Tips from David Servan-Schreiber, a neu­rol­o­gist who beat brain can­cer, on how to stay healthy.

See also:

  • My inter­view with David Servan-Schreiber for Psy­chol­ogy Today
  • David Servan-Schreiber’s 2008 lec­ture in New York on avoid­ing can­cer:

How to Stay Healthy

Diet:

  • Eat grass-fed organic ani­mal prod­ucts: meat, milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs
  • Reduce your intake of sugar, white flour, prod­ucts con­tain­ing omega-6s (sun­flower oil, soy­bean oil, saf­flower oil, mar­garines, hydro­genated fats, non-organic ani­mal fats
  • Increase your omega-3 intake (fish, and grass or linseed-fed ani­mal products)
  • Increase your intake of anti­cancer prod­ucts (turmeric, green tea, soy, fruits, vegetables)
  • Fil­ter tap water: use a car­bon fil­ter or an inverse osmo­sis fil­ter, or drink min­eral water or spring water

Activ­ity:

  • Prac­tice 20 to 30 min­utes of phys­i­cal activ­ity per day
  • Expose your­self to sun­light for 20 min­utes each day
  • Prac­tice a method of relax­ation and self-centering (yoga, car­diac coher­ence, med­i­ta­tion, qigong, tai chi)

Avoid:

  • Perchloroethylene/Tetrachloro-ethylene, found in dry clean­ing. (Air gar­ments out for sev­eral hours before wearing.)
  • Clean­ing prod­ucts such as liq­uid deter­gents, dis­in­fec­tants, and toi­let bowl san­i­tiz­ers that con­tain alkylphe­nols (nonoxynol, octoxynol, nonylphe­nol, actylphenol)
  • Deodor­ants and antiper­spi­rants con­tain­ing aluminum
  • Cos­met­ics, sham­poo, lotions, gels, hair color, nail pol­ish, per­fumes, and sun­screen con­tain­ing estro­gens or pla­cen­tal prod­ucts, or those with parabens or phthalates
  • Chem­i­cal house­hold pes­ti­cides and insecticides
  • Heat­ing foods or liq­uids in plas­tic con­tain­ers made with PVCs, poly­styrene, or Styrofoam
  • Prepar­ing food in scratched Teflon pans