For an overview of cancer as a metabolic disease, start here.
Cancer cells thrive on certain fuels–including glucose and glutamine, two key elements that you must inhibit in your anti-cancer diet. We’ve talked ad nauseum about glucose. But what about glutamine, an amino acid, a building block of protein? Continue reading
Is it my imagination or has Pillsbury’s Dough Boy shed a bit of belly fat?
Wonder what he’s been eating for lupper? Continue reading
Today, on World Diabetes Day, it’s time to set the record straight: The cause of Type 2 diabetes and its precursor, insulin resistance, is saturated fats. They muck up your cells and the ability of your cells to use insulin.
Choo choo on that! Continue reading
2018 update: For an update on Dr. Thomas Seyfried’s suggestions for treating cancer as a metabolic disease, read his article here or my piece summarizing that article.
Talk with your oncologist about using this approach and ask your oncologist to reach out to Dr. Seyfried at thomas.seyfried@bc.edu.
This week’s New York Times magazine features a story on a theme familiar to all of you readers of this anti-cancer blog : the metabolic approach to starving, or feeding, disease. It singles out insulin and a related hormone, Insulin Growth Factor-1, which we’ve talked about often. And if glucose, glutamine and certain fatty acids drive cancer growth, as the metabolic scientists quoted in the article suggest, then what could be more important than phytonutrients that keep cancer cells from utilizing those fuels? That’s another theme we’ve been addressing. Remember singing the praises of dill? Continue reading
Now that you’re no longer a “Proteinaholic,” how do you go about selecting the most nutritious plants among all those shades of red, purple and green?
My first vote goes to “The Mighty Italian Triumvirate,” a combo of Continue reading
How are legumes like sperm? They contain the same anti-cancer and anti-aging elixir.
July 2016 update: A new study in mice and 19 men by longevity researcher Luigi Fontana found that restricting daily protein to 7 to 9 percent of calories improved their metabolic health.
Legumes–beans, peas and lentils — are the #1 key to longevity, says Dan Buettner, the bestselling author who’s been studying the world’s Blue Zones, those pockets of the world (Mediterranean, Japan, California, Costa Rica) where people eating plant-based diets with legumes as their main source of protein are outliving us all.
How might legumes fuel longevity? Could some be more “nutritarian” than others? How much protein should you be eating anyway? And must it be all plants all the time? Continue reading
Chicken’s off the platter if your New Year’s resolutions include restricting methionine–a promising new strategy to fight cancer and forestall aging.
What’s the latest advice that scientists are dishing out for your anti-cancer diet?
Read the backstory first to enhance tonight’s exchanges with loved ones. Continue reading
Here’s a sparkling twist on guacamole to share with friends this holiday season and add to your growing repertoire of anti-cancer recipes.
The emeralds include avocado chunks and cilantro; the rubies, red onions and pomegranates. Continue reading
Ready for some anti-cancer nonsense? This weekend, the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation is sponsoring– get this– the Montreal Cake Show! Last time I checked the anti-cancer diet books, cake was definitely off the menu.
In fact, the esteemed World Cancer Research Fund/ American Institute of Cancer Research panel of scientists just issued this proclamation: Continue reading
So you’ve splurged on an exquisite hunk of wild sockeye for your anti-cancer dinner–or maybe you’ve just sprung open a can, also good if you select the right brands. But you must, must, must eat the fat in salmon in order to get its anti-cancer benefits.
Do you really know what that fat looks like? Continue reading
Want to sneak a few satisfying starches into your anti-cancer diet– say some hot, mushy sweet potatoes ?
Here’s how:
Could coconut fat help turn the tide in the anti-cancer battle?
Update: Ketogenic diets may not offer the solution that scientists hoped for, but looking at how cancer cells burn fuel for energy is for sure generating insight into how cancer grows and spread. Since this article was published, some scientists have found that cancers can switch to feeding on ketones, which are generated by fat. They’ve also added some fatty acids to the list of nutrients that cancer cells may feed on. Palmitic acid, which is in coconut, may feed cancer, especially in people with certain genetic profiles. The good news is that scientists have also identified phytonutrients that keep cancer cells from using fatty acids as fuels. Among them, luteolin–present in radicchio, thyme, sage, parsley, celery flakes and seeds–is key.
Is the war on cancer now witnessing its own D-Day, a turning point in the anti-cancer fight that will change the world for good?
With the recent settlement of a major lawsuit among scientists over who owns the rights to new revolutionary approaches to managing cancer, all the experts in the field are presumably now free to talk openly—and what they’re talking about is a radical new view of the disease.
Know anyone who has breast cancer? Doing your best to avoid it? Then consider this: Studies are showing that flaxseed can protect against breast cancer and prolong survival in women who have it. Continue reading
Yikes. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but you might want to reconsider Grandma’s precious recipe. Roasted chicken, it turns out, is more pro- than anti-cancerous. Here are two reasons why: Continue reading
Moo shoo veggies, wrapped in lettuce instead of carbs.
Resolved to cut carbs? Good idea. Carbs are linked to high blood sugar, which in turn is linked to diabetes, heart disease, fat and even cancer.
Here are some creative substitutes:
Anti-cancer Pasture Pie, our version of Shepherd’s.
January 2016 update: New research suggests that restricting the amino acid methionine may be a very important anti-cancer and anti-aging strategy. “If I had cancer, I would certainly seek to restrict methionine in my diet, probably to 1 gram a day ” says Australian researcher Dr. Paul Cavuoto. Animal muscle is rich in methionine so keep consumption low, especially if you have cancer.
Who said you can’t have a little beef every now and then on an anti-cancer diet? Just make sure it’s organic and grass-fed. Continue reading
Ginger root seems to help smoulder inflammation associated with cancer.
Inflammation “contributes to tumor proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis and resistance to hormonal and chemotherapy.”—cancer researchers, 2009
Eat and Beat Cancer 