The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen, Second Edition: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery [A Cookbook]

This new and revised edition of the IACP award-winning cookbook brings the healing power of delicious, nutritious foods to those whose hearts and bodies crave a revitalizing meal, through 150 new and updated recipes.

Featuring science-based, nutrient-rich recipes that are easy to prepare and designed to give patients a much-needed boost by stimulating appetite and addressing treatment side effects including fatigue, nausea, dehydration, mouth and throat soreness, tastebud changes, and weight loss. A step-by-step guide helps patients nutritionally prepare for all phases of treatment, and a full nutritional analysis accompanies each recipe. This remarkable resource teaches patients and caregivers how to use readily available powerhouse ingredients to build a symptom- and cancer-fighting culinary toolkit. Blending fantastic taste and meticulous science, these recipes for soups, vegetable dishes, proteins, and sweet and savory snacks are rich in the nutrients, minerals, and phytochemicals that help patients thrive during treatment.

This second edition also includes a dozen new recipes--many of which are simpler and less complicated, for cancer patients to prepare on their low days--as well as a list of cancer-fighting foods that can be incorporated into everyday life without stepping behind the stove. Rebecca has also revised the text with the most up-to-date scientific research and includes a section on how friends and family can build a culinary support team.

"Rebecca Katz has produced an invaluable resource. Instead of telling patients to 'just eat a balanced diet,' we can now show them how to control disease and optimize health with delicious, nourishing food from The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen. I recommend this book highly."
—Andrew Weil, MD

“Rebecca Katz brilliantly combines delicious recipes with nutritious ingredients to help promote and maintain a healthy lifestyle.  I have shared The Cancer -Fighting Kitchen with my patients and their loved ones, and also with colleagues, family and friends.  Anyone concerned about their own health and well-being, and that of their loved ones, should buy this book.”
—Vered Sterns, MD, professor of oncology and co-director of the breast and ovarian cancer program at Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION:

“Cancer treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation can be almost as hard on the body as the disease itself, and detailed nutrition advice is usually not on the program. This informative guide to fighting cancer from the inside out...corrects that with a wealth of easy, immediate steps to speed up the healing process through diet. ...Katz’s experience with cancer patients and their long, often frustrating recovery lends authority to her wise, common-sense approach.”
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

“If you or someone you love is battling this tough, tenacious illness, you’ll want to use every tool The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen provides.”
—Energy Times

"An amazing book...with flavorful recipes...simply delicious."
—Washington Post

“a must-have cookbook for learning how to cook and eat during treatment and after.”
—Kairol Rosenthal, author of Everything Changes: The Insider’s Guide to Cancer in Your 20s and 30s

“The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen is an incredibly rich and satisfying resource--it is a must for people living with and beyond cancer, and should be mandatory reading for all health care professionals. This great gift will have a profound impact on the health and well-being of all who partake!”
—Donald Abrams, MD, chief of hematology and oncology at San Francisco General Hospital, integrative oncologist at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, and coauthor of Integrative Oncology

“If food is medicine, Rebecca Katz is one of the great healers. The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen is a book for anyone who wants to eat as if their life matters.”
—Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings

“There is no substitute for eating healthfully, especially when diagnosed with cancer. This wonderful resource makes nutritious foods easy to prepare, attractive to look at, and tasty to eat. It is the best I have seen.”
—Joseph Pizzorno, ND, editor-in-chief of Integrative Medicine and coauthor of Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine and Natural Medicine for the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

“A book to nourish loved ones. The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery--This is a book I have added to my shelf and it will always be within reach. I think this book could be called many things--a mother's handbook to nourishing your loved ones or cooking to cure. I know my family and friends will benefit from my new favorite book the next time I need to cook something to make them feel better.”
—Regina Charboneau for The Atlantic.com

REBECCA KATZ, MS, is an accomplished chef and national speaker who has worked with the country’s top wellness professionals and taught patients and doctors at leading cancer centers about the powerful role of food in cancer care. She is the former senior chef and nutrition educator at Commonweal’s Cancer Help Program, executive chef emeritus for the renowned Food as Medicine professional training in medical nutrition therapy, and co-founder of Healing Kitchens, a company that helps people translate nutrition and culinary science to the everyday plate through online and live courses, including The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen Course. She also consults for Dr. Andrew Weil’s Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine premiere nutrition conference for health professionals, and is the author of Clean Soups, The Healthy Mind Cookbook, The Longevity Kitchen, and One Bite at a Time. She has been featured in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, on Oprah.com, and on National Public Radio, among other national media.

