Book: Anticancer Living

“Anticancer Living: Transform Your Life and Health with The Mix of Six” by Lorenzo Cohen, PhD and Alison Jefferies, MEd

• “By making simple changes to the way we live, we can diminish the side effects of conventional cancer treatments, extend (and sometimes shatter) expected survival rates, decrease the chance for recurrence of disease, and potentially prevent the onset of cancer diseases in the first place.”
• “A 2016 study by Harvard researchers who reviewed data from more than 135,000 people they have been following for more than forty years found that not smoking, drinking in moderation, maintaining a healthy weight, and exercising regularly could prevent 41 percent of cancer cases and 59 percent of cancer deaths in women and two-thirds of case and deaths in men.”
• “In 1964, Surgeon General Luther L. Terry released the group’s findings. The conclusion: Cigarette smoking was responsible for a 70 percent increase in mortality rate for smokers relative to nonsmokers.”
• “Attitude clearly matters in fighting cancer. We don’t know why… but most people with the same cancer for age, class, health, socioeconomic status, and, in general, those with positive attitudes, with strong will and purpose for living, a commitment to struggle, with an active response to aiding their own treatment and not just a passive acceptance of anything doctors say, then to live longer.”
• “A year earlier, Dean Ornish, the renowned doctor and nutritionist, had shown in randomized controlled trail that patients with early-stage prostate cancer who changed their diet and lifestyle for a year could slow the progression of their disease and greatly reduce the need for surgery.”
• “I urged my father to embrace these changes, to start meditating, to increase his physical activity, to cut back on meat and diary consumption, and to start drinking green tea. I recommended, in addition, two teaspoons of tomato paste and one Brazil nut a day (Brazil nut have high level of selenium, a trace of mineral that has been shown in several studies to reduce prostate cancer risk. The lycopene in tomato paste has been shown in laboratory and animal studies to slow cancer cell growth.)”
• “The oncologist himself had become a vegan based in part on his belief that diet influenced his risk of chronic disease.”
• “For instance, we encourage patients to engage in regular physical activity in order to strengthen their immune system and combat fatigue and to help their bodies become less hospitable to cancer growth and better able to sustain the rigors of treatment.”
• “All six lifestyle areas of the Mix of Six–social support, stress, sleep, diet, exercise, and environment–are interlinked.”
• “Multiple studies show that stress can sabotage all good healthy intentions.”
• “Programs that combine mindfulness meditation with a dietary intervention are more effective than dietary changes alone.”
• “In fact, many patients have told me that their cancer experience was the best thing that has happened to them, and that it took being diagnosed and going through treatment to finally be able to give themselves permission to make radical lifestyle change and live the life they’ve always dreamed of living. Clarifying who you are and what you want out of life can be the unexpected positive side effects of a diagnosis.”
• “Nothing feeds cancer or any other disease like a sense of hopelessness, because when we’re hopeless, we stop trying.”
• “Lutgendorf and her team focused on two types of support–emotional social support (close connections with others) and instrumental support (people who provide tangible assistance). They found that people who had strong emotional support survived significantly longer after surgery compared to women who reported less support.”
• “Up to 95 percent of all cancers are not caused by inherited genetic defects.”
• “Dr. Katz addressed an issue that had not been brought up before: nutrition. He recommended that Gabe radially change his diet–from meat and potatoes to a plant-centered, vegetable-heavy meal plan.” … “He wanted simply to make a conscious effort to eat less steak and potatoes, drink less beer and liquor, and eat more fresh vegetables and fruits–of which, at the time, I ate exactly none. I flew back to Huston and decided to take his advice.” … “Gabe begin to educate himself, and he also started to lose weight and build lean body mass. When he went in for his first regularly scheduled surveillance visit, his blood work showed that his PSA level had gone down.”
• “Diet, sedentary behavior, and obesity are responsible for 30-35 percent of all cancers in the United states. It is estimated that almost 1 in 6 cancer deaths in men and 1 in 5 cancer deaths in women are associated with being overweight.”
• “Tobacco is responsible for about 30 percent of all cancer deaths worldwide (though death rates from tobacco-related cancers in the United States have dropped significantly in recent years; tobacco-related deaths continue to rise in the developing world).”
• “Viral infections, such as those caused by Epstein-Barr, HPV, and hepatitis, account for more than 15 percent of cancers worldwide. (Vaccines are not available to protect against infection from the type of HPV that cause cancer. Also, the Epstein-Barr virus causes cancer only in rare cases.)”
• “Up to 10 percent of cancers are caused by radiation. This includes UV frays from the sun, which cause skin cancers, one of the fastest-growing cancers among young adults.”
• “Alcohol is listed by the National Toxicology Program as the known human carcinogen. The more someone drinks, the higher their risk of developing certain type of cancers including head and neck, esophageal, liver, breast, and colorectal. In 2009, an estimated 3.5 percent of cancer deaths in the United States were alcohol related.”
• “Environmental toxins that are known to cause cancers, such as asbestos, coal dust, and formaldehyde, to name a few of the thousands, are widespread. Scientists have no way of quantifying the link between specific environmental toxins and cancer onset, except in the most obvious cases (for example, coal miners have a higher-than-average incidence of respiratory cancers as a result of their exposure to the carcinogens in coal dust and asbestos, which cause mesothelioma).”
• “Recent research actually suggests that for men with low-risk disease, treating their prostate cancer may make no difference to how long they will live. But those treated will certainly have to live with the unintended side effects of radiotherapy or surgery, such as the risk of permanent erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence.”
• “It’s worth noting, however, that some ancient medical records found in Greece show that when surgery was attempted, patients who survived the excision of their tumors were encouraged to modify their diets and to engage in special exercise regiments in order to hasten recovery. This is the first evidence that, even before the advent of modern medicine, lifestyle was understood to have had a positive influence on patient outcome.”
• “Social Genomics is the study of how everyday life circumstances influence gene expression.”
• “Cole and his team at UCLA discovered that people who live in neighborhoods marked by poverty, high unemployment, loneliness, social isolation, and fear (high-crime areas) have changes in gene expression that may make them more susceptible to developing cancers and other diseases. The good news is that these effects–though they have the potential to alter gene behavior over the course of several generations–are demonstrably reversible.”
• “We human beings are not meant to go it entirely alone, and so we start, create, and choose families; find friends, tribes, and allies; join teams, communities, and groups; in general engage in activities where we get a boost of social interaction.”
• “Companionship in all its varieties shields us from stress, loneliness, and vulnerability.”
