Almost a month ago, my lungs were congested again. I had been researching the health benefits of raw garlic, which includes:

• Traditional cough and cold remedy
• Helps in the treatment of tuberculosis
• Relieves sore throat and toothache
• Powerful antioxidant (garlic contains high levels of selenium and Vitamin C)
• Boosts immune system to fight infection
• Helps lower bad cholesterol levels (LDL)
• Helps to lower blood pressure
• Remedy for arteriosclerosis
• Good for the heart
• Anticoagulant properties
• Helps relieve rheumatism pain
• Reduces cancer risk and also aids in treatment

Garlic is known to have antibiotic, antifungal and antibacterial properties, so it has been used for centuries to treat many health problems. To cut to the chase, I decided to eat a whole bulb of garlic daily more than three weeks ago. That’s  anything from 12-16 cloves of raw garlic each day. I ate half a bulb twice a day – once in the morning and once in the evening, with food and lots of water to prevent any burning sensation in my stomach as the garlic went down. To my surprise, my congested lungs cleared up in less than 36 hours.

As a bonus, I realised that I was no longer suffering from fatigue, a malady which had been plaguing me for more than a fortnight, forcing me to take naps almost every day. I haven’t felt tired or sleepy ever since I started eating raw garlic daily.

So I’ve been burping something terrible every day, and passing more gas than I’ve ever had in my whole life but, having seen how garlic has improved my health and well-being so far, I’m going to keep eating a whole bulb of raw garlic daily just to see what else garlic may remedy in my body. I’ll keep you posted.

Ingredients
1 to 1-1/2 cups sunflower seeds (depending on desired consistency)
Juice of 4 lemons
1 tbs raw Celtic sea salt (or to taste)
1 crown / bulb (note: NOT clove) of garlic
1 cup water

Method
Blend until smooth and creamy. That’s it! Enjoy with healthy chips, crackers or toast for maximum benefits.

Toom is used in a variety of ways:

* Spread on bread when making sandwiches
* As an ingredient for making hummus or baba ghanuj or mtabbal
* As an ingredient for salad dressing
* When making meatballs
* In soups, stews or steamed vegetables, stirred in at the last minute
* As a dip for toasted bread

Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

2 heads of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped in half.

2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

3 teaspoons of salt.

3/4 cup olive or coconut oil.

Optional: 1 small baked potato or 2 slices of white bread or 1/4 cup of mayo or drained plain yogurt.

METHOD

1. Peel the garlic.
2. Place the garlic cloves, salt, lemon juice in a mini food processor or blender. Whirl for a couple of minutes then drip in the oil with the machine running. Continue until the mixture emulsifies.
3. To thicken the toom and dull the sharpness of the garlic taste, you can add and process any of the following: cooked potato, or bread (American-style, crust removed), or mayo (from a jar) or drained yogurt. For a pure and more concentrated garlic paste, omit these ingredients.

Besides eating healthily, regular exercise is an absolute must if you want to lose weight and keep it off. Twice each day, I walk my dog Ginger for a minimum of 25 minutes each time. I like to walk briskly, which helps to burn calories as well as keep muscles, joints and other parts of the body well-oiled. At least every other day, I try to fit in another walk in-between of at least 25 minutes duration. Fortunately, there are several shopping malls just 10 to 20 minutes walking distance away from where I live, and there’s also a scenic river just across the road. Finding incentives to go for a walk is easy.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I don’t have iron-clad willpower. I still snack daily, and my nibbles include naughty things like chocolate, ice-cream and cookies besides healthier stuff like dried fruit, nuts and seeds. Hey, you’ve got to have quality of life! Of course, I’m particular about the quality of my snacks and go for top-quality ingredients with nothing artificial added, as far as possible. You can still lose weight without depriving yourself. Just be discerning about what you eat and exercise, exercise, exercise.

Being overweight causes all kinds of health problems, such as high cholesterol, high-blood pressure, cardiovascular ailments, diabetes and joint problems. It can also be a factor in cancer. Maintaining a good healthy weight is plain common sense, if you’d like to live long and well.

My next target is to lose another kilogram by Christmas, which is less than a month away. Wish me well!

