Summary & Study Guide - Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself

By Lee Tang

Let food be thy medicine—Discover the new science of how your body heals itself.

This book is a summary of “Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself," by William W. Li, MD.

Five defense systems in our body keep our cells and organs functioning. By focusing on these systems, we can take a unified approach to intercept diseases before they set in. Diet influences each of these systems. That’s why scientists are accumulating evidence on the power of food to treat or reverse disease.

In Eat to Beat Disease, Dr. William Li explains how these five defense systems work. He also provides evidence behind over 200 health-boosting foods that are most effective at supporting these defense systems.

This is not a book about what foods to avoid. Dr. Li's 5x5x5 plan is a practical tool that matches your medical condition with the foods you like to activate your body’s defense system to beat disease.

Read this summary if you want to be on top of your game for health, beauty, and fitness.

This guide includes:
* Book Summary—helps you understand the key concepts.
* Online Videos—cover the concepts in more depth.
Value-added from this guide:
* Save time
* Understand key concepts
* Expand your knowledge

• Language: English
• Publisher: LMT Press
• Release date: May 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781988970271

Lee Tang

Lee Tang is a retired executive of a major global insurance company. Prior to his retirement, he has worked as an actuary, a risk officer and a chief financial officer for several major insurance organizations in the United States, Canada, and Taiwan. To learn more about Lee and his work, visit his website and blog at https://lmtpress.wordpress.com. You can reach him by email at [e-mail].

Book preview

Let food be thy medicine—Discover the new science of how your body heals itself.

This book is a summary of Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself, by William W. Li, MD.

Five defense systems in our body keep our cells and organs functioning. By focusing on these systems, we can take a unified approach to intercept diseases before they set in. Diet influences each of these systems. That’s why scientists are accumulating evidence on the power of food to treat or reverse disease.

In Eat to Beat Disease, Dr. William Li explains how these five defense systems work. He also provides evidence behind over 200 health-boosting foods that are most effective at supporting these defense systems.

This is not a book about what foods to avoid. Dr. Li's 5x5x5 plan is a practical tool that matches your medical condition with the foods you like to activate your body’s defense system to beat disease.

Read this summary if you want to be on top of your game for health, beauty, and fitness.

This guide includes:

Book Summary—helps you understand the key concepts.

Online Videos—cover the concepts in more depth.

Value-added from this guide:

Save time

Understand key concepts

Expand your knowledge

Important Note About This Guide

This guide is a summary and not a critique/review of the book. The summary may not be organized chapter-wise but summarizes the book’s main ideas, viewpoints, and arguments. It is NOT meant to be a replacement, but a supplement to help you understand the book’s key ideas and recommendations.

Title: Summary & Study Guide - Eat to Beat Disease

Subtitle: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself

Author: Lee Tang

Publisher: LMT Press (lmtpress.wordpress.com)

Copyright © 2019 by Lee Tang

All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.

First Edition: August 2019

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 9781988970271 (ebook)

ISBN 9781099863622 (paperback)

ISBN 9781987077216 (paperback))

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and author make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of these contents and disclaim all warranties such as warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. The website addresses in the book were correct at the time going to print. However, the publisher and author are not responsible for the content of third-party websites, which are subject to change.

To my wife, Lillian, who is the source of energy and love for everything I do, and to Andrew and Amanda: watching you grow up has been a privilege.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction

Part 1: Our Body's Natural Defense Systems

1. Angiogenesis

2. Regeneration

3. Microbiome

4. DNA Protection

5. Immunity

Part 2: The Evidence for Food as Medicine

6. Starve Your Disease, Feed Your Health

7. (Re) generate Your Health

8. Feed Your Inner Ecosystem

9. Direct Your genetic Fate

10. Activate Your Immune Command Center

Part 3: Putting Food to Work

11. The 5 x 5 x 5 Framework

12. Rethinking the Kitchen

13. Exceptional Foods

14. Food Doses

Appendices

Appendix A: Master Food List

Appendix B: 5 x 5 x 5 Daily Worksheet

Index

About the Author

Introduction

Health is not just the absence of disease. It is an active state, protected by five defense systems in the body keeping our cells and organs functioning. These systems are hard-wired in our bodies to protect us. While they function as separate systems of defense, they also support and interact with one another.

The five systems are:

Angiogenesis—We have 60,000 miles of blood vessels throughout our body, bringing oxygen and nutrients to all of our cells and organs. These blood vessels are formed by a process called angiogenesis, which can be influenced by food.

Regeneration—We have 750,000 stem cells in our body generating new tissues. Some foods can mobilize them to repair damaged tissues and organs. Other foods can kill deadly stem cells that spark cancer growth.

Microbiome—We have over 40 trillion microbes living in and on our body; most of them are beneficial to our health. They help us digest our food and produce health-supporting compounds that influence our immune system and angiogenesis. They also produce hormones and neurotransmitters that influence our brain and social functions. We can boost our microbiome by eating probiotic foods.

DNA Protection—Environmental factors such as solar radiation, household chemicals, stress, sleep deprivation, and poor diet can cause damage to our DNA. If the DNA is damaged, the genes can malfunction, which leads to aging, wrinkled skin, cancer, and damage to the brain, heart, lungs, and other organs. Our body has a built-in repair mechanism that protects us against damage. Some foods can prompt DNA to fix itself by turning on good genes and turning off bad ones. Other foods can lengthen our telomeres to slow down the effects of aging.

Immunity—The immune system is our main defense system against invasion by pathogens. Some foods can boost the immune system to help defend against bacterial and viral infections, while others can dampen immune activities to help prevent autoimmunity.

By focusing on these common denominators of health, we can take a unified approach to prevent diseases. Diet influences each of these systems. That’s why scientists are now studying food with the same tools and methods used to study drug therapies. When you know what to eat to support each health defense, you know how to use your diet to maintain health and beat disease.

This book is divided into three parts. Part 1 explores the five health defense systems, how they work, and how we can harness their healing power. Part 2 reveals the foods that activate the health defense systems, and part 3 gives you an easy and practical way to incorporate these foods into your life.

Part 1

Our Body's Natural Defense Systems

Angiogenesis

Regeneration

Microbiome

DNA Protection

Immunity

Chapter 1

Angiogenesis

Studies have shown that many people have microscopic cancers in their body. These microscopic cancers are harmless; your body has a defense system called angiogenesis that keeps microscopic cancers small by starving them of the blood supply and nutrients they need to grow. Angiogenesis is the process used by the body to grow and maintain blood vessels. Dysfunction in that process can cause a wide range of diseases, including cancer. Yet you can optimize this defense system through the foods you eat.

Angiogenesis at Work

Your body has over 60,000 miles (100,000 km) of blood vessels delivering oxygen and nutrients to keep cells alive. Each organ has its unique density and pattern of capillaries (small blood vessels), depending on what the organ does and how much blood flow it needs. For example, the capillary density of your muscles is four times higher than that of your bones, while your brain, heart, kidneys, and liver are 30 times higher.

Angiogenesis supports life even before its conception. By the time a sperm meets an egg, the womb is lined with new blood vessels ready to receive and nurture the fertilized egg. If no pregnancy occurs, the body sloughs the lining off during menstruation. Eight days after implantation, the body creates the placenta that brings blood from the mother to the fetus. Over the next nine months, angiogenesis takes place within the fetus, forming an entire circulatory system from scratch. Toward the end of pregnancy, the placenta releases a natural antiangiogenic factor to slow down angiogenesis to prepare the baby for birth.

The angiogenesis system constantly senses where and when you need more blood vessels to keep organs healthy and functioning. When you have an injury, the wounded cells release growth