Cancer-Free Dining :: Health and Disease

Cancer-Free Dining
by author Sally Errey, RNCP

Everyone wants health and potential protection from cancer, but few of us know how to successfully implement healthful change.

Based on my experience helping thousands of people understand how their food choices affect their health, I feel the greatest need at this time is a return to a common sense approach to food. We need to return to natural sources for immune-boosting nutrition and focus on whole foods as nature provides them. Just look at oranges as an example. They come with their own packaging. There’s no need to master percentages or nutrition labels and portions can be generous.

This month I am sharing with you real recipes from real cancer survivors. Their healing journeys are featured in the book Staying Alive! Cookbook for Cancer Free Living (Belissimo Books, 2004). Dietary and lifestyle change worked for them and it can work for you too when you incorporate into your diet immune-boosting and cancer-fighting foods such as onions, garlic, brown rice, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, ginger, and even tea.

It’s time to invest in yourself. Don’t throw your health away. Make cancer-free living your number one priority and experience the results, one bite at a time.

Lentil and Rice Pilaf with Toasted Cumin Seeds

Quick Calcium Smoothie

Tofu and Broccoli Stir-fry

Garlic Toast with Fresh Herbs

Blond Poached Pears with Rooibos Tea

Did You Know?

At the current rate, cancer is expected to increase by up to 70 percent by the year 2015 (Centre for Integrated Healing, healing.bc.ca).
Cancer is the leading cause of premature death in Canada, responsible for almost 30 percent of all potential years of life lost (Canadian Cancer Society Cancer cancer.ca).
The immune system is one of your body’s most important defences against cancer (Dr. Michael T. Murray, doctormurray.com).
Various epidemiological research studies show that at least 80 percent of cancers can be prevented through diet and lifestyle modification.
Cancer-free living means focusing on the whole person.

Top 10 Cancer-Fighting Foods

Apples - Studies show that apple skins inhibit the growth of cancer cells.
Asian mushrooms - Shiitake, reishi, and maitake mushrooms boost the immune system.
Beans - All types of legumes contain a protective fibre that helps eliminate toxins.
Blueberries - This beloved berry packs a powerful punch of antioxidants.
Brown rice - The phytonutrient lignan in this and other whole grains has antitumour effects.
Carrots - Keep the skins on for extra absorption of protective antioxidants.
Cruciferous vegetables - Broccoli, cabbage, kale, and the like are famous for their cancer-prevention properties.
Flaxseeds - Research shows that when ground and eaten daily, flax slows tumour growth in breast cancer patients. The seeds are also active disease fighters.
Garlic - This strong-smelling food is also strong when it comes to cancer-fighting and immune-supporting properties.
Ginger - An aid for nausea, this herb is also helpful in fighting cancer.

Source: Adapted from Staying Alive! Cookbook for Cancer Free Living by Sally Errey (Belissimo Books, 2004).

Sally Errey, RNCP, is an acclaimed speaker and author on optimum health through nutrition and lifestyle. She is author of Staying Alive! Cookbook for Cancer Free Living (Belissimo Books, 1-87-STY-ALIVE), stayingalivecookbook.com.

Source: alive #270, April 2005

Cancer
Cancer develops when cells in the body function abnormally and multiply uncontrollably--a process which eventually leads to tumor growth. A healthy body routinely detects and eliminates abnormal cells.

Eastern European Favorites
With such a rich history, it's not surprising that Eastern Europe's food is famous for being quite hearty and hardy. By combining tradition with a healthier approach, I've come up with several lighter samples of popular recipes. These flavorful concoctions are sure to leave the palate--and the belly--fully satisfied..

Herb Flavors To Savor
Fragrant herbs are always a joy, whether in the garden or in the kitchen. Some, like thyme and oregano, are trusted cooking classics, their flavors well-known to many a cuisine lover.

Winter Warmth
The cold of winter is here and our thoughts turn to cozying at the home hearth with loved one.

