Home > Work > Anticancer. A New Way of Life
1 " To say “I love you,” Yanomami Indians of the Amazon say, “Ya pihi irakema,” meaning “I have been contaminated by your being”—a part of you has entered me, and it lives and grows. "
― David Servan-Schreiber , Anticancer. A New Way of Life
2 " Statistics are information, not condemnation. The objective, when you have cancer and want to combat fatality, is to make sure you find yourself in the long tail of the curve. "
3 " There was nothing wrong with being simply, completely human. "
4 " Recent studies show, in fact, that it’s not only the love of a husband, a wife, or children that can enable morale to remain strong and slow the progression of illness, but also the simple love and caring attention of friends old and new. "
5 " Thus the approach of death can sometimes lead to a kind of liberation. In its shadow, life suddenly takes on an intensity, resonance, and savor we may never have known before. "
6 " These recent findings support the notion that “cancer genes” may not be so harmful if not triggered by our unhealthy lifestyle. They behave a little like the irascible ghosts of ancestors, who required regular offerings in order to stay calm. In fact, they may simply be genes who have responded poorly to the transition from our ancestral forms of nutrition, which were perfectly adapted to our organism, to our modern-day industrial, processed diet "
7 " Cancer is a disease of the Western lifestyle "
8 " Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know: the earth does not belong to man—man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. All things are connected.125 "
9 " But it’s obvious,” they invariably answered. “If it’s an acute illness, like pneumonia or an infarction or appendicitis, you have to see Western doctors. They have fast, effective treatments for crises and accidents. But if it’s a chronic disease, then you should see a Tibetan doctor. The treatments take longer to work, but they treat the terrain in depth. In the long term it’s the only thing that really works. "
10 " Learning to fight cancer consists of learning to nourish the life in us. But it's not necessarily a fight against death. To carry through this apprenticeship is to touch the essence of life, to find a completeness and peace that make it more beautiful. Death may be part of that success. Some people live their life without appreciating its true value. Others live their death with such richness, such dignity, that it seems like an exceptional accomplishment and gives meaning to everything they have experienced. "
11 " Immune cells are also sensitive to our emotions. They react positively to emotional states characterized by a sense of well-being and a feeling that we are connected to those around us. It’s as if our immune cells mobilize all the better when they are in the service of a life that is objectively worth living. "
12 " made a similar discovery about prostate cancer.7 Certain genes trigger an extreme sensitivity to inflammation and stimulate the transformation of slow-growing microtumors of the prostate into aggressive and metastatic cancers.e However, when men who carried such genes consumed oily, omega-3-rich fish at least twice a week, their dangerous genes remained in check. Their cancers were five times less likely to become aggressive than those of men who ate no oily fish at all. "
13 " There is little likelihood that our physicians will suggest these approaches. Changes in lifestyle cannot, by definition, be patented. Thus, they do not become medications and they do not require prescriptions. This means thatmost physicians don’t consider them within their realm, so it is up to each of us to make them our own. "
14 " Real” foods are thus more effective than supplements, and they are more effective in combination than when eaten separately. "
15 " Schopenhauer’s saying: All great truth goes through three phases. First it is ridiculed, then violently attacked, and finally accepted as self-evident. "
16 " When we respect the needs and bodies of the animals that feed us, our own bodies are better balanced "
17 " have found harmony in this simple quartet: detoxification of carcinogenic substances, an anticancer diet, adequate physical activity, and a search for emotional peace. "
18 " In a long-range study of 91,000 nurses over twelve years, the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard showed that the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women is twice as high in those who eat red meat more than once a day as in those who consume it less than three times a week .97 The risk of breast cancer could therefore be halved simply by reducing consumption of red meat. "
19 " same conclusion for colon cancer: The risk was twice as high for people who ate large quantities of meat as for those who consumed fewer than 20 grams (an ounce) a day. (With regular consumption of fish—rich in omega-3s—the risk went down by 50 percent.)98 "
20 " It is also clear that typical vegetables contain one hundredth the amount of contaminants found in meat and that organic milk is less contaminated than conventional milk.102,103 "