Cookbook authors dish up scientific ‘cure’ for cancer!

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Patricia Daly, left, and Domini Kemp, authors of The Ketogenic Kitchen
Patricia Daly, left, and Domini Kemp, authors of The Ketogenic Kitchen

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Cancer is big business, a global industry that makes billions for drug companies and doctors. It’s so lucrative, cynics say it’s ‘too prosperous to allow for cure’. Sure, there have been advances, even cases of ‘cures’. Cancer treatment can also be less harsh than in the past. And surgery is also less disfiguring.

But cancer is now pandemic. Cancer Research UK says that’s because we’re ‘growing older’. That’s based on the fatalistic, genetic model of cancer as the result of ‘random errors’ in DNA codes that ‘kick-start a cell’s journey towards becoming cancerous’.

 A remarkable new cookbook, The Ketogenic Kitchen (Gill Books), dishes up a more positive message: the evidence-based ‘metabolic model of cancer’. It draws on an ancient premise: the power of food as medicine rather than ‘the slowest form of poison’ it often is these days. It gives ingredients for as close to cure as modern medicine is currently able to come. By that, they mean absence of symptoms by showing you how not to feed cancer cells. And anyway, who really cares if some doctors don’t consider absence of any symptoms to be a cure in the medically accepted sense? Here, US psychiatrist Dr Georgia Ede looks at why this is no ordinary cookbook, and why even if you don’t have cancer, it should be in your home – Marika Sboros

 

By Georgia Ede*

The Ketogenic Kitchen is no ordinary cookbook. Yes, it is bursting with creative recipes and beautiful photographs of delicious dishes. But these recipes are expertly crafted to help people fight cancer.

Dr Georgia Ede
Dr Georgia Ede

Most other cookbooks are useless against the Big C… unless you drop them directly on top of your tumour from a great height.

In fact, most conventional “healthy” cookbooks actually feed cancer cells because they are based on high-carbohydrate ingredients like grains, beans, fruits, starchy vegetables and juices.

In sharp contrast, nestled between the covers of The Ketogenic Kitchen lies a powerful, science-based, dietary prescription for cancer written by two women who use low-carbohydrate diets to support their own recovery from cancer.

In addition to culinary inspiration, you will receive guidance, motivation, and hope from women who walk the walk.

These are no ordinary women. The Ireland-based authors are Domini Kemp, a professional chef and former food writer for The Irish Times, and Patricia Daly, a Swiss-born nutritionist who specialises in dietary counseling for cancer patients.

‘We’ve both had cancer twice, and when we found that conventional nutritional advice failed adequately to support our treatment via the usual means of radiation and chemotherapy, we both independently decided to look elsewhere for answers.’

Both women generously share their powerful personal stories to provide real life inspiration. In Daly’s case, switching to a ketogenic diet tamed her aggressive eye cancer within only a few weeks, reversing vision loss and sparing her from radical eye removal surgery.

Her cancer has thankfully been quiet for over five years now.

What is the Ketogenic Diet?

A ketogenic diet is a very low-carbohydrate, moderate-protein, high-fat diet that reduces blood sugar and insulin to healthy, stable, low levels. This forces the majority of your cells to burn fat (ketones) instead of sugar (glucose). Cancer cells LOVE glucose and most can’t make the switch to ketones.

Without all that excess glucose around, cancer cells struggle to survive, while your healthy cells thrive.

Click here to read: CANCER THERAPY OF THE FUTURE? ALREADY HERE, SAYS FETTKE!

 

Fortunately I haven’t personally dealt with cancer, but I follow a ketogenic diet myself. It is the only diet I have ever found that easily controls my appetite, weight and blood sugar, all while supporting a positive sense of well-being and providing excellent energy. (You can read more about my experiences with this diet in the posts listed at the end of this article.)

The Ketogenic Kitchen: What’s Inside

The vast majority of recipes are constructed entirely of whole food ingredients. That alone makes this cookbook a healthy kitchen companion, whether you have cancer or not. I would characterizse most dishes in this book as “Paleo plus dairy”:  free of grains, legumes, processed foods, and refined carbohydrates.

There are a few desserts in the book sweetened with yacon syrup, maca powder, or lucuma powder. Every recipe includes a diagram showing you how many fat, protein and carbohydrate grams are in each serving.

