Proper diet is absolutely vital when fighting cancer or any other chronic degenerative disease. Numerous scientific studies have shown that those who eat a low-methionine (plant-based) diet have a lower incidence of cancer. Learn more by watching these short videos:
To further understand the importance of eating a plant-based diet when fighting cancer, order the book How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger and read the introduction and the chapters on cancer. To further understand the importance of a plant-based diet, please watch Rich Roll’s Masterclass on Plant-Based Nutrition: Click here.
To help ease the transition to a plant-based diet, I recommend the following cookbooks:
I also recommend one of the following menu-planning services:
If you don’t have the time or the energy to make your own plant-based meals, these companies will deliver them to your home:
Reduce portion sizes unless you need to gain weight. Eat only foods labeled “USDA Organic” and “Non-GMO Project Verified.” Use only organic date sugar or molasses for sweetening. Incorporate foods like the ones shown below that are rich in cancer-fighting phytochemicals. To learn how to lower the glycemic load of starchy foods, please read my blog about resistance starches: Click here.
- Apples
- Arugula
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
- Broccoli
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbage
- Capers
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Chard
- Cranberries
- Garlic
- Grapes
- Green tea
- Kale
- Lentils
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Parsley
- Pinto beans
- Pomegranate
- Radishes
- Raspberries
- Rosemary
- Strawberries
- Tomatoes (deskinned and deseeded)
- Watercress
Dr. Michael Greger’s Daily Dozen:
For further help with meal planning, Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen (click here) is a checklist of twelve food categories designed to encourage people to include various nutrient-rich, plant-based foods in their daily diet. It is not a strict meal plan but a flexible framework to guide healthy eating choices. Here’s what it includes:
- 12 categories: leafy greens, other vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts and seeds, legumes, whole grains, spices, beverages, flaxseed/chia seeds, turmeric, and exercise.
- Serving sizes: Each category specifies a recommended number of servings per day.
- Flexibility: You can customize the checklist to fit your preferences and dietary needs.
- Science-based: Dr. Greger developed the Daily Dozen based on his detailed analysis of scientific research on nutrition and health.
Time-restricted meal schedule:
When fighting cancer, when you eat is almost as important as what you eat. Eat during daylight hours only, as eating after sundown has been found to increase cancer risk. Adopt a 16:8 diet, restricting eating to an 8-hour window of time. For example, eat breakfast at 9:00 a.m., lunch at 1:00 p.m., and finish eating dinner by 5:00 p.m. Then fast for 16 hours. Make breakfast or lunch the biggest meal of the day and dinner the smallest.
Avoiding food emulsifiers:
Avoiding food emulsifiers is important as they can disrupt the gut microbiome, which is essential for regulating immune responses and maintaining overall health. Emulsifiers alter the gut microbiome, reducing microbial diversity and promoting dysbiosis. This gut imbalance triggers chronic inflammation throughout the body, compromising immune function and creating a favorable environment for tumor growth in various cancers.
Inflammatory molecules like lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and flagellin, which increase due to emulsifier consumption, promote cancer cell proliferation and interfere with the body’s natural defenses. Furthermore, thinning the protective mucus barrier in the intestines allows harmful bacteria and toxins to enter the bloodstream, potentially affecting other organs and systems. Since inflammation and immune dysregulation contribute to cancers such as liver, lung, and breast cancer, reducing intake of emulsifiers can be a proactive measure for cancer prevention and treatment.
Common emulsifiers to avoid include:
- Arabic gum (also known as gum acacia)
- Carboxymethylcellulose
- Carrageenan
- Gellan gum
- Guar gum
- Lecithin
- Locust bean gum
- Maltodextrin
- Polysorbate
- Sucralose
- Xanthan gum
Healthy snacking:
If you are hungry, between-meal snacking is OK if it doesn’t spike blood sugar or insulin levels. Elevated levels can stimulate cancer growth by increasing the production of insulin-like growth factor (IGF), which promotes cell proliferation and inhibits cell death. Elevated levels also lead to chronic inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, both of which are risk factors for cancer. Additionally, excessive sugar intake can contribute to obesity and insulin resistance, further increasing cancer risk. Here are some whole-food, plant-based snacks that have a low impact on glucose and insulin levels:
- Nuts & seeds
- Celery sticks with hummus
- Avocado halves sprinkled with bagel seasoning
- Berries
- Edamame drizzled with coconut aminos or balsamic vinegar
- Olives
- Roasted chickpeas
- Apple slices with unsweetened nut butter
- Bakes tofu bites
- Tempeh cubes
- Roasted cauliflower bites
Fasting-mimicking diet:
A cyclic fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) is emerging as a promising complementary approach to cancer treatment. This diet involves short periods of marked calorie restriction, typically lasting 4-5 days every 3-4 weeks, and is designed to mimic the metabolic effects of water-only fasting while providing essential nutrients. Preclinical studies have shown that FMDs can enhance the efficacy of various cancer therapies, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted treatments, across multiple cancer types. The mechanisms involve metabolic changes that make cancer cells more vulnerable to treatment while protecting normal cells from side effects. Early clinical trials have demonstrated the safety and feasibility of FMDs in cancer patients, with some showing promising metabolic, immunomodulatory, and antitumor effects.
Cooking methods:
How you cook your food is as important as what and when you eat. Dry-heat methods are typically used, such as baking, frying (including air-frying), roasting, grilling (barbecuing), searing, broiling, and toasting. Toxic compounds called advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are formed when food—especially food high in fat and animal protein—is subjected to dry heat above 300ºF. Under such conditions, carbohydrates are thermally broken down into monosaccharides, proteins into peptides, and fat into fatty acids. These monosaccharides, peptides, and fatty acids then chemically bind in what is known as the Maillard reaction, which creates AGEs.
