Nutrition & Diet Recipes

Q: What types of food should I be eating?

A: Suggest you avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates (carbs). Cancer cells, and most infections, thrive in a high sugar environment. Refined carbs can be
easily converted by the body to sugar. Refined carbs include:

  • white rice
  • refined sugar (white sugar)
  • refined (white) flour and fast foods that are made from refined flour
  • refined potato flour (in potato chips, crinkles, and other fast foods that are made from refined potato flour).

Q: What foods do you suggest for breakfast?

A: I encourage my patients to reduce their intake of the usual high fat breakfast foods like bacon, ham, sausage, etc., and substitute instead a breakfast that that consists mainly of fruits, greens, and vegetables. Most vegetarian cookbooks will show you how to use plant-based proteins as a substitute for the usual animal proteins. Eggs and Try starting your morning with a “green smoothie” for breakfast. You can also find Dr. Layne’s recipe for green smoothies at www.MyPreventiveHealth.com. You can also find many recipes for green smoothies on the World Wide Web.

Q: What foods do you suggest for Lunch?

A: Lunch can consist of a Chef’s salad, containing any plant proteins of your choice. Try to include 6 to 9 different fruits and vegetables in your salads and try to make the salad as colorful as possible. If you are not vegetarian or vegan, you may include any type of lean protein with your salad. Use a salad dressing that you like, so that you will enjoy your chef salad. An example of a starter salad is given below:
Suggest a colorful, delicious chef’s salad for lunch.

  • I personally use a wide varieties of greens, and vegetables
  • Can add avocado, olives, seeds and nuts (except peanuts)
  • Some patients’ do not tolerate the skin of eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and white potatoes, and you may want to avoid these in your salad.
  • You can add any protein source from the list of proteins that was used for breakfast to make a Chef’s salad
  • If you are adding cheese, suggest a cheese that was made from goat’s milk, sheep’s milk, or imported cheese that were produced in France, Italy, or Switzerland. Most of these products contain A-2 Casein which may be better tolerated by your gut (as opposed to A-1 Casein that is present in most American milk and cheese products).
  • Gentle reminder that many people in the US have difficulty digesting cow’s milk and products that are made from cow’s milk.
  • Suggest tossing your salad with a teaspoon of Cold-pressed virgin olive oil and a teaspoon of MCT oil.
  • For a beverage, you can use filtered water, herbal tea, coffee, or leftover smoothie from your morning drink.

Q: What about proteins? Will this type of diet give me enough protein?

A: Most of the greens, fruits and veggies that you normally eat contain some protein, but excellent sources of plant proteins include lentils, chia seeds, peas, beans and Tofu. In fact, a bowl of lentil soup can contain the protein equivalent of a chicken breast. Again, you may want to consult a Nutritionist or a vegetarian cookbook for advice on this subject.

Q: What can I eat if I can’t eat processed foods?

A: I suggest you use “whole foods” and complex carbohydrates, like greens, fruits, veggies, brown Rice, potatoes (including purple sweet potatoes, sometimes called “Asian sweet potatoes”) for most of your meals during the day. Whole wheat (if you are not gluten intolerant) and small amounts of organic honey are generally tolerated better by the body than refined carbs.

Q: What foods do you suggest for dinner?

A: My general advice to patients, age 40 and above, is to avoid large dinners. Eat most of your calories for breakfast and lunch and have a satisfying afternoon snack. For dinner, I suggest a small bowl of soup (without added roughage) to suppress your appetite. An example from Foodie Factor™ is given below:

The immune system repairs itself at night when you’re sleeping. It has been my experience that eating large meals and/ or roughage after 6 PM tend to produce GERD symptoms, reduce the amount of restful sleep that you get at night and stress your immune system.

Q: Doc, how much sleep do I need to make my immune system function well?

A: Getting adequate sleep is critical to protecting your immune system. Most people need 7-8 hours of restful sleep every night to maintain the integrity of their immune system. Large dinners in the evening tend to a promote GERD, sleep apnea, snoring and obesity and will ultimately weaken your immune system.

Q: Doctor, what about using “alkaline water” to try to make the body more alkaline?

A: The Japanese have used alkaline water for many years to try to help patients with chronic medical conditions improve their immune system, to better fight their illnesses. Suggest the following precautions when using alkaline water:

  1. Do not use alkaline water with your meals. The body normally produces acid to help digest your food. Large amounts of alkaline water taken with your meals may interfere with the process of digestion.
  2. Small amounts of alkaline water can be taken last thing at night, or first thing in the morning may assist the body with the normal cleaning function of the gut [the alkaline tide] that normally occurs when you are sleeping. Small amounts of alkaline water can also be taken 2-3 hours after meals.
  3. Some people ‘reflux’ juices from the gallbladder and pancreas into their stomachs (bile reflux). Excess bile in the stomach can damage the stomach wall and produce symptoms that feel very much like peptic ulcer disease. The juices from the liver, gall bladder and pancreas are already alkaline, and patients with bile reflux should probably avoid the use of alkaline water.
  4. If you have been taking H2 blockers like Famotidine or proton pump inhibitors like Nexium for an upset stomach, and you’re still having meal-related
    stomach problems, ask your Doctor to recommend an endoscopy to see whether you are refluxing bile into your stomach.

Q: How can I eat lots of greens and vegetables if I am taking a blood thinner?

