Random House Books for Young Readers Anticancer: A New Way of Life

I was introduced to this book by someone I met while in hospital after surgery for a broken elbow. He was in post-surgery for oral and jaw cancer. This book could easily be titled "How to take action to improve your health", as many of the behaviour changes have benefits for health and wellness in general. The book is a very personal one (the author was himself diagnosed with caner at an early age), very well-written and authoritative (the author is a medic), and the information is trustworthy (the author is a research scientist an everything is based on well-conducted empirical studies). The latter should not put anyone off, as the book is eminently readable. If everyone read this book and put it into practice, the NHS budget could be vastly reduced and hospitals and ambulances would not be stretched to the max.

After my dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer I set out to look for proactive things that he could do to improve his overall health and, specifically, to create an environment within his body that would best enable it to prevent the cancer from recurring.It has been an interesting process, gathering all the information we could to determine what he could do to best improve his outcome. Interesting especially because of the realization that, in the end, optimum health (obtained through one's lifestyle) seems to be the best way to combat, and prevent, any and all diseases from taking hold in our bodies.So far I've found that this book and the movie "Forks over Knives", were the two most influential sources of the above conclusion. My family has now become vegan (including my mom and dad), eating a plant based diet without any processed foods.I highly recommend this book for people who are interested in understanding how cancer operates from a cellular level and what you can do to inhibit it from thriving and growing.

Llegó en muy buen estado el día de hoy muy temprano ya voy casi a la mitad y es muy bueno su contenido, bases científicas , y me encantó como nutrióloga clínica que soy realmente es bueno y fundamentado su contenido.

Lo que he aprendido en este libro es increíble. Sin duda una compra obligatoria aunque no tengas cancer.

Cancer. The very word inspires fear in most of us, and despite a declared "War on Cancer" in the US begun way back in 1971, clearly we have lost the war. While charity events are constantly raising money for research, the medical industry is always encouraging use of screening tests for various types of cancer and drug companies push new and ever-more-expensive drugs, none of this has stemmed the tide of cancer. In this book - the most helpful book I've ever read on the subject of maintaining good health - the author, himself a doctor and survivor of brain cancer, looks in a new direction for an answer to "living with cancer."In the view of Servan-Schreiber, cancer is a chronic disease which took on epidemic proportions after World War II because of changes in our environment. Cancer begins with micro tumors, which we all have, but some grow into bigger tumors that can invade other parts of our body, leading to disease and death. Or, they can remain small and harmless. Surprisingly, we can do a great deal to ensure that these micro tumors remain small and harmless.I learned about this book from a Nutritionist who was part of a team treating my husband when he had a melanoma removed from his arm. She strongly recommended the book, so I looked it up on Amazon and ordered it. I'm glad I did. The book is just the right mix of the author's own story of the life events surrounding his cancer and the changes he pursued to keep himself alive despite a gloomy prognosis. I could totally identify with him when he explained that his Oncologist, in response to his question about what he could do to help himself, answered, "There is nothing you can do. Just go about your normal life." The author could not believe there was really nothing he could do to help himself get better, and that attitude on the part of doctors keeps people feeling helpless and hopeless. It seems to me that doctors are conditioned to do their tests, check their data and prescribe treatments, but they seem to know (and care?) nothing about how we can help ourselves to live healthier lives.Fortunately for us, Servan-Schreiber, himself a physician, researcher and cancer victim, has amassed a huge amount of information in this book. Having to go from the lofty position of doctor to the helpless position of patient gave the author a new kind of empathy with other people struggling with illness. For himself, he made use of conventional treatments (surgery, chemo) and continued working as a physician. But he also began researching exactly how cancer does its damage, and found evidence that the immune system can sometimes defeat cancer's growth. He tells us about "mighty mouse," a lab animal who was supposed to die from the enormous number of cancer cells injected into him, but didn't die; instead, his own bodily resources defeated the cancer cells. Like mighty mouse, we too all have "natural killer" (NK) cells that fend off invading tumors. How can we encourage and strengthen our own natural defenses? We need to deny the tumors what they need to grow. The author's explanations are technical, but in understandable language.In any discussion of cancer, most of the conversation is around treatment. But there is another area just as important and probably more so and that is what the author calls our "terrain." This is our own body and the way we treat it. Do we live in a healthy environment? Do we ingest only healthy food? Are we aware of the effects of these on our body? Do we help our body through movement or are we passive and unaware of the effects of our daily living on our body? The discussion of food is particularly helpful, since changing our diet is something we can all do. We can learn which foods and spices discourage cancer growth and which feed it. For example, eating more vegetables and less meat, and drinking green tea can keep us healthier. We can cook with virgin olive oil and get to know a yellow spice, Turmeric, which is a powerful antiinflammatory. Turmeric is a large component of curry, so we can learn to enjoy Indian food (Indians have far less cancer than we in the US, despite their exposure to numerous carcinogens in their environment).Once a sarcastic critic of alternative healing methods, the author does an about-face as he discovers the power of meditation and mindfulness. When patients learn ways to reduce their risk of cancer growth, they feel less helpless and this itself promotes their own internal defenses. Feeling helpless is a strong marker for cancer growth. But becoming calm and aware can actually build defenses. He recommends regular practice of yoga or tai chi or similar practices to build inner awareness and strengthen the body. Having connections to others, dealing with emotions, and believing you have the ability to help yourself all point to a better outcome.The book has a center section of color charts showing in detail which foods promote and which retard tumor development. There is also information on household products to avoid and what to substitute. This is a book to keep on the shelf and consult on a regular basis.The book also deals with the ultimate inevitability of death. We all will die, whether we have cancer or not. The author relates a number of helpful stories of people who were able to find meaning in their final months of life through the methods explained in this book, which are not offered as a "magic bullet," but as a way of living that enhances each precious day of life, making us more aware of our own bodies and the beauty of the world around us, and helps us to connect to all living things. It is not "false hope," but, as the book's subtitle states, "a new way of life." A way of life in which we take control of our bodies, our feelings, our lives.