Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time: Practical Advice For Preventing Cancer

Paranoia would be a perfectly logical response to this cancer-prevention book. You might be tempted to rifle through your medicine cabinet and laundry room shelves, disposing of any product that isn’t vinegar, baking soda or bottled water. You may never use an air freshener again or allow another French fry to pass between your lips. In fact, Dr. Lynne Eldridge and her brother, epidemiologist David Borgeson, warn against becoming fanatical in attempting to reduce carcinogenic threats in your environment. But they aren’t apologetic about presenting a wealth of valuable information that could help prolong your life. The authors admit that links between certain chemicals and cancers are inconclusive, and they judge the medical establishment pretty harshly. Then they present the most current information based on studies and statistics, and leave it to you to accept or reject their recommendations. We recommend this book in the belief that much of what the authors cover makes sense. Don’t get scared; get busy.
Rating: 5 / 5

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (12/07)

Cancer touches countless lives every day. Chances are that either you or somebody very near and dear to you has had to fight it at some point in your life. While medicine has certainly advanced greatly in the past, mortality rates from cancer are still high and still scary.

While it seems to me that the American way of medicine tends to be geared much more towards curing the disease once it manifests itself than to preventing it in the first place, I found “Avoiding Cancer One Day at A Time” a very refreshing departure from the usual pattern. Extremely well researched and comprehensive, this incredibly readable book leads the reader through many facets of possible cancer prevention. While it is obvious that the authors have done an incredible amount of serious research, the book never gets too technical for an average reader. From a simple introduction to cancer prevention to an eye-opening Cancer Prevention IQ Pretest and a chapter on what cancer is and what causes it, the authors alert us to numerous things that we could do to increase our chances of not being one of the scary cancer statistics in the future.

While authors primarily focus on primary cancer prevention – as in before it actually happens, there is also a chapter on secondary prevention (finding cancer and preventing it from spreading) and some notes on tertiary prevention (support methods for individuals with cancer). Each of the chapters concludes with a list of practical points, and if you start your journey just by reading those, you’ll have to agree that there are very many simple and eminently sensible steps we can take to increase our chances of staying healthy. If any of the topics discussed in the particular chapter really intrigue you, there are very comprehensive lists of resources and further online information available for advanced research.

Chapter 10, the “Avoiding Cancer Recipe Collection,” features not only mouth-watering, yet sensible recipes, but also stories of people whose lives were changed by cancer forever. Do take a particular note of the conversion table for the recipes there: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care.

The book concludes with Appendices, the first Appendix being the worksheets for applying cancer-prevention principles, the second one a scarily long list of carcinogens; and a nearly 30-pages long list of references.

“Avoiding Cancer One Day at A Time” was a fascinating read, which showed me how little most of us know about proper cancer prevention and how easy a great majority of those prevention steps really are. This book should find a permanent place in every American home, where it should be read, re-read and used often.

Rating: 5 / 5

In the introduction, the author says she wrote this book because she wants you to “be prepared” before the siren blows, announcing the disaster.

Say this out loud: One in every two American men and one out of every three American women will get cancer over the course of their lifetime (pg. 1). Now does the author have your attention?

Quoting from the British Cancer Control Society, “. . . treating disease is enormously profitable, preventing disease is not. ”

If far more money is spent to treat than prevent, and physicians are restricted by managed care–now is the time for us to know more and advocate for our own health. Other money issues concern how our food is produced (what is put on our plants to increase yield and what animals are fed to grow faster).

As consumers we will spend whatever is needed to treat illness, but we do not spend time and money to educate ourselves about avoiding the disease in the first place. And yet . . . “80-95% of cancers that have a environmental component, only one third are due to smoking. ”

However: “One thousands Americans stop smoking every day–by dying. ” (Author unknown)

Chapter 2 starts with 25 questions–and now I AM concerned because I answered yes to too many–and my ignorance is showing. You may feel the same when you answer them.

The authors left no cancer-causing stone unturned. Through charts, graphs, lists, recipes and action suggestions, you will understand your body and your environment–and how what you eat and drink and do can affect your health. The back of the book has worksheets, very helpful appendices, a carcinogen list, references and index so you can find things easily.

Author Lynne Eldridge, M. D. is a medical doctor who has studied human exposure to pesticide and has practiced family medicine with an emphasis on prevention. David Borgeson has a Masters in epidemiology and is a practicing physical therapist that emphasizes health promotion.

The authors have asked us to make many changes in our lives to live longer and cancer free–and some are easy and some will be hard. They do not want us to become overwhelmed and do nothing–just start with what you can change today.

Armchair Interviews says: The contents can–and should frighten you into action and change. Maybe then you will never have to hear the words: You have cancer!
Rating: 4 / 5

In my over 30 years of broadcasting, it has been my privilege to interview many of the leading medical experts in the area of preventive medicine.

Of those, many have been excellent and well informed. However, I would place Dr. Lynne Eldridge in another category and that is. . . outstanding!

This book is informative, practical and encouraging.

It is reader friendly and filled with great up to date information along with some wonderful recipes that anyone can prepare and incorporate into their diet.

We spent two hours ON THE AIR that seemed more like 20 minutes. I am grateful for her work, thorough research and dedication to this work and great write.

There are many “how to” books on the market about better health. This one is like now other as it both frees and motivates the reader to they can and should do to avoid cancer one day at a time. Thank you good doctor!

Brad Walton

The Brad Walton Show

WCCO – CBS

Rating: 5 / 5

Dr. Lynne Eldridge and David Borgeson have written an authoritative, good-humored and remarkably practical book on how people can alter their lifestyles and add years to their lives. “Avoiding Cancer: One Day at a Time” is about do-able prevention, and sets a needed example for American health care, where research and resources disproportionately address diagnosis and treatment to the neglect of keeping people healthy in the first place. This is an easy read, loaded with practical information – from everyday environmental hazards, to avoidance of carcinogenic lifestyle choices, to a deep and useful discussion of preventive nutrition. And there is a terrific “Avoiding Cancer Recipe Collection” which could be expanded into a book of its own. In sum, the best reader-friendly cancer prevention book I’ve ever read.
Rating: 5 / 5