She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two loyal kitchen dogs, Lola and Blossom. Visit rebeccakatz.com for more information.

MAT EDELSON is an award-winning science, health, and sports writer. He is the former anchor/director of the Johns Hopkins Health Newsfeed, a nationally syndicated daily radio program. He lives in Washington, DC.

Introduction 

For the last fifteen years, I’ve felt like one of those wild-eyed Hawaiian surfers riding a wave that, instead of cresting, just keeps gathering momentum and strength. That wave is the food-as-medicine movement, the idea that what we eat can keep diseases at bay, including cancer. When I wrote my first two books—One Bite at a Time and the first edition of The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen—the initial goals were modest, yet vital. What we knew at the time (2003–2008) was that 80 percent of cancer patients were malnourished. Indeed, most of the people who picked up those books, either as caregivers or recently diagnosed patients, had but two questions regarding food that burned in their minds: Am I going to enjoy eating during treatment? and Heck, am I going to be able to eat at all? 

These were—and still are—crucial concerns. This book is all about enhancing your appetite during treatment. The key concept is what I call “the power of yum,” the mind-blowing notion that great nutrition and fabulous taste can joyfully coexist on the plate. As one of my colleagues noted years ago, “If food doesn’t taste great, people won’t eat it, no matter how good it is for them.” Essentially, I work as a culinary translator, teaming up with oncologists, nutritionists, and cancer wellness professionals to help their patients stay well fed during treatment by translating nutritional recommendations into delicious, nourishing meals. The positive results I’ve seen in thousands of patients have been heartening. People who had completely disconnected from food have been brought back to the table and nourished by engaging three easy-to-follow ideas: 

   1. Make the food appealing to all the senses. 
   2. Offer lots of choices to fit often changing tastes and appetites (think small, easily stored, and reheated nutrient-dense portions). 
   3. Create ways that patients or caregivers can comfortably shop for, prep, and cook said meals. 

But now, nearly a generation into the food-as-medicine journey, it turns out that there’s far more to “the power of yum” than taste. I’ve watched as research into food and how it can restore and maintain health (aka sustainable nourishment) has matured in numerous mainstream peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine. I’ve chronicled this explosion of knowledge in three more recent cookbooks: The Longevity Kitchen, The Healthy Mind Cookbook, and Clean Soups. What I’ve learned researching those books—such as the wonderful roles herbs and spices play in improving health—also applies to those fighting cancer. Many people, not surprisingly, become motivated to eat well when taking on a disease. I try to capitalize on that motivation to help folks realize that the very foods that weed the body’s garden of cancer can create long-term downstream benefits that help ward off recurrence.


Kale with Sweet Potatoes and Pecans

If there’s a safe haven in the vegetable kingdom, it’s sweet potatoes. I mean, what’s not to love? Sweet taste, beautiful color, and fantastic nutrition, not to mention a creamy texture that allows you to introduce chopped greens in a nonthreatening manner. Here, I’ve added kale, which has outstanding anticancer properties, and some zippy ginger, which aids digestion.

SERVES: 4
PREP TIME: 15 minutes
COOK TIME: 10 minutes

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or unrefined virgin coconut oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 cup peeled and finely diced Garnet sweet potato
1⁄8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄4 cup Magic Mineral Broth (page 49) or water
3 cups cleaned, stemmed, and chopped dinosaur kale, in bite-size pieces
1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons golden raisins
1⁄4 teaspoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons ground pecans, for garnish 

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat, then add the ginger and sauté for 30 seconds, just until aromatic. Add the sweet potato, cinnamon, and broth and sauté for about 1 minute. Add the kale, salt, and raisins and sauté until the kale is a darker shade of green and the sweet potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the maple syrup, then taste; you might want to add another pinch of salt if desired.

Serve garnished with the ground pecans.

COOK’S NOTE: The ground pecans have the same texture as a sprinkling of finely grated cheese. If you’d like something crunchier, place 1⁄4 cup of pecans on a baking sheet and toast at 350°F for 7 to 10 minutes, until aromatic and slightly browned. Chop coarsely before sprinkling on this beautiful dish.

STORAGE: Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for 5 days.

PER SERVING: Calories: 160; Total Fat: 10.1 g (1.3 g saturated, 6.6 g monounsaturated); Carbohydrates: 17 g; Protein: 3 g; Fiber: 3 g; Sodium: 200 mg