I loved reading Anticancer by david servan-schreiber international best seller

pete43lost_at_sea
pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
These are my comments on " Anticancer A new way of life. " second edition.

The president MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER ( number one in USA ) supports the book and its contents. that is enough credibility for me.

Read the first edition which I borrowed from my bowel cancer support group library only 3 weeks ago.

I liked it so much I got a copy from amazon, it just arrived, I love it. Its the second edition with updated trials and evidence.

Has anyone else read it ? I want to share the good news it contains with the forum.

The reason I loved it is that its advocates many of the complementary treatments I use.
I basically followed my inadequate reseach based on my limited research skills into my own anticancer regime. its just so reassuring to get a bestseller book thats well regarded that backs up most of what I am doing.

Of course this book is not for everyone, but read below. I have tried to put together an interesting series of quotes and at the end reviews.

where my own research skills are inadequate to refute many science based attacks on complementary therapies I rely on more skilled and well regarded experts like david the author who has fought his cancer and won with science based research.

I sincerely recommend this book to all who are interested in fighting cancer. If you don't like it just sell it on ebay.

I hope you enjoy looking over the material below and I make no apologies for my bias towards complementary therapies, in fact I am proud to stand up for what I have tried and believe in.

If you don't want to be challenged about diet, exercise and mindset then DON'T buy and read the book, its not worth the stress. However if you are remotely interested , give it a go. If you are prepared to GET HEALTHY to fight for your life then this book offers advice on how. It offers no guarantee of beating cancer, but certainly a healthier life while trying to beat it.

love to all,

Pete

from the foreword,

"i have always felt that the only trouble with scientific medicine is that it is not scientific enough. Modern medicine will become really scientific only when physicians and their patients have learned to manage the forces of the body and the mind that operate via vis medicatrix naturae [the healing power of nature]"

- RENE DUBOS, professor of biology, rockefeller University
discoverer of the first antibiotic in clinical use 1939
founder of the first earth summit 1972 of the united nations

"Fills an important gap in our knowledge of how patients can contribute to their own care by supplementing conventional medical treatment. I recommedn this book to anyone interested in preventitive medicine and integrative, complementary approacxhes to patient care."
- JOHN MENDEKSOHN, MD president MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER, UNI OF TEXAS

intro second edition ( the most concise updated bits
p1 "it offers a new, scietnifically based perspective on cancer that gives all of us a chance to better protect ourselves from this disease."
p2 "we must pay close attention to the mid-body connection, especially the negative impact of prolonged feelings of helplessness and despair. when let unattended, these feelings - not the stressesof lifethemselves - contribute to the inflammatory processes that can help the cancer to grow.
p3 link between non small cell lung cancer and some sweetened soda drinks and processed baked goods etc
p4 40 percent of cancers can be prevented by simple changes in nutrition and physical activity. 60 percent reduction in cancer mortality over the course of 11 year 20,000 person study among people who adopted a healthier lifestyle.

I skipped to the NOTES section every chapter has between 10 and 93 documented references.

the conclusion chapter 13
talks about the importance of our terrain
the effects of awareness
the synergy of natural forces.

some other online reviews
http://coloncancer.about.com/od/decreasedrisk/gr/Anticancer.htm

http://www.fredbortz.com/review/Anticancer.htm
those sections are integral to the presentation, just as having an anticancer diet, an anticancer mindset, an anticancer body, and an anticancer environment can be to living--and even thriving--with cancer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/health/07book.html
The famous name and the impeccable scientific credentials don’t hurt, but David Servan-Schreiber’s “Anticancer” rides mostly on the sincerity of his pitch. It is worthy of the finest in nighttime television infomercials, where among all the financial advisers, kitchen gadget guys and acne specialists is one with a story so personal, heartfelt and sensible that you suddenly need exactly what he has to sell.

Skip to next paragraph

William Duke

Anticancer: A New Way of Life
By David Servan-Schreiber, M.D. , Viking. 258 Pages. $25.95.

Related
Health Guide: Cancer »
Web Link
Read an Excerpt of Anticancer (standup2cancer.org)
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Get Health News From The New York Times »
Not that Dr. Servan-Schreiber is peddling a product (other than his book). Rather, it is a way of life he wants you to buy into, a guide to staying cancer-free (or, if he has reached you too late, fighting off your cancer) by paying careful attention to what you eat and how you behave.

