Cancer-Free with Food: A Step-by-Step Plan with 100+ Recipes to Fight Disease, Nourish Your Body & Restore Your Health

by Liana Werner-Gray, Mark Hyman (Contributor)

The best-selling author of The Earth Diet offers a simple yet comprehensive guide to nutrition for those who have been diagnosed with cancer. With a foreword by Mark Hyman, M.D.

If you want to fight cancer, what should you eat?

Food is medicine. By now, this important message has made its way from holistic circles to the mainstream. To ward off cancer and decrease its risk, meals specially formulated to nourish, soothe, and fortify can be an important part of treatment. But what foods work best? That remains frustratingly elusive and time-consuming to research.

Happily, author Liana Werner-Gray--known for her best-selling books including The Earth Diet and 10-Minute Recipes --has done the research for you. Within these pages she has gathered the best foods for various types of cancer, along with 195 simple and tested recipes created to boost your immune system and promote healing. Designed to work on their own or in conjunction with other therapies, these healthy and appealing meals can also be tailored for a gluten-free, keto, vegan, and paleo diet.

   *   For skin cancers, try Walnut "Meatballs" (page 210)
   *   For lung cancer, try Cauliflower Popcorn (page 223)
   *   For breast cancers, try an Orange Arugula Avocado Sesame Seed Salad (page 249)
   *   For prostate cancer, try Vanilla Pudding (page 335)
   *   For liver cancer, try Bentonite Clay Drink (page 193)

"An extraordinarily relevant book . . . Cancer-Free with Food is medicine for the 21st century."
-- Mark Hyman, M.D., director, Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine.

"In Cancer-Free with Food , Liana shows how to turn your kitchen into a pharmacy so that you can take care of your health at the most fundamental and important level."
-- Ty M. Bollinger, New York Times best-selling author of The Truth About Cancer

"An essential guide for anyone diagnosed with cancer."
-- Josh Axe DNM, DC, CNS, certified doctor of natural medicine, doctor of chiropractic and clinical nutritionist, and author of Eat Dirt

" Cancer-Free with Food is a guidebook for anyone looking to heal their body from the inside out."
-- Vani Hari, New York Times best-selling author of The Food Babe Way

Genres: Health, Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Food, Nutrition, Cooking

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started strong, not just providing lists of foods to eat or not eat but diving into the reasons why and how to incorporate them into your diet and routine.

But then the author started to lose credibility with me when she, completely unnecessarily, included a bash on fasting because she tried it for one day and didn’t like it. I’m concerned that her statements are going to turn others off when she didn’t even describe what she had tried to do.

I also find some of the information in this book problematic as she has not fully researched the things she’s advocating, or she’s choosing to ignore current research about the impact of fructose on the body, for example. While she does mention the body’s insulin response, she is still encouraging people to eat foods that are going to cause unhealthy spikes in insulin. I do appreciate that she’s trying to give people better options when they want to eat foods like pasta, but removing the gluten doesn’t really make it healthy enough to make it worth eating, if you don’t have a dietary reason to remove it and there are so many alternatives to pasta out there.

But the thing that really disappointed me is when she says to remove excessive alcohol but then advocates sipping wine while waiting for food to cook. Wine is laden with sugar, which she discouraged people from consuming, so what’s the deal? Why add to this drinking frenzy our society is in? It’s just unnecessary.

I will still try some of these recipes, but my plans to purchase one or more copies of this book for myself and family members has been canceled.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book! I found this book after the author was a guest on Clean Juice's "Go Organic" podcast. The book reiterates many of the points that Werner Gray discusses on the podcast (or vice versa), but I still enjoyed both! I'm giving it three stars mostly because the book is fifty percent recipes, and I had already heard most of this content (because of the podcast). However, it's a really good resource overall! There are many concepts from the author that I had never heard before, like a coconut water/green juice "blood transfusion" and the power of beet juice to combat colon cancer. I really appreciated how digestible (ha!) the concepts were displayed. Many of the chapters were outlined with lists, which makes it easy to reference, and then she further explained each bullet point on these lists. I thought she did a really concise, yet detailed explanation for the power of certain superfoods, supplements, and food groups. I appreciated that the book didn't force a diet upon the reader; the author promotes a mostly plant-based diet but also suggests and mentions dairy and meat products. I had never heard of tiger nuts or broccoli sprouts prior to this book, so that was also interesting to hear mentioned. The book also continually reminded you that sugar is the fuel of cancer!

Overall, the messages really resonated with me and paralleled many of my current standing beliefs. I think it's a great book for people just starting to learn about health and people who are already invested in the lifestyle.

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes::
Got this from the library for ideas on life without refined sugar. Some really good recipes.

[Valerie Gangas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know health and disease intimately. Since the age of 20, I’ve been living inside the sometimes wailing walls of hospitals, with family members stuck inside them fighting against their devastating cancer diagnosis’s.

