van Rooinek:

There's a reason I don't proscribe dairy altogether, and place "Experiment with removing dairy" as one of the final steps.  Some people seem to do very well with dairy products, some people find that removing it solves nagging problems.

There is also the matter of degree and quantity.  Even people with no lactase persistence can digest small quantities of lactose via gut bacteria, and this quantity may well be increased by enzymes in raw dairy and some consequent rebalancing of gut flora.

That being said, my desire for cheese has dropped nearly to zero now that I eat plenty of fatty red meat...but I still enjoy the occasional insalata caprese.

Renee:

I wouldn't be so brash as to make such claims…but I don't think that having cancer changes what a healthy diet should be.  In fact, I would think it makes healthy diet even more critically important!

That being said, DT is correct that a ketogenic diet has shown some success with certