"Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time can be recommended to just about every adult, from grandmas
to physicians." Click above to read a thorough review from a leading medical journalist in Finland.
Dr. Lynne Eldridge and David Borgeson have written an authoritative, good-humored and remarkably practical
book on how people can alter their lifestyles and add years to their lives. "Avoiding Cancer: One Day at a Time" is about do-able
prevention, and sets a needed example for American health care, where research and resources disproportionately address diagnosis
and treatment to the neglect of keeping people healthy in the first place. This is an easy read, loaded with practical information
- from everyday environmental hazards, to avoidance of carcinogenic lifestyle choices, to a deep and useful discussion of preventive
nutrition. And there is a terrific "Avoiding Cancer Recipe Collection" which could be expanded into a book of its own.
In sum,
the best reader-friendly cancer prevention book I've ever read.
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson
for Reader Views. Cancer touches countless lives every day. Chances are that either you or somebody very near and dear to you has
had to fight it at some point in your life. While medicine has certainly advanced greatly in the past, mortality rates from cancer
are still high and still scary.
While it seems to me that the American way of medicine tends to be geared much more towards curing
the disease once it manifests itself than to preventing it in the first place, I found "Avoiding Cancer One Day at A Time" a very
refreshing departure from the usual pattern. Extremely well researched and comprehensive, this incredibly readable book leads the
reader through many facets of possible cancer prevention. While it is obvious that the authors have done an incredible amount of serious
research, the book never gets too technical for an average reader. From a simple introduction to cancer prevention to an eye-opening
Cancer Prevention IQ Pretest and a chapter on what cancer is and what causes it, the authors alert us to numerous things that we could
do to increase our chances of not being one of the scary cancer statistics in the future.
While authors primarily focus on primary
cancer prevention - as in before it actually happens, there is also a chapter on secondary prevention (finding cancer and preventing
it from spreading) and some notes on tertiary prevention (support methods for individuals with cancer). Each of the chapters concludes
with a list of practical points, and if you start your journey just by reading those, you'll have to agree that there are very many
simple and eminently sensible steps we can take to increase our chances of staying healthy. If any of the topics discussed in the
particular chapter really intrigue you, there are very comprehensive lists of resources and further online information available for
advanced research.
Chapter 10, the "Avoiding Cancer Recipe Collection," features not only mouth-watering, yet sensible recipes, but
also stories of people whose lives were changed by cancer forever. Do take a particular note of the conversion table for the recipes
there: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care.
The book concludes with Appendices, the first Appendix being the worksheets
for applying cancer-prevention principles, the second one a scarily long list of carcinogens; and a nearly 30-pages long list of references.
"Avoiding Cancer One Day at A Time" was a fascinating read, which showed me how little most of us know about proper cancer prevention
and how easy a great majority of those prevention steps really are. This book should find a permanent place in every American home,
where it should be read, re-read and used often.
Paranoia would be a perfectly logical response to this
cancer-prevention book. You might be tempted to rifle through your medicine cabinet and laundry room shelves, disposing of any product
that isn't vinegar, baking soda or bottled water. You may never use an air freshener again or allow another French fry to pass between
your lips. In fact, Dr. Lynne Eldridge and her brother, epidemiologist David Borgeson, warn against becoming fanatical in attempting
to reduce carcinogenic threats in your environment. But they aren't apologetic about presenting a wealth of valuable information that
could help prolong your life. The authors admit that links between certain chemicals and cancers are inconclusive, and they judge
the medical establishment pretty harshly. Then they present the most current information based on studies and statistics, and leave
it to you to accept or reject their recommendations. We recommend this book in the belief that much of what the authors cover makes
sense. Don't get scared, get busy.
"Best cancer prevention book I've ever read. The authors have
great credentials. They describe what causes cancer and the easy to make changes in environment, diet, medication and lifestyle that
enable avoiding it. Great references to the latest scientifically proven information. And the cancer avoiding recipes are a winner!"
"Most of us do our best to avoid cancer - or at least we do our best to avoid talking
about it. And that's understandable. The fact that one in two American men and one in three women will be diagnosed with the disease
at some point in their lives is enough to inspire some combination of denial and dread in even the bravest of hearts. Fortunately,
the authors of this book aren't the least bit apprehensive about the topic. They've combined their expertise in family medicine and
epidemiology to create a commonsense set of guidelines for cancer prevention. No aggressive fingerpointing here, just sensible advice:
Wash new sheets to remove formaldehyde resin; take off your shoes indoors to keep lawn chemicals off the floor; avoid the sun during
its strongest hours of the day. Chapters are organized to explain the relationship between cancer and environment, diet, infections
and medications. There are list of common carcinogens, strategies for how to avoid them, and a handful of great recipes with high
fiber and antioxidant content, plus citations for further reading on subjects like carcinogens and dry-cleaning or the safety of sunscreen.