• “Stress is known to stimulate cancer proliferation, not to mention that it erodes our well-being in a multitude of ways. Chronic stress is corrosive and wears away our ability to experience health on both social and biological levels.”
• “Virtually nothing else can change your outlook in life and your ability to heal as much as sleep does, and there’s a lot to be said about what goes on biologically during these hours, too.”
• “Physical activity is essential to keeping disease or illness at bay–and for recovery as well (though this may seem and, at times, feel counterintuitive).”
• “A solid and supportive network reinforces our good habits. Information sharing, partnering to achieve health goals, and just plain love activate our healthy biology. Without it, we tend to flag, lose hope, and become overwhelmed.”
• “High stress actually decreases the beneficial effects of healthy foods while heading us toward poor food choices. And it diminishes interest in exercising, disrupts sleep–all of which, in turn, and come to burden our relationships. Learn to short-circuit this vicious circle.”
• “Sleep disruption modifies food preferences, changes nutritional metabolic pathways, and reduces energy for exercise.”
• “Conversely, consistent exercise help us reduce stress, eat more moderately and better metabolize nutrients, and sleep better.”
• “Exposure to environmental toxins can unduly stress our bodies and sap our energy–coming to influence our weight, metabolic processes, and ability to change the way our bodies and brains develop.”
• See also: https://www.ornish.com/
• “The participants in the lifestyle group were counseled on following a whole-foods plant-based diet low in both fat and refined carbohydrates, encouraged to exercise thirty minutes six days a week, manage their stress for an hour a day using yoga and meditation and take part in weekly support group meetings for one year.”
• “At end end of the study, participants in the intervention group had a 4 percent decline in PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels compare to a 6 percent increase in the control arm.”
• “Furthermore, blood taken from men in the intervention arm suppressed human prostate cancel growth 7- percent better after the intervention than before (the control group only had a 9 percent improvement in the blood’s ability to control prostate cancer growth in a petri dish).”
• “In both of Ornish’s studies, the greater the amount of lifestyle change, the better the outcomes.”
• See also: “n of 1: One man’s Harvard-documented remission of incurable cancer using only natural methods” by Glenn Sabin and Dawn Lemanne MD MPH
• “Part of the beauty of social support and its impact on our health is that it works inn both directions–giving and receiving. Just as having the support of others is vital for cancer survivors and the rest of us, mounting scientific evidence shows that giving our time to support others also sustains us physically and emotionally, and may improve our body’s ability to prevent and overcome disease.”
• “A 2013 review of forty different studies found that volunteer work reduced early mortality rates by 22 percent.”
• “The vagus nerve regulates how your heart rate changes with your breathing and is connected with the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of our nervous system that helps us to relax.”
• “In terms of biology, the better your vagal tone, the greater your heart-rate variability, which has been linked to lower heart disease, better immune function and glucose levels, and lower all-cause mortality. In terms of our social interactions, the greater your closeness to others and the greater your altruistic behavior, the better your vagal tone.”
• “We now have an impressive body of research that shows how the more firmly one stands in the face of cancer, in terms of staying closely connected to loved ones, friends, work colleagues, a faith community, networks of support-the better one will fare.”
• “Those who were married had a 20 percent better chance of surviving than those who were either single, divorced, or widowed.”
• “A committed friend or family member who understands your diagnosis, attends appoints with you, helps you do research, and makes sure you are well cared for during treatment can have an equally positive effect on your outcome and overall sense of well-being.”
• “Additionally, the stress that comes with loneliness or lack of social support has been found to trigger the proliferation of tumor cells by affecting the behavior of genes linked with inflammation, immune function, and other cancer regulatory genes.”
• “When patients can share their fears and concerns with others, especially those grappling with similar issues, reports show an improvement in their overall health, particularly where their emotional well-being is concerned. And in some cases, being part of these support groups leads to longer survival with advanced cancer.”
• “In some way, suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.”
• “However, a 2017 study by Sonja Lyubomirsky at the University of California in Riverside and her colleagues (include Steve Cole) actually does show that a certain type of kindness does cause change in the profile of genes that are turned on.”
• “For the first time we now have scientific evidence that kindness toward others impacts our genes in ways that could prevent disease.”
• “People with high eudaimonic well-being–the kind of happiness that come from having a deep sense of purpose and meaning in lie, an awareness of the bigger issues of life, and engaging in these kinds of activities–had favorable immune cell gene expression and low levels of inflammatory gene expression as well as strong antiviral and antibody gene expression.”
• “People with high levels of hedonic well-being–the type of happiness that come from the emotions we experience when we do something pleasurable and fun for ourselves–had high inflammation and low antiviral and antibody gene expression relative to those with high eduaimonic well-being.”
• “The longer-range do-good eudaimonic happiness clearly has a more salutary effect.”
• “Morris is a maverick when it comes to understanding the value of anticancer living. ‘First, being healthy is not about absence of diseases,’ he tells me with conviction. ‘It’s about helping people live a life well-lived. Who cares if you live two years longer if you’re alone in a nursing home? Everything we do here is build around a passage from Colossians that says, ‘You are the children of God, there as God’s chosen people holy and dearly beloved, clothe yourself with gentleness, kindness, compassion, humility, patience, and above all put on love, the harmony witch binds all.’ What this says to me is that compassion and love are at the heart of Morris’s practice. he is not focused on statistics or ‘outcomes’ per se but rather on a deeper sense of health that address the whole person, not just their disease or symptoms.”
• “Changing lifelong habits can be challenging, and you need a strong support system: a significant other, spouse, friend, coworker or a nutritionist/dietitian, a support group–someone who you can be open with about what you’re trying to achieve, someone who can help encourage you to stay on track.”
• Social support areas
  • “Practical Support: Those who support you in practical, tangible ways. People you can count on during difficult times to drive you to appointments, organize care rotation, help with meal planning and prep, etc.”
  • “Informational Support: Those from whom you can get informed advice, and talk through options and decisions. people whose opinion you trust and who you know have your best interest at heart.”
  • “Motivational Support: Those who support you worth in this world, see the importance of the changes you are trying to make, and help keep you motivated to keep at it. For those with cancer, these are the people who remind you of your qualities as a whole person–not just a patient.”
  • “Community Support: Group connections and social integration provide both a sense of belonging and the ability to assist others, which reinforces your own value in the world.”
  • “Emotional Support: Those with whom you can share your deepest troubles and joys and who offer unconditional love and comfort.”
• “Look for people and groups that could help fill out your team and balance your support. One person, even an intimate partner, however caring, simply cannot provide support in all areas. Diversifying your support base is crucial. Caregivers risk burnout, too, and everyone’s needs must be balanced.”
• “In terms of social integration: Is there a group you could join related something you enjoy doing, such as a hobby, activity, or sport? Could you join or become more involved with a church, spiritual group, yoga center, library, walking group, musical group, etc?”
• “If you’re lacking a sense of nurturing and being nurtured, is there a place where you could volunteer and find strength by connecting with and helping others, and find such help in turn?”
• “If you don’t have someone who provides you with emotional, could you find a therapist who might help you work through issues or a support group that is made up of people with whom you share a common background or issue?”
• Core values: identify your core values:
  • “Write down words that you think fit your core values.”
  • “Limit yourself to no more than twenty key words.”
  • “Edit it down to ten and then finally to a maximum of five to six key words or phrases.”
  • “Make sure each word/phrase matches your way of living and viewing the world.”
  • “Construct a sentence or two explaining each of your core values, what they mean to you, and how you plan to act on those values in your life moving forward. Consult your core values when making decisions and try to align your daily choices and behaviors with your core values.”
• “It’s important to do this because, in the short term, the stress response is very much a motivator of life, of action, and certainly of interaction. However, when stress become chronic, when our life challenges surpass our ability to effectively cope with them, it becomes problematic for our psychological, emotional, and physical health.”
• “Patients who incorporated yogie breathing, relaxation technique, and meditation with their yoga practice improved heir general health while reducing their stress hormone levels.”
• “It is important to note that stressful events themselves, the stressors, which seem unavoidable in our current culture and climate, are not what cause the harm. it is sour reaction to the challenges in our lives that does the real damage.”
• “The important thing for cancer patients is to focus on bringing people into their lives who are capable of being more emotional supportive and empathetic.”
• “One of the best defense against cancer is finding a place of inner calm.”
• “Being in a calmer frame of mind provided me the mental means to dig deeper for answers to how I might manage my disease in a meaningful way. how I could create health in spite of disease. The foundation to my health was achieving an unfettered mind.”
• “In the early 1970s, Dr Herbert Benson, a Harvard physician, took a team of scientists to Northern India, where he had heard of a group of Tibetan monks who, through meditation, claimed they could control aspects of their physiology. The prevailing Western belief at the time was that physiological processes such as heart rate, blood pressure, and skin temperature were not under the control of our minds. What Dr. Benson found astounded him. The monks had exquisite control over their own physiology. Using only meditation, they were able to lower their heart rate, decrease their blood pressure, and decrease or increase their body temperature to specific parts of their body.”
• Focused-Attention Meditation: “A focused meditation usually starts with the breath and could followed by reciting a syllable or phrase, or a simple prayer. You also could focus your attention on burning candle or on an image that affects you.”
• Mindfulness Meditation: “With mindfulness meditation, thoughts, feelings, and emotions maybe coming and going, but the key is not to focus on them and to let them freely come and go. This takes practice and can be more challenging than focused meditation. If you get distracted or start fixating on a thought or object, don’t get upset with yourself. Just bring yourself back to your breath and try again.”
• Compassion-Based Meditation (Loving-Kindness Meditation): “Loving-kindness meditation is essentially about cultivating love. Start by cultivating the feelings of love and compassion you have for someone close to you. Then send that loving-kindness toward yourself and foster self-compassion. Then shift to family, friends, and close loved ones. In the third phase you may choose to focus on a challenging person in your life with whom you are having a conflict or struggle. And finally focus on strangers and send out loving-kindness and compassion to everyone.”
• “Research published in the past ten years clearly demonstrates that meditation not only changes our lives but also modifies brain function and anatomy, reduces inflammation, modulates key biological processes right down into the nucleus of cells, changes gene expression, relieves anxiety, improves memory, and lowers stress hormones in the bloodstream.”
• “For example, one of the CompLife patients with a deep Christian practice had some initial concerns of whether the yoga and meditation would conflict with her practices and beliefs. In fact, the opposite occurred. By making subtle modification in the language used in the yoga and meditation, the patient expressed later that she had never felt closer to her God than in the mind-body sessions.”
• “When he blocked the effects of norepinephrine (he used a common beta-blocker called propranolol, but in humans we can use meditation or other stress-management techniques), the effects of stress on tumor growth totally disappeared.”
• “Sood and others have clearly demonstrated that chronic stress, and the cascade of stress hormones that ensure, can influence ALL the cancer hallmarks and other biological processes linked to cancer growth.”
• Tips for informal caregivers:
  • “Don’t go it alone. Social support is key to maintain your sanity and your health. This might mean reaching out to friends and loved ones and/or joining a caregiver support group where people can relate to what you’re going through. The added benefit of a support group is that they can put you in touch with other resources that could help to relieve some of the pressure you are undoubtedly feeling as the primary person responsible for someone’s health and well-being.”
  • “Recognize your limits. You cannot be the perfect aide. If you try to provide everything, all the time, you will eventually break down yourself. Find ways to give yourself breaks from constant care, even if that mean that someone else come over for just a few minutes a day or a couple times a week. Take full advantage of that time away. Don’t use it to grocery shop or do other chores for the person you’re caring for. Take the time for yourself and engage in a mind-body practice.”
  • “Set goals for yourself. Break tasks into small steps and establish a daily routine. Don’t take on added burdens. Say no to people who ask for your help with something outside of your caregiving duties. Limit your commitments and focus on caring for yourself.”
  • “Accept help. The only way for you to reduce your own burden is to allow other people to help you, even if you don’t know the ways of the person you’re caring for or they don’t do things exactly the way you would. Learn to let go whenever you can. It will help to keep you strong and avoid disease.”
  • “See a doctor. Don’t help keep someone else alive at the expense of your own health and well-being. It’s better for both of you if you are putting yourself first.”
  • “Engage in healthy behaviors daily. One of the biggest problems faced by caregivers is that they tend to not take care of themselves, mentally or physically. Find a way to maintain your own health, even if that means playing an exercise DVD in your home or eating cut-up vegetables instead of cookies as a snake. Little things add up. Stay on the right side of your own health by making healthy choices every day and engage in healthy eating, exercise, stress management, and good sleep habits.”
• “One of the way we can move from negative to positive thinking in our daily lives is to focus on what we are grateful for.”
• “After ten weeks, the group that focused on gratitude reported increased optimism and self-confidence. members of the group also reported that they exercise more and made fewer trips to the doctor.”
• “The link between stress and diet in this study suggests that stress modifies metabolism in ways that may promote obesity and increase inflammatory response, no matter what we eat. That is why stress management comes before die and other healthy changes. If you don’t control your stress, your other lifestyle improvements maybe in vain.”
