Contributing Chefs and Nutritionists

Rebecca Katz

Rebecca Katz MS, is the award-winning author of The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Beyond (Ten Speed Press, August, 2009), and One Bite at a Time: Nourishing Recipes for Cancer Survivors and their Friends (Second Edition). She holds a Masters of Science degree in Health and Nutrition Education, and received her culinary training from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts.

Rebecca is the Executive Chef for Food as Medicine and Cancer Guides, sponsored by the Center for Mind Body Medicine, and is a visiting Chef and nutrition educator at Commonweal’s Cancer Help Program in Bolinas, California.

A myriad of food related experiences, including a sojourn to Italy, where she studied Mediterranean cuisine from chefs and signoras from Florence to Sicily, shaped Rebecca’s philosophy that health-supportive food must taste great in order to be nourishing and healing. Rebecca lectures, teaches and consults at cancer centers around the country. She resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Watch Rebecca in Action!

Rebecca's Magical Broth

Bella's Carrot, Orange & Fennel Soup

Cookbook authored by Rebecca Katz

The Cancer Fighting Kitchen

International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) 2010 Cookbook Award Winner - Winning both the Health and Special Diet Award and the People’s Choice Award

Purchase from Amazon.com

At the junction of food and medicine stands a unique culinary translator, the only chef in America who regularly receives referrals from the country’s top cancer specialists. Rebecca Katz is the creative link bridging physicians and patients who share a common goal: eating well to maximize cancer treatment, minimize side effects, and improve outcomes.

In her new book, The Cancer Fighting Kitchen, Katz brings to readers a book infused with both fantastic taste and meticulous science, utilizing delicious ingredients rich in the nutrients, minerals, and phytochemicals that people simply must have to thrive during treatment. Chock full of wisdom, experience, and comments from both Katz and a coterie of America’s foremost integrative oncologists, physicians, and cancer-wellness professionals, The Cancer Fighting Kitchen includes:

More than 150 healthy, mouth-watering, easy-to-find recipes that stimulate appetite and address treatment side-effects including fatigue, nausea, mouth and throat soreness, and low blood counts (each recipe is cross-indexed by type of recipe—i.e., nourishing soups, protein-building foods, sweet bites, etc.,--what side-effects a person may be experiencing, and where they are in their treatment cycle);
The ‘Cancer Fighting Tool-Kit’: Everything caregivers and friends need to keep loved ones eating during treatment, including advice, gleaned directly from Rebecca’s practice with dozens of clients, on the best way to overcome transient taste changes by using just a few pantry staples and easy to learn kitchen techniques;
Vital advice on from Rebecca and her experts on putting together a culinary support team, including showing caregivers how to best manage sudden changes in appetite that people in treatment often experience;
A ‘Culinary Pharmacy’ that reveals the peer-reviewed science behind every ingredient in the book, including how their properties benefit the body, boost immunity, fight inflammation (which has been linked to cancer) and take on tumors.
Numerous strategies for thriving during treatment, including using food to optimize treatment, important lifestyle choices that help patients stay energized, and food shopping, preparation, storage and serving tips to guarantee that people can easily access delicious food, whether at home, on the road, even in a hospital setting.

Written in a warm, engaging, encouraging, style, Rebecca’s entertaining and informative prose helps people in treatment and their loved ones overcome their fear of cooking for someone dealing with cancer. Filled with humor, compassion, beautiful photography, and a wealth of useful information, The Cancer Fighting Kitchen brings the healing power of delicious, nutritious foods to those whose hearts and bodies crave a great meal.

In addition to her Bay-Area culinary practice with cancer patients, Chef Rebecca Katz, who also holds a Masters in nutrition, has been a guest chef and lecturer at top academic medical centers throughout the country. She is also a senior chef for retreats at the renowned Commonweal Cancer Help Program in Marin County, California. Rebecca lives in the Bay Area. This is her second cookbook for people dealing with cancer.

Testimonials & Endorsements:

“Both practitioners and patients will find The Cancer Fighting Kitchen an essential ingredient in their oncology care toolkit. This is an invaluable resource that provides a nourishing "Food As Medicine G.P.S for health, healing and vitality."

Kathie Madonna Swift MS RD
Nutritionist, Oncology Care Dietetic Practice Group
Chair of Nutrition in Complementary Care, a dietetic practice group of the American Dietetic Association

“Rebecca Katz has produced an invaluable resource for persons with cancer, their families, friends, and doctors. Instead of telling patients to eat whatever they want or “just eat a balanced diet," we can now show them how to control disease and optimize health with delicious, nourishing food from The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen. I recommend this book highly.”

Andrew Weil, MD

“There is no substitute for eating healthfully, especially when diagnosed with cancer. This wonderful resource makes nutritious foods easy to prepare, attractive to look at and tasty to eat. The best I have seen.”

Joseph Pizzorno, ND
Editor-in-Chief, Integrative Medicine, A Clinician’s Journal
Co-Author, Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine
Co-Author, Natural Medicine for the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

One Bite at a Time

Purchase from Amazon.com

Through The Inner Cook, her San Francisco Bay Area practice, chef Rebecca Katz teaches creative culinary solutions to people navigating the aftereffects of cancer treatments. For those whose appetites have been turned off by illness, Rebecca’s "One Bite at a Time" is an instant turn-on to good, nourishing food. In this comprehensive cookbook, Rebecca shares delicious, immune-boosting recipes for people living with cancer, the ever-growing number of cancer survivors and their friends.

"One Bite at a Time" features more than 85 simple-to-prepare, sumptuous recipes. From little nibbles to satisfying entrees, Rebecca's flexible approach is designed for both the individual and the entire family to enjoy. Dishes such as Poached Coconut-Ginger Salmon, Spinach Orzo with Pine Nuts and Feta, Taxicab Yellow Tomato Soup, and Magic Mineral Broth reinvigorate the appetite with ingredients that help bolster the body’s immune system.

To accompany the recipes, Rebecca offers down-to-earth information and helpful advice for those dealing with the culinary ups and downs often experienced during treatment. Learn what friends and family can do to best pitch in; discover easy substitutions for “forbidden” foods; look up "nutrition-at-a-glance" information for each recipe: and see how to wake up taste buds in any dish by using just a few basic staples from the pantry.

Rebecca's caring, humor-filled recipe notes will warm your heart and remind you that, along with a good meal, laughter can truly be the best medicine. Throughout the book’s pages, Rebecca’s clients attest to this fact, as they share anecdotes of the joyous impact these recipes have had on their lives.

At a time when you may feel that nothing is under your control, something as simple as creating a nutritious, healing dish for yourself or a loved one can be a reaffirmation of your humanity and a tangible way to nurture someone you care about.

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