Health according to David Servan-Schreiber

I don't know about you but I find that this time of year is simply the worst. Winter seems to drag on forever with the odd sunny day immediately quashed by the return of cold and rain. I also seem to drag myself sluggishly from lethargic day to cocooning evening in. My listless state is simply seasonal and I am ashamed not to be more energetic when family and friends are facing serious health problems and confronting them courageously. So, when I came across an interview of Dr David Servan-Schreiber, the author of New York Times bestseller Anticancer: A new Way of Life, I thought I should pay attention to his recommendations for a healthy life and spread the word.

His book, written from personal experience, is coming out in a new edition in France as Anticancer: les gestes quotidiens pour la sante du corps et de l'esprit (editions Robert Laffont). He argues that, there is a lot we can do to prevent cancer from developing and to help recover from the disease in following fairly simple guidelines:

Food

• Eat your veg: 80% of your meals should be made up of vegetable and 20% of animal product.
• Turmeric: David Servan-Schreiber has a thing for that spice and recommends that we eat it together with black pepper which helps absorption. It is used a lot in Indian and Moroccan cooking, so lots of delicious dishes ahead.
• Green tea and its great anti-oxidants.
• NO REFINED SUGAR
• The usual wholemeal bread, "good" oils (olive, linseed and flax-seed), garlic and onion, plenty of cereals, 2 glasses of RED WINE per day, organic if possible.

Stress-busting lifestyle

• 30 minute walk 5 times a week
• Social interaction: look after your friends and have them pamper you too!
• Naps to recharge your batteries or 5 to 10 minute meditation or breathing exercises per day. Yoga is good too!
• Early nights: Dr Servan-Schreiber hardly goes out for dinner and turns in at 10:30pm.

Nothing revolutionary but solid science-based facts that can help us all. The soothing music and the editing in the following clip is pretty corny but you might learn something!