Bon Appetite
January means a fresh start--a new year, a healthier lifestyle. We're committed to our New Year's resolutions and whole foods are at the top of the list.

A New Way to Look at Cancer
The cause of cancer is still not known. That's because conventional theory fails to explain the mechanism of rapid or unrestrained growth of cancer cells.

Food and Cancer Connection
When I was a child one in eight people developed cancer. Today it approaches one in thre.

My Answer to Cancer-Get Lost!
I'm not the kind of person who likes to talk about himself. So, when I was asked to write an article about my experience with cancer, I felt quite uneasy, as I'm afraid that people will try to copy what I have done as though it were a magic recipe.

Exercise for Speedy Recovery
If patients do not participate in some form of exercise, their ability to function suffer.

Eliminate Root Causes of Cancer
The current assumption is that if one could surgically remove, radiate or destroy all the cancer cells in a patient with chemotherapy then the disease would no longer exis.

Dr. Burzynski Battles the Cancer Industry
When a man stood in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square, the world gasped at his bravery. No less brave are health- care practitioners like Polish-born Dr Stanislaw R. Burzynski, who successfully stood up to a juggernaut of hostility toward his cancer therapy from both the US government and the medical establishment..

Look Good While Fighting Cancer
Cancer occurs when the immune system is down and normal protective measures are insufficient. Cells within the body are defective or damaged. Most cases of cancer are preventable.

Cancer-Fighting Recipes
When I came to Canada in 1959 I was practically a greenhorn concerning vegetarianism. Then I married Siegfried! One of the wedding gifts I received from him was a vegetarian cookbook. I struggled with the concept.

Hey Mom, Take a Break
Meals should always be prepared with love and eaten with joy, especially on Mother's Day. This year, reward your mom for all her hard work. Take the time to serve her the healthiest and tastiest food possible. It will make her feel like a queen. (And don't forget to clean up afterwards!)

Sit Down to Sabzi
Ancient cultures travelled down the likes of the Euphrates and Nile rivers carrying herbs and spreading knowledge of their healing qualities.

Beach Party!
August is the perfect month for outdoor eating. Invite friends and family to a picnic-at the beach, in the park, on top of a mountain or even in your own garden.

Childhood Cancer Epidemic
Cancer is the first epidemic in history in which medical authorities don't know the cause and therefore can do nothing to stop it. Our children are not being spared by this worldwide epidemic. Indeed, in some rural areas, cancer rates for children appear to be increasing faster than those of adults.

Holiday Tradition with Nutrition
To prepare you for the holiday season, this year we're featuring an international selection of festive recipes that are both wholesome and tantalizing to your taste buds.

Stuff It!
Elegantly scooped and stuffed, the following delectable combinations give a new look to the most simple traditional food.

Fun and Fabulous Fare with Fibre
Increasing your intake of high-fibre foods helps prevent disease and is another important step toward better health. Fibre keeps the bowels healthy and fills your stomach so you tend to eat less.

Cancer-Fighting Herbs and Roots
Plant roots may be out of sight, but they shouldn't be out of mind when it comes to dealing with cancer. Any physical approach to healing cancer must first concentrate on restoring both the organs of elimination and the circulation of nutrients in the body.

Pesticides in Our Environment
My longtime friend Dr. Carl Clark of Regina often said, "Cancer is the worst word in the English language." A World War II air force veteran, he trained as an osteopath in Chicago in the 1930s when the notorious gangster Al Capone ran Chicago.

Cancer: Proof And A Plan For Healing
The Centre for Integrated Healing in Vancouver is changing the paradigm of cancer care. This reality is life saving in many cases, and life changing in mos.

New Therapy Shows Results Against Cancer and Viral Infections
Many people have become disillusioned in the "war against cancer." I remain very optimistic, however, that we will triumph over this seemingly invincible kille.

Vitamins Vindicated
"Breast cancer study hints at harmful effects of vitamins," proclaimed the headline of a recent Vancouver Sun article that some feel could be extremely misleading. The story, which appeared Dec.

The Current State Of Cancer
Cancer has been present throughout human history. Egyptian and Inca mummies show evidence of the disorder.

Practical Prevention Plan
Adding a fish oil supplement to your daily routine provides extra insurance that you are getting sufficient levels of important oils.

The Cancer Food Connection
In the 1980s, the US Surgeon General stated 70 percent of allNorth Americans are dying from diseases directly related to their eating habit.

Mind Over Cancer
Examining the biology of beliefNot a day goes by thatthe word "cancer" doesn't scare thousands of Canadians. Like a dreaded scourge, it hovers over us, presumably just waiting to claim its next victim.

Advances in Cancer Care
Complementary cancer treatment brings new hope to patients at the Vancouverclinic of Dr. Jim Chan, who uses the best of orthodox and alternativemedicine to achieve impressive results.

Complementary Cancer Care
When you combine the best of complementary and orthodox cancer care, what do you get? Treatments such as far infrared heat therapy, which uses modern technology and ancient wisdom to help the b.

The Role of Mushrooms in Cancer
Clinical studies have shown that using arabinoxylan (hydrolyzed rice bran with enzymatic extract of shiitake) in conjunction with chemotherapy may increase the effectiveness of chemo against certain cancer cells.

Cancer Prevention is Possible
Current approaches to cancer have not made a significant difference in long-term cancer survival rates. But you are not powerless against this disease.If you are willing to be proactive about your health, your odds of avoiding cancer are actually very good.

Natural Cancer Care
The importance of high-quality nutrition in the battle against cancer cannot be overstate.

The Healing Truth
As many people who live with cancer know, the discovery of the disease marks the beginning of a new chapter in life. Researchers and healers continue to discover the role attitudes and emotions play in the healing process.

Viva les Veggies
Ever since the Hunza tribe were studied in their Himalayan Shangri-La in the early 20th century, we, in the west, have been looking to other cultures for an anti-aging miracle. Recent research into the Okinawan peoples of Japan shows that eating whole grains, seaweed, and local fresh produce are other keys to long life..

Prostate Power
Hundreds of scientific studies are proving soybeans have anticancer and antiviral properties because of the protease inhibitors they contain, which can act as antioxidants.

Recipes For the Back-To-School Rush
September is a time of transition from the long lazy days of summer to the sometimes hectic, back-to-school schedule. Getting children to ballet and soccer practice and coordinating all the drop-offs and pickups mean that family life can get busy quickly. This month's recipes ease the transition by highlighting seasonal fresh market produce in easy late summer meals that are pulled together in 20 minutes or less.

A Light Meal to Welcome Crisper Days
October is such a great time for preparing locally grown food. I love combining crisp, colourful produce with the earthy flavours and feel of fall's root vegetables. The last of the local farmers' markets are happening now, and they're the perfect place to load up on herbs, specialty cheeses, and produce.

These Festive Dishes will Dazzle Your Holiday Guests
During the holiday season it's traditional to indulge in too much buttery shortbread cookies and fatty ham and turkey. So this month I have put together a combination of recipes that load our bodies with fibre, vitamins, nutrients, and healthy fats to reverse the trend and boost health.

Uterine Cancer
In 1975, an important scientific study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine pinpointed a reason for the sharp rise in uterine cancer over the previous decade.

Cancer-Defective Genes or Excessive Chromosomes?
The vast majority of current research into the underlying mechanisms of cancer is directed at the search for defective genes, even though they are found in only a minority of cancers, and it is hard to explain why inherited cancer genes would not cause cancer early on in life.

The Cancer Personality
Is there such a thing as a "cancer personality? A 1984 study measured the physiological responses to stressful stimuli of three groups: patients with malignant melanoma (a potentially fatal form of skin cancer), people with heart disease, and a control cohort with no medical illness.

Maintaining Weight Through Cancer
Excess body fat is blamed for up to 20 percent of all cancer-related deaths, but the fact remains that many people living with cancer and undergoing cancer treatments find themselves facing the opposite problem - how to gain weight, or at least prevent further weight loss.