As the years have passed I’ve witnessed fusion (chemo) rooms grow, massive cancer centers being built, and have watched firsthand what the patient actually goes through just trying to stay alive. It is a fight against hell. The hell of vicious cancer cells. They ravage and destroy. They silently kill.
⠀⠀
When I see people smoking or just plain leading an unhealthy lifestyle, I simply say, “you do NOT want to get sick, trust me.”
⠀⠀
This is why Linana Werner-Gray’s new fantastic book, “Cancer Free with Food” completely hit home. As I began to read about Liana’s personal cancer scare and about her mom’s cancer battle, my eyes filled with resonant tears. I couldn’t help but think about my mom and brother from the beginning to the end.

When my mom began her first round of chemo after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, the only thing should could get down were her homemade green juices. She swore it was keeping her alive. We regularly discussed how we were going to use food to keep her on this earth.

Less sugar, more greens🙏🏽✨🥗
⠀⠀
My brother on the other hand, had a horrible diet and I was always worried that it was going to catch up with him. My worst fears came true😔
⠀⠀
The author and her extensive knowledge of all things healing, knows that nourishing yourself emotionally, spiritually and through natural foods, inevitably, leads to wholeness and of course, good health.

If you or anyone you love has been affected by cancer, this book is a gift that could help lovingly transform a person’s life on a deeply energetic level. ⠀⠀
Like my beautiful mother always told me, “if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.” Cancer Free with Food is a roadmap to keep disease at bay and a guide to make food thy medicine. ⠀⠀

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I am not finishing this one! I tried looking beyond the premise of this book that blames your cancer on your diet. After all I do believe in the importance of good nutrition. I can look beyond the victim blaming in the effort to collect information on eating healthily.

In the introduction she explains that she is not offering a cancer cure. She calls herself a health and nutrition coach. She then goes on to explain what "doses" of each food you need to prevent cancer, versus what "doses" you need to cure it! She cites various studies and then extrapolates from them, coming up with her recommendations. Her methods are not scientific.

I thought I could ignore her advice and move on to her recipe collection. But.... I am not interested in trying recipes with weird or totally unfamiliar ingredients. And her pseudoscience creeps into the recipes too! For instance she promotes sea salt over regular salt as she claims it is so much healthier. (She even recommends putting sea salt in water and drinking the healthy result.)

I am amazed at the number of glowing reviews of this book. I wanted to like it. I wanted to learn something from this book, as it was a thoughtful gift from a friend. I do not recommend it.

[Lynn M. Ludeke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The recipes in this book look amazing, but are designed for the rich. I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer a few weeks ago and have been researching healthy diets. This book gives a lot of good advice, but the recipes require buying products that are hard to find, or are expensive. I realize eating organic is better, but also more costly. I am too sick to work so my grocery budget is very small. Also, making your own nut butters and nut flours is an amazing idea, but way too costly. Adjusting the recipes to still be healthy, but just not as costly is doable with the majority of these recipes. I had digitally checked this out from my library, but when I can afford it, I will purchase it. Overall, I do recommend, but just be aware that if you are not wealthy, you will also need to adjust the recipes.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved two things about this book . First was her section on upgrading food choices. It's such a positive non-judgmental way to encourage eating better quality foods . Second is the section on the top foods to fight cancer in general and then researched-based top foods for specific cancers. She even suggests quantities for if you have cancer or if you are just trying to avoid cancer. Her recipes look intriguing and possibly a gold mine for anyone undergoing chemo or who doesn't have a source for recipes that include these beneficial foods . The good information makes this a very valuable read.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting information about foods that are good (and not good) for cancer prevention and healing. Well-written and easy to understand (with the exception of some recipe ingredients I’ve never heard of and wouldn’t have a clue where to find). I’m anxious to try some of these recipes and definitely motivated to get more fruits and vegetables into our bodies.

[Gskm · Rating 2 out of 5]

uncertain

I read this book and find it scary in some cases and impossible in others. Many recipes contain oats to which I am allergic. So this one is not for me. I may check out the earth diet and see what it is about. This rating is based on my opinion only and my personal health.

[Trudy Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book with lots of great dietary recommendations and nutritional information for being proactive in helping to prevent cancer and boost your immune system.

[Sally To · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some good insight and reference for better and healthier eating habits.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author makes many unreferenced and unsubstantiated claims in this book. It’s only saving grace is that it contains a few recipes that sound easy to make and tasty.

[Roblyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I skimmed this just to see if there was anything new in the food as healing realm. Some interesting recipes to try but nothing I hadn't read elsewhere.

[Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful as my husband was going through lymphoma.

[Laura Happnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book, super detailed and filled with helpful, specific information. I heard her on a podcast and loved her. Highly recommend this book

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an approachable book - not too dense with science - on how to eat for strong health using food as medicine. It's equal parts nutritional information and cookbook. It's unfortunate that we wait to read books from this genre until we're sick. In a better world our doctors would be pushing their patients to read and become knowledgeable on how to eat, exercise and manage stress to maintain good health BEFORE they get sick instead of pushing pills and drugs on them when it's often too late.