When I visit the largest cancer center here, I can’t help but notice that most patients are Chinese, Malay, European or some other group, but I rarely ever see any Indians. Now, people the world over like to go on about how the traditional Japanese or Oriental diet seems to protect against cancer, but increasing numbers of Oriental Asians are getting cancer. This trend seems to go hand in hand with the adoption of a Westernised diet and lifestyle.

Cancer rates have risen dramatically in all Asian countries which have adopted a Westernised diet and lifestyle. Traditionally, Asians rarely ate meat and life was hard, so there was plenty of daily physical activity eg. manual work, walking everywhere. Regular exercise was a part of life. Now modern Asians eat chemical-tainted meat and other foods – including convenience / refined / processed foods – in EVERY meal, and we drive or are driven everywhere. We hardly even take the stairs, as we have elevators, escalators and travellators everywhere. Our air and environment is contaminated with chemicals.

Interestingly, Indians in my country have a very low incidence of cancer. Indians, on the whole, still prefer their traditional diet, which is characterised by lentils, beans, vegetables, lots of spices and -gasp! – lots of dairy products. They love milk, cheese, yoghurt, ghee (clarified butter) etc. in their savory dishes as well as their desserts, and their desserts use plenty of sugar. Non-vegetarian Indians like to eat unhealthy meats like mutton. Unlike Oriental Asians, their diet does not include any soy foods or seaweed, which are generally viewed as anti-cancer foods.

While Indians here may have low cancer rates, they tend to suffer from diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Like many other modern Asians, they have also become sedentary and more Westernised in their lifestyle. Nevertheless, there are elements in the traditional Indian diet which protect against cancer. I suspect it is the heavy consumption of legumes, lentils, beans, vegetables (including tomatoes, onions and cruciferous veggies like cauliflower), spices, and fermented dairy like yoghurt. Many of the foods listed here are known to be anti-estrogenic, aromatase inhibitors or, at worst, phytoestrogens.

Unfortunately, with urbanization, modern Indians are eating more meat and more foods tainted with chemicals, more convenience foods, more processed foods and more refined foods. They are eating more unnatural or fake foods, just like the Westerners, and they are exposed to more harmful chemicals in their environment, personal care products and household cleaning products. And they are nowhere near as physically active as their forefathers were. So cancer, along with other diseases, is on the rise amongst modern Indians.

The rising cancer statistics worldwide cannot simply be blamed on single factors like meat or dairy consumption, although commercially-farmed meats and dairy foods are certainly unhealthy. Dairy foods and even meat need not be harmful as along as they are not pumped full of hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals. Think about the Eskimos and the Mongolians. They had little access to plant food, if at all, so they had to rely on animal food – including dairy in the case of the Mongolians – for survival. The food they ate was clean and free from chemical contaminants. Everything was natural, unrefined and unprocessed.  Bear in mind that their traditional way of life was also very labor-intensive (EXERCISE, EXERCISE, EXERCISE!) and had virtually no exposure to chemicals. Cancer was virtually unknown in their traditional societies.

Obviously, the answer to being cancer-free lies in more than just diet, but that’s a good place to start. For me, I try to eat as naturally as possible. My diet is rich in vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds and legumes and I avoid refined and processed foods. Animal protein is mostly fish. I seldom eat meat. I do eat small quantities of dairy foods occasionally, and I do admit to sometimes having cookies or cakes. If I use sweeteners, I prefer it natural, like raw honey or maple syrup. The trick is to cut DOWN as far as possible, if you have difficulty cutting out certain foods completely. If I could afford it, I would eat organic all the way. I do what I can.

As for harmful chemicals in my personal care products and household care products, I’ve replaced whatever I can with products which are free from known carcinogens and other harmful ingredients. I get most of my products from Neways International as they have one of the widest ranges I’ve ever seen.

Oh, and I walk twice a day or more.

To keep cancer at bay, we need to get back to our roots and eat and live as naturally and cleanly as possible. Make a decision today to take a step in the right direction.

Meanwhile, I have been spending a lot of time shopping for fresh produce and preparing anti-estrogenic meals in the kitchen. When you can’t have any convenience meals or eat out, this is very time-consuming. When you can’t have any meat and other foods are disallowed, you have to be creative. But I’m determined to give this change to my diet my best shot, as it makes sense to avoid harmful hidden estrogens like xenoestrogens from hormones and other chemicals found in commercially-farmed, non-organic food, as well as personal and household products and the environment. Feeding my body with foods which will promote healthy and safe estrogen levels, including natural aromatase inhibitors, can only be good for me.

