Low intakes of fruit and vegetables have been consistently linked to high cancer rates in many countries around world. Yet, less than 10 per cent of North Americans eat recommended 5-10 daily servings. The fruit and vegetables that appear most protective against cancer are raw, dark green leafy vegetables (such as spinach, kale and lettuce), cruciferous or cabbage-family types (such as brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli), and orange forms such as carrots, squash, citrus and other fruits. Different plant foods may protect against different cancers, for example:

* dark green vegetables may protect against lung cancer;

* cruciferous (cabbage family) vegetables and carrots appear protective against colon cancer;

* citrus and other fruits rich in vitamin C may lower risks of mouth, larynx, stomach and esophageal tumours.

The constituents in plant foods thought to ward off cancer include antioxidants - such as vitamins C, E and carotenes (vitamin A precursors) - and starches (which may protect against colon cancer). Other plant compounds such as indoles, flavones, phenols, coumarins, isothiocyanates, sterols and limonene may also play an anti-cancer role. Together, plant components or phytochemicals that fight cancer have been dubbed "chemopreventive agents."

The possible "chemopreventive" role of antioxidants

The cancer-combatting or chemopreventive effects of fruit and vegetables are attributed by some experts to antioxidants such as carotenoids or vitamin-A precursors. Their action in inhibiting cancer is ascribed mainly to ability to combat oxidative hits that damage DNA and cell membranes. The carotenoids are red, orange and yellow pigments found in fruit and vegetables such as cantaloupe, tomatoes, corn, carrots and peppers, as well as in green leafy vegetables such as spinach, brussel sprouts and broccoli (where their orange/yellow colour is masked by green pigment, chlorophyll). Some carotenoids are converted into active vitamin A (retinal) inside body, others not.

How about dietary supplements?

Since certain constituents in fruit and vegetables seem to reduce cancer risks, it is reasonable to wonder whether one should take supplements. While opinions vary, most nutritional scientists do not encourage use of vitamin or other supplements for cancer prevention. People can obtain all necessary vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients from a well balanced diet. There are no scientific grounds at present to support anti-cancer benefits of taking vitamin or antioxidant supplements. "Besides risk of toxicity from vitamin megadoses, there is added danger," notes one University of Toronto expert, "that people who take supplements may falsely believe they are eating well, yet fail to achieve health benefits of a balanced diet."

In addition to expense, those who take supplements may neglect to eat recommended quota of fruit and vegetables, miss out on other valuable components and get less effective health protection. The evidence for a cancer-protective effect of individual supplements is far less convincing than that for fresh fruit and vegetables as a whole. There is also concern about safety of antioxidant supplements. Although vitamins C, E and beta-carotene have low toxicity, even when consumed in doses above recommended daily amounts, a few studies suggest that consuming large doses might not be safe.

Large studies now underway will clarify action of individual dietary components. The joint effect of many varied compounds in whole fruit and vegetables gives far greater protection against cancer than any individual nutrient or supplement. Finally, remember that diet is basically worthless if you are not getting proper nutrition from your diet. If basic nutrients from your diet are not being used to help heal your body and maintain overall health, you are wasting your time, effort, money and life. A healthy diet begins with proper and full nutrition.

The place to begin with your nutrition, method to get most benefit out of foods you eat, especially in our modern world with foods rampant with antibiotics, poisoning of our lakes, rivers and oceans (not to mention land and air), is to make liberal use of both herbal dietary supplements and especially dietary aids such as organic greens.

Your perceptions about what happened are only your perceptions. So when you make statements out loud, or declarations, you are programming your non-conscious mind and creating reality around you. If you say things like I am fat, I am overweight, I am ugly, I cannot lose weight and everything else negative people say, they are not describing but creating world around them. That is why it is so important to speak only exactly that which you are attracting into your life NOW. Realizing it is not a description but a creation.

Create your declarations (and everything else) in positive. You cannot lose weight. Because if you focus on losing weight, what do you have to focus on as a reference? Being overweight. You cannot not be fat, because then you have to focus on being fat to not be it.

Create your declarations in positive. All stated and referenced to exactly what you are now. I AM healthy, I AM trim, I AM Slim, I AM toned, I AM . . . whatever you see yourself as now. Create your declarations based on what you need. What will make a difference for you.

If you want to really make these declarations have an impact in your life, sing them. Sing declarations at full volume, even if you have worst singing voice in world. Singing puts an enormous amount of energy into declarations. Sing it to any tune you know, make one up or just singing to no tune. I talk about importance of putting energy into your focus a little later.

You might need declarations because you don't believe you deserve to be slim, or you are using weight as a protection and need declarations to be safe and secure and slim. Or your weight is giving you some other benefit that you need to create declarations for. Get declarations you need and speak them. That is what makes them declarations.