Chronic consumption of high amounts of AGEs can lead to vascular endothelial dysfunction, systemic inflammation, and oxidative damage to cellular lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. This, in turn, accelerates the aging process and increases the risk of cancer, heart attack, stroke, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, cataracts, kidney disease, infertility, erectile dysfunction, degenerative disc disease, arthritis, impaired wound healing, muscle loss, and osteoporosis.
The most effective way to reduce your intake of AGEs is to avoid processed foods and choose cooking methods that inhibit the Maillard reaction. These cooking methods use lower temperatures and higher moisture and include boiling, poaching, steaming, sauteing over gentle heat using fat-free broth, slow-cooking (Crock Pot), stewing, pressure-cooking (Instant Pot), and baking below 300ºF using a steam oven (click here). To reduce AGEs in the body, participate in regular exercise. And to diminish the harmful effects of AGEs, incorporate cinnamon, cumin, ginger, rosemary, thyme, turmeric, capers, cruciferous vegetables, green tea, onions, and pomegranate into your diet.
Supplements:
- Multivitamin: Conventional cancer treatment can induce nutritional deficiencies. Therefore, taking a high-quality, low-potency, and iron-free (cancer loves iron), multivitamin & multimineral supplement is vital. Recommended brand: MegaFood One Daily Iron Free (one daily)
- Omega-3 fatty acids: Organic Ground Flax Seeds (one tablespoon daily)
- Probiotics: Recommended brand: Seed Daily Daily Synbiotic Probiotic & Prebiotic (follow label instructions)
Exercise:
The anti-cancer effects of exercise (especially strength training) are rather profound. The recommended exercise routine is the 30-Minute Express Workout (click here) 3 days per week at your local Planet Fitness gym (click here). If you do not live near Planet Fitness, you can do strength training at home using exercise bands (click here). If you are unable to engage in strength training, a modified walking program is recommended (click here).
Stress reduction:
Chronic stress promotes cancer. To help alleviate stress, spend 30 minutes a day doing something you like, such as having sex more often, soaking in a hot tub, visiting a friend, playing with your dog (if you don’t have a dog, adopt one; unconditional love is priceless), spending time outdoors, listening to soothing music, watching a funny movie, learning to meditate, getting a massage, counting to ten before losing your temper, and avoiding difficult people whenever possible.
Hydration:
Adequate hydration slows the aging process and increases resilience to age-dependent chronic diseases. It is crucial to stay well-hydrated during cancer treatment. Doing so helps flush toxins out of the body and reduce common side effects of treatment. A good rule of thumb is to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, divide that number by 2. That equals 75, which is the number of fluid ounces of water to drink per day.
For maximum health benefits, it is essential that the water you drink and cook with be filtered of toxins and molecularly “structured.” The recommended water filter that can do both is the Atla Water System. Structured water is also known as EZ (exclusion-zone) water, H3O2, the fourth water phase, and gel water. Structured water is more absorbable, optimizing hydration and flushing out toxins. It has been championed by Dr. Gerald Pollack, PhD, renowned scientist and distinguished professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington (click here). To purify the water you shower with, we recommend the Aqua Earth 15-Stage Shower Filter.
Sleep:
Chronic sleep deprivation is associated with a higher risk of cancer development. Lack of sleep can lead to immune suppression and the production of cancer-stimulating inflammatory cytokines. Scientists are examining the individual contributions of inadequate sleep, circadian rhythm disruption, and impairments of melatonin production and immune function to the initiation and promotion of cancer. Getting deep and undisturbed sleep in total darkness may be far more critical than we thought. Click here to learn how to fix the most common sleep issues.
Proper breathing:
Chronic hypoxia (persistent lack of optimal tissue oxygenation) is a major driving force for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, and numerous other health conditions. Most people have habitual “over-breathing” or “hyperventilation” patterns at rest, such as chest breathing instead of diaphragmatic breathing, mouth breathing instead of nose breathing, and rapid and/or deep breathing instead of slow and shallow breathing. These abnormal breathing patterns lead to hypocapnia or decreased carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the alveoli (lungs) and arterial blood. This lack of CO2 is harmful because it constricts blood vessels, which leads to decreased perfusion of vital organs, and, due to something called the Bohr Effect, impairs oxygen release from hemoglobin, which leads to hypoxia. Fortunately, this can be reversed over time with proper breathing retraining exercises using a simple home device called the Relaxator™ (click here).
It seems counterintuitive, but the more air one breathes, the lower the levels of CO2 and the less oxygen that reaches the tissues and is released to the cells. Having normal levels of CO2 in the alveoli (exhaled air) and arterial blood (40 mmHg or 5.3% at sea level) is crucial for good health. Numerous chronic diseases are associated with hypocapnia from over-breathing and the resultant tissue hypoxia. For example, in a 2001 Ukrainian study, 120 women with metastatic breast cancer were found to have an average of only 22 mmHg or 2.9% of CO2 in their exhaled air. The same study found that breathing retraining exercises reduced mortality in women by nearly six-fold! It’s as if tumors are cries of the body for more oxygen. Breathing slower and less may be one of the most excellent health-promoting strategies ever. To promote optimal breathing patterns, higher CO2 levels, and better tissue oxygenation, I spend 15 minutes twice daily using the Relaxator™ while checking emails.
For more information:
Blask DE. Melatonin, sleep disturbance and cancer risk. Sleep Med Rev. 2009 Aug;13(4):257-64.
