Eating for life: winning the fight against cancer

Lynette Bisconti discovered she was pregnant on Christmas Day 1997. But what looked like a holiday gift would soon turn into a New Year's nightmare when a routine doctor's visit revealed a cancerous lump in her breast.

Bisconti's surgeon insisted that she have an immediate abortion. However, the next night, she awoke with blood running down her legs. That's when the mother-to-be determined to fight not only for her life, but also for the life of her unborn child. Bisconti consulted with dozens of medical experts and traveled to eight different hospitals in a desperate search for options that would save their lives.

"I was OK with not being treated, having the baby, and dying, but I couldn't accept death without a fight," Bisconti says. "I wasn't willing to believe what any individual doctor told me. I spent days on the Internet researching my disease."

Nutrition Intervention

After her mastectomy, Bisconti opted for fractioned doses of chemotherapy. To avoid exposing her unborn child to more chemicals, she refused anfinausea medications and estrogen supplements, instead turning to nutrition to help her recover.

"I knew if didn't change the conditions that allowed the cancer to grow, I wouldn't survive," Bisconti says, recalling her high-stress job and poor eating habits. "I traveled constantly, and my diet consisted mostly of airport and restaurant food. Changing my nutrition habits was a key to overcoming the cancer."

The Cancer Prevention Diet

While some cancer is caused by smoking or genetic factors that can't be controlled, there is a diet that can help prevent the disease from developing in otherwise healthy people.

"There is no bullet-proof protection against cancer," says Tim Birdsall, ND, a naturopathic physician at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. "However, there's plenty of research to show that diet plays a significant role in preventing the disease." Birdsall recommends what he calls the "cancer prevention diet" to reduce the risk. The diet unfolds in seven steps.

1. Eat a rainbow assortment of fruits and vegetables.

Fruits and vegetables contain cancer-fighting substances-and most of them are associated with the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that create their color. Birdsall says eating a spectrum of colorful fruits and vegetables such as apples, bananas, carrots and squash offers your body a wide variety of these agents.

2. Reduce your exposure to chemical contaminants.

Pesticides, insecticides and other chemical contaminants in food and water may increase the risk of cancer. Avoiding them typically means eating organic produce that is locally produced whenever possible. Experts also recommend having your water pipes tested for copper, which can speed cancer growth, staying away front multivitamins with copper and limiting your intake of copper-rich shellfish.

3. Reduce your intake of animal products.

Cutting back on high-fat animal products such as bacon, burgers and cheese is important, Birdsall says, because chemicals and hormones from animal feed tend to concentrate in the animal's fat. Eating lean cuts of beef and chicken-along with switching to low-fat dairy, products--can reduce your risk of exposure to hormones and other chemicals.

4. Balance fat intake.

As more and more studies point to tire link between obesity and breast cancer, the importance of lowering your fat intake becomes clear. Birdsall says eliminating saturated fats from your diet and replacing them with healthful omega-3 fats found in fish has numerous health benefits.

5. Avoid junk food.

Avoid high-calorie, low-nutrient foods such as candy and sugary soft drinks. These empty calories will only increase your risk of obesity and drain your body of much-needed nutrients.

6. Balance your potassium and sodium intake.

Birdsall says tart a large number of people have diets that are far too high in sodium and far too low in potassium. Increasing your intake of potassinm-rich foods such as vegetables, fruits and grains--and decreasing your intake of junk food as noted above-can help you balance your levels of these two key minerals and reduce your risk of cancer.

7. Detoxify your body.

Eating plenty of fiber helps rid your intestinal tract of toxins and wastes so that your body maintains a healthful balance of good bacteria. Antioxidants in supplement form may also help the detoxification process.

Today, the 40-year old Bisconti is a cancer survivor, patient advocate and mother of a healthy, active 6-year-old boy named Frankie, Jr. What sort of dietary changes did she make? Bisconti cut out all sugar from her diet, and she now relies mostly on vegetables, trails, trots, seeds and whole grains to fuel her cured body. Dietary supplements, including a multivitamin, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10, a digestive enzyme and mushroom extract--which naturopaths believe contains anticancer agents--are also part of her daily regimen.

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