A handy resource for keeping your environment free of unnecessary toxins, and a great way to arm yourself with practical, empowering
information that will help give you and your loved ones the health-supporting advantages you all deserve."
I
became acquainted with Author Lynne Eldridge through my blog over the past year. I've read this book (authored by Dr. Eldridge
alongside her brother Dr. David Borgeson) and I use it as a reference guide quite often. And there is no better time to talk
about this book than during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This book provides practical advice for preventing cancer
by becoming environmentally aware and implementing a proper lifestyle and dietary practices. It is about primary prevention
... which the authors define as preventing something before it actually happens. It is very informative and will make you more
health conscious. It is obvious that a great deal of research went into this book as it provides the most up-to-date advice
for avoiding cancer. I strongly recommend this book!"
I’m not sure
I would have willingly picked up Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time: Practical Advice for Preventing Cancer, had the publisher not
sent it to be considered for review. While I do like reading about medical topics, I also believe that the more you think about something
-- negative or positive -- the more likely it is to manifest itself in your life. So when it comes to talking or reading about cancer,
I tend to put my hands over my ears, close my eyes and shout, “I can’t hear you!”
I’m glad I responded to the call of duty, though.
I found Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time to be a well-written, conversational and informative discussion. The sibling authors (she’s
a medical doctor who devotes herself full-time to researching and speaking about cancer prevention and nutrition; he’s an epidemiologist,
research scientist and physical therapist who emphasizes health promotion in his clinical practice) offer practical advice on what
individuals can avoid or stop doing to ward off the “Big C.” And their advice isn’t solely of the hard-and-fast “do this, don’t do
that” variety; it’s tempered with the instruction to maintain perspective:
Our hope is to provide information to help people enjoy
a healthy life and lifestyle and have fun. If we observe someone chain smoking or numbing their mind with martinis because his or
her children had nitrate-laden hot dogs for lunch, our point will be lost. If we witness our readers embracing a few points but perhaps
disregarding others, our goal will be achieved.
That’s advice I can live with.
Readers are assisted in their quest to pick and choose
which advice to follow by an overview of the distribution of causes of cancer; i.e., “five to twenty percent of cancer deaths are
due to inherited mutations,” while “80-95 percent are due to an inherited mutation combined with environment.” The environmental factors
include tobacco (25-40 percent); diet and obesity (25-30 percent); infection (10-15 percent), ionizing/UV radiation (2-7 percent);
occupational (2-8 percent); pollution and environmental chemicals (less than 1 to 5 percent); physical inactivity (1-2 percent) and
alcohol (3 percent).
The “Cancer Prevention IQ Pretest” in Chapter 2 is a thought-provoking introduction to the book. Some of the questions
are obvious: “Have you had your home tested for radon, knowing that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United
States and that excess levels are found in one out of fifteen homes?” Others are more of the “What’s that got to do with anything?”
variety; for example, “Do you sleep in total darkness?” and “Do you have an active spiritual life?”
As it turns out, sleeping in total
darkness is strongly suggested because light -- even from a night light -- suppresses melatonin secretion. Melatonin, a hormone produced
by the brain’s pineal gland, decreases the production of estrogen, “possibly explaining why a longer duration of sleep guards against
breast cancer.”
Production of melatonin is maximal in total darkness. In one study, completely blind women had a 36 percent decreased
risk of developing breast cancer (Kliekene, 2001). This rose to a 70 percent reduction in a later study. Women who work night shifts
have a higher incidence of breast cancer (Schernhammer, 2001; Schernhammer, 2006). ... However, studies looking at the association
between melatonin and breast cancer have been inconsistent ... others finding no evidence that the level of melatonin is associated
with the risk of developing breast cancer. Carefully planned studies need to be completed to confirm the effectiveness of melatonin
... as well as to clarify its role in primary prevention. Yet, we should not wait years for the results of further studies to make
adequate sleep in darkness a priority. This is the beauty of primary prevention: we do not have to wait for all of the answers before
making lifestyle changes that we often know intuitively are healthy!
Spirituality comes into play when dealing with stress, which has
long been believed to have a negative effect on health in general and to be a possible precursor to cancer:
Daily stress results in
chronic over-arousal of the sympathetic nervous system, which has been linked to immune suppression as well as dysfunction of the
endocrine system. ... Stress has also been linked to alterations in DNA repair and cell death, which have been shown to predispose
to cancer. Clinically, stress has been correlated with developing cancer as well ...
