The Essential Rules from Anticancer in

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FOOD RULES 11 Cut down on sugar: Skip dessert most of the time, avoid
sugar whenever you can and especially sweetened sodas and
1 Eat like the war never happened: Make your main course what fruit juices, and avoid most foods which list any type of sugar
it was like before WW II: 80% vegetables, 20% animal protein (including brown sugar, corn syrup, etc.) in the first three
at each meal. Choose the opposite of the quarter pounder tagged ingredients. Eat fruits often, especially stone fruits and berries.
with a let’s pretend leaf of iceberg lettuce and an anemic slice of If you absolutely need dessert, try a few squares of more than
ANTICANCER tomato. Meat should be used as a condiment for taste, as in the
old days when it was scarce, not the core of the dish.
70% cocoa dark chocolate.
RULES 2 Mix your vegetables: Vary the vegetables you eat from one
meal to the next, or mix them together. Broccoli is a powerful
12 Drink three cups of green tea per day: Use decaf green tea if
it gets you too wired.
anticancer food, but more powerful yet in the company of tomato 13 Don’t be too strict: What matters is what you do everyday, on
Michael Pollan’s recent little gem sauce, onions, or garlic. Get in the habit of adding onions, garlic, most days. Not the occasional treat.
of a book Food Rules inspired me to or leeks to all the dishes you cook (caution: do not try this
with dessert). NON-FOOD RULES
compile my own “rules” about what I’d
like every person to know about 3 Prefer organic when you can: But remember it’s always better 14 Make time to walk, dance, or run: Aim for 30 minutes of
how they can help avoid cancer— to eat broccoli with pesticide residues than to not eat broccoli walking or equivalent activity at least 5 days a week. That can
or slow it down if they have it. (or any other anticancer vegetable). be just walking part of the way to the office, or the grocery
store, and back. A dog is often a better walking partner than an
—DAVID SERVAN-SCHREIBER, MD, PhD, 4 Add turmeric (with black pepper) to most dishes you cook, and exercise buddy. If you’re having fun doing it, you’re more likely
in January 2010 to salad dressings. to stick with it.
5 Go low on potato: Potatoes raise blood sugar. They also contain 15 Get in the sun at least 20 minutes without sunscreen (torso,
the most pesticides of all vegetables, (to the point that most arms and legs) at noon on most days in the summer (but avoid
potato farmers I know don’t eat their own). sunburns). As an alternative, discuss taking a Vitamin D3
supplement with your doctor.
6 Eat fish two or three times a week: Sardines, mackerel, anchovies
have less mercury and PCBs than bigger fish like tuna, and avoid 16 Avoid common contaminants: Air our your dry-cleaning for
swordfish and shark which the FDA says pregnant women should two hours before storing or wearing it. Use organic cleaning
not eat because they are so concentrated with contaminants. products (or wear gloves). Don’t heat liquids or food in hard
plastics. Avoid cosmetics with parabens and phthalathes. Don’t
7 Choose only omega-3 eggs or don’t eat the yokes. Hens are now use chemical pesticides in your house or garden. Replace your
fed mostly corn and soybeans and their eggs contain 20 times scratched Teflon pans. Filter your tap water (or used bottled
more pro-inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids than cell-growth water) if you live in a contaminated area. Don’t keep your cell
regulating omega-3s. phone close to you when using it.
8 Use only olive and canola oil in cooking and salad dressings. 17 Reach out to at least two friends for support (logistical and
Throw away your soybean oil, corn oil and sunflower oil. emotional) during times of stress, even through the internet.
You shouldn’t even give them to your neighbors or relatives; But they’re around, go ahead and hug them often, and your
they’re much too rich in omega-6 fatty acids. loved ones too.
9 Add Mediterranean herbs to your food: Thyme, oregano, basil, 18 Learn a basic breathing relaxation technique to let out some
rosemary, marjolaine, mint, etc. of the steam when you’re stuck with it.
10 Keep your carbs brown: Eat your grains whole and mixed 19 Do one thing you love for yourself on most days (doesn’t have
(wheat with oats, barley, spelt, flax, etc.) and prefer organic whole to take long).
Also by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD, grains as pesticides accumulate on the shell. Avoid white flour
Not the Last Goodbye and Anticancer: A New Way of Life. (bagels, muffins, wonder bread, buns, etc.) whenever possible, 20 Give something back to your community.
Available from Viking wherever books are sold. and eat white pasta only al dente.