• “a 2014 study found that women who maintained a healthy lifestyle were protected from the effects of stress on their telomere length.”
• Types of stress reduction techniques:
  • “CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy): This short-term therapy teaches patients how to consciously change their thinking by replacing negative with positive thoughts and ‘rewiring’ the default settings of their cognition. The positive long-term effects of this show up on Steve Cole’s heart maps and in longitudinal studies of long-time survivors.”
  • “Meditation: For more than a decade, our friend Molly M. has started her day with her own self-designed mind-body practice based on the Canadian Healing Journey Program. Her daily practice helps to cleanse any stress she may have carried over from the day before and gives her a ‘clean’ slate. She practices a combination of relaxation, imagery, and meditation.”
  • “Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing: This can be practiced very formally or it can be practiced on the fly when we need to replace the buzz of stress hormones with the calming effect of oxygenation our bodies. Taking just a couple of deep, cleansing belly breaths can ground us and keep us present, especially when we’re in the midst of an unavoidably stressful situation.”
  • “Tai Chi and Qigong (and other formal movement practices): Combine movement with meditation and breathing practices that center and calm both the body and mind. I conducted a clinical study on the effect of qi-gong  on nearly a hundred Chinese women who were undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer. Those who practiced qigong reported less depression, fatigue, and higher overall quality of life than the control group. These results, as with CBT and other stress-reducing techniques, had long-lasting benefits.”
  • Yoga: “It even formed the basis of my early research, which along with research from others showed that yoga imparts body awareness, flexibility, helps cancer patients sleep, improves mood, reduces fatigue, increase physical functioning, and helps to regulate stress hormones in the blood, among other benefits.”
  • “Be in Nature: Go outside and feel the sun on your skin. Nature is the greatest healer, the most gentle companion. Give yourself the healing gift of spending time outside being mindful as you walk and explore the outdoors. Even short doses of the natural world do wondrous things for our health and well-being.”
• Meditation practices
  • Diaphragmatic Breathing:
    • “Sit in a chair or lie on the floor or mat. At first it may be best to practice deep breathing lying down, since this position allows you to be better determine whether you are breathing from your chest or from your belly.”
    • “To better monitor your breathing, place one hand on your abdomen directly below your rib cage.”
    • “Inhale deeply through your nose and feel that you are able to reach the bottom of your lungs; in other words, send the air down as deeply as you can.”
    • “If you are breathing from your abdomen, your hand should rise as you inhale, while your chest remains still.”
    • “Take a full breath and pause before exhaling slowly through your nose. If exhaling through your nose is challenging, you can exhale through your mouth, but slightly purse your lips to slow the release of air. Exhale fully to create more room in your lungs for the next full breath.”
    • “Inhale for a count of five seconds and than exhale slowly and deeply for a count of six seconds. your exhalation can be slightly longer than your inhalation.”
    • “Try to practice this for at least for five minutes.”
  • Focused Meditation:
    • “Sit on the floor or in a chair, or find another comfortable position that allows you to focus on your chosen object.”
    • “Engage in your diaphragmatic breathing and spend up to five minutes getting focused on your breath.”
    • “Even if you inadvertently shift your attention from your breath to the object of your choosing, continue your diaphragmatic breathing.”
    • “During the meditation, each time your mind drifts away or becomes wrapped up in thoughts or life issues, gently pull your focus back to your breath and then to the object of your focus.”
  • Mindfulness Meditation:
    • “Once your focused meditation practice is on solid ground and you have built up twenty minutes a day, try moving into mindfulness meditation.”
    • “Start with five minutes of your diaphragmatic breathing focused meditation practice.
    • “Keep your focus on your breath, focused on the sensation of the air coming into your body and then gently leave your body.”
    • “Every time you find your mind wandering from your breathing, gently bring it back to the present, back to the moment, and continue to observe and notice the flow of your breathing.”
    • “As you observe your breathing, you may find from time to time that you are becoming aware of sensations in your body. As you maintain awareness of your breathing, see if it is possible to expand the field of your awareness so that it includes a sense of your body as a whole, becoming aware of all the sensations you are experiencing.”
    • “Be aware of these feelings and sensations without judging or reacting to them.”
    • “Rather than following individual thoughts, let the thoughts come and go as you sit sill, witnessing the thoughts and simply observing them. Let them float by the like clouds in the sky or like birds flying by above you.”
    • “As the meditation ends, slowly become aware of your surroundings Try to carry the feelings of calm and peace you experiencing meditating into rest of your day.”
  • Expanded to Compassion/Loving-Kindness meditations”
    • “Loving-kindness meditation is essentially about cultivating and sharing love.”
    • “Loving-kindness meditation has been used to reduce depression and other symptoms in veterans diagnosed with PTSD, easing migraine and back pain, and improve vagal tone, a physiological marker of well-being.”
    • “Start with a few minutes of diaphragmatic breathing.”
    • “Shift to mindfulness meditation for an additional five minutes.”
    • “Now bring to mind someone for whom you have deep feelings of love. Visualize this person and notice your feelings for them in your body.”
    • “Let go of this person in your imagination, but retain an awareness of the feelings that thinking of them has brought to you. Think of yourself with these same loving thoughts. While directing these feelings toward yourself, repeat this phrase (or a statement you come up with on your own) either aloud or silently: May I be happy and joyful. May I be healthy. May I engage in my lie with calm and focus. May I live in peace.”
    • “Notice the sensations and feelings within you. Allow those sensations to arise and do not judge them one way or another.”
    • “Next, try offering loving-kindness to someone who supports you, who has always ‘been on your side.’ Bringing this person to mind, imagining them perhaps in front of you, and repeat these lines direct to them, either out loud or to yourself: May you be happy and joyful. May you be healthy. May you engage in your life with calm and focus. May you live in peace.”
    • “Then shift your focus to friends and acquaintances and finally to strangers and the world as a whole.”
    • “Bring to mind the larger community in which you live. You might imagine your friends, your colleagues, or your neighbors. Say or think these phrases, directed at your community: May you all be happy and joyful. May you all be healthy. may you all engage in your life with calm and focus. May you all live in peace.”
    • “As you close this meditation, bring to mind the larger world in which you live. Expand out from your family, friends, and colleagues to include all people and creatures on the planet, without exceptions, including yourself, and repeat: May we be happy and joyful. may we be healthy. may we engage in our lives with calm and focus. May we live in peace.”
    • “Take a moment to feel that sharing from your heart. Feel the openness of your inner space, your awareness as light, the warmth of your loving kindness, compassion, and inner joy.”
    • “As you move back into the room, slowly become aware of your surroundings. Allow the benefits of this practice to expand into every aspect of your life.”
  • Reflective writing
    • “Meditation Reflection: At the end of your meditation, reflect on your meditation practice. What did you notice? Was it easier to keep your mind focused than it was last time? Where did your mind wander? Did your mind wander to positive thoughts and emotions or to negative feelings and anxieties? Explore some of the thoughts and emotions you experienced in the meditation practice.”
    • Core Values Reflection: “How are you staying aligned with your core values? What are the areas that lead you off course? How can your mind-body practice help you to stay aligned with what you believe in and vlue? What do you need to change to keep yourself aligned?”
    • “Triggers and Solutions Reflection: Explore what triggers your stress. Write down ideas for managing each trigger. Explore strategies you found successful for managing stress. How can you prioritize your stress-managmeent practices?”
• “chronic sleep restriction (sleep time that is on average less than 6.5 hours per night for adults) is associated with increased mortality and is now being studied as a possible cancer risk factor.”
• “Recent studies have shown that getting adequate sleep for those high performers improve their response tiem, their agility and accuracy, reduces the likelihood of injury and illness, extends their longevity as competitors, and improves their mental games, too. Sleep, research shows, is vital to athletic success.”
• “Research also shows that across the life span, people who get less than six hours of sleep per night are more likely to become obese, even if they exercised regularly.”
• “In adults, inadequate sleep has been associated with ailments ranging from diabetes to stroke and heart disease.”
• “Even though the brain only takes up approximately 2.5 percent of the body’s total mass, it uses 25 percent of the energy we generate and 25 percent of the oxygen we breath.”
• “A 2012 study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland found that postmenopausal women who have a chronic lack of sleep were more likely to develop more aggressive forms of breast cancer and had increased risk of recurrence.”
• “In terms of colon cancer, some of the same researchers at Case Western found that patients who reported sleeping less than six hours a night had a 50 percent greater risk of colorectal adenomas, a precursor to colon cancer, compared with those who reported sleeping only an hour more, at least seven hours a night.”
• “While sleeping pills do put you to sleep, benzodiazepines and other drugs do not move you through all stages of sleep. In fact, no drug on the market increases the deepest stages of sleep, the restorative part of sleep, critical for maintaining health. So, you may feel like you have gotten a good night’s sleep, but the true restoration need to improve your health will still be missing.”
• Methods for improving sleep
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Insomnia (CBT-I): “This short, focused talk therapy is extremely effective in treating insomnia. In just a few weeks, patients learn to change their sleep habits and research shows that it is much more effective than prescription drugs in providing long-term results. CBT-I can be delivered in person, in group formats, by telephone, or via internet-based treatment and have been shown to have long-term benefits for improving sleep in cancer patients.”
  • Tai Chi:
    • “The results show that tai chi promotes ‘robust’ improvements in sleep duration and quality, which are comparable to CBT-I, or talk therapy, and provides additional benefits of reduction of depression and daytime fatigue.”
    • “Not only was tai chi as effective as CBT-I at improving sleep outcomes, Irwin found that tai chi led to greater reduction in inflammatory markers than CBT-I. They also demonstrated that this practice reduced inflammatory gene expression profiles–a key factor in preventing disease onset or progression, including cancer.”
  • Meditation: “The meditators not only slept better but also reported less depression and daytime fatigue. Also important, in study after study we see that participating in meditation also leads to higher melatonin levels, the hormone that is necessary to help us initiate and maintain our sleep.”
  • Yoga: “In a study conducted at the University of Rochester, four hundred cancer survivors who were experiencing sleep disturbances reported that both their subjective and objective sleep quality improved after attending two yoga sessions a week for just four weeks.”
• “One of the leading researchers in this area is Sonia Ancoli-Israel, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Gillin Sleep and Chronobiology Research Center. In her research, Ancoli-Israel has found that breast cancer paitents who are exposed to short doses of bright light before and during chemotherapy report lower level of fatigue. My hypothesis was that patient undergoing chemotherapy are so fatigued that they never go outside. They just get into this cycle of being fatigued, having disruptive sleep rhythms, and just sitting around the house. the lack of light makes all those things worse.”
• “If you find your’re having trouble falling asleep or if you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep, try meditative breathing. Breathe in deeply through your nose and feel your stomach rise on the inhale. Pause for a few seconds and then breathe out slowly through your mouth. Repeat this technique for as long as it takes you to calm down and relax. Meditative breathing slows the heart rate and blood pressure simultaneously and helps you let go of any stress or anxiety that might be keeping you awake.”
• “Snoring is a challenge in a partnership–encourage sleeping on the side or stomach, as this often helps. Consider sleeping in a separate room or raising the snorer’s side of the bed with pillows.”
• “Watch your alcohol consumption. While alcohol does have that sedative effect people enjoy and can help with sleep initiation, when alcohol is metabolized in the second part of the night, it becomes a stimulant and can cause you to wake up or sleep less deeply.”
• “‘From a metabolic standpoint, vigorous exercise is the most demanding activity the brain encounters, much more intense than calculus or chess, but nobody knows what happens with all that energy,’ Maddock said. ‘Apparently, one of the things it’s doing is making more neurotransmitters.’ And more neurotransmitters means greater brain-body health.”
• “Physical activity resets our circadian rhythms that help us sleep better at night and be more alert and refreshed during the day.”
• “being sedentary causes a whole host of serious yet highly preventable health problems:
• • “Increase insulin resistance, which is a precursor to the onset of type 2 diabetes”
  • “Higher rate of heart attacks and other cardiovascular-related diseases.”
  • “Immune-deficiency issues and difficulty with keeping airborne illness, such as colds and flus, at bay.”
  • “Greater risk of depression and other mental health issues.”
  • “Bone health diminishes without regular exercise needed to maintain adequate mineral content and strength. The same is true for muscle health.”
  • “Cognitive decline and the onset of diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.”
  • “General physiological aging on all levels, from cellular and vascular, to increased organ deterioration.”
• “I found a $150 semirecumbent bike that fit nicely under my new standing desk and set that up so I could work and pedal at the same time.”
• “A 2016 study published on Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that even for people who already exercise, swapping a few minutes on the couch or in an office chair with some kind of movement was associated with reduced mortality.”
• “Researchers in Canada followed more than eight hundred prostate cancer patients for seventeen years and measured their daily exercise. men who were the most active reduced their mortality by as much as 40 percent.”
• “A 2009 analysis of fifty-two epidemiological studies found that very physically active people had a 24 percent lower risk of developing colon cancer than those who ranked among the least physically active.”
• “A 2013 analysis of thirty-one studies show that women who engaged in physical activity lowered their risk of onset by 12 percent.”
