completely or limit to 3 servings of 2oz per week)

Ø       Cheese

Ø       Salad dressings made from oil

Ø       Mayonnaise, butter and margarine

Ø       Liquor (glass of red wine is OK)

Ø       Citrus (one or two oranges is maximum)

Ø       Refined salt

Ø       Cocoa

Ø       Over-processed foods

Ø       Foods with additives and drugs (these include all over-the-counter remedies, i.e., pain relievers, antacids, cough and cold medicines).

These are just general guidelines.  People requiring special diets may need to consume some of these foods however.  Only a thorough chemical analysis can tell you specifically what to eat and what to avoid. However, everyone should avoid all sugars and any foods containing partially hydrogenated oils (which means you must learn to read labels as the food industry is slowly slipping these fats into nearly everything: frozen foods, cream soups, cocoas, cheese products).

A special note on sugar:  Cancer loves sugar.  Normal cells need oxygen. Cancer cells despise oxygen. Cancer metabolizes through an anaerobic respiration of the body's cells by a process of fermentation in the presence of sugar.  Your body is still going to make sugars but by cutting back on excess sugar intake will help starve cancer cells from growing.

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Foods to Use

Ø       Raw vegetables and vegetable juices

Ø       Fruit (fresh and dried but rehydrated—avoid sulphurated)

Ø       Whole grains

Ø       Lightly cooked vegetables

Ø       Beans

Ø       Sweet potatoes

Ø       White potatoes

Ø       Yogurt and kefir

Ø       Small amounts of organically raised meat

Ø       Small amounts of poached fish

Ø       Nuts and/or nut milks

Ø       Green and Herb teas

Ø       Vegetable soup (fresh)

Ø       Cruciferous vegetables.

Ø       Tomatoes

Ø       Daily multi-vitamin tablet

Ø       Supplemental Antioxidants

Organic foods are preferable.  They contain far higher concentrations of minerals than the body needs and lower levels of dangerous heavy metals and chemical residues.

Another reason for eating organic foods is of special interest to women wanting to prevent or fight breast cancer. Pesticides mimic the action of estrogen in your body in that they can lock onto receptors in the your breasts and stimulate cell division. Even small amounts of pesticides can be dangerous to women, because they tend to concentrate to high levels in fat cells, and breasts are comprised mostly of fat cells.  Ensure that you wash your fruit and vegetables prior to consumption.

Food Purchasing and Preparation

Use only fresh, preferably organic, crisp vegetables; avoid anything wilted. Most nutritionists recommend buying only organic foods that are in season and grown locally. This is a pretty difficult order for people that live in cold climates. Prepare your veggies and eat them immediately. Do not put leftovers in the refrigerator. Once a vegetable has been sliced, its vitamins and enzymes begin to degenerate. So prepare what you need and toss out your leftovers. Second best to fresh, is frozen.  However, freezing reduces nutrients by about half..

Do not microwave or use a pressure cooker. Use steel, glass, or ceramic (not imported) cooking pots. Veggies can be lightly steamed, gently sautéed, or baked.

How to Eat

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Vegetables

A minimum of fifty percent of your diet should be veggies. The ratio of raw to cooked should range from 50:50 to 70:30 (70% raw, 30% lightly cooked). Raw vegetables give you the enzymes you need, but an entirely raw diet is inadvisable since there are some tough fibrous walls that need to be broken down to get to the nutrition, and this can put a strain on your digestive system. Another way to break down raw foods and make them more absorbable is to grate them, or run them through a food processor. However, you will have to eat them as soon as they are processed, because they begin to degenerate very quickly.

Fresh vegetable juices are a must. Carrot juice is one of the best. It is high in beta-carotene and high in alpha-carotene, an often-ignored nutrient, though thought by many experts to be ten times more powerful than beta-carotene.

Include large amounts of green, leafy veggies and choices from the cabbage family (cruciferous) daily, and don’t forget the sea vegetables such as wakame, nori, kelp, kombu, hizike, and dulce. The sea veggies are great in salads (after being rehydrated and drained) or in soups.

Ensure that you a eat variety of vegetables and form the three different groups – leaf, stork, and root.

Fruits

At least ten percent of your diet should be fruit. Eat fruit alone as a small meal or between meals, or at least one half hour before a meal, never after. They should be raw or dehydrated and preferably in season. A breakfast of fruit only is light and highly recommended by movers and shakers. Additionally, since fruit, if properly mixed, does not sit in your stomach long, it can be eaten before bedtime without causing excessive stomach acid.

Keep citrus fruit to a minimum. Citrus puts your body into an acidic state. Get your vitamin C from supplements.

Animal Products

Limit your animal products to two or three small (2 oz or the size of a deck of playing cards.) servings per week. White fleshed fish (preferably cod, haddock, salmon, or trout), or white meat poultry are preferred. Poultry and meat should be raised free range without additional hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides. The Center for Advancement in Cancer Education recommends no red meat. Certainly no processed meats should be consumed. Poached or soft-boiled eggs from flax fed, free range chickens are best. Red meat is high in iron, which reacts with oxygen to create free radicals. Thus some small amounts (in stir fries and soups) are recommended, along with antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E.

Fiber

Foods rich in soluble fiber, such as oat products and beans, lower blood cholesterol. Blood fats can be lowered by as much as 30%, reducing the risk for heart disease by 60%.

High Fiber intake lowers blood pressure 10% or more. .A high fiber/low fat diet is a cancer preventer and fighter. Fiber cleans your colon and combines with "stuck" fats to pass them on. It helps to lower cholesterol and tones your entire digestive track. In breast cancer, there are two types of estrogen, good and bad estrogen. A high fiber diet lowers blood levels of estradiol, the bad estrogen.