The Ketogenic KitchenThe 449-page cookbook is beautifully organised and divided into two halves.

The first half of the book, crafted by chef Kemp, is intended for people who want to eat a healthy lowe-carbohydrate diet without having to commit to a ketogenic diet. Some recipes are ketogenic, while others are low to moderate in carbohydrate and protein. Carbohydrate content ranges from a few grams to about 40 grams per serving. Protein content ranges from a few grams to about 50 grams per serving.

Her recipes are creative and many have an international flair: lime mint chicken parcels, lamb and prune tagine, green tea poached salmon. She dedicates an entire chapter to vegetarian main dishes, including aubergine dengaku, and tarts made with cauliflower, almond and goat cheese.

The Ketogenic Plan

Daly designed the second half with recipes that are strictly ketogenic. Protein content ranges from a few grams to about 25 grams per serving, and most dishes contain fewer than 10 grams of carbohydrate per serving. Many of her recipes rely on seeds, nuts, and high-fat dairy, which is a common pattern for ketogenic cooks, since those foods are often lower in protein and higher in fat than many types of meat, seafood, or poultry.

It can be challenging to make ketogenic recipes exciting, but Daly has risen to the challenge: prawn-filled avocado, vegetable muffins, lamb pizza, sea bass with celeriac and chorizo puree, chicken with walnut sauce. She organises her section of the book into weekly meal plans, which busy folks will find incredibly helpful.

Valuable Extras

Daly is an expert among experts. She has been following a ketogenic diet for more than five years, professionally counsels clients with cancer, knows the science of the ketogenic diet inside and out, and has a firm grasp on nutrition research. She includes 30 pages of information about ketogenic diets written in a way that everyone can understand.

Click here to read: PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF, LEARN NUTRITION!

 

What does the science say about ketosis and cancer? Which foods are allowed and forbidden? How and when should you test your ketones and blood sugar? What should you do if you’re having difficulty transitioning into ketosis? It’s all in there.

Kemp and Daly also offer down-to-earth advice about eating a low-carbohydrate diet in the real world, such as cooking for a family and modifying recipes for children.

Wish List
I think this cookbook is a must-have for people with cancer, so I only have a few minor criticisms.

The authors are based in Europe and therefore many of the measurements are metric: grams, milliliters, etc. For my US-based readers, please enjoy this handy one-page conversion table in PDF form that you can download or print.

As many of you may know, I believe that “post-agricultural” foods (grains, legumes, processed foods and dairy) are best avoided for optimum health. There are only a few recipes in this book that call for beans, soy, quinoa, or rice, and some that call for dairy.

Dairy foods can stimulate our hormonal systems, including insulin and growth hormone pathways. This means that dairy products could theoretically support the survival and spread of cancer cells. However, I believe that refined carbohydrates such as sugar, flour, and juice are FAR more powerful in this regard.

The Ketogenic Kitchen is actually two cookbooks in one.  I love that Kemp offers options for people who want a less strict approach to a healthier diet. Just keep in mind that, while her section is entitled “The Low-Carb Way”, some recipes contain as many as 50 grams of carbohydrate per serving, which I think of as “moderate” in carbohydrate. People with insulin resistance should take care not to partake of those recipes too often.

The Bottom Line: I Highly Recommend The Ketogenic Kitchen

You don’t have to have cancer to benefit from this beautiful cookbook. The first half is essentially a healthy, lower-carbohydrate, whole foods cookbook. All of us should be eating this way. The second half is an expert guide to the ketogenic diet. It can be used not just to treat cancer but also to treat numerous neuropsychiatric and metabolic diseases, from Alzheimer’s disease to heart disease.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer and want to know more about the potentially healing power of the ketogenic diet, this book is the only one I know of that can give you everything you need all in one place: scientific theory (explained in a way that is easy to understand), practical advice, gorgeous recipes, hard-earned wisdom, and real life inspiration.

Full disclosure: I am a huge fan of Patricia Daly’s pioneering work. I not only enthusiastically agreed to review her new book here, but also contributed to the collection of expert opinions published in the book.

Curious to Learn More about Ketogenic Diets or Cancer?

You may also find the following resources useful:

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