The bad estrogen hides in fat cells, so I’m glad to report that I lost 2kg in the first two weeks of starting this anti-estrogenic diet. That’s encouraging. I’m sooo looking forward to losing more weight, and keeping it off.

A couple of weeks ago, after researching the health benefits of having a more alkaline body – such as being more resistant to cancer -  I bought an alkaline water system, to turn acidic water into alkaline water. I also started introducing more alkaline foods into my family’s diet. You can begin to get more alkaline by doing simple things like putting lemon slices in your water pitcher, as citrus fruits like lemon and lime are very alkaline. I also squeeze either lemon or lime juice into my morning fresh juice mix everyday.

If your goal is natural healing and natural wellness, start with the first step in the right direction, such as following a more anti-cancer diet. Then take another step. Eventually, you’ll get there. Just keep doing your research, and don’t give up!

1. They eat foods native to their territory, whether it be plant or animal in origin. Don’t forget that the Mongolians and Eskimos eat a predominantly meat and fat based diet, with hardly any plant food. The Mongolians, in addition, eat plenty of dairy foods. Many traditional European, Middle-Eastern and Indian diets also feature dairy products and meats.

2. Each native group obviously adapted to their respective diets, eating whatever was naturally available in order to stay alive. This is why a diet abundant in meat and fat was not harmful to the Eskimos or the Mongolians. In fact, it was protective for them, living in their harsh, wintry environments.

3. The foods they ate and beverages they drank were organic, unprocessed, unrefined and free from artificial additives like chemicals, hormones and antibiotics. Meat and dairy were completely natural and uncontaminated.

4. Foods were generally eaten fresh, freshly harvested or freshly killed. Any food preservation or storage was usually limited to salting, fermenting, drying or pickling. Modern societies tend to eat food which has been canned, packaged in some way or frozen for quite some time.

5. Cooking methods were completely natural. Nothing strange like microwaving or “nuking” in any way.

6. Kitchen utensils, cookware and materials used were also completely natural (clay, leaves, wood etc). Certainly no plastic.

7. Condiments, spices and flavorings were kept simple and natural. Nothing artificial.

8. In Asia, if oil was used for cooking, it was what was indigenous to the territory eg. peanut oil, coconut oil, soya bean oil, ghee (clarified butter), or lard (made from animal fat). “Healthy” fats like olive oil or grapeseed oil were unheard of.

9. If a sweetener was used, it was natural eg. cane sugar, palm sugar or honey.

10. Carbohydrates were fine and even essential, but they were usually natural, unrefined and free from artificial additives eg. tapioca, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, nuts, seeds, potatoes and other tubers.

11. No leftover food was kept. Everything was made fresh and finished in one sitting, so food did not have a chance to deteriorate further.

12. Usually, native people ate only what they needed, or even starved at times for a while. Excess was a luxury, and generally reserved for special occasions. Modern people are literally indulging themselves to death.

13. With the exception of people living in harsh environments like the Mongolians and Eskimos – where meat and fat was more readily available than plant foods – most native diets are dominated by plant foods. Meat was considered a luxury item to be eaten sparingly or reserved for special occasions. If seafood was available, that was eaten more often than meat. Modern societies consume far more meat than our forefathers did, and the meat we eat today is mostly adulterated and contaminated.

14. Almost all native societies have some fermented foods. These foods are rich in anti-cancer properties. Think sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, tempeh and yoghurt.

15. Almost all native societies have a rich tradition of using herbs for food, healing and beauty. The Chinese, for instance, have a vast variety of herbal teas, using herbs, flowers, roots, tree bark, fungi etc. I grew up drinking herbal teas and soups, but switched to Western concoctions and drugs and soda pop from my early teens. Now that I’m older and (hopefully) wiser, I’m beginning to rediscover Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and learning how to use traditional herbs at home.

16.The true native lifestyle is physically active, even rigorous, on a daily basis. Exercise was a way of life. People living in urban societies are very sedentary, and obesity has become an epidemic.

17 The environment and air was clean and pure. There was no exposure to modern contaminants like chemicals, radiation, electrical currents, vehicle and industrial emissions etc.