Praying, attending religious services, and practicing
yoga and meditation may reduce stress, “and thereby improve the effectiveness of the immune system in combating both infection and
the development of cancers.”
If Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time simply repeated facts based on research, readers would be overwhelmed
and quickly lose interest. Fortunately, that’s not the case; the book includes charts, graphs, recipes (most of them sound surprisingly
tasty) and “practical points” (suggestions) to enhance learning and show the reader how simple it is to make adjustments in their
lives. At the back of the book, there are worksheets and appendices and an index that makes it easy to search by topic.
Eldridge and
Borgeson have done a fine job of explaining how our bodies function within our environment and what we can do to minimize our chances
of getting cancer, and they have managed to do so in a reader-friendly style.
Elizabeth Smoots, M.D., Scripps Newspaper Group, September
2007 There's much we can do to prevent cancer. That's because 80 to 95 percent of cancers have an environmental component, according to
a brother-and-sister team of co-authors. The cancer deaths of family members, close friends and patients prompted Lynne Eldridge,
MD, and David Borgeson, MS, MPT, to write and self-publish a new book that provides practical advice about preventing cancer.
I was
impressed with the considerable effort when I recently met Eldridge at my neighborhood bookstore and began reading a copy of "Avoiding
Cancer One Day at a Time." Eldridge enthusiastically pointed out that much of what we need to do to prevent cancer comes down to common
sense. Here are five of the authors' top lifestyle tips for modifying cancer-causing factors that we encounter in our daily lives.
Learn
to manage stress. Chronic stress in our hectic lives can result in overarousal of the nervous system. Blood pressure, pulse, breathing
rate, stress hormones, blood sugar, blood clotting and muscle tension all increase in response to prolonged physical or emotional
stress. The side effect is a decrease in natural killer cells, a type of white blood cell in your immune system that finds and destroys
beginning cancer cells.
What you can do: Take time to relax each day. Calming activities such as talking to friends, reading, writing
in a journal, meditating, practicing yoga, praying or attending religious services have been shown to improve the ability of the immune
system to ward off cancer.
Get enough sleep. Our bodies produce the hormone melatonin while we sleep. Melatonin decreases the production
of estrogen, the female hormone linked to breast cancer, and may be involved in other cancers as well. What you can do: Sleep in total
darkness; exposure to any light while you slumber suppresses melatonin secretion.
Maintain a healthy weight. A combination of poor
diet and obesity is the second leading preventable cause of cancer in the U.S. Studies indicate that obesity accounts for 14 percent
of cancer deaths in men and 20 percent in women. At the core of the problem, according to the authors, are "portion distortion" and
lack of exercise.
What you can do: Do not eat while watching TV or reading; this sort of unconscious eating often leads to greater
consumption. Enjoy frequent, small meals to increase your metabolism. Try eating with your nondominant hand to avoid gulping your
food. Do not "supersize" when you eat out. For weight maintenance and cancer prevention, the authors also recommend exercise on five
or more days a week—gradually building up to 30 or 45 daily minutes for adults or 60 minutes for children.
Clear the air of smoke.
Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable cancer in the country. Cancers of the lungs, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach and
bone marrow are strongly linked to smoking. What you can do: Talk to your doctor about the many stop-smoking aids on the market. Nicotine
patches, gum, nose spray or inhalers are available as well as prescription drugs, classes and support groups. Protect yourself and
your family from the effects of secondhand smoke.
Use alcohol with care. About 4 percent of U.S. cancers are linked to alcohol. An
excess causes vitamin deficiencies and may damage your genetic material. What you can do: Consume no more than two alcoholic drinks
per day for men, or one for women. Also make sure you have an adequate intake of the B vitamin folic acid.
In the introduction, the author says she wrote this book because she wants you to "be prepared" before the siren blows, announcing
the disaster. Say this out loud: One in every two American men and one out of every three American women will get cancer over the
course of their lifetime (pg. 1). Now does the author have your attention? Quoting from the British Cancer Control Society, "...treating
disease is enormously profitable, preventing disease is not."
If far more money is spent to treat than prevent, and physicians are
restricted by managed care--now is the time for us to know more and advocate for our own health. Other money issues concern how our
food is produced (what is put on our plants to increase yield and what animals are fed to grow faster). As consumers we will spend
whatever is needed to treat illness, but we do not spend time and money to educate ourselves about avoiding the disease in the first
place. And yet ... "80-95% of cancers that have a environmental component, only one third are due to smoking." However: "One thousands
Americans stop smoking every day--by dying." (Author unknown)
Chapter 2 starts with 25 questions--and now I AM concerned because I
answered yes to too many--and my ignorance is showing. You may feel the same when you answer them. The authors left no cancer-causing
stone unturned. Through charts, graphs, lists, recipes and action suggestions, you will understand your body and your environment--and
how what you eat and drink and do can affect your health. The back of the book has worksheets, very helpful appendices, a carcinogen
list, references and index so you can find things easily.
