Risk Factor

In which our Heroine reads, eats, and writes about it. 

Not all books about cancer are the same, especially when it comes to food.  The biggest difference I am finding is that some books assume chemotherapy happened or is currently happening.  Although this may be true for many, and maybe even for the majority, I find this assumption generally problematic.  Not all cancers demand such chemical measures.  A few of us cancerous victims choose alternate routes to recovery because of the location of said dastardly cancer, or because of age, etc.  Any book that assumes chemo or radiation must focus primarily on the current big problems at hand: nausea, decrease in appetite or “waking up the taste-buds,” and increasing protein consumption because the body must rebuild its cells.  (Ever wonder why most people with cancer get so emaciated?) Most of the recipes in these books tend to be normal or only slightly altered from your everyday Betty Crocker.  And frankly, if these people were really trying to staunch my nausea, they already fail.  I can’t imagine eating tuna with horseradish when fending off an incumbent vomit, “waking up my taste-buds” or not. 

No, nausea and protein consumption are thankfully not my problems.  In my research, I am finding that books on food for fighting cancer are the best, though they are difficult to find.  Apparently this is a relatively new idea.  Far from assuming a difficult healing process, these books actually presuppose the landmark idea that cancer can be fought, or even prevented with something ordinary—food consumption—a thing we must do anyway.  It’s a matter of a healthy and sustaining diet.  Most people seem to believe cancer to be a matter of bad luck, or genetically inevitable.  In truth, only 15% of cancers can be blamed on genetic predisposition. 

I like cancer-fighting literature because it will often offer explanation as to why or how cancer happens in the body, and then a direct way to fight it.  It’s like finding the rusty chinks in an ugly enemy’s armor and then being wise enough to plunge my newly whetted sword in right where the weakness exists to exterminate the foe, hopefully leaving nothing viable or even recognizable behind.  If this were a movie, I’d be talking about a mess of severed appendages in a bloody heap on the ground.  I know my words are brutal.  But my enemy hasn’t been kind with me.  Cancer found my weaknesses and used them against me, and I see no reason why I should prolong his useless existence any longer and not do exactly the same thing.  It makes me feel so powerful to think that I can.

The best book I’ve found to date is entitled Foods to Fight Cancer: Essential foods to help prevent cancer, by Richard Beliveau, Ph.D and Denis Gingras, Ph.D.  The authors are top researchers who used to work for pharmaceutical companies to find new drugs to fight cancer.  After much research, these men have found promising results from the food nature has already provided.  I can only assume that they pay for their research with the books they sell, because there’s no way pharmaceutical companies love this result. 

According to this book, 1 in 3 people are at risk of encountering cancer (and subsequent death) in their life time.  Contrast that with the 1 in 7,000 who will die from a motor vehicle accident.  Which brings up the best part about this book: it’s a good read for any who have loved ones suffering from cancer, or are just generally interested in their own health and in understanding the role of healthy foods in the body. 

Some of you may be asking “Why if something as ordinary as a strawberry can fight cancer, then Tara how did you get it?  You are young and you eat strawberries frequently.”  Yeah, I’ve also come up against this question.  And here’s the truth.  My eating habits are awful.  Several times a day I find myself craving processed freezer food and mounds of fluffy white bread.  If you give me a choice between a frozen pizza and a pear, most of the time I’ll want to choose the pizza.  It takes real effort for me to eat the pear instead.  But what I’m learning is that poor dietary habits can lead to a 30% risk for cancer whereas hereditary factors only indicate a 15% risk.  Obesity and lack of exercise add another 5% on.  3 of my 4 grandparents had cancer, so I’m going to say that along with my bad dietary habits and a few extra pounds, I am looking at a 50% risk total.  Great.  Good thing I am drug-, alcohol-, and smoking-free, otherwise I’d be dead for sure (total 84% risk). 

All right, I’m starting to remind myself of Ben Stiller in that movie Along Came Polly, where he plays an insurance agent who constantly types numbers into his risk-adding computer program. So, in what I trust will be a helpful nutshell (and hopefully not too much of a copyright infringement) here is a quick list of the top 10 foods that help fight cancer as listed in the previously-mentioned book:

1.       Cabbage

2.       Garlic and Onions

3.       Soy (but you have to be careful about the source of the soy)

4.       Turmeric (especially as combined with pepper: food combinations matter. This is something that eastern doctors have known for—ever.