Cancer Prevention
You can make dietary and lifestyle choices which will reduce your chances of being the one out of three Canadians who will get cancer in their lifetim.

Fighting Cancer
No other medical diagnosis strikes more fear in the hearts of people than cancer. Forty percent of Canadians will contract cancer; one in nine women in Canada will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Over 3 million North Americans have cancer today, and another 1.

Cancer Comrades
Fruits and vegetables have become the darlings of the nutritional world, being deemed as the only safe carbohydrate sources to consume in the latest low-carb diet regimen.

Smell Comfort
Undergoing treatment for cancer can be extremely stressful, as well as taxing on the immune syste.

Sauerkraut
Unpasteurized sauerkraut is tasty, packed full of goodness and easy to make. Throughout history, the main ingredient, cabbage, has been called "the physician of the poor" because of its healing powers.

Full of Beans
Blood sugar levels are easy to manage with a diet that focuses on whole foods and beans, which consistently appear on the low end of the glycemic index (a measure of how a given food will raise blood sugar when compared to pure glucose). Beans are an excellent source of protein, but they also contain protective fibre; for example, one cup (250 mL) of chickpeas provides 11 grams of fibre.

Cancer is Not Defective Genes!
According to mainstream medicine, defective genes sending the wrong signals cause production of too many growth hormone receptors in the cell walls and cause about 35 per cent of breast cancers.

Health Pioneer

Easy Traditional Elegance
This December I've put together some traditional favourites that are easy to prepare so you have more time to visit with friends and family. These recipes are also done the low-fat way, to give them a new, healthier twist.

The Gramercy Guide to Better Cooking
Every year we vow to eat better, immerse ourselves more completely in the joys of cooking, and become more at home on the range. This New Year's resolution can be the first step toward entering into a whole new relationship with your kitchen.

Move Over Has-Bean
Recently, while my friends and I were sharing a laugh over a cuppa java, I looked across the table at Amanda's cup and realized there was no ebony liquid in it. Instead, she was delicately sipping green tea. One of Amanda's jokes?

Go West
Executive chef David Hawksworth creates sensations on a nightly basis while crafting seasonal simplicity in high style at one of Vancouver's top-ranked restaurants, West. His appealing dishes garner international essence with their local flavours and global appeal.

Vintropolis
If it grows together, it goes together. Such is the mantra that keeps Chef Tony Marzo's cooking focused. Holding court within Vintropolis, one of Vancouver's most celebrated newcomers, his reputation is growing and things are going together better than he ever imagined.

Cancer
The Canadian Cancer Society's slogan is, "Let's make cancer history. With cancer affecting thousands-among them friends, family, and loved ones-each and every year, this slogan has become the goal for many dedicated and hardworking researchers, scientists ...

The Cancer Cottage Industry
When it comes to cancer, there can be such a thing as "good exploitation. Actors, musicians, and sports stars with the illness can create much-needed awareness and support.

Cancer-Proof Your Pancreas
A hidden health concern for some men is pancreatic cancer. Processed meats may be insidious culprits. Researchers believe that the chemical reactions in the preparation of processed meats may be the problem. A high fruit and vegetable diet dramatically reduces risk of pancreatic cancer. Those who consumed five daily portions of highly protective produce, particularly beans, carrots, citrus fruits, corn, dark leafy vegetables, garlic, onions, and sweet potatoes reduced their risk of pancreatic cancer by 50 percent.

Eradicate Free Radicals
Make a positive contribution to the cellular war against oxidative free radical damage and keep cancerous cells at bay by consuming a well-balanced diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Include a comprehensive, high-quality multivitamin and multi-antioxidant dietary supplement.

Open to Inspiration
When Aurora Bistro first lit up the neighbourhood on Vancouver's Main Street, it gained as much attention for its regionally rooted philosophy as for the freshness of its plates and wine list. Aurora's chief kitchen creative is a firm fan of sensibly delicious cooking. Moreover, chef Jeff Van Geest makes no claims to doing anything other than treating food with the respect it deserves.

