cover image The Cancer Prevention Diet: The Macrobiotic Approach to Preventing and Relieving Cancer

The Cancer Prevention Diet: The Macrobiotic Approach to Preventing and Relieving Cancer

Michio Kushi, Alex Jack, . . St. Martin's/Griffin, $22.99 (588pp) ISBN 978-0-312-56106-2

Kushi, author, lecturer and popular voice of the international macrobiotic community, has joined once again with co-writer Jack to update and revise this comprehensive, cancer-prevention guidebook, first published 25 years ago. The new volume contains current statistics and research while presenting the core traditions of the macrobiotic way of life. Chapters on emotions and cancer and 100 new dishes and drinks are also incorporated, including a number of lighter recipes necessitated by a “yangizing trend” (heavier, busier and more stressful) in society. Macrobiotics, as Kushi explains, is based upon the concept of balancing yin and yang energy in all things. The authors note that when the first edition was published, a cold war existed between holistic and mainstream therapies; today, they assert, mainstream medicine has recognized the beneficial effects of the macrobiotic diet as it relates to cancer, while admitting its own failings in keeping the disease in check. (Kushi's criticism of modern medicine and practices, notably scans and radiation, may still raise controversy.) Kushi writes that cancer prevention and treatment should begin in the kitchen, encompassing diet (with an emphasis on whole grains and vegetables) as well as environment, outlook and lifestyle. This remarkable resource also includes 17 up-to-date individual chapters on specific cancers, such as thyroid cancer, spiraling since the last edition. (Aug.)