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The Cancer Project

 

The Cancer Project promotes cancer prevention and survival through a 
better understanding of cancer causes, particularly the link between nutrition and cancer. 
Through research, education, and advocacy, we are saving lives.

The Food for Life Nutrition and Cooking Class Series was launched in 2001 to help cancer survivors take advantage of the healing power of foods.

Designed by physicians, nutrition experts, and registered dietitians, each class includes information about how certain foods and nutrients work to promote or discourage cancer growth, along with cooking demonstrations of simple and healthy recipes that can be recreated easily at home.

Scientists have long been accumulating a large body of evidence on the influence of diet on cancer. Time and again, precious phytochemicals found in plant foods are credited with boosting immune strength and inhibiting disease progression. Along with protection from cancer, plant foods also promote a healthy weight and help prevent other chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

The goal of this program is to empower cancer survivors, their friends, and their family members with easy-to-implement cooking skills that turn every meal into a delicious dose of healthy nutrition.

What can you expect from the Food for Life Nutrition and Cooking Class Series for Cancer Prevention and Survival? Class Descriptions

No classes in your area yet? Download The Survivor's Handbook, developed to accompany the Food for Life series series. Also, check back for an expanding list of class locations. Classes are planned for Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, and other cities around the 
country. 

The blenders used in many of our Food for Life classes were VitaMix generously donated by the Vita-Mix Corporation.
The cookware and induction burners used in these classes Saladmaster were generously donated by Saladmaster.

Neal Barnard, M.D. 

Neal Barnard, M.D., is a nutrition researcher, an author, and the founder and president of The Cancer Project. The Cancer Project started as a program of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in 1991 and became an independently incorporated organization in 2004 to better educate the public about diet’s role in cancer prevention and survival. Founded in 1985 by Dr. Barnard, PCRM has evolved into a nationwide organization of physicians and laypersons that promotes preventive medicine, especially good nutrition, and addresses controversies in modern medicine, including ethical issues in research.

Dr. Barnard is also an adjunct associate professor of medicine at George Washington University. He has been the principal investigator on several clinical trials, including a recent National Institutes of Health-funded study on diet and diabetes. He is the author of 14 books. Watch Dr. Barnard’s Cancer & Nutrition Webcast 
 
 

The Cancer Survivor’s Guide will give you important insights into what researchers have proven: Food choices can help prevent cancer and, when cancer has been diagnosed, nutrition can improve survival. These links between diet and cancer are nothing short of dramatic. And now you can learn how certain dietary patterns help people diagnosed with cancer live longer, healthier lives.
Written by physician and nutrition researcher Neal D. Barnard, M.D., and Jennifer K. Reilly, R.D., The Cancer Survivor’s Guide provides comprehensive advice you can put to work right now. You’ll have empowering information on how simple, everyday choices can improve your health and well-being:
    * The science behind how a plant-based diet provides cancer-fighting compounds and immune-boosting nutrients that cells need to be healthy
    * More than 130 delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes
    * A comprehensive list of references and resources for further information on diet and cancer
This guide is a part of The Cancer Project’s Food for Life nutrition education program. 
 
 

What can you expect from the Food for Life Nutrition and Cooking Class Series for Cancer Prevention and Survival?

The class series covers a variety of cancer-related nutrition topics and demonstrates how to prepare several meals loaded with antioxidants and phytochemicals, high-fiber and low-fat foods, and healthy dairy alternatives. The series also provides information on planning meals and maintaining a healthy weight.

Here is more information about individual classes.

Fueling Up on Low-Fat Foods
Steering clear of meat, dairy products, fried foods, and other fatty fare is an important first step in preventing cancer—and in surviving cancer if it has been diagnosed. Dietary fat drives hormone production, which can mean higher rates of hormone-related cancers such as breast and prostate cancer. Dietary fat also hinders the immune system. The easiest way is to build your meals from foods that are naturally low in fat and to use cooking methods that don’t require you to add fats or oils. In this class you will see low-fat dishes made from whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruit prepared and sample the healthy results.

Favoring Fiber
Fiber helps your body rid itself of toxins, waste hormones, excess cholesterol, chemicals, and other undesirables. Without fiber in the diet, these excess compounds get reabsorbed into the bloodstream and can mean a higher cancer risk. Additionally, fiber is especially important in preventing colon cancer as it helps move food waste out of the body, and fiber even helps the immune system function properly. Building your diet from fiber-rich plant foods is important for cancer prevention and survival as well as overall health. In this class, enjoy a fiber-rich meal as you work toward your goal of 40 fiber grams per day.