• “Adding to this, a recent review of multiple studies showed that the best treatment for CRF [cancer-related fatigue] was physical activity, with the evidence showing that physical activity was better than any pharmacological treatment.”
• “Courneya was also part of meta-analysis in 2016 that looked at more than two dozen studies and found that cancer deaths were cut by more than a third when breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer patients engaged in physical activity.”
• “First the good news: Adults diagnosed with nonmetastatic colon cancer who engaged in about 2.5 hours of brisk walking per week reduced their mortality over fifteen-year period by more than 40 percent. The bad news: Colon cancer patients who sat more than six hours a day had an almost 30 percent increase in mortality over  the same period, even after controlling for physical activity. In other words, even if they were physically active, sitting for extended period of time was still harmful.”
• “Research by Lee Jones, Phd, a pioneer in exercise research in cancer, found that exercise could counteract the negative cardiovascular and biological effects of chemotherapy that they documented in the control group, with exercise even decreasing inflammatory gene expression.”
• “In 2017 study published in the journal Health Psychology, Stanford University of Business PhD candidate Octavia Zahrt and psychologist Alia Crum looked at data from the National Health Interview Survey and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and they found that ‘individuals who thought they were less active than other people their age were more likely to die, regardless of health status, body mass index, and so on,’ Crum reported. What they found is that there is a kind of negative placebo effect that happens when people compare themselves to others–even when their perceptions are all in their head.”
• “if you like to run, a series of short sprints burns more calories than a long run.”
• “In just two weeks, a change in diet from a Westernized composition to a traditional African high-fiber, low-fat diet reduced these biomarkers of cancer risk, indicating that it is likely never too late to modify the risk of colon cancer.”
• “Gut-based microbia play an essential role in activating, training, and modulating the immune response.”
• “In a 2017 study of patients with advanced melanoma, Wargo found that the diversity and makeup of someone’s gut bacteria affects how well they respond to immunotherapy.”
• “The more diverse the microbiome, the lower the inflammation in the body and the healthier the immune system.”
• “The key to creating a healthy microbiome without going overboard with untested supplements and pills is to feed the good bacteria in your body and crowd out the bad by eating a plant-centered, high-fiber diet rich in whole frained and complex carbohydrates.”
• “The diet that has shown the greatest benefit in terms of health and cancer resistance is the Mediterranean diet, as was also noted by David Servan-Schreiber in Anticancer.”
• “Most important for us in the cancer world, women who were randomly assigned to the Mediterranean diet high in extra virgin olive oil reduced their breast cancer risk by over 70 percent over the course of five years compared to the control group that ate the moderately reduced fat diet.”
• “A 2015 study found that men diagnosed with prostate cancer were more than 50 percent less likely to die from the disease if the followed a ‘prudent diet,’ rich in fruit, vegetables, and whole grain and low in fat, sugar, cholesterol, and sodium. On the flip side, the same study, which involved more than twenty-two thousand male physicians, found that those who stuck with a typical Western diet were over 2.5 times more likely to die from prostate cancer.”
• “The other benefits of a high-vegetable diet are its low-calorie and carbohydrate content and low glycemic index, which are linked with decreased inflammation.”
• “When you add a sedentary lifestyle to an unhealthy diet, cancer risk increases by more than 30 percent.”
• “In 2011 study, researchers at the Albert Einstein college of Medicine in New York City analyzed health data from forty-five hundred postmenopausal women over a twelve-year period and found that those with the highest blood-sugar level were twice as likely to develop colon cancer.”
• “In a long-term study published in 2012, Swedish researchers showed that men who drank one twelve-ounce soda a day increased their risk of prostate cancer by 40 percent. For that study, scientists tracked the health of more than eight thousand men between age of forty-three and seventy-five over the course of fifteen years.”
• “people with diabetes are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with pancreatic and colon cancer.”
• “But the study, which involved researchers in the United States, Canada, and France, also concluded that those who drink 1.5 drinks a day or less account for more than a third of alcohol-related cancer deaths.”
• “Highly processed and refined foods like white bread, white rice, breakfast cereals, and crackers have what is called a high glycemic index. That means the body can digest these foods and convert them into sugar quickly, literally within moments after they are consumed. So, just like eating candy or drinking soda, eating foods with high glycemic index creates blood-sugar spikes, which leads to the release of insulin and increase of B-catenin, a protein known to be a major factor in the development of certain cancers.”
• “In fact, excessive consumption of red meat has been related to more than a dozen cancers, including breast, prostate, colon, and liver.”
• “One factor linking red meat to cancer is through the carcinogens that are released in the cooking process. These compounds are formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures or is charred. Unfortunately, they are also formed when meat is cooked at normal temperatures, including pan fried, broiled, or grilled.”
• “Another factor that increases the harm of red meat is result of the food we feed animals to make them fat and bring in more profits for the farmers. Cows that graze all day in the fields eating grass up until the time they are killed for their meat have a nice balance of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids; approximately a four-to-one or two-to-one ratio. However, cows that are raised on feedlot and fed corn and/or soy, even for the last part of their lives, are devoid of omega-3 fatty acid by the time they are slaughtered. Feedlot-raised beef is essentially an omega-6 delivery vehicle. Omega-6 is an essential fatty acid, meaning we need it in our diet, but we also need it in the right balance alongside omega-3 fatty acids. Excess omega-6 fatty acid in our diet, which is the case for the majority of people eating conventionally raised meat, increases inflammation, which is connected to cancer.”
• “Breast Cancer: In postmenopausal women (the age most prone to this type of cancer), overweight women increase their risk of developing breast cancer by 20 to 40 percent.”
• “Colorectal Cancer: Overweight people have a 30 percent greater risk of developing colorectal cancer than their normal weight peers with men being slightly greater risk than women.”
• “Endometrial Cancer: Overweight women have a two to four times greater risk of developing this cancer, and extremely obse women have a seven times greater risk. The risk goes up even higher in overweight women who have used hormone therapy for menopausal symptom relief.”
• “Liver Cancer: Overweight people are twice as likely to get liver cancer than those of normal wight. As with Colorectal cancers, obese men have slightly higher risk than obese women.”
• “Pancreatic Cancer: There isa 1.5 times increase in onset of this cancer if you are overweight.”
• “Multiple Myeloma: There is a 10 to 20 percent increase in the risk of developing multiple myeloma if you are overweight.”
• “Women who lost more than 5 percent of their body weight had a 29 percent reduced risk of endometrial cancer, and obese women with intentional weight loss had a 56 percent reduced risk of developing endometrial cancer. Unfortunately, the opposite was also true.”
