This is the most difficult article we’ve had to write for this edition. Why? You ask. The experts hardly agree on anything. Here are a just a few of their disagreements:

Reports from the Orient show the cancer fighting properties of fermented soy products, but Dr Balch in Prescriptions for Nutritional Healing advises against soy products because they interfere with enzymatic action (wrong: do not eat raw soy; the interfering enzymes are destroyed in the fermentation process), while breast cancer experts sit on both sides of the soy garden, some saying they are safe while the others say avoid soy products completely (we recommend ONLY fermented soy products). Some diets recommend salt, some, like the Gerson Therapy, recommend a salt free high potassium diet. If you are juice fasting, Dr Richard Schulze calls for lots of water: "Fasting is flushing." However, Gerson advises against any water because he feels that the stomach must be as empty as possible to digest the juices and soups. Chicken (skinless) can be found on some cancer diets, except at the Livingston Foundation Medical Center, for her book, The Conquest of Cancer, dedicates an entire chapter to the carcinogenic aspects of chicken: "Chicken: Cancer in Every Pot." She admits that free range or organic chickens are better, but still should be avoided. Though most diets call for a strictly vegetarian approach, Gerson cooks the bulk of his vegetables, while most others call for live foods, and then there is Dr Nicholas J Gonzalez out of New York whose diets are prepared on an individual basis with some calling for fatty red meats depending on the patients metabolism and biochemistry.

We could go on for hours, but we’ll end these arguments and try to glean for you the best advice from all the experts. However, because of the differing opinions concerning cancer and nutrition, this advice is information only. We cannot create a menu specifically for you, but your doctor and nutritionist can. Please note that if someone designs a diet specifically for you without a thorough assessment of your own particular blood chemistry, you are engaging in quackery. Only general guidelines can be advised without a thorough assessment. A thorough assessment of one’s body chemistry is the only way to design a specific meal plan.

The best nutritional advice so far has come to us from the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education in Pennsylvania. They have put together a cancer battle plan from the best of all nutritional advice and we will give it to you here. The Center for Advancement in Cancer Education can send you a slough of information, papers, books, audio and video tapes, to aid you in your struggle. They need your support through donations and fees charged for their information, and can be contacted at (610) 642-4810.

First we will give you general guidelines, followed by in depth information of a diet to fight cancer.

To begin, we must warn you that a dramatic change in your diet can dump dangerously large amounts of cellular waste into your blood stream, therefore you must detoxify your system before and during the initial stages of your diet. However, most people’s idea of detoxification is to buy a detox tea. This is wrong and dangerous. There is a proper way to detox, and you must read the article "Cleaning House" before you attempt it. "Cleaning House" is the most important article you will read at this web site. Dr Richard Schulze told us that in his clinical experience, 80% of all maladies, whether chronic acne, psoriasis, arthritis, or cancer, cleared up within two weeks of detoxifying the colon only. Read that article.

The Principles of a Cancer Diet

The Center for Advancement in Cancer Education puts it simply: low fat (a low fat diet lowers "bad" estrogen levels in women), low animal protein, high fiber, high enzyme diet whose acid/alkaline balance approaches a ratio of 1:4, eliminating heavily refined, highly heated, over-processed, artificial, and chemically adulterated foods. In other words, organic, unprocessed or minimally processed foods. However, there is a problem here in that the Mediterranean diet is high in fat and breast cancer rates are lower there. So it is not just fat, but the types of fats we are interested in here. Olive oil is contains essential acids as does flax oil. Diets low in fat can kill a cancer patient. PMGs that promote cells to stop this crazy out-of-control growth needs to work with fats. For more information on PMGs click here. 

Also keep in mind the condition of the animal who's fat you are about to consume. Butter from an organically raised cow is so much better for you than butter from conventionally raised cows.

What Else to Eliminate

Coffee, tea (with too much caffeine), sugar, white flour, white rice, milk, oils (except olive oil), liquor, fried food, meat from animals that have been raised with hormones or antibiotics, citrus (one or two oranges is maximum), vitamins that are not indicated for you specifically, refined salt (Celtic Sea Salt® Brand has been given the ok by many naturopaths and nutritionists), cocoa, over-processed foods, foods with additives and drugs (these include all over-the-counter remedies, i.e., pain relievers, antacids, cough and cold medicines). Keep in mind that these are just general guidelines. Some people actually need coffee to counteract the alcohol created by their pancreas. Some people need animal proteins. Some need citrus. Only a thorough chemical analysis can tell you specifically what to eat and what to avoid. However, everyone with cancer 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, you name it).

A special note on sugar: CANCER LOVES SUGAR. Your oncologist knows this, yet most feed their patients cookies and Ensure®. Click here to learn what your doctor knows, but refuses/forgets to tell you: SUGAR.

Foods to Use

Raw vegetables and vegetable juices, fruit (fresh and dried but rehydrated—avoid sulphurated), whole grains, lightly cooked vegetables, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, beans, yogurt and kefir, small amounts of organically raised meat, small amounts of poached fish, nuts and/or nut milks, herb teas, vegetable soup, and cruciferous vegetables. Cancer experts recommend a 70% raw food diet (uncooked), however, others seem to feel that 50% is recommended. Check with your own nutritionist.

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.

Enzymes

Any biochemist will tell you, that when the body is creating digestive enzymes, it is too busy to create other enzymes that support your immune system. Adding enzymes to your diet keeps your organs from becoming overstressed and helps them to protect your immune system.

• Before meals:3 pancreatic enzymes (General Research Laboratories).
• With meals:3 or 4 Green Life (Sonebrand).
• After meals: Pancreatrophin, Hepatrophin, and Thymus (Std Process Labs).

All of the above recommendations and name brand products came to us from the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education. Again, you will want to check with your nutritionist.

Food Purchasing and Preparation

Use only fresh, 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 some of us Northerners since the only thing that grows in winter here are icicles, and a diet of bean sprouts we’ve sprouted near a window can get rather tedious.

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. Freeze your own organic veggies.