18. Furniture, building materials, fabrics etc was all organic.

19. There was no obsession with cleaning or enhancing body or home with products saturated with chemicals, unlike today.

20. People slept early and woke up early. Their sleeping environments were completely dark and quiet, except perhaps for the sounds of nature. No night lights, street lights, blinking lights, TV etc. Perfect for melatonin production.

These are just a few of my observations. As I said in my opening paragraph, the people who adulterate this “formula” are the ones who start getting all kinds of sicknesses, including cancer. Of course, observing a strict native diet and way of life is challenging in an urban society. But I believe we need to try our level best, in order to be cancer-free, even if it means re-locating. Major miracles often require major changes.

So, should we consume green tea, or soy, or turmeric, or flaxseed, or berries, or cruciferous vegetables, or iodine, or dark chocolate etc. or load up on more supplements? I think we know by now that each in itself CANNOT defeat cancer. Diet alone won’t cut it. Even vegetarians and exercise fanatics get cancer, right? A radical, holistic approach is required, and this may include some medical intervention. To keep cancer and other diseases at bay, it’s back to basics, back to our roots.

GO NATIVE, as far as it makes sense. In other words, if you’re a Mongolian working in a nice, cushy office in New York, the traditional Mongolian diet may not be healthy for you in this context. Adapt it to your present living environment, eliminating elements which are harmful (eg. unnatural foods, high-fat diet, chemicals, being sedentary) and adding those which are protective (eg. daily exercise, lots of plant foods, natural foods, fresh foods, safe personal care and household care products, conducive sleeping environment and times).

As long as your foods are natural and your way of life is as native as possible, a little dairy food or meat or dessert once in a while is not going to kill you. Just make sure it is pure, unrefined, unprocessed and fresh. Food which has travelled a long way to get to you is often “preserved” in some way to make it last the journey and storage. They also lose their nutritional value with each passing day.

Avoid anything artificial or unnatural, eat fresh, don’t over-indulge, lose weight, learn how to use herbs for everything, eat some fermented foods regularly, live in a pure and uncontaminated environment, sleep well and exercise everyday. GO NATIVE!

Most cancers remain about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, one critical reason being that they are unable to grow further without a blood supply. Tumors need to grow blood vessels in order to feed and spread. However, healthy bodies have natural antiangiogenic mechanisms which regulate angiogenesis, the process through which our bodies create new blood vessels.

Angiogenesis is an essential part of a normal, functioning body. In healthy people, new blood vessels grow only under specific conditions, for instance as part of the healing process for an injury, or during pregnancy. Healthy individuals have a natural system of checks and balances – known to scientists as angiogenesis stimulators and inhibitors – to regulate the growth of blood vessels.  Explains Dr. Li, “The stimulators act as natural fertilizers to get vessels to grow, and the inhibitors prune back extra vessels when they’re no longer needed”.

Forty years ago, Dr. Judah Folkman – Dr. Li’s mentor – presented his thesis in the New England Journal of Medicine that a growing tumor could be “starved to death” by cutting off its blood supply. That theory was initially met with scepticism. Today, every major pharmaceutical company has an angiogenesis program. The first FDA-approved antiangiogenic cancer drug, Avastin, is well-established.There are 12 antiangiogenic drugs on the market for cancer treatment, with some 26 more in the final stages of human testing and another 100-plus behind them in human trials.

You can boost your body’s ability to produce angiogenesis inhibitors. Natural antiangiogenic food sources or angiogenesis inhibitor food sources include:

Green Tea
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Oranges
Grapefruit
Lemons
Apples
Pineapple
Cherries
Red Grapes
Red wine
Cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, brussels sprouts, bok choy, kale etc.)
Soy beans
Ginseng
Licorice
Turmeric
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Artichokes
Lavender
Pumpkin
Sea Cucumber
Seaweed
Tuna
Parsley
Rosemary
Thyme
Oregano
Basil
Mint
Garlic
Ginger
Tomato
Olive Oil
Grapeseed oil
Omega 3s (salmon, tuna, trout, mackerel, cod, sardine)
Dark chocolate
Walnuts
Hazelnuts
Pecans
Mushrooms (Maitake, Reishi, Agaricus subrufescens also known as Agaricus Blazei Murill Mushroom or Almond mushroom or Himematsutake /Japanese “princess matsutake”, Trametes versicolor or Turkey Tail in the United States or Yun Zhi in Chinese, Phellinus linteus or Japanese “meshimakobu” or Chinese “song gen” or Korean “sanghwang”).

This list is not exhaustive, but it’s a good start. I hear a bar of dark chocolate calling to me right now and, for my own good, I should give it my undivided attention!

It’s a good thing I like cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables, as phytochemicals such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and sulforaphane are components of cruciferous vegetables which exhibit antitumorigenic activity. In the digestive tract, indole-3-carbinol produces a metabolite (product of metabolism) called diindolylmethane (DIM), a new class of antiestrogens that inhibit breast cancer growth. DIM also encourages cells that are abnormally multiplying to stop reproducing and die.

Research shows that it is possible for the stronger and more dangerous form of estrogen (estradiol) to be converted into the weaker form (estriol) without using drugs. As all women who have had breast cancer know, estradiol fuels breast cancer. For this reason, aromatase inhibitor drugs (Ais) were invented to block the production of estrogen. Unfortunately, like most drugs, aromatase inhibitor drugs have serious side effects. Also, not all kinds of all estrogen are harmful. Estriol is a weaker and relatively harmless form of estrogen. Being less active than estradiol, it is desirable for it to occupy the estrogen receptor as, by doing so, it effectively blocks estradiol’s strong “grow” signals.

In 1997, researchers at Strang Cancer Research Laboratory at Rockefeller University discovered that diindolylmethane or DIM can change “strong” estrogen to “weak” estrogen and, when this happens, it stops human cancer cells from growing and provokes the cells to self-destruct, a process known as apoptosis. Subsequent studies done at the University of California at Berkeley show that DIM inhibits some human breast cancer cells from growing by as much as 90% in culture.

Apparently, DIM is the most active phytochemical in promoting the synthesis of protective hydroxylated estrogen (2OHE). Also known as 2-hydroxyestrone, 2OHE and 16-alpha-hydroxyestrone (16OHE) are metabolites of estrogens. 2OHE is biologically inactive, while 16OHE is biologically active meaning that, like estradiol, it can send “grow” signals. In cases of breast cancer, the ‘bad’ 16OHE is often elevated and the ‘good’ 2OHE is decreased. Studies show that people who take DIM not only have beneficial increases in estriol, they also have beneficial increases in 2OHE. Low levels of the 2OHE have been linked to breast cancer (in both women and men), uterine cancer, cervical cancer and lupus.

If you’ve had breast cancer, regular consumption of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, turnips, kale, green cabbage, collard greens and mustard greens is a very good idea. While cooking such vegetables, creating mild acidic conditions by adding some lemon juice or vinegar helps convert indole-3-carbinol (I3C) to the active cancer-fighting substance DIM. No wonder fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and kimchi are recommended cancer-fighting foods. Go ahead and indulge in these vegetables!

This recipe for carrot, celery, orange and coriander soup is a good way to get these carrot benefits into your body. Celery and coriander are also sources of apigenin, a natural aromatase inhibitor, while oranges are a source of naringenin, a natural aromatase inhibitor as well. In addition, oranges are a traditional source of Vitamin C, an antioxidant. If you’re dealing with an estrogen-driven health condition like breast cancer or endometriosis, this is one dish you should try out. Not only does it taste delicious, it can also be eaten chilled and it can even be frozen. How convenient is that?

For added antioxidant and cancer-fighting benefits, try adding turmeric.

Carrot, Celery, Orange & Coriander Soup
(4-6 servings)

Ingredients
1 kg carrots, washed, peeled and cut in chunks
2 stalks / ribs celery, washed and cut in chunks
3 shallots, peeled
1-2 garlic cloves
20 grams coriander, washed; reserve leaves for garnish
Juice and zest of 1 orange (reserve zest for garnish)
1 tsp white or black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 litre water

Method
1. Wash, peel (where needed) and cut all vegetables.
2. Put all vegetables in a large stockpot with the water. Bring to boil then simmer till tender.
3. Add orange juice and stir.
4. Blend soup to your desired consistency. Add more water if needed. Season to taste.
5. Serve warm or chilled, garnished with coriander leavers and orange zest.