Eat, Shrink and Be Merry
With this new release from popular authors and sisters Janet and Greta Podleski, we're assured that "healthy eating is a piece of cake! After a five-year hiatus, they're back with refreshed energy to help the nutritionally challenged among us create healthier, tastier meals.

The Life of Riley
With its vaulted ceiling, centrepiece community table, and primarily piscine menu, Coast Restaurant (coastrestaurant.ca) lives by its motto: Catch, Cook, Eat. Embracing seasonality on a global level, the fresh fish sheet follows an international code of ethics and appeal.

Spa Lite Cuisine
This month we've gone to the professionals to create a meal that not only nourishes but helps improve our mood on even the most stressful day. What better place for de-stressing advice than the Vida Wellness Spa, tucked tastefully within The Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver?

Cru
Crisp, mellow, luscious, juicy, smooth, and big: much like the descriptors of its uniquely colour-coded wine list, Cru defies easy definition. Not only one of the best-heeled wine bars on the West Coast, Cru is also revered for the regional authenticity of its cuisine.

Quattro
An hour gazing out on the water that separates their North Vancouver restaurant from the architectural horizon of Vancouver's core is enough to convince anyone with a romantic ear that Quattro is a family business rich with "abbondanza, the Italian poetry of life.

Feenie's Fine Line
For all the accolades and awards that have been bestowed upon Chef Rob Feenie, he remains a man of simple passions doing what he truly loves. While every facet of his Vancouver operations reflects his AAA 5-diamond status, he stays grounded and inspired by what every season has to offer.

Pantry Raid
It's the end of an award-winning year for alive magazine. To celebrate, we're taking a look back at one of alive's newest features: the Fresh Sheet. Featuring the finest in contemporary, healthy cuisine, this new food column from writer Jason McRobbie showcases some of Canada's greatest restaurants and the chefs who put those restaurants on the Canadian culinary map.

Make This Holiday Feast a Rare One
Small rooms with big hearts and exquisite food are a staple of the Vancouver dining scene. Even so, Rare One lives up to its unique moniker with an energy, presentation, and ingredient list that has captured the imagination of locals and visitors alike.

Leafy Winter Vegetables
Green leafy vegetables like curly leaf kale and colourful chard are so powerful, we can get huge nutritional benefits from eating them daily. Not only are they affordable, low in calories, fat-free, and delicious, they can be made into a variety of dishes.

A Healthy Habit...to Start the Year
Healthier eating is a good habit to develop. Now is the time to rethink the condiment rack, read food labels a little more closely, and explore the delicious alternatives to be found in your local specialty stores, ethnic food markets, and local community.

Build Better Food Habits
You can form a new habit in less than a month. So try a 30-day resolution and set yourself on a lifelong road to health. Changing just one thing, every month of the year for 30 years, would lead to a vitally vibrant life indeed.

Vegetarians Show Reduced Rate of Cancer

Foods for Cancer Prevention

Happy Hemp Harvest

Stand Up for Clean Air

An Exhibition of Culinary Consciousness
Ensconced within the pristine halls of Toronto's Gardiner Museum, Chef Jamie Kennedy's most recent room is a study in organic elegance. Surrounded by walls of glass overlooking the ongoing renovation of the Royal Ontario Museum, the aptly named Jamie Kennedy Restaurant at the Gardiner Museum is well-positioned in Toronto's historical heartland.

Turn the Cancer Switch Off
Every one of us is born with a unique genetic blueprint that defines our sensitivities to certain diseases such as cancer. But the latest research indicates it's not our genes that control whether we will experience diseases like cancer; it is the actual instructions those genes receive daily.

Sweet Surrender
For Anna Olson, life is sweet. Her Food Network program "Sugar has finished its fifth season; the second cookbook, Another Cup of Sugar (Whitecap, 2006), was released last fall; and her Port Dalhousie Olson Foods and Bakery is drawing droves of customers from the Niagara Peninsula.