Like all the best pitchmen, he offers his own story of redemption as testament (he once was lost but now is found, was blind but now he sees). Son of the noted journalist and politician Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, he left France for Montreal as a student, then went on to the University of Pittsburgh. There he embarked on a research career in psychiatry and neuroscience, cruising the city on a motorcycle, a young intellectual on top of the world.

Then one day a research subject failed to show up for a scheduled M.R.I. scan, and Dr. Servan-Schreiber took his place in the scanner. Utterly by happenstance, the scan showed a walnut-size brain tumor.

Unnerved but undaunted, Dr. Servan-Schreiber underwent the recommended surgery and returned to his usual routines. His life remained a high-stress, low-exercise affair; lunch was a bowl of chili, a bagel and can of Coke. Five years later the tumor recurred, and in the course of enduring a second surgery and a round of chemotherapy he saw the light: the red meat, white flour and soft drinks were going to help the cancer do him in. He had to detoxify his body.

Here his story segues smoothly into a lucid discussion of cancer immunobiology, in which the bad cells can be tamed by manipulations of their environment. And then we are in the kitchen, reviewing its contents from the specific perspective of cancer prevention.

This familiar terrain encompasses the antioxidants, the good fats, the whole grains and the green teas. There are the combinations essential to maintain (you must take your turmeric with pepper) and the ones to avoid (no milk with your dark chocolate). Cancer “feeds on sugar” but supposedly not on agave nectar; on omega-6 trans fats but not the omega-3s. The blanket of body fat in the obese creates a giant repository of fat-soluble carcinogens.

We hear the story of Lenny, who adopted a diet heavy on cabbage, berries and dark chocolate, and survived pancreatic cancer for an impressive four and a half years. We meet vegetable-fed mice, who seem more active and curious and have slower-growing tumors than their chow-fed brothers. And Dr. Servan-Schreiber himself, of course, is still doing well at age 47 — 14 years after his initial diagnosis.

For each of the foods on his anticancer shopping list there is a shred of scientific evidence — usually from experiments done on cells in culture, sometimes from studies of mice with cancer, and occasionally from small studies on actual human beings. For none is there the kind of data that would support, say, the licensing of a new drug.

Extracts of garlic, onions and leeks, for instance, will demolish all kinds of cancer cells in a culture. Whether these vegetables are still active in the busy metropolis of the body, with thousands of cellular processes going on at once, is another question: once the leek is chewed, swallowed, demolished by intestinal enzymes and absorbed into the blood, how likely are its molecules to brush up against a cancer cell, let alone engage it in armed combat? No one knows.

http://breastcancer.about.com/od/bookreviews/gr/anticancer_dss.htm

Comments

  • mom_2_3
    mom_2_3 Member Posts: 953 Member
    Pete
    I did read his book 2 years ago when first diagnosed. I found his story inspiring and very enlightening. If you find this book interesting you may want to read "The China Study."

    Seeing your post made me want to go back and re-read the book. I see on Dr. Servan-Schreiber's website that there is an audio/powerpoint presentation that was sponsored by MD Andersen. I am watching it now. I didn't know that Dr. Servan-Schreiber was one of the 7 founding doctors of Doctors Without Borders. What an incredible accomplishment...

    Thanks for the reminder about the book Pete!

    Amy
  • pete43lost_at_sea
    pete43lost_at_sea Member Posts: 3,900 Member
    mom_2_3 said:

    Pete
    I did read his book 2 years ago when first diagnosed. I found his story inspiring and very enlightening. If you find this book interesting you may want to read "The China Study."

    Seeing your post made me want to go back and re-read the book. I see on Dr. Servan-Schreiber's website that there is an audio/powerpoint presentation that was sponsored by MD Andersen. I am watching it now. I didn't know that Dr. Servan-Schreiber was one of the 7 founding doctors of Doctors Without Borders. What an incredible accomplishment...

    Thanks for the reminder about the book Pete!

    Amy

    thanks Amy
    dear amy

    I am so glad I am not the only one impressed by his message and science and his personal story.

