The years around World War II were a turning point in the history of our well being. And in the decades that followed, the sixty-plus years that constitute most or all of a lifetime for a majority of us, we have been living a large and uncontrolled experiment. One result has been skyrocketing rates of cancer. Although we don’t usually think of it this way, there has been no time in human history and no place in the world where food quality, eating habits, and lifestyle have changed so fast and in so large a way.

Many believe that cancer strikes because of poor genetics or poor luck, because of factors that are outside our control. Some believe it’s simpler than that; it strikes because we’re living longer and have more time to develop the disease. Yet there is much evidence to suggest that some cancers strike because of the lifestyle choices we make, and because our eating habits and the quality of the foods we consume have deteriorated. No culture in all of human history has ever eaten as we do now.

How did it happen; how did the thread of well being that wove one generation to the next begin to unravel? One answer, I think, is that large-scale, continual change has been the reality for as long as most of us have been living. We’ve grown so accustomed to it that we rarely consider how unusual the extent and pace of this change has been. Without adequate perspective, most of us couldn’t know where new developments would lead or predict that the unraveling might destroy our garment of good health.

While it’s true that poor health is a built-in byproduct of our modern food system, the story does not have to end here. We all have the power to step around the system and, in our own homes and without much difficulty, understand and undo many of these changes.

The following are specific examples of what’s happened to our eating habits and food quality since WWII. These examples are worth noting for two reasons: because they correlate with rising cancer rates, and because they are all under our control.

Introduction of refined vegetable oils and trans fats. Since WWII, we have transitioned from traditional fats like butter and olive oil to industrial vegetable oils and trans fats, which have no nutrients and can fuel cancer growth because of their high rates of omega-6 fats. In excess, omega-6 fats cause internal inflammation.
Feeding farm animals grain instead of grass. In response to a postwar increase in demand for animal foods, farmers implemented shortcuts to save time and money, chief among them feeding animals corn and soy (nearly all of it genetically altered) instead of grass. Both have an abundance of inflammatory omega-6 fats and nearly none of the beneficial omega-3 fats found in grass. In addition, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fatty acid thought to have important anti-cancer benefits, is found in foods that come from grass-fed animals. It is missing in animals that live on grain.
Reliance on antibiotics and hormones in raising livestock. It has become common for farm animals to be given antibiotics to promote growth, or simply to prevent disease rather than treat it, the latter compensating for methods of feeding and rearing that are inherently unhealthful. Many cows are also given hormones to fatten them faster and to increase their milk production. When we consume milk and meat from these cows, the hormones we take in can stimulate the growth of our own cells, including cancer cells.
Use of pesticides in growing food. The 1940s and 1950s marked the beginning of the pesticide era. Decades later, most of us carry internal traces of more than 200 environmental chemicals, many of which play a role in the initial development of cancer cells, and in the development of individual cancer cells into dangerous tumors. On a broader level, immune cells are able to work better and harder when they are protected from toxins.
Increased intake of sweeteners. Consumption of sweeteners has increased exponentially since WWII. Here, I am referring to white and brown sugar, and also to high-fructose corn syrup, which was developed and marketed in the last 40 years and is toxic to our bodies. These sweeteners weaken immune strength. They also cause blood sugar spikes that prompt a surge of insulin and insulin growth factor (IGF). This surge makes cells, including cancer cells, grow faster and enhances their ability to spread into neighboring tissue.
Reliance on processed and packaged foods. Postwar prosperity stimulated our appetite for processed and packaged foods; these have been sold to us as a convenience but they are more correctly impostors: looking like food and filling us as food does, but providing little or no nourishment and even causing harm. Most processed foods contain refined vegetable oils and trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup or sugar, and white flour. Processed foods may look like the foods that nourished past generations but they are less nutritious, they promote inflammation, and they encourage weight gain, all of which increase cancer risk.
Reliance on a few ingredients to provide all our nutrients. Since WWII, the pace of our lives has quickened in unimaginable ways, and as we have become busier our diets have become less diverse. We used to get nutrients from a variety of foods. Yet today, processed foods made with white flour, sugar and refined vegetable oils comprise more than half of our calories. These food choices harm us in two ways: by the damage they cause in their own right, and by the way they crowd out foods that offer a diversity of nutrients for detoxifying carcinogens, strengthening immunity, and quieting internal inflammation.

Inflammation: The Tie that Binds

Nearly all of the changes described above increase inflammation inside of us, which matters because inflammation is the underpinning of cancer and other modern illnesses. Even among those who have cancer, patients with the lowest levels of inflammation have the longest lives. According to the late Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, inflammation levels are a better indicator of patient survival than is overall health at the time of a cancer diagnosis.

