Anticancer: A New Way of Life

A friend of mine told me about this book, and let me borrow a copy, it is called "Anticancer: A new Way of Life." by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber. I wasn't sure what I would think about this book, but decided to open it up and read it anyway. I haven't finished it yet, and normally I don't recommend books without finishing reading them, but I think this is one of those books that everyone should read. The Dr. that wrote the book was diagnosed with a brain tumor and through his experience and research he tells of the life style changes he made to help with his cancer. One thing that I like about this book is that he never tells you that you should avoid modern medicine, instead he encourages following the Doctors medical advice, but also improving your odds by having a lifestyle change. What he recommends are common sense changes really. For example: Exercise 30 min six days a week, Expose yourself to sunlight 20 minutes each day (vitamin D), Practice a method of relaxation (manage your stress/anger/depression), Acceptance of yourself/resolve past issues, Share your emotions with others (don't deal with everything alone/have a good support system), Enjoy life (laugh), Eat a healthy balanced diet (we all know what this means), Live in a clean environment (no smoke or other harmful pollutants). His first few sentences in his book say," Cancer lies dormant in all of us. Like all living organisms, our bodies are making defective cells all the time. That's how tumors are born. but our bodies are also equipped with a number of mechanisms that detect and keep such cells in check." He says that some peoples immune fighting systems don't work as well as others and that is where he begins to talk about other things we can do to improve our odds when fighting these defective cells. As I have been reading this book I have decided that why not try to do everything within my power to help our baby get better, and to keep her healthy (along with the rest of my family). He backs up his findings with different research studies that have been done all over the world. He also talks about his personal experiences in dealing with the prognosis of a serious illness and dealing with all aspects of it. This part is probably more interesting to those people who have gone or who are going through this type of experience. The idea of a new way of life, a healthier way of life is something that everyone can benefit from.