Author Lynne Eldridge, M.D. is a medical doctor who has studied human exposure
to pesticide and has practiced family medicine with an emphasis on prevention. David Borgeson has a Masters in epidemiology and is
a practicing physical therapist that emphasizes health promotion. The authors have asked us to make many changes in our lives to live
longer and cancer free--and some are easy and some will be hard. They do not want us to become overwhelmed and do nothing--just start
with what you can change today.
Armchair Interviews says: The contents can--and should frighten you into action and change. Maybe then
you will never have to hear the words: You have cancer!
"In 2004, the medical world was shaken a bit
when scientists found a link between the incidence of breast cancer and antibiotic use... There has been much debate about this study,
but given the increasing resistance of microbes to antibiotics, it generates further concern over the overuse of antibiotics in the
United States." Written by Lynne Eldridge, M.D. and David Borgeson, MS, MPT, Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time: Practical Advice for
Preventing Cancer is a health and wellness guide to preventing cancer through avoiding carcinogens and implementing lifestyle and
diet practices that can reduce cancer risk. From a healthy sex life to the right amount of sleep to maintaining a proper weight, choosing
one's medications carefully, and much more, Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time covers reasonable, practical strategies with a strong
benefit for overall health. Written in plain terms for lay readers, Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time is highly recommended for its
solid health and lifestyle improvement advice."
"Where to start with what to avoid? How
about the 10 pages of chemicals associated with cancer risk, published annually by the State of California? Or the 13-page list packed
with familiar ingredients in our medications and cleaning products, compiled by OSHA?
Or you may want to begin by avoiding three common
indoor air pollutants that can cause cancer: formaldehyde, found in pressed wood, particle board, air fresheners, wallpaper and upholstery
(among other things); benzene, found in wood stain and varnishes, paint stripper, motor oil and weed killer (is a perfect lawn really
worth it?); and trichloroethylene, found in paints, varnishes, adhesives and pesticides. The good news is, there are houseplants,
including Boston fern, ficus, spider plant and peace lily, that in large enough numbers decrease the airborne carcinogens listed above.
Other
quick and easy advice: organically grown foods that should always be bought instead of their non-organic, high-pesticide equivalents
are apples, grapes, peaches, raspberries, cherries, nectarines, pears, strawberries, bell peppers, potatoes, celery, spinach, milk,
eggs, baby food, beef and chicken. Happy eating."
"In my over 30 years of broadcasting,
it has been my privilege to interview many of the leading medical experts in the area of preventive medicine. Of those, many have
been excellent and well informed. However, I would place Dr. Lynne Eldridge in another category and that is...outstanding!
This book
is informative, practical and encouraging. It is reader friendly and filled with great up to date information along with some wonderful
recipes that anyone can prepare and incorporate into their diet.
We spent two hours ON THE AIR that seemed more like 20 minutes. I
am grateful for her work, thorough research and dedication to this work and great writing. There are many "how to" books on the market
about better health. This book is like no other as it both frees and motivates the reader to do what they can and should
do to avoid cancer one day at a time. Thank you good doctor!"
"We reviewed Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time and chosen to include it in our library here at the Information Resource Center.
When we receive calls from patients requesting cancer prevention ideas, we will inform them of your book."
William E. Walsh, M.D, Adult
And Child Allergy, P.A., February 2007
"I Thoroughly Enjoyed Reading It. It was very easy reading, well written and very understandable
for the medical and non-medical person. I learned a lot of interesting facts and I especially appreciated how the "practical points"
sums up each chapter. I also appreciated the information on the diet and environment."
Jane Schwensohn, University Of Minnesota,
January 2007
"A good friend gave me this book to read after my husband was diagnosed with rectal cancer 4 months after his 50th birthday.
My way of coping was getting into the nutrition side of fighting the cancer. This book reinforced what I have been doing and gave
me more information to help me. I also have 5 children and 3 grandchildren. I am strongly encouraging them to read this book for their
future and the future of my grandchildren. Knowledge is power."
Gwen MacDonald, M.D., President Of Pediatrics Plus Family, December
2006
"An empowering book from the first page. Health principles and the best in sound research. It will change how you live with simple
graces such as removing your shoes, pleasing your body with good taste, keeping yourself environmentally conscious, and relationally
wise. Health care from a preventative perspective we all need."
"Something for everyone. Each chapter sparked my interest and inspired me to read more. This book covers the spectrum of cancer
prevention, and the depth of writing, index and resources enable anyone to find the specific information they're interested in."
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