• “But what Thomson and her team found in their follow-up analyses was that then they compared the women eating the lowest number of vegetables to those eating the most, the women eating the most had 31 percent reduced risk of recurrence of disease.”
• “Recent evidence also suggests a meal too close to bedtime disrupts the sleep-wake cycle of your circadian clock and leads to weight gain.”
• “But the effects of doing both, drinking green tea and eating mushrooms, reduced breast cancer risk even more.”
• “A Harvard study combining data from fourteen long-term studies that involved more than 786,000 people found that people who ate the most whole grains (like oats, brown rice, barley, and rye) were 20 percent less likely to die of heart disease and 10 percent less likely to die of cancer.”
• “Blueberries, raspberries, apples, and pears are loaded with flavonoids, a natural compound, that has been linked with a reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.”
• “There are more than sixty different names for sugars, including sucrose, can crysals, cane sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, crystal dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose sweetener, fruit juice concentrates, high-fructose corn syrup, barley malt, dextrose, maltose, rice syrup, and many, many others.”
• “For patients under active cancer treatment, try to maintain protein intake equivalent to 1.2 grams per kilogram per day. When not on treatment, reduce to 0.8 grams per kilogram per day. So, a woman who weights 130 pounds (59 kilograms) on active cancer treatment needs to eat 70 grams protein a day (1 cup almonds = 30 trams protein; 1 cup cooked soybeans = 30 grams protein; 1 cup chicken breast = 43 grams protein). When not on treatment, the same 130-pound woman needs 47 grams of protein.”
• “If your sweet tooth simply cannot be tamed, we recommend using a small amount of natural sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup. Honey has anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties and has been shown to improve immune functions. Studies in the past five years have indicated that honey has anticancer properties in animal models and cell cultures. Meanwhile, other studies have shown that the phenolic compounds in maple syrup cause a low rise in blood glucose levels and may have an anticancer effect.”
• “For years, cancer survivors, particularly women with breast cancer, were warned to avoid soy. Much of that reaction was based on animal research, which found that high doses of soy extract caused breast tumors to grow in mice. But a series of large epidemiological studies have found reduced breast cancer risk and improved outcomes when women consume soy, even if they have the genetic mutations that make them at greater risk for breast cancer.”
• “Because soy is a phytoestrogen, meaning it is a plant-based estrogen, many health-care professionals and cancer survivors think any soy product–or any phytoestrogen for that matter–will stimulate hormone-sensitive cancers to form and grow. But it is important to knwo that there are two types of estrogen receptors in the body–alpha and beta. Naturally occuring estrogen in the body, released from the ovaries and even excess fat, binds preferentially to estrogen receptor alpha and estrogen receptor alpha stimulation in breast tissue increases cell proliferation and is a risk factor for breast cancer. However, estrogen beta activation has the opposite effect and is thought to counter the proliferative effects of estrogen receptor alpha stimulation. What is important to know is that the phytoestrogenic effect of soy is through binding to estrogen receptor beta. This measn the phytoestrogenic effect of soy may actually counter the negative effects of endogenous estrogen on breast tissue and lead to decreases in cell proliferation–on of the cancer hallmarks.”
• “Healthy oils to cook with are canola, olive, coconut, and walnut (although walnut oil is expensive).”
• “Healthy oil to cook with at higher temperature are canola and avocado.”
• Tap water database: https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/
• “Studies that track people’s diets over multiple years have associated regular consumption of green tea with lower risk of colon, bladder, stomach, esophageal, and pancreatic cancers.”
• “Asbestos: Despite the direct link between asbestos and lung cancer and other disease being scientifically established, it is still legal and used in the United States even as it is banned in more than fifty other countries. You can still find asbestos in roofing and vinyl materials, brake pads, and other auto parts such as clutches, and it was even recently detected in crayons.”
• “Formaldehyde: This naturally occurring substance becomes carcinogenic in high doses and is found in carpets, wood flooring, hair-traightening products, fingernail polish, paints and varnishes, and household cleaning products. Formaldehyde can damage DNA, and exposure over time–even in low doses–is known to increase cancer risk.”
• “PFCs: Perfluorinated chemicals are nonstick, waterproof, and grease resistant and are used in cookware, weatherproof outerwear, and food packaging. Though a class of these chemicals known as C8s (8 indicates the number of carbon atoms) are no longer made in the United States, C6s still are, and are still in use. These have been linked to cancer and thyroid disease, among other health issues.”
• “Fire Retardants: Chlorinated fire retardants are sprayed onto upholstered furniture and many products made for children, including car seats. They are linked to cancer and hormone disruption.”
• “Vinyl Chloride: This is used to make PVC plastics and many household products, such as shower curtains. Exposure to airborne PVC affects the nervous system and long-term exposure can cause liver damage.”
• “Bisphenol A (BPA): This compound can be found in food and beverage container–and in people, including babies in womb. In 2015, California took the step of listing BPA as a female reproductive toxicant.”
• “Phthalates: These compounds make plastics more flexible and are used in PVC plastics, solvents, vinyl flooring, adhesives, and detergents. They are endocrine disrupters and have been linked to diabetes, obesity, and reproductive and thyroid problems.”
• “A 2015 study that switched forty children in California to an organic diet for a week found that the level of pesticides in their urine dropped by almost 50 percent.”
• “For example, BPA has been removed from many products and replaced with bisphenol S (BPS), a chemical that causes the same or worse harm than BPA.”
• “Take your shoes off at the door. Streets and lawns are filled with pesticides, herbicides, oil, grease, and other toxic chemicals.”
• “Swap out your cleaning products for natural, toxin-free cleaners, including products for the laundry, dishwasher soap, and dish soap.”
• “Houseplants can act as natural air filters. Certain plants are more effective as filters than others. If you have a pet, read about specific plants’ possible toxicity to animals. The ASPCA has an information page on poisonous plants.”
• “The safest candles to use is one made of beeswax. Candles using artificial fragrances will lead to inhalation of a possible endocrine disrupter.”
• Use low-or zero-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint. VOCs are solvents that get released into the air as the paint dries. VOCs can cause acute symptoms, including headaches and dizziness.”
• Do not use flame-retardant or stain-resistant chemicals on your funiture, as these chemicals have been classified as carcinogens.”
• “Avoid air fresheners. As a rule, they are loaded with chemicals of concern, as as EDCs and PFCs.”
• “For your next mattress and pillow, consider a company that makes these products toxin-free (VOCs and flame retardants). These requires some research and cross-referencing to find companies that are honestly transparent about their practices.”