5.       Green Tea (I am LDS, so I don’t drink this—but sometimes I wish I could!)

6.       Berries

7.       Salmon and other fish with omega 3’s, or flaxseed

8.       Citrus fruit

9.       Red Wine (yep, still LDS…)

10.   Chocolate (dark, and good quality—don’t fall for the fructose-filled kind commonly sold in grocery stores.  Eating that stuff is just asking for cancer—trust me, I know).

Metalhead

In which Our paranoid Heroine discovers that Cancer is really all about Marketing

“Its time to take a short break (from angels), but after these messages, we’ll be RIGHT BACK!” as said in best announcer voice.  There are some house-keeping items to take care of.  Yesterday I went to see my neurosurgeon, Dr. Bernard, also frequently deemed “brilliant” on this blog.  (In operas and musicals, main actors or actresses frequently have their own tune that accompanies them each time they enter the stage.  Think of the word brilliant as Dr. Bernard’s aria.) There is a reason he is dubbed as brilliant.  He knows things.  Things important beyond his specialty of neuro-surgery, and isn’t that saying something?  For awhile there, Jon and I thought about seeing a neuro-oncologist when we next flew out of state.  My chemo doctor recommended it because we had a few specialized questions.  Dr. Bernard is still open to giving us a referral, but I don’t know if we need it now because he knew the answers to all our questions. 

The most pressing question was whether pregnancy (not so much now, but later…) would enhance the growth of this kind of tumor.  The answer is no.  I may be paranoid usually (especially about nuclear facilities and commercialization), but this time I believe him.  My understanding is that some cancers are more directly linked with hormones: breast, ovarian, cervical, testicular, prostate, and in the brain, melingiomas (not my kind).  It makes sense, doesn’t it?  The studies on this are somewhat controversial, like so many things with cancer, but there is good evidence to suggest that these kinds of cancers particularly afflict the West. 

Why the West? Again, evidence suggests that all that processed food we’re eating is sending our hormones on un-amusing roller-coaster rides with cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease as the final big splash (no I did not say big Mac).  In my humble and cancerous opinion, these processed foods are around for the express purpose of supporting mega-companies.  They reel in the pound-adding dough, cushion their coffers, and then donate money to universities and institutes to do research on anything other than processed foods).  Have I mentioned yet that I’m paranoid? 

But conglomerates aside, Dr. Bernard asked me if I was eating a lot of fruit and vegetables.  I said I was actually thinking of going organic too.  To be truthful, paranoid me expected the currently doctor-approved line, “Oh, you can eat anything you want with cancer and you’ll be fine,” something I’d heard and read before, but didn’t necessarily believe.  Instead, my brilliant (angelic voices add to the aria) doctor smiled and said it was a great idea.  He asked if I’d heard of the raw food diet and suggested that taking red meat out of the diet might be an idea to consider too.  (The flesh is weak and hungry.  I’m not sure if I could manage that.)  I don’t know much about higher nutrition and cancer, but eating foods that are unhealthy when you already feel terrible is counter-intuitive, and taking out even one mode of control in this uncontrollable world of cancer seems hard.   Thank goodness my doctor is brilliant: I need a man I can agree with to be monitoring my health. 

Also interesting, I finally remembered to ask someone if I had a metal plate in my head from surgery—just in case I travel.  Everyone wants one more difficult thing to worry about in airports—especially us world travelers.  Yes, I can now boast a titanium plate complete with mesh and screws.  I must read Frankenstein soon.  I think I could really identify.  Maybe I’ll be carrying this book around with my specially-ordered “I have metal attached to my skull” card the next time I travel.  You know, the word lobotomy frequently flies into my head these days.  (As a reader, it is your responsibility after seeing word lobotomy to imagine hearing a loud gasp followed by the idea of horror, horror!)  

Internal commercial voice: “Hey, if you’re going to lose part of your brain, at least use a high-grade metal like Titanium® to cover the patch!!!”