Discovering Dairy Alternatives
When humans consume dairy products, it causes some worrisome biological changes in the body, one of which is a rise in the amount of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in the bloodstream. IGF-I is a powerful stimulus for cancer cell growth, and scientific studies have shown elevated IGF-I levels to be especially risky for the growth of breast and prostate cancer cells. In this class, learn more about the health reasons to avoid dairy products, what dairy alternatives are available, how to get calcium from plant foods, and taste some delicious creamy, low-fat, dairy-free dishes.

Replacing Meat
When cancer researchers started to search for links between diet and cancer, one of the most noticeable findings was that people who avoided meat were much less likely to develop the disease. This is partly due to the high fat and fiber-free characteristics of meat compared to plant foods, but also, as meats are cooked, cancer-causing chemicals, called heterocyclic amines, tend to form within the meat tissue. The longer and hotter meat is cooked, the more these compounds form. In this class, you will learn about and taste a variety of vegetarian sources of protein, which are low in fat, high in fiber, and loaded with cancer-fighting nutrients.

Planning Healthy Meals
Planning nutritious, delicious, and filling meals can be tricky. This class will explain and demonstrate how to best plan and prepare well-balanced meals from the “New Four Food Groups,” which include healthy whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruit.

Antioxidants and Phytochemicals
Antioxidants are powerful cancer-fighters mainly found in vegetables and fruits. They assist in halting free radical damage, which can otherwise lead to cancer development. This class will look in some detail at which vegetables and fruits are high in which protective compounds—the key message is to be generous with a variety of vegetables and fruits as you plan your menu. Studies have amply demonstrated the ability of diets rich in vegetables and fruits to reduce the likelihood that cancer will develop in the first place. And although fewer studies have investigated their effect on survival after diagnosis, some have suggested that cancer survivors who consume more vegetables and fruits do indeed live longer. Look forward to observing and tasting a meal loaded with beta-carotene, lycopene, isothiocyanates, and other cancer-fighting compounds.

Immune-Boosting Foods
The immune system is critically important in fighting cancer. Individual cancer cells can arise in all of us from time to time. If your immune system is vigilant, it recognizes and destroys cancer cells before they can take hold. This class will explore foods that are rich in immune-boosting nutrients such as beta-carotene, vitamin C, and zinc and also explain ways that food can interfere with immunity. Studies have shown that vegetarians have approximately double the natural killer cell activity (natural killer cells engulf and destroy cancer cells) compared with non-vegetarians. Look forward to enjoying a colorful and scrumptious immune-boosting vegetarian menu.

Maintaining a Healthy Weight
Healthy weight control is essential for warding off a variety of chronic diseases, and studies have shown that slimmer people are even less likely to develop cancer. In addition, trimming excess weight may also improve survival after cancer has been diagnosed. This class will discuss and demonstrate filling fiber- and nutrient-rich dishes that will help you maintain a healthy weight.
 

Cancer Facts - Factors Contributing to Cancer

Eighty percent of cancers are due to factors that have been identified and can potentially be controlled, according to the National Cancer Institute. And not only can we potentially prevent most cancers, we can also improve the survival rates of people who have cancer. Cancers of the breast, prostate, and colon have received more research attention than other forms of the disease, but, as we will see, certain principles apply to many forms of cancer.

Cancer starts when one cell begins to multiply out of control. It begins to expand into a lump that can invade healthy tissues and spread to other parts of the body. But there is a lot we can do about it. Thirty percent of cancers are caused by tobacco. Lung cancer is the most obvious example, but by no means the only one. Cancers of the mouth, throat, kidney, and bladder are also caused by tobacco.

Dietary factors also play a significant role in cancer risk. At least one-third of annual cancer deaths in the U.S. are due to dietary factors.1 A recent review on diet and cancer estimates that up to 80 percent of cancers of the large bowel, breast, and prostate are due to dietary factors.1

The link between diet and cancer is not new. In January 1892, Scientific American printed the observation that "cancer is most frequent among those branches of the human race where carnivorous habits prevail." Numerous research studies have shown that cancer is much more common in populations consuming diets rich in fatty foods, particularly meat, and much less common in countries eating diets rich in grains, vegetables, and fruits. One reason is that foods affect the action of hormones in the body. They also affect the strength of the immune system and other factors. While fruits and vegetables contain a variety of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals to protect the body, by contrast, recent research shows that animal products contain potentially carcinogenic compounds which may contribute to increased cancer risk.3

In addition to tobacco use and diet, other factors, including physical activity, reproductive and sexual behavior,2 bacterial and viral infections, and exposure to radiation and chemicals, may also contribute to the risk of certain forms of cancer.2,4