by Colleen Huber, NMD
I have done a fair amount, no, actually, a large amount of complaining about other doctors in this book.
So now I should admit one of my own shortcomings. It’s the one that cancer patients complain to me about far more than anything else. It frustrates many of my patients that I recommend certain dietary restrictions and parameters, without doing the constructive work of offering a food plan.
First, I would like to say two or three things in my defense: Different patients come in with different ways of craving sugar: Some want their coffee to be sweet, while others prefer chocolate, and others like ice cream. Therefore, I tailor my one-on-one consults to the expressed needs of the patient in front of me. When I ask them not to eat sugary ice cream, I try to be ready to offer alternative recipes that I have made. The next individual may prefer to hear about my stevia cookie recipe instead.
My second reason for not offering specific food plans is I really don’t want to limit the massive supermarket buffet of whole, natural foods to the much smaller number of items that I may happen to think of to put into a food plan.
My third reason is that I am more adventurous in my own diet than I expect of cancer patients. I actually eat raw eggs, barely sautéed chicken livers (perhaps even raw at times!) and raw sushi. For the squeamish and highly germophobic among us, let me now provide the disclaimer that any recommendations below for raw animal products are to be taken with proper prudence, and a grain of salt. Although they would likely taste better with an entire dash of sea salt.
That is, please don’t sue me if you acquire salmonella after a raw egg. I take the risk myself, because I fear a relatively short course of salmonella much less than I fear the less than optimal health from forever shunning raw eggs. We should all make our choices with eyes wide open. Please assess your risks with all available information and propaganda, even knowing that lines are very blurry between these two.
The following food plan will still be frustratingly broad to some, but may still possibly address a cancer patient’s wish for guidance in at least the beginning of the lifestyle I have asked them to adopt.
Sample weekly food plan
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snacks
Sunday
Crustless bacon and cheddar quiche
Caesar salad, with chopped chicken
Butter chicken. Sautéed spinach with garlic, olive oil and sea salt
Macadamia nuts
Monday
Eggnog: Unsweetened coconut milk with raw egg, cinnamon powder and splash of vanilla extract
Left over butter chicken on top of arugula or romaine. Drizzle with olive oil. Dash sea salt.
Salmon, baked and steamed asparagus. Hollandaise sauce for both.
Cashews
Tuesday
Whole avocado with salsa
Leftover salmon and asparagus over dandelion greens
Buffalo or beef chili
Pecans
Wednesday
Eggnog again:
Unsweetened coconut milk, cinnamon, raw egg, a little vanilla. Perhaps with raw kefir or raw milk or goat milk if available
Leftover chili on dandelion greens
Almond flour/ coconut flour pizza dough with tomato sauce, sausage, sautéed peppers, mozzarella
Walnuts
Thursday
Whole avocado with salsa
Leftover pizza, and/or kebabs of mozzarella/ cherry tomato/ basil leaves
Eggplant parmesan
Almonds
Friday
Corn thins with cream cheese and pecans
Leftover eggplant parmesan on arugula with olive oil, sea salt
Chicken, celery, onion, carrot stir fry with soy sauce and sesame oil
Peanuts
Saturday
Scrambled eggs with sausage and peppers
Peanut butter and apple slices on corn thins
Buffalo or beef burgers with onion, lettuce, tomato, cheese and leftover sauce from eggplant parmesan
Hazelnuts
Notes:
Be sure to make enough food at each dinner, so that you can take leftovers to lunch the next day on top of salad greens. Keep a bottle of olive oil and some sea salt at your work place if possible, in order to add these just before eating.
A convenient and non-toxic way to carry lunch to work is to put it into a glass casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid, and into an insulated bag that has a freezer pack in it. Freeze that freezer pack the night before, pop it into the lunch bag, and put your lunch on top of it. This will keep your lunch cool if you don’t have access to a refrigerator at work.
The reader can probably guess, from a quick glance at this or any other weekly food plan, that the entries are highly interchangeable. Clearly, if dandelion greens or basil leaves, for example, are not in season at the time, then other raw salad greens will certainly suffice.
I have listed 7 different types of nuts, including a botanically questionable nut, really a legume, namely peanuts. I have deliberately written more variety into this list than I would normally have at my own home, in order to make two points:
Somehow, many cancer patients have gotten the idea (not from me!) that they may eat almonds and no other kind of nut. I wish “experts” who know nothing of nutrition or cancer would immediately stop dispensing advice about the same. Of course, you can eat any edible nuts you like at any time.
I want to drive home the point that variety is to be emphasized here above all other considerations. Nutrition is a synergy of nutrients, a variety of foods. This consideration is paramount in having a healthy diet. So please don’t work so hard to exorcise demons out of your diet, other than the sweeteners.
I have left out many, many healthy foods, and many recipes, simply because 21 meals per week is the maximum feasible for most of us, and there were only so many suggestions that I could make. My own lack of imagination at breakfast is apparent, and that monotony is part of my unimaginative morning routine. So this diet plan can certainly be improved upon, especially with regard to breakfast.
Recipes for quiche, chili, butter chicken may be unfamiliar to readers. I find recipes for these online, from a search of the desired dish, and you will find some of the online recipes more feasible to prepare than others.
