Beer and Pizza?

I workout three times a week. Here I am this morning grinding away on the elliptical and watching CNN on the TV to help pass the time. A medical segment comes on - "The Beer and Pizza Diet - a Cancer Cure" turns out it really isn't, but the segment is about the effect of diet generally on cancer prevention. View it at CNN.com (sorry about the commercial lead-in).

Coincidentally, I was planning my next posts on so-called "alternative therapies," so I'll begin with food. First off, there are no magic silver bullets, but there are some very interesting avenues for exploration. One is the effects of food as a form of chemotherapy; another is food and the mind-body connection - food today, mind-body tomorrow.

All foods consist of chemical components which are absorbed into the body with beneficial or detrimental effects. Green leaf vegetables like spinach, kale, and broccoli, root vegetables such as carrots, and fruits, notably blue berries, are associated with positive effects. High fat foods, red meat, and fried foods are associated with negative effects.

Generally, the positive effects work through supporting one or more essential bodily functions, notably, the immune system. As I learned from posting about immunotherapy, the immune system and its ability to generate T-cells is critical to the bodies defenses against cancer. It may play a less significant role than was once thought, but with costimulation or inhibition the performance of the immune system can be significantly improved. The bottom line, give your immune system all the support you can by eating healthily.

Conversely, combinations of foods consumed in quantities which lead to obesity are bad. When I was (much) younger and competing at an international level, I consumed 6,000 to 8,000 calories a day and had trouble keeping my weight up to 175 lbs. Within three months of retiring from competition, I was eating less than 2,500 calories a day and still ballooned to 220 pounds.

At the time I retired from work the first time in 2000, I weighed 195 and was leading an active life skiing in the winter and working outdoors in the summer. I decided to go to my high school 50th reunion in 2003; coincidentally, the year I first learned that I had melanoma. I decided that I would make the effort to get down to my high school graduation weight, 185 lbs - ah, vanity. It took about six months, but I did it.

When I learned I had melanoma, one of the first treatments I considered was chemotherapy that involved a toxic cocktail the side effects of which were so devastating and the reward so small, that I did not choose it. The experience did, however, convince me this was going to be a physical fight, so I'd better get into the best shape possible. Six years later, my weight is stable at 185, I've lost 4" around my waist, and I'm hitting my drives 15-20 yards farther - good stuff. The melanoma has spread, but I still feel healthy and mentally prepared for whatever the next treatment brings.

Next post: the mind-body connection.