Eating away at cancer

As a self-described "former fattie," Susan Sutton has had a difficult relationship with food.

"Food was always my enemy," she said.

But cancer changed that.

"Once you go through chemo," she explained, "that's how you have to come out of it. You have to eat. Food becomes your ally."

In the nearly six years since she was diagnosed with cancer in the lymph system, she has learned to rely on food to heal her body.

Working with dietitian Jaime Deem, Sutton is compiling a book of the recipes she's collected during the years. The "Eating Your Way through the Cancer Journey" cookbook through the nonprofit organization, Empowering Lives through the Cancer Journey at the Sierra Nevada Cancer Center, should be available for purchase by March.

"All recipes in the cookbook are centered around building your body back," Sutton said. "All the recipes are dedicated to empowering your body."

While Sutton collected the recipes, Deem reviewed them for nutritional value and categorized them into different sections relevant to the needs of a cancer patient.

Some recipes are targeted to those suffering from nausea, another section provides recipes for those having difficulty swallowing and another provides solutions to unintended weight loss.

"They contain lots of fruits and vegetables," Deem said. "Things we know tend to prevent disease and disease recurrence."

Although it is being developed with the cancer patient in mind, Deem said, the cookbook will serve anyone looking for a healthy lifestyle.

"Just because you don't have cancer doesn't mean you don't need to eat healthy," Deem said. "Like with the butternut squash soup, you'll still get all the benefits from the vitamin A and all the other carotenoids."

She said when it comes to fighting disease or preventing it, food is key.

"That's really the heart of what nutrition is all about," she said. "We're using food first to heal."

To order a copy of the "Eating Your Way through the Cancer Journey" cookbook, call Susan Sutton at 297-3780 or the Sierra Nevada Cancer Center at 883-3336.

The Nevada Appeal will run sample recipes from the "Eating Your Way through the Cancer Journey" cookbook on its health page, which runs Wednesdays.