Jeanne Wallace, Nutrition Consultant

I really appreciated the non-dogmatic nature of the curriculum at Bauman College, which allowed me to develop an understanding of the best application of various diet approaches and to individualize my approach for each client. My class presentations (and later teaching at Bauman College in Santa Cruz) helped me develop the confidence to network with oncologists. Bolstering my approach with published scientific studies has helped me earn referrals from cancer centers and oncologists throughout the country.

One of the most beautiful gifts of my time at Bauman College was a deep appreciation for the innate healing wisdom of the human body, and the insight that diet and lifestyle are truly the foundation of our capacity to heal. This knowledge infuses my clients with a deep sense of empowerment. As my clients journey on their healing paths, often far exceeding their doctors expectations, I am reminded there is so much we can do to nourish our own health. My personal challenge has been slowing down enough to take care of myself (I’m a passionate workaholic). Tending a thriving organic garden and a small orchard of rare and heirloom fruits allows me to slow down, to connect with the earth, and to nurture my health.

The focus of my work has been evidence-based nutrition and phytotherapy to augment conventional cancer care. I founded Nutritional Solutions in 1997, and since then have worked closely with 1,450 cancer survivors. I specialize in malignant brain tumors, and also work with clients facing breast, ovarian, colon, lung, pancreatic, and head-and-neck cancers, as well as malignant melanoma. In 2001, I submitted a “Best Case Series” of Stage IV brain tumor clients to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine (NCCAM).

I’ve established myself as a leading authority on nutrition and cancer, serving as a consultant for oncologists and integrative medicine centers throughout the U.S. I’ve authored articles in MedLine-indexed journals, served as a peer-reviewer for articles on cancer and nutrition, organized a complementary cancer symposium, trained interns, and given lectures and workshops at national conferences. This year, my company is forming a non-profit foundation dedicated to conducting research on nutrition and cancer. We have several exciting research projects in development. The prevailing “drug-model” of nutritional oncology research is inherently flawed, and we’re dedicated to pioneering research from a holistic, functional perspective.

In my daily consulting work, I educate my clients - and their oncologists - about complementing cancer treatments with a wholesome diet and carefully selected supplements to optimize the body’s innate healing capacity. While surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are important “tools” utilized to target cancer cells, the body relies on its innate anti-cancer defenses (such as immune competence) to complete the healing process. Nutrients drive the body’s normal biochemical activities ó consequently, nutrient deficiencies become “rate-limiting” factors, impeding the healing process. Nutrition is medicine’s “missing link”! Carefully selected vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids and phytonutrients (botanicals) become crucial in promoting a return to health after cancer treatments, and helping to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence.

For 10 years now, I have been amassing an extensive database of research on natural agents and cancer (containing over 3,000 published studies). This enables me to distill a wide volume of scientific research into my clients’ protocols. My research focus has been in two areas:

1. Natural agents that optimize conventional cancer treatments - like radiation and chemotherapy – boosting their efficacy and reducing toxic side effects, and

2. Cutting-edge, non-toxic strategies to manipulate the molecular processes that foster tumor growth and progression. One of these many strategies is anti-angiogenesis, the use of nutrients and herbs to impede the growth of blood vessels that “feed” a tumor and promote its spread.

One of the biggest confusions clients have derives from the many controversies in the field of nutrition. Can antioxidants be taken with radiation or chemotherapy, or do they interfere? Is soy safe or harmful for women with estrogen-sensitive cancers? Is raw or cooked food better? Well-meaning friends, family, neighbors (and even complete strangers) may inundate a client with advice. My clients rely on me to help them sort through all this conflicting information! I help them explore key questions:

• Is there a reasonable rationale and published evidence supporting the proposed diet changes and supplement (or merely marketing hype)? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

• For whom and under what circumstances is a strategy beneficial and when might it be detrimental?

• How can we tailor our approach to the clients unique individual biochemistry? What assessment testing will allow us to evaluate the client’s need for, and monitor the benefit from, diet changes and supplements?

Armed with a deeper understanding, my clients are able to make informed choices that are right for them.

I sometimes hear doctors dismiss nutritional therapies as “unproven”. This criticism is untrue. Rather, doctors are unfamiliar with the large volume of research that supports nutritional therapies. The information I utilize comes from research published in scientific journals, medical textbooks and trade publications. To keep current in the field, I attend conferences, read voraciously (typically over 300 research articles a year) and interview prominent researchers about their findings.

The biggest surprise for most clients and their doctors is the healing power of FOOD. Our culture is immersed in a medical model: “if you’re ill, just take this pill”. It’s easy to fall into this way of thinking, substituting dietary supplements for prescription medicines. We forget that food is not merely fuel for our bodies, it is the foundation for healing. Cancer doctors are using such strong ”weapons” in their “war” against cancer, people often doubt the value of foods, which seem “wimpy” in comparison. But the findings of recent nutrigenomic studies show that phytonutrients actually alter gene expression, silencing oncogenes and up-regulating tumor suppressor genes! Learning about these studies gives my clients a remarkable reverence for the foods they eat. It also fosters solid partnerships with the medical field: as the doctors employ sophisticated treatments to reduce tumor burden, we can embrace wholesome foods to influence the genes implicated in cancer progression, and nourish the “environment within the body” so that it is a less conducive host for the cancer. Although I draw from volumes of evidence-based scientific data, I still begin by teaching each client the Eating For Health model.