Report on first two days of talks

The talks are here: http://www.cancerworldsummit2.com/ but each day’s talk disappears after 24 hours.

There are several things that are mentioned over and over, for people who have cancer or who want to avoid getting it, and much of it is in agreement with the Hay diet.

First, good quality, seasonal, preferably organic, natural foods, especially raw foods. Exercise (but not overdone), filtered, clean water, avoid sugars, have vitamin C and D.

If you have cancer, they all seem to recommend a vegan diet and things like coffee enemas.

The second talk on day 2 was the most comprehensive on diet for avoiding cancer, which is what I’m interested in, and the following is my summary:

• raw foods where possible
• exercise every day
• regular juices, especially greens
• keep the system alkaline
• drink lots of filtered water
• no sugar (except that in fruit)
• no GMOs, so no soy or canola oil
• lots of vegetables
• animal protein from wild animals/fish, or organic, free range animals not taking hormones
• no drinks like diet coke etc
• eat foods in season
• Brazil nuts (for selenium)
• curcumin and turmeric
• take milk thistle, vitamin C, fish oil, vitamin D
• green tea
• rosveretrol from red wine (but obviously not overdone)
• milk thistle

This lady was the most impressive so far. More info at: http://drconnealy.com/

None of this is incompatible with the Hay diet, and it seems to be a simple way to stay on the right track.

 

 

More on cancer prevention

In my research on cancer prevention I’ve found a list [1] of foods that ‘increase the anti-cancer effects’ of chemotherapy drugs.

It appears to follow then that these foods have anti-cancer effects of their own, and so we should eat a diet including lots of these things (without going overboard on any of them).

They are:
apples*
salad greens such as rocket (arugula), mustard greens, watercress
green vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale
berries, such as blueberries, cranberries,
cauliflower
celery
leeks and onions
grapes and grape juice
green tea, red tea
horseradish, turmeric**
fish, such as mackerel, salmon, wild sardines (but avoid fish oil)
olive oil

*Apple seeds contain vitamin B17, said to be a powerful anti-cancer chemical (see, for example

http://www.worldwithoutcancer.org.uk/aspreventative.html

. Eating a lot of apple seeds is probably going to poison you, but eating the seeds of an apple you’re eating could be a good idea.

**Turmeric is supposed to protect the brain from chemotherapy [1], so it stands to reason it probably protects the brain from other toxic chemicals.

[1]

http://foodforbreastcancer.com/articles/what-should-breast-cancer-patients-eat-during-taxol-(paclitaxel)-chemotherapy%3F

Free cancer prevention/alternative treatments talks

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m interested in not getting cancer. There seems to be an epidemic of it around – I know six people with cancer at various stages at the moment, including one going through the worst stages of chemotherapy, in bed and too sick to get out of it today. From seeing her suffering it seems like chemo is a state-sanctioned poisoning programme, and an Australian study suggests it is very ineffective (like only about 3.5% for breast cancer [1][2]). Another friend who had breast cancer died some time ago from leukaemia caused by the radiotherapy. If I ever get it, I’d like to avoid chemo and radiotherapy if possible, so I’m doing some research now, while I’m still healthy.

If there’s a way to prevent cancers, I’m in for it! This is one reason why I like the Hay diet, because of its abundance of fruits and vegetables, and its emphasis on natural foods. It seems such a healthy, sensible diet to me.

I’ve learned of some free talks on cancer prevention and alternative treatments for cancer available here: http://www.icnr.com/articles/ischemotherapyeffective.html

I obviously haven’t heard the talks as they haven’t started yet, but I have registered and will listen in. It’s free, so there’s nothing to lose. I’m not an affiliate or anything like that, but I think it’s wise to listen to all kinds of people and see what they have to say.

[1] http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s1348333.htm
[2] http://www.icnr.com/articles/ischemotherapyeffective.ht

PS. Apologies for the multiple updates, but I didn’t realise at first that the URLs weren’t visible. The links still aren’t working for some reason, so you will need to copy and paste them.

Which is better – butter or margarine

One of the real joys of the Hay Diet is that it features natural foods like cream and butter and cuts out highly processed alternatives. Yet we are often told that margarine is better than butter because it has less saturated fat, and saturated fats are bad for us because they clog the arteries and cause heart attacks and strokes.

Meal planning on the Hay Diet

Meal planning is important for anyone who wants to save money on food, reduce wastage, and ensure they’re getting healthy food and balanced nutrition, and losing weight if they need to. We all learn about balancing meals, making sure we have protein, fat, carbohydrates and fibre in every meal, but with the Hay diet the balancing is done over the day rather than each meal, and the principles of food combining are followed.

The main aim of the Hay diet is to ensure your blood is alkaline rather than acidic, because it is acidic conditions that tend to lead to conditions such as arthritis, and the way to do this is to make sure you have at least one “alkaline” meal a day. This is a meal based solely on fruit, vegetables or salads, but to make it more interesting you can add a small amount of milk, soy milk, or yoghurt. It’s often easiest to have this for breakfast, but a mixed salad at lunch or vegetable stir-fry or vegetable soup is also good.

Your remaining meals can be one protein meal and one starch meal, which means your meal can have a concentrated protein source (such as meat, fish, chicken, eggs, cheese), or a concentrated starch source (such as bread, pasta, rice, potatoes). In either meal the amount of protein or starch is small (3-4 oz), and about 70-80% of the meal is taken up with vegetables, fruits or salad.

If you are overweight you will lose weight on this diet, but once you are at your ideal weight you will stay there. There are many people who have been on this diet for over 70 years.

A good book I would recommend is called The Food Combining for Health Cookbook, by Jean Joice and Jackie Le Tissier. It’s a sensible book with great recipes, and unlike some books it doesn’t over-complicate things with hundreds of silly rules.

Here are some ideas. A = Alkaline meal, S = Starch, P= Protein.

Day 1:
Breakfast: Alkaline muesli (see below) – A
Lunch: Pumpkin soup with a good wholemeal or rye bread – S
Dinner: Creamed chicken with steamed vegetables, followed by fruit salad and cream or yoghurt– P

Day 2:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs or better still, Jean Joice’s Egg Savoury with some cherry tomatoes– P
Lunch: Baked beans on toast (homemade without tomato sauce), or mushrooms on toast – S
Dinner: Parsnip and Swede bake, followed by baked apples with ginger – A

Day 3:
Breakfast: Fruit and yoghurt – A
Lunch: Small steak and large salad – P
Dinner: Lentil and herb burgers with mashed potato and vegetables – S

Note: no alcohol with an alkaline meal. Wine is fine with a protein meal, and beer or cider are fine with a starch meal, but all alcohol is in strict moderation.

Alkaline muesli
This recipe uses a tablespoon of oats, but since it is such a small amount it can still be classed as an alkaline meal. For one serving:

1 tblsp oats (not instant), soaked overnight in 3 tblsp water (preferably spring water)
1 eating apple
juice of 1 lemon or 1/2 an orange
1 tblsp well-chopped almonds
3 tblsp milk
fruit or berries in season (if desired)

Soak the oats overnight, then add the grated apple, lemon juice, almonds and milk. Add any fruit you like, if desired. Mix and serve.

Snacks
If you want snacks during the day, try a piece of fruit or a FEW nuts.

Adding a rainbow

The people in Okinawa live longer on average than anyone else on Earth, and their diet is called the rainbow diet. Actually, like the Hay diet it isn’t really a diet at all, but is just a different way of eating, and a regime you can definitely stay on for life.

The Hay diet concentrates on an abundance of fruits and vegetables and reduces the carbohydrates and proteins (by confining them to one meal each), so it’s almost automatically a rainbow diet, but seeking to deliberately eat foods of as many different colours is definitely a good move, and absolutely in keeping with the principles of the Hay diet.

There was an old saying that you should eat something yellow, something green and something red at every meal, but why not add purple, blue, pink, orange, dark green, light green, cream, and every other colour you can imagine. It’s also another way to diversify the diet, which has to be a good thing.

Trying to diversify

I think our diets generally are not diverse enough, since modern agriculture has drastically reduced the number of species available for food, and the number of varieties within species.

So this year I’ve decided to maximise the number of species I eat by making sure I always try new things, and experiment with foods I’ve never tried before. It’s fun, and I’m sure already I’m increasing the variety of minerals and vitamins in my food, and since I take no pills (and don’t believe anyone needs to if their diet is good) this is important.

Hay diet review

The Hay Diet has been reviewed by Diet-Review.co.uk (http://diet-review.co.uk/hay_diet_review.htm), and the review is positive.

They say that the “old diet” is a good one, with lots to recommend it, as it’s “chock full of healthy, fresh fruit and veg.” By any standards, the review says, it’s a healthy diet, and of course I would agree with that!

I don’t agree with the book recommendation however, as I found Jackie Habgood’s book to be nowhere near as good as others because it over-complicates everything. The diet is really simple to follow and there’s no need to make it difficult to follow.

I also disagree with the idea that it’s an expensive diet, because fruit and vegetables tend to be cheaper than meats, and you eat more of the former and less of the latter. It is probably more expensive than your current diet if you’re eating a lot of junk food — but you’ll pay for that kind of diet down the track through medical bills.

Celebrities and the Hay Diet

People seem to have an insatiable interest in celebrities, and I must admit I initially heard of the Hay Diet when I read an interview with Sir John Mills, who went Hay after the war because he had what he called a “man-sized” ulcer. Eating the Hay way cured it in a few weeks, and he stayed on the diet for the rest of his life. Throughout his life he could still fit into the suit he was demobbed in. He died in 2005, at the age of 97.

Another celeb. who was on the Hay diet for a time at least, was Princess Diana, but then she probably tried every diet under the sun.

Man Ray, the American artist, was also a notable follower of the Hay Diet, as were Elizabeth Hurley and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Rediscovering Egg Savoury

One of my all-time favourite protein breakfasts is egg savoury, a recipe I got from “Food Combining for Health Cookbook” by Jean Joice and Jackie Le Tissier.

Basically, you mix a teaspoon of tahini with a half teaspoon of miso, a dash of paprika and pepper. Then mix in two large beaten eggs, and scramble the mixture in melted butter.

Served on slices of fresh tomato and cucumber with a few sprigs of parsley and mizuna or rocket, it’s to die for!