Starch

Liquids

Avoid drinking any liquids 15 minutes before a meal, and for three hours following a meal. If you must drink with your meals, our research tells us that what is best is hot green tea.

A Chinese study of over 900 middle-aged individuals showed that drinking green tea cut the risk of esophageal cancer by as much as 60%. [Journal of the National Cancer Institute, June 1, 1994]

The phytochemicals (chemicals from plants) in green tea most responsible for its anti-cancer effect are polypherols, and in addition to preventing cancer of the esophagus, are also thought to prevent cancer of the stomach, liver, skin, and lung. (Japanese men smoke more than American’s but have a lower incidence of lung cancer.) Researchers in China believe that green tea also helps to lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol, stabilize blood sugar, kill decay-causing bacteria, and block the action of many carcinogens. (Green tea extracts are now found in many health food stores.)  green teas. "These teas contain properties that not only protect the cells from carcinogens, they also shrink tumors," explains Paul Lechance, Ph.D., executive director of the Neutraceutical Institute at Rutgers University. "While we can't say you'll never get cancer if you drink tea, you are certainly doing yourself some good by drinking it."

 Black tea too seems to have the same effect, however, analysis shows that there are 4 times the active compounds in green tea than black tea. An estimated 80% of Americans walk around in a state of virtual dehydration. If you want proof, next time you are in a high-school or grade school, take a tour of one of the boys’ lavatories. Young boys have a tendency not to flush. You will find in the urinals, a thick brown substance normally called urine. Because our kids drink so many caffeinated soft-drinks, they are dehydrated.

The color of your urine should range from clear to a light yellow. A dark yellow shows signs of dehydration, even though your throat and mouth feel just fine. For every caffeinated drink, you need to drink one more cup of water. Avoid caffeinated and artificial drinks (they contain fluoridated and chlorinated water), and fruit juices that have been processed or that have extra sugars added. Whole fruit juices are good in moderation (with added filtered water). Roasted cereal grain beverages (e.g., brown rice, barley) or herbal teas are recommended. Raw vegetable juices are excellent, especially carrot juice.

Again, avoid fluoridated and chlorinated water, but keep your fluid intake up. Ice cold beverages are out. Chinese medicine reminds us that the temperature of digestion is 100º Fahrenheit (38º C). Drink your water (and other beverages) at room temperature. Hot herbal teas are also excellent, and for a primo coffee substitute. Be sure to empty your bladder as soon as you feel the need to do so. Dr Frank Charles (from Natural Wellness Group in Minneapolis) reminds us that the longer urine is confined to the bladder, the more concentrated it gets. Studies show that persons who hold in their urine get bladder cancer at greater rates than those who go when the urge hits.

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 Grains

Twenty percent of your diet should be whole grains. Avoid all refined, polished grains and flours and products made from them. Brown rice, kashi, millet, rye, buckwheat, barley, oats and oat brans, corn (on the cob or corn grits), and quinoa are recommended. Whole grain pasta can be used with limitations. One important note on grains: unprocessed, whole grains, as well as seeds and nuts, contain volatile oils that can go bad quickly. It is best to keep them refrigerated or in your freezer once you’ve opened them.

 Fats and Oils

Fat is a concentrated source of energy (9 calories/gram) that supports and cushions vital organs to protect them from injury. It also provides insulation, and helps prevent dryness of hair and skin. Fat is necessary to build tissues and cells, and to transport nutrients. Only one tablespoon of fat per day is needed carry out its functions in the body. Most fats/oils should be kept to a minimum especially if they are human made or over processed (corn oil is deadly, margarine even more so), though you will want to get your allotment of Omega-3s.   Monounsaturates (olive and sesame seed) are highly recommended, but they must be unrefined (cold  pressed) and they must be kept capped and refrigerated. Avoid heating oils; heat causes oxidation and the release of free radicals. Mayonnaise and margarine are out. Avoid trans fatty (partially hydrogenated) like the plague.

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Sugars

All sugars are out   Sugars put a terrible strain on your liver. The only recommended sweetener is Stevia and can be purchased at health food stores. If you must use a sugar, use it sparingly, and make sure it is an unrefined form. Avoid all other sugar substitutes: your liver hates them.

Seeds and Nuts

Five percent of your diet should be seeds and nuts. If you do not want to strain your digestive system, avoid nuts. Seeds and nuts can be made into milk substitutes. Nuts should (unless blended into drinks) be used in small amounts, with almonds, hazel nuts, and pecans being the best. No peanuts! Peanuts are not nuts, but legumes; they are considered indigestible by some, and can contain added hydrogenated vegetable and carcinogens from a very common mold often found on them.

 Legumes

Ten percent of your diet should be legumes and should be cooked well. Aduki, mung, kidney, navy, black, turtle, red, garbanzo, and pinto beans, as well as peas, black-eyed peas, and lentils are excellent. Soy bean products (miso and tofu) are a must on a cancer diet (unless your breast cancer is estrogen receptive). Remember to combine your legumes with grains for more complete proteins.

 Soups

Soups are an excellent means of breaking down the fibers in veggies and getting more of their nutrients and should include a variety of veggies, seaweeds, and legumes. Miso, tamari, or bean broth can serve as a base (check with your doctor/nutritionist if your breast cancer is estrogen receptive). Get a book on making home-made vegetable soups. .

 Condiments

Salt should be kept to a minimum; seaweeds are sold as salt substitutes. If you must use a salt, make sure it is naturally processed sea salt, tamari, or something high in potassium. Garlic is a must. Try some of the herbal seasonings at your local health food store; it won’t take long to develop a liking to them. And keep in mind that herbs from the mint family, like oregano, are great on salads and contain a goodly amount of antioxidants, as well as many other nutrients.