Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery »

As the senior chef-in-residence and nutritional educator at one of the country’s leading cancer wellness centers, REBECCA KATZ, MS, is the culinary link bringing together physicians and patients with a common goal: eating well to maximize cancer treatments, minimize side effects, and improve outcomes. She is the founder of the Inner Cook, a Bay Area culinary practice that specializes in meeting the specific nutritional and appetite needs of cancer patients, and a senior chef at Commonweal Cancer Help Program in Marin County, California. Katz has been a guest chef and lecturer at top academic medical centers throughout the country, including the annual Food As Medicine conference. Visit www.rebeccakatz.com for more information.

MAT EDELSON is an award-winning medical, science, and sports journalist and the former director of the Johns Hopkins Health News Minute, a nationally syndicated consumer health radio feature. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

A Culinary Pharmacy in Your Pantry

The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen features 150 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.

Whole foods, big-flavor ingredients, and attractive presentations round out the customized menu plans that have been specially formulated for specific treatment phases, cancer types, side effects, and flavor preferences. The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen brings the healing power of delicious, nutritious foods to those whose hearts and bodies crave a revitalizing meal.

The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen took home double honors at the prestigious IACP 2010 Awards, named a winner in both the Health and Special Diet category and the People’s Choice Award.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review.

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, from the senior chief at Marin County's Commonweal Cancer Help Program, corrects that with a wealth of easy, immediate steps to speed up the healing process through diet. The duo offer advice on treatment prep as well as solutions to common side effects like dehydration, fatigue and nausea. Caregivers should scour the first third, which describes in detail the treatment process, and includes an alphabetical list of cancer-fighting ingredients like blueberries, chocolate, honey and salmon, a reference for the 150 recipes that follow. Recipes for soups, broths and simple, satisfying dishes like Chicken and Rice are welcome, but the text is most helpful for an array of quick, nutritious snacks, like nutrient-rich granola bars or a cooling Cantaloupe Granita with Mint (especially useful for cravings, which are also addressed). Katz's experience with cancer patients and their long, often frustrating recovery lends authority to her wise, common-sense approach, suitable for cooks of all skill levels.
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Chapter 1: Cancer-Fighting Tool Kit • 8
Chapter 2: Strategies for Thriving during Treatment • 42
Chapter 3: Nourishing Soups and Broths • 52
Chapter 4: Vital Vegetables • 76
Chapter 5: Protein-Building Foods • 100
Chapter 6: Anytime Foods • 124
Chapter 7: Tonics and Elixirs • 154
Chapter 8: Dollops of Yum! • 172
Chapter 9: Sweet Bites • 190

Resources • 208
Bibliography • 213
Index • 217