Cruciferous Confessions
I have a confession to make. Despite being a self-proclaimed adventurer in new foods, I have only just discovered kohlrabi. It could be because this round, purple vegetable looks so odd. But as a member of the cruciferous family of vegetables, kohlrabi is worth trying.

Treadwell
The restaurant's name says it all: Treadwell Farm to Table Cuisine. Perched at the mouth of Niagara's original canal system, the location is both idyllic and deliciously fitting.

Capitalizing on Seasonal Sustainability
Few dining rooms take the celebration of local terroir to heart as tastefully as does C, Vancouver's wildly lauded contemporary seafood restaurant. Suitably ensconced across from the False Creek Marina at Granville Island, C has always had a clear view when it comes to matters of freshness.

Fire Up Your Summer Menu
As the weather gets warmer, instead of slaving over a hot stove, try these healthy and delicious recipes that will have you and your friends relishing the tastes of summer-in less than 30 minutes, fridge to plate.

Reflections Gastronomie Takes Flight
Once the busiest fishing port in the world, Steveston (located just south of Vancouver) offers more than just fish-and-chip shops. The wharf is bustling with tea rooms, book shops, and boutiques - along with Reflections Gastronomie, a recently opened, regionally rooted bistro with healthy aspirations of success.

Local Eating
The 100-Mile Diet by Alissa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon (Random House Canada, 2007) and its approach to eating locally grown food seems blissfully easy with the abundant fruit and vegetable crops of summer. But what do you do in the fall and winter?

The Fresh Sheet 07
alive had a lot to live up to following The Fresh Sheet's successful inaugural year. This year we ventured farther from our West Coast base, as food writer Jason McRobbie visited fresh new faces and places as well as veteran chefs and established restaurants across Canada's culinary map.

Slice: Health Inspired Food
Slice is more than a book of healthy recipes. While it is not a full compendium on nutrition, either, this cookbook is filled with important insight that easily relates to individual dishes.

Vij's Setting a Green Table Standart
For over a decade now, Vikram Vij has been an ambassador of good taste. Together with his wife and partner, Meeru, he has been guided by the simplest and purest of principles: to offer a taste of their homeland using the freshest local ingredients possible.

Ultimate Foods for Ultimate Health
Authors Liz Pearson and Mairlyn Smith form a winning combination-two vibrant women clearly committed to inspiring change in readers and helping them build confidence about their healthy food choices.

Emerald Lake Lodge
A jewel of the Rockies ever since opening its doors more than 100 years ago, BC's Emerald Lake Lodge continues to draw visitors from the world over in search of adventure-both on and off the plate.

Fibre-Full Recipes
Fibre has always been one of my favourite subjects to commiserate about. Chocolate, fruits and veggies, and nuts are always getting the buzz in the media, and I've always felt that poor lowly fibre doesn't get the accolades it deserves.

Little Green Giant
Mom was right: eating your vegetables is good for your health.

Alternative Medicine Magazine's Definitive Guide to Cancer, 2nd Edition
Anyone facing cancer-in themselves or a loved one-would do well to take this book as a definitive ally.

Celebrating Spring with Araxi
Even in the depths of winter, Araxi Restaurant's executive chef, James Walt manages to root out a cornucopia of seasonal sustenance from the local growers surrounding histler, BC.

Cancer Research
This is an exciting time in cancer research. From multibillion dollar medical research complexes to smaller university laboratories, cancer researchers are making extraordinary discoveries about the cellular mechanics of cancer.

Gluten-Free Quick and Easy: From Prep to Plate Without the Fuss
by Carol Fenster, PhD Avery, 2007; 352 pages; paperback $23.50 ISBN 978-1-58333-278-8

Fuel
Food can be many things: a source of nourishment, comfort, and connection. At Fuel, tucked into the bustle of Vancouver's 4th Avenue, the aspiration is to make it all of the above.