A: I suggest you discuss this situation with your personal doctor. It is correct that some greens and some veggies such as ginger can slightly prolong your bleeding time if you are taking certain types of blood thinners. I advise my patients to work with their doctor to adjust the level of the blood thinner to a healthy diet that contains the necessary fruits and greens and vegetables that the patient needs to support health, rather than giving the patient a blanket warning to avoid fruits, greens and vegetables because these foods may be making the blood thinner.

 

QUESTIONS ON DIETS, WEIGHT LOSS AND HEALTHY EATING:

 

HEALTHY EATING

Q: WHY CAN’T I JUST GO ON A STRICT DIET? If the doc is right about my body being such a great machine, why am I getting fat and why do I sometimes feel like my body is falling apart?

A: YOU DON’T HAVE TO STARVE YOUR BODY! Tying to starve your body would be the worst thing in the world for you to do! Remember your body is a very smart machine. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TO STARVE YOUR BODY The body goes into a protective mode and tries to hold on to your fat to prevent you from dying of hunger YOUR BODY WILL PLAN ACCORDINGLY Your body tries to protect you from starvation and the brain sends a strong message to all organs of the body telling them to slow down the metabolism of all organs. THIS MAKES IT DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE TO LOSE WEIGHT!  You may lose some weight by losing your critical body water and burning your muscles, but this is unhealthy!

A “STARVATION DIET” WILL SHOCK YOUR BODY AND YOUR BODY WILL GO INTO A ‘PROTECTIVE MODE’. Your body will hang on to every calorie that you eat and  convert the calories into fat to protect you from dying of starvation. It is more important to change your eating pattern (the times that you eat and to substitute ‘Whole Foods*’ for empty calories**’ in your diet.

*Whole Foods = fruits, vegetables, nuts and leafy greens

**EMPTY CALORIES = most fast foods: foods containing mainly white rice, white sugar, white flour, white potato flour (as in many potato chips, crinkles, etc.)

Q: I’VE TRIED EVERY DIET KNOWN TO MAN TO GET MY BODY IN BETTER SHAPE WITHOUT MUCH SUCCESS. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?

YOU CAN LOOK GREAT! Whatever you have done to your body in the past, forget it! Your body can usually correct itself with a little help from you. I know that you are asking yourself:

Q: Doc, if you are right about my body being such a great machine, why am I getting fat and why do I sometimes feel like my body is falling apart?

A: Forget about dieting to lose weight and focus on health eating, and getting 2 to 3  10-minute sessions of age-appropriate exercise each day*. I suggest you read our article on managing your Gut Microbiome and start with a Vegetarian-type diet. Gradually move most of your calories to breakfast and lunch and substitute a small bowl of soup (containing minimal roughage) for your usual dinner meal.
Begin a daily Probiotic to help normalize your gut bacteria. Try to drink six glasses of non-calorie liquids (clean filtered water, herbal teas, decaf coffee or tea, etc.) every day to help remove the ketones that will build up in your body as you start to burn fat. *Do 10 minutes of exercise in the morning and in the early evening, and go for a walk during the day with a girlfriend. Email us in 3 weeks at ([email protected]) to let us know how you are doing.

Questions and Answers on Nutrition and how to strengthen the immune system

[Q and A with Dr. Layne]

Many patients have asked me:

Q: Doctor, is there any truth to the suggestion that eating the right foods can improve the function of my immune system?

A: The answer is yes. Food is one of the controllable factors that affect the integrity of the immune system. Other factors are  stress, your sleep, exercise, and pollution in the environment. Most of your immune system is in your gut (gastrointestinal tract) and the gut seems to function best when it is maintained in a slightly alkaline state (as opposed to slightly acid state).

As a general rule, a diet that consists mainly of greens, fruits, and leafy vegetables will keep the body in a slightly alkaline state. On the other hand, a diet that consists mainly of meat and meat products will tend to keep the body in a slightly acid state.

Q: What additional steps can I take to try to strengthen my immune system?

A: First, I suggest that you follow the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make sure that you have had all the appropriate immunizations for your age and gender.

Here are some additional general suggestions for patients that are attempting to strengthen their immune system and alkalinize their bodies:
Get more oxygen into body. Oxygen allows the body to maintain the immune system. Most cancer cells, bacteria and viruses that cause infections in the body
(pathogens) can thrive in an environment in which the oxygen level in the body is low. The following suggestions for increasing the oxygen supply to your tissues
may also be useful for patients that are managing various types of cancer and patients that are fighting chronic infections:

  1.  Remind yourself to take deep breaths. You can increase the oxygen supply to your tissues by simply practicing “deep breathing”. Try to expand your lungs to get more oxygen to your organs and tissues. This will help strengthen your immune system
  2. Practice taking 12 deep breaths every 10-15 minutes to increase the oxygen supply to the brain and tissues of the body.
  3. Stretch your muscles and joints every 10 to 15 minutes while sitting in a chair or lying in bed. This will force you to take deep breaths and will also maintain the flexibility of your joints
  4. Avoid the use of H-2 blockers (medicines that are often used to treat simple heartburn and GERD symptoms by suppressing the production of your stomach acid) unless these medicines are absolutely necessary to manage an ulcer. Stomach acid plays an important role in defending your body against invading bacteria. Long term suppression of your stomach acid may be harmful to your health.