“Every day, three times a day, I am building an anti-cancer biology, and anyone can do that, we just need to tell people how.”

This is what Dr. David Servan Schreiber, cancer-survivor and author of Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life, says about his diet. He argues that while we are all exposed to cancer-stimulating factors, mainly through our diets and lifestyle choices, we have a profound ability to control our own health by avoiding certain foods and consuming others in larger quantities.

Servan-Schreiber describes cancer cells, which are always developing even in healthy bodies, as “rebel armed bandits” which have escaped the rules of organized society and are no longer responding to signals from neighboring cells and tissues telling them they are overcrowding others and should stop multiplying.

While this is not the message being consistently shared by the mainstream medical establishment at this point (upon his diagnosis, Servan Schreiber’s own doctors told him there was nothing he could do related to diet that would help him), this isn’t the only voice of reason out there. The World Cancer Research Fund estimates that at least 40% of cancers could be prevented with diet and physical exercise alone. In a nutshell (or shall I say, in a “sprouted multi-grain tortilla”), foods to limit or eliminate include:

1. sugar, which basically feeds tumors
2. conventional dairy products that come from animals fed on corn, soy and wheat, as well as the eggs from those animals (as opposed to grass-fed animals because of the much needed Omega-3 fatty acids in these alternative products)
3. conventionally produced, chemically-contaminated products (in the past 30 years, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research has tested 900 chemicals in the environment and found ONLY ONE to be categorically NON-CARCINOGENIC).
4. white bread and pasta, for the way they cause  an overproduction of insulin, which can stimulate cancer growth

And while Americans eat an average of 10.5 ounces of meat per day, the World Cancer Research Fund recommends closer to 12 ounces per week be consumed by people who want to avoid the disease.

Of course vegetables of all kinds lead the list of foods that can prevent or inhibit cancer cell growth. Those that have been shown to repress these cells by as much as 80% for cancers of the brain, colon, lung and prostate include beets, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, garlic, kale, onions and leeks.

I appreciate how Servan Schreiber describes our eating as similar to playing on a keyboard of cancer prevention mechanisms, explaining that we must choose foods that hit a variety of different notes to provide maximum protection. He gives the examples of turmeric acting on one aspect of cancer biology, while the sulfaraphane and indole-3-carbinols of broccoli and cabbage play on another aspect, while green tea’s EGCG and polyphenols hit another note. Having berries for dessert, he adds, bring in a variety of phyto-chemicals that will act in another area.

And speaking of that cancer-fighting “super-spice” turmeric, which the research indicates must be eaten with black pepper or ginger for the best effect, here’s a simple recipe for a seasoning you can make a batch of and use for all those vegetables you’ll be eating this summer. If you like middle-eastern flavors, you’ll really appreciate this one:

Ras El Hanout (makes 60 grams or 2 1/4 oz)

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons ground coriander
2 nutmegs, freshly grated (or 6 teaspoons ground nutmeg)