    I'll scan the 6 pages summary of the second edition summary notes if you want.
    I'll email them, just pm me with your email if you want them.

    I does not surprise me that his altruistic spirit lead him to be a founder of doctors without borders. maybe his next effort could be oncologists with open minds.

    what did you get out of the book ?
    do you follow his recommendations ?
    did you ask your onc ?

    hugs,
    Pete
  • Kenny H.
    Kenny H. Member Posts: 502 Member

    thanks Amy
    dear amy

    I am so glad I am not the only one impressed by his message and science and his personal story.

    I'll scan the 6 pages summary of the second edition summary notes if you want.
    I'll email them, just pm me with your email if you want them.

    I does not surprise me that his altruistic spirit lead him to be a founder of doctors without borders. maybe his next effort could be oncologists with open minds.

    what did you get out of the book ?
    do you follow his recommendations ?
    did you ask your onc ?

    hugs,
    Pete

    Thanks Pete. Looking into
    Thanks Pete. Looking into that one.
  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    Kenny H. said:

    Thanks Pete. Looking into
    Thanks Pete. Looking into that one.

    Agreed, Pete, I've got the second edition,underneath my cable
    box so I know where it is if I need reference anything...Excellent, a must read by all wishing to help themdelves, written by one of us, tho author did not have CRC......Also,many of the cancer.orgs and .govs provide free info on nutrition, diet, exercise, recommendations from research, etc if you check their publications listings...stuff written that even I can understand it, don't need to be a doctor,scientist or weatherman.....
  • bigCrandy
    bigCrandy Member Posts: 75
    Bought it last year
    Hey Pete, hope you're doing well along with everyone else on the CSN. I bought the book last year and I did enjoy it, definitely a must read for anyone with cancer. Our lifestyles mean everything when it comes to health, genetics plays a big role but we can't do anything about that. Diet, exercise, mental attitude, we can control that. Enviroment also plays a big part when it comes to cancer. Some of that we can control, some we can not. I try to eat a lot of the foods he recommended as much as I possibly can. It makes sense to eat as healthy as we can, especially when we are undergoing chemo. As we all know, the chemicals kick our butts all the way through. Nothing can hide from the evil, toxic chemicals we subject our bodies to, but what choice do we have. Thanks for reminding me about the book, I'll have to read it again. God Bless, Randy
  • Nana b
    Nana b Member Posts: 3,030 Member
    bigCrandy said:

    Bought it last year
    Hey Pete, hope you're doing well along with everyone else on the CSN. I bought the book last year and I did enjoy it, definitely a must read for anyone with cancer. Our lifestyles mean everything when it comes to health, genetics plays a big role but we can't do anything about that. Diet, exercise, mental attitude, we can control that. Enviroment also plays a big part when it comes to cancer. Some of that we can control, some we can not. I try to eat a lot of the foods he recommended as much as I possibly can. It makes sense to eat as healthy as we can, especially when we are undergoing chemo. As we all know, the chemicals kick our butts all the way through. Nothing can hide from the evil, toxic chemicals we subject our bodies to, but what choice do we have. Thanks for reminding me about the book, I'll have to read it again. God Bless, Randy

    I bought the CD's and
    I bought the CD's and listened to it on my long drives to and from work. I believe.
  • Kathleen808
    Kathleen808 Member Posts: 2,342 Member
    Great book!
    We've both read it and try to follow it. Good scoop Pete!

    Aloha,
    Kathleen
  • kristasplace
    kristasplace Member Posts: 957 Member
    An awesome book!
    I also read this book two years ago, just after had read in my medical records that the doctors thought the lesion in my lung was metastasis, but no one had told that to me!

    i began reading EVERYTHING i could on nutrition and it's correlation to health, and David's editor's addition was given to me by a friend who works for a raw food company.

    The book blew me away. It was not only educational, but motivating. Everyone with cancer, and anyone interested in not getting cancer, should read that book.
  • luvmum
    luvmum Member Posts: 457 Member
    Thank you very much for your recommendation!
    Dear Pete,

    I will definitely go get this book from amazon! I'm currently reading a book written by a Japanese professor from Chiba Hospital in Tokyo. He has been working in the cancer center for years and gather his experience, he believe diet makes a big differences too.

    Thanks again!
    Love D