Harbingers of Spring
One of the first signs that spring is on the way is the annual rhubarb sighting. Canadian pioneers considered rhubarb a tonic. Nutritionally, rhubarb lives up to its historical background. It's a good source of vitamin C and potassium, a vitamin and mineral (respectively) the pioneers would need by the time spring rolled around.

One With the Season
Cooking with fresh seasonal ingredients makes one happier where it counts most: in the kitchen. At One restaurant, in the heart of Toronto's five-star Hazelton Hotel, Mark McEwan knows the value of happy cooks and has worked hard to develop a strong culinary culture since the restaurant opened in August 2007.

The Sunshine Vitamin
Vitamin D may be one of the most important nutrients for preventing a host of diseases and improving longevity. This month's Research Watch discusses the new research about this long-overlooked vitamin and how it may be critical to long-term health.

Lemon Grass
Sitting in my favourite Thai restaurant, I am surrounded by exotic smells that engulf my senses. I dig into Thai Hot and Sour soup (Tom Yum Gai) with great anticipation. Ahh...the wonderful taste of lemon grass.

Eigensinn Farm
Standing tall and living close to the land, Michael Stadtlander is a veritable giant in his field. As a chef, farmer, author, and multimedia artist, he is also one of Canada's leading culinary icons, pioneering a return to authenticity at Eigensinn Farm, just outside of Collingwood, Ontario.

Berry Healthy
For outstanding performance in taste and nutrition the Oscar goes to-blueberries! These sweet, blue treats are rightfully occupying preferred status on the nutritional red carpet. For getting health-enhancing antioxidant protection in your bowl, you can't do better than eating blueberries.

Acne's Oily Secret
From sunburn to psoriasis, acne to eczema, inflammation is often the common thread in unwanted skin conditions. Now, as nutritional medicine advances, it is becoming increasingly clear that dietary choices can influence inflammation in all parts of the human body, including the skin.

Comfort Cuisine
Can the aroma of a Sunday dinner roasting in a wood oven last a lifetime? In the case of Executive Chef Hans Sauter, who first fell in love with cooking at his grandmother's table in a small Swiss town, the answer is deliciously affirmative.

Potent Pomegranates
In ancient cultures, pomegranates were symbols of life, regeneration, health, and vitality. In Babylon and Persia, soldiers chewed pomegranate seeds before battle, believing that the exotic fruits would reward them with superior skills and invincibility. The Egyptians placed pomegranates in King Tut's tomb, to help him in his afterlife.

Easy on the Tummy
So don't. Skip the weigh-in for today and have an easy tummy day. Drink water to flush out all the extra salt you may have consumed, have a light breakfast of fruit and probiotic yogourt, a simple lunch of salad and a lean protein, and a dinner of whole grains.

The Art of Simple Food
Famed restaurauteur and food activist Alice Waters teaches fundamental techniques while instilling in readers a healthy planet food philosophy and culinary creativity. Although the "buy local, buy organic approach is a recent phenomenon, this author has long been considered a pioneer in the slow food movement. This is where modern meets traditional.

Rustic Regionalism
With its pristine setting, five diamonds, and four stars, the Banffshire Club at the Fairmont Banff Springs has earned a reputation for epicurean excellence and no small measure of rustic elegance. Deepening the room's regional roots has been a mission for some time.

Edible Christmas Gifts
Blame it on my hormones, but the older I get, the more it seems to me that Christmas has become a commercialized gift-giving extravaganza.

Probiotics
There is a newfound interest in probiotics, and food companies haven't missed a beat. They have put these latest nutritional money-makers into flavoured sticks, special drinks, yogourts, cheese, and anything else you can put a bite on.

Deal Out Cancer
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, about 40 percent of women and nearly 45 percent of men in this country will face a personal battle with this fearful disease.

Milk Thistle
Even though milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is not a new herb to the health food industry, the studies and clinical evidence of this amazing medicinal botanical continue to expand each year.