• “About 85 percent of dry cleaners in the United States use PERC (percholoethylene or tetracholoroethylene), which has been listed as a ‘Likely human carcinogen’ by the National Academy of Science and shown to cause cancer in animal studies.”
• Alternative dry cleaning:
  • “CO2 Cleaning: In this cleaning process, perchloroethylene or PERC is replaced by liquid CO2. The gas form of carbon dioxide is pressurized into a clear liquid in a special machine. After the process is completed, the liquid CO2 can be pumped into a storage tank and reused. CO2 cleaning has been endorsed by the EPA.”
  • “Silicone Cleaning: This method is similar to conventional dry cleaning, but it uses a patented silicone-based solution to remove stains and odors from fabric. The EPA is still assessing whether the solution, siloxane D5, poses potential risk to human health.”
  • “Wet Cleaning: The alternative to dry cleaning is a solvent-free laundering method in which garments are cleaned with water and special detergents in high-tech machines. The EPA has endorsed the method, as it does not use hazardous chemicals or generate chemical waste or air pollution.”
  • “System K4: This German technology uses an acetal-based solvent that is reportedly biodegradable and safe for the environment.”
• Vegetable Groups
  • Alliums: Garlic, onion, leek, green onions, shallots, chives
    • “Alliums have been shown in both epidemiological and laboratory studies to reduce the risk of several types of cancers.”
  • Cruciferous vegetables: cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, arugula, bok choy, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, radish, turnip watercress
    • “Researchers believe that sulforaphane, a compound in cruciferous vegetables, play a role in cancer prevention as well as slowing cancer growth.”
  • Low-glycemic-load root vegetables: sweet potato, turnips, parsnips, carrots, beets
    • “Root vegetables are often overlooked, but they shouldn’t be. They are high in vitamin B, which helps protect DNA and lowers cancer risk. You’ll notice that turnips are considered both root and cruciferous, so they also have sulforaphane.”
  • Mushrooms: Shiitake, maitake, oyster, button
    • “They have anti-inflammatory and immune-enhancing qualities. A case-control study in southeast China involving more than one thousand women concluded that muushroom consumption decreased breast cancer risk for both pre- and post-menopausal women.”
  • Berries: Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries
    • “According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, berries may be the most beneficial fruit when it comes to cancer prevention. They contain antioxidants that help prevent the cell damage that often precedes cancer, and they block genes associated with inflammation and cancer growth.”
  • Fruit: Apples, pears, mangos, oranges, grapefruit, cherries, peaches, apricots
    • “It is easy to overeat fruit when it is dried because the water has been removed.”
  • Nuts: Walnuts, pecans, peanuts, almonds, Brazil nuts
    • “Walnuts contain high amount of phytochemicals called polyphenols, which are powerful antioxidants. Walnuts also contain omega-3 fat, which can help even out your omega-3/omega-6 balance.”
    • “We recommend buying only organic almonds and almond-based products after recent revelations that most almonds sold in the United states are tereated with propylene oxide gas, a known carcinogen.”
  • Seeds: Flaxseed, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin, chia, sesame, cumin, pomegranate
    • “Those results suggest that flaxseed could be beneficial, but only when taken in moderation. Flaxseed is also a great plant source for omega-3 fatty acids. Fresh-grounded flax-seed consumed as part of a balanced diet (less than three tablespoons per day) adds fiber and healthy micronutrients.”
  • Whole grains: Amaranth (technically a seed, but cooked as a grain), quinoa (technically seed, but cooked as a grain), farro, Khorasan wheat (kamut), spelt, oats, teff, millet, buckwheat
    • “In a 2015 study, researchers at Harvard School of Public Health found that eating a bowl of quinoa daily reduces the risk of death from cancer by 15 percent.”
  • Plant-based proteins: beans, lentils, pulses (a pulse is the edible seed of plants in the legume family–they grow in pods), tofu
  • Prebiotics: chicory root, Jerusalem artichoke, dandelion greens, raw garlic, raw leeks, raw or cooked onion, raw jicama
    • “Chemotherapy can disrupt the bacterial balance in your gut: your microbiome. Prebiotics can help restore this balance by reestablishing probiotic bacteria like bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. Prebiotics may help inhibit cancer cell formation by improving your microbiome.”
  • Probiotics: Yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut or other fermented vegetables, dark chocolate, microalgae, miso, pickles, tempeh, kimchi, kombucha
    • “Like prebiotic foods, probiotic help replensh good bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract and restore balance to your microbiome.”
    • “Eat fermented or pickled vegetables as condiments in small quantities, as excessive consumption has been linked with stomach cancer.”
  • Anti-inflammatory herbs and spices: Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, rosemary, sage, oregano, cayenne pepper, basil, thyme, coriander, black pepper, clove
    • “Curcumin, the yellow pigment in turmeric, has been the focus of a lot of research for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric extract has been shown to help prevent heart attacks in people who have undergone bypass surgery, and it is being studied as a drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease.”
• Endocrine Disrupters
  • “Atrazine–This widely used herbicide has been found to turn male frogs into female frogs. It is pervasive in the water supply and has been linked to delayed puberty, prostate inflammation and breast cancer in animal studies.”
  • Dioxin–“They are classified as persistent organic pollutants. Once they enter the body, mainly through meat, diary products, fish, and shellfish, they can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system, hormone disruption, and cancer.”
  • Organophosphates–“Since then, they have been used under various brand names as ingredients in lawn and garden sprays. Although more research is required, these chemicals are potentially toxic for young children.”
  • Parabens–“A 2014 study found that parabens increased the growth of certain types of breast cancer cells, even at low levels of exposures.”
  • Perchlorate–“This compound found in rocket fuel has been discovered as a contaminant in milk and produce. When it gets into the human body it disrupts thyroid function by competing with the nutrient iodine.”
  • Perfluorinated Chemicals–PFCs
  • Phthalates
  • PBDEs
  • Triclosan
• Other Toxins
  • Arsenic
  • Coal Tar
  • DEA/TEA/MEA
  • Ethoxylated surfactants and 1,4-Dioxane
  • Hydroquinone
  • Lead
  • Mercury
  • Mineral Oil–“This by-product of petroleum is found in styling gels, moisturizers, and baby oil. these oils are highly reminded. occupational exposure to less refined mineral oils have been linked to skin cancer. While more refined liquids used in cosmetics have not been linked to cancer, they do create a film on the skin and prevent the release of toxins.”
  • Oxybenzone
  • Paraphenylenediamine (PPD)
  • PCBs
  • Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)
  • Silicone-Derived Emollients
  • Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (or Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate)
  • Talc
  • Toluene

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