Where to get advice on Nutrition?

Diet and nutrition play a large part in Ayurvedic, Chinese and Arabic medicine but not Western medicine.
In 5th Century BC Hippocrates said "Let food be thy medicine and thy medicine food" and Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath that states "I will apply dietic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgement; I will keep them from harm and injustice" but nutrition is hardly touched on in medical schools in the West. I have asked many doctors how much tuition they have received on nutrition and most say less than 1 day out of 4 years of training! As for "...keep them from harm" then I think the medical profession has strayed a long way from the path especially in Oncology. Chemotherapy significantly damages a patients digestion, absorption and uptake of nutrients and can contribute to the earlier onset of cachexia, or acute malnutrition and most hospitals offer nothing more than fortified milkshakes and anti-sickness medication. Some hospitals go further - a well known London Oncology hospital (and many hospitals in Europe are similar) offer a booklet that advises, during treatment, high energy foods such as breads, potatoes, rice, pasta, sugar, honey, syrup, cakes, sweets and ice-cream should be eaten and to have fried foods often and yet reduce fruit and vegetables if you have a poor appetite. This goes against everything that I know as a nurse and nutritionist. I understand that during treatment they do not want you to lose significant weight as that can drastically affect the outcome but eating a high sugar, high refined carbohydrate diet increases insulin levels which encourage cancer growth and depress the immune system. They also state that you should avoid replacing a meal with soup because it doesn't contain as much nourishment as a meal or snack but homemade soups can be very nutritious In China today medicinal ingredients are regularly cooked into soups and other dishes to maintain health and well being. It is a great way to incorporate seaweed and mushrooms that help boost the immune system

Homemade soups can be made quickly and contain plenty of vegetables, olive oil, protein in the form of beans, lentils, fish or chicken, herbs and spices. They can be blended if prefered and wholemeal pasta, potato or rice can be added for extra calories. This is a very nutritious snack and only contains natural sugars and healthy fats.
The main thing to remember is that normal comercial sugar has calories but zero nutrition and has a bad effect on insulin levels, immune cells and inflammation.
If you are on chemotherapy then there is very good advice on Oncology Channel Website that has general advice but also a chart detailing specific chemotherapy drugs and supplements that decrease toxicity and/or increase effectiveness.
The World Cancer Research Fund says that we can slash cancer rates by at least one third by promoting healthy foods and exercise and they have spent £64million on research, produced reports with the American Institue of Cancer Research on the Global Perspective and instigated improved education such as "Change4Life" and "5 a day Campaign" in the UK. They have many educational articles and booklets that can be downloaded from their site. They have doctors from all over the world on the panel and so hopefully East meets West and their Mission is to educate people about the choices they can make to reduce their chances of developing cancer.
If you already have cancer you need to go a few steps further... read about the foods that have a proven anti-cancer effect and add them to your diet on a daily basis." The Rainbow Diet" by Chris Woollams - (Amazon UK & at Canceractive website ) or "Anti cancer a new way of life" from Amazon.com in sidebar (reviewed on this blog) and the article on The True Magic of Mushrooms on this site are good starting points. Learn how to boost your immune system by eating healthy, colourful and nutritious foods and then learn what supplements can give you an added advantage by following this blog and links on it.