The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery [Hardcover]

Rebecca Katz (Author), Mat Edelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2009

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.

Editorial Reviews

From 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.

Review

“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, founder and program director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and author of 8 Weeks to Optimum Health and The Healthy Kitchen

“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

“The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen elegantly combines the science of healthy nutrition with the wisdom of the heart and soul. This beautiful book illuminates a clear path to nourish the body, and provides clear and inspiring guidance to make the process easy, simple, and joyful. I am delighted to recommend this wonderful resource for people living with cancer and their loved ones.” --Jeremy Geffen, MD, medical oncologist and author of The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person

“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

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Celestial Arts; 1 edition (August 25, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587613441
• ISBN-13: 978-1587613449
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.9 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Aging > Cancer
  • #40 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases
  • #100 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet

More About the Author

Rebecca Katz MS, is the author of The Cancer Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Beyond (Ten Speed Press, August, 2009), and One Bite at a Time: Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and their Friends (Second Edition). She holds a Masters of Science degree in Health and Nutrition Education, and received her culinary training from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts

Rebecca is the Executive Chef for Food as Medicine and Cancer Guides, sponsored by the Center for Mind Body Medicine, and is a visiting Chef and nutrition educator at Commonweal's Cancer Help Program in Bolinas, California.

A myriad of food related experiences, including a sojourn to Italy, where she studied Mediterranean cuisine from chefs and signoras from Florence to Sicily, shaped Rebecca's philosophy that health-supportive food must taste great in order to be nourishing and healing. Rebecca lectures, teaches and consults at cancer centers around the country. She resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.
For more information, please visit: http://www.rebeccakatz.com
Connect with The Cancer Fighting Kitchen on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/thecancerfightingkitchen?ref=ts

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is new proof that food is indeed love., August 26, 2009

By 

Julie in the Kitchen - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery (Hardcover)

"Cancer Fighting Kitchen" isn't just a cookbook; nor is another treatise on nutritional philosophy. It's indeed a cookbook, but so much more. Now that I've spent a couple of days with it, I know it's a nutritional arsenal with the kind of firepower that's perfect for what can seem like a tough assignment: cooking for someone going through cancer treatment. But whether you're cooking for someone who really needs to eat well in order to heal-- or you just want to understand how the food you eat influences your overall health and wellness, this is an amazing find. The recipes look and sound simple and delicious -- I can't wait to cook my way through all of them. This is the perfect follow-up to "One Bite at a Time" -- my first real friend in the kitchen when I needed a whole new way to look at cooking. I've cooked my way through it over the last three or four years, and I'm ready for the next step and this is it. Her Magic Mineral Broth is an amazing elixir that aids in whatever ails you -- I've made gallons of it, and now I'm thrilled to see two new takes on the basic recipe in this book.

This time Rebecca Katz offers us lots of easily digestible nutritional science along with recipes that look so tempting that I can almost taste and smell them just from the photos. But it is her disarming and sympathetic humor that leads you into each chapter and recipe with a little smile of recognition and a tidbit of personal insight. The Culinary Pharmacy section in her "Cancer fighting Toolkit" is worth the purchase price alone. It's a virtual encyclopedia of what we're all trying to learn about ingredients that add health-supportive magic to what we slave over in the kitchen. At a time when food TV is busily persuading us that cooking is something between a spectator sport and a reality show, this book points us back to what preparing food should be -- a loving spoonful of something special and sustaining. You don't need to be a patient or a caregiver to appreciate all that is in these pages, but if you are, this book is an amazing gift.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cookbook and So Much More!, October 11, 2009

By 

ChrisCooks - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery (Hardcover)

This is book is so much more than just a cookbook. I purchased this for myself and for a friend who has a brother currently undergoing cancer treatment. When the book arrived in the mail, we sat down on the front steps of my house and flipped through the pages together. We were drawn in by how delicious the recipes sounded and looked throughout, and quickly found that beyond the recipes this book is a wonderful step-by-step guide to how one can put the kitchen to work in healing and the wellness of others. This book briefly discusses research that has been conducted with regard to food and cancer, the healing properties of ingredients found in these recipes, strategies for eating before and after treatment, and how caregivers can set up support teams for patients so that no individual feels overwhelmed by the care giving task. There is even a resource guide at the back of the book that provides a myriad of sources for people to turn to for cancer support and food information. We were blown away by the breadth of information contained inside. There are recipes to suit all taste buds and for someone who does not have cancer but likes to eat for good health, like me, this has also been a great resource. The recipes tried so far have been delicious.
Five stars to the author for handling a heavy topic with sensitivity and smarts. I wish this cookbook had been published years ago! A must read.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Source for Cancer Patients, November 8, 2009

By 

Kathryn Bunkovsky - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery (Hardcover)

I have been using the Keith Block Life Over Cancer book as a bible to help with complementary treatment for my dad who has been diagnosed with cancer. On a very common and uneducated level about this disease, I have done everything I can to learn about cancer and through all that I have read, I have learned that nutrition and diet is a major factor attributing to the spread of this disease. There are many cookbooks out there that claim they have cancer fighting recipes and they may very well contain recipes that will help prevent cancer, so I don't disregard them. But, this is the very first book that I have found that every recipe contained in it will help seriously combat the disease while you are dealing with it. IT IS TRULY A BOOK FOR CANCER PATIENTS, not just a book for those who are looking to prevent cancer. This book is full of information and contains recipes that truly make your body a hostile environment for cancer cells to survive. It is such a relief to finally find a book such as The Cancer Fighting Kitchen to help with authentic recipes that arm the patient or careperson with more knowledge and information to help combat this disease.