Our understanding of inflammation and its role in disease is relatively new, which is why it hasn’t long been a focus in disease prevention. But it’s also true that avoiding inflammation is inexpensive, not patentable, and doesn’t require a prescription, so it’s not in anyone’s interest to spend time promoting preventive measures.

Changes We Have the Power to Make

It is always easier to avoid a problem than it is to fix it after it has happened, and it’s not too late for us to reconnect with food that is real rather than manufactured in order to reduce the likelihood of illness. The following are ideas you may want to consider for moving forward, choosing a place to begin and a pace to follow that feels comfortable to you:

Limit refined vegetable oils and trans fats like margarine especially those made from corn, soybean, safflower, cottonseed, and sunflower seeds. Replace them with butter from the cream of pastured cows, olive oil, or virgin organic coconut oil. On the rare occasions when these won’t do, refined coconut oil or canola oil may work as a back-up. While these two oils come with some considerations and might best be used moderately, they are not thought to be inflammatory.
Look for meat, dairy products, and eggs from animals raised on grass and from animals that have not received antibiotics or hormones. Chickens always receive some grain, but they should be raised primarily on pasture; labels will say “pastured.” Meat labels will say “grass-fed.” Animal products will also be labeled “free of antibiotics and hormones.” (A certified organic label says nothing about whether an animal was raised on grass, but it is an indication that animal foods are free of antibiotics and hormones.)
Whenever possible, opt for food that is grown without pesticides. Organic certification is one proof of purity, but you can also ask the farmer who grows your food. The Environmental Working Group publishes a shopper’s guide to pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables. This guide can help you prioritize your organic purchases.
Consider filtering your tap water to minimize your intake of toxins like fluoride, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals. Carbon and reverse-osmosis filters both do the job well.
To the extent you can, cook at home. This may challenge you, but remember that most restaurants use the cheapest quality ingredients: refined sugar, industrial vegetable oils, and meat and dairy products from animals fattened on grain and given antibiotics and hormones. When you eat out, you can control what you eat, but not the quality of what you eat and quality is what matters most.
Remember to read labels. To avoid listing sugar as the first and largest ingredient, food manufacturers often list it under many different names: evaporated cane juice, molasses, corn syrup, honey, sucrose, fructose, glucose, maltose, and more. Watch for and avoid these hidden sugars, as well as refined vegetable oils and white flour.
Aim for reducing your intake of sweets and keep in mind that, because sugar can be addictive, it may take time—a month or even longer—for sugar cravings to subside.
As often as possible, replace white flour with whole-wheat flour. See Bold Baking for ideas on how to make this substitution work.
Broaden your diet to include a variety of plant foods that promote health and work against many common forms of cancer. It’s ideal to eat all sorts of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. You can supplement these with high-quality meat, fish, eggs, or dairy if you make these foods a part of your diet.
Learn to recognize and appreciate living fermented foods, which can inhibit the growth of certain cancer cells and play a role in detoxification. See Living Foods.
Try to work cancer-protective foods into your diet. For individual cancer cells to develop into dangerous cancers, and for existing cancers to spread, they need new networks of blood vessels to feed them. Inflammation enables the creation of new blood vessel networks, so foods that reduce inflammation are cancer protective. These include certain green teas, mushrooms, spices, and herbs.

In Closing

We need ways of cooking and eating that support good health rather than work against it. You don’t need to approach the challenge all at once. It may work even better to pick an idea or two as a place to begin and allow yourself the freedom to adapt over time.

We are all made up of trillions of living microorganisms. Although it may sound surprising, this is good news because these microorganisms keep us alive and well. They live inside our bodies and on our bodies, and the largest colonies reside in the digestive tract, which comprises the core of our immune system. When we make these microorganisms welcome within us, they flourish. And when they do, they help our bodies break down the foods we eat to absorb their nutrients. They also bolster our immunity to keep us strong and well.

One of the most important ways we have of replenishing and strengthening the population of microorganisms inside of us is by eating living foods, also called fermented foods. Fermentation transforms what we eat, preserving it and making it more nutritious and digestible. The food then transforms us.

Around the world, people prize fermented foods for their contribution to good health and long life. Our modern American culture, however, has lost much of its connection to fermented foods, which can be hard to come by, and where they are still found, we often don’t recognize them or value their importance.

Put simply, living fermented foods matter. They have the potential to impact our well being in a significant way and are worth getting to know. They're also worth appreciating for their power to support a level of good health that is vibrant, deep, and lasting.

Defining Living Fermented Foods

Fermentation gives us chocolate, wine, beer, bread, salami, and sauerkraut. It also transforms milk and cream into yogurt, cheese, cultured butter, and buttermilk. For more adventurous eaters, fermented foods may include tempeh, miso, kimchee, beet kvass, kefir and more. In truth, nearly all of the foods we consider “gourmet” are the product of fermentation.

It’s important to know that not all fermented foods are still alive when we consume them. To be living—that is, to provide us with the benefits that living microorganisms offer—they must not have been heated to the point at which microorganisms die. So, sourdough bread is alive before it’s baked, and even though it can be highly nutritious, it is not a living food when we eat it. Likewise, fermented foods like pickles or sauerkraut that are bottled and heat-processed to remain stable on a shelf are not living foods. And sauerkraut or pickles made with vinegar may taste good, but they are more correctly preserved foods; they are neither living nor fermented.

Some fermented foods bear tell-tale signs that they are alive. Miso and fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, kimchee, and pickles are refrigerated when you buy them. Fermented vegetables contain herbs, spices, and salt as their only other ingredients; vinegar is not be listed on the label. Yogurt, yogurt shakes, and buttermilk say “contains live cultures” on the container. For all of these to remain potent living foods, you need to refrain from heating them.

The Many Ways That Living Fermented Foods Improve Our Health

Before our ancestors had refrigerators, fermentation was their primary means of preserving milk, cream, vegetables, fish, and meat. It worked as a natural preservative by using microorganisms to break down foods, a process that happens to be toxic to food-spoiling microbes. Now that we have refrigeration, there are other reasons to treasure these foods; the main one is that fermentation is a living process capable of changing, in important ways, the character of our gut and what we eat. More specifically, fermentation:

Improves digestion. Most of us have used or consumed antibiotics, processed foods, sugar, and chlorinated water. All of these make it difficult for the diverse population of microorganisms within us to flourish. Fermented foods dramatically improve digestion by promoting the growth of healthy intestinal flora. This enables us to absorb more nutrients from the foods we eat so, over time, we get a higher level of nutrition from the same quality and quantity of food.
Makes foods more digestible. Fermented foods are essentially pre-digested, which makes it easier for us to absorb their nutrients. Some people who don’t tolerate milk, for example, can eat yogurt without difficulty.
Makes foods more nutritious. Fermentation creates new nutrients in foods. More specifically, as the microorganisms in fermented foods mature through their full life cycle, they create vitamins that were not there before, including B vitamins like folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin.
Strengthens immunity. Since 70%-80% of our immune system resides in the digestive tract, a healthy digestive system is the key to a properly-functioning and robust immune system. It's also our first line of defense against disease.
Removes toxins from food. Fermentation reduces or eliminates toxins in food. Cassava, for example, contains cyanide until it is fermented. Many whole grains and beans contain phytic acid, which is an anti-nutrient that limits our ability to absorb and retain minerals. Soaking, which is a form of fermentation, neutralizes phytic acid.
Makes foods more flavorful. Fermentation changes the flavor, aroma, and texture of foods in wonderful ways. Consider how milk becomes tangy yogurt or the way fresh, crunchy cucumbers turn into sour dill pickles.

Living fermented foods are ideally taken as condiments, and a small portion a day seems to be enough to reap their many benefits.

What About Probiotics?

A high-quality probiotic supplement may be useful for a period of months if you are ill, have been on antibiotics, tend not to remember to eat fermented foods regularly, or have weak digestion.

Our grocery store shelves are also lined with foods and drinks that have probiotics added to them, but these seem to be a costly marketing ploy. They approximate old-fashioned living fermented foods that contain diverse microorganisms, but the fermentation process is missing, and the process is the point. If you need a probiotic supplement, it would be better to find a good one and take it as medicine.

Living fermented foods are natural probiotics. They sow your inner garden with seeds that have been used for all time and, unlike manufactured foods, have always been a part of our culinary tradition.

Finding Living Fermented Foods

Fermentation is generally not an industrial process; it can’t be in our litigious society where foods have to be sterilized with chemicals or heat to remain stable during transport and for long periods on store shelves. Further, making fermented foods is as much an art as it is a science, which makes the process difficult to standardize; each batch is unique. For these reasons, living fermented foods are best made at home or on small farms by people who care about quality and tradition.

The best way to obtain living fermented foods is to look for them at farmers’ markets or in the refrigerated sections of local health food stores. You can also make them yourself, which is not difficult. You might look at making your own fermented foods as a way of embracing the living energy in your own environment, building inner well being out of the living forces around you.

My favorite book on this topic is Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Katz. If you are at all intrigued by the idea of home fermentation, you will want to have this book on your shelf. And if you decide to give fermenting a try, consider starting with yogurt. When you make it yourself, which takes little time, the quality and flavor are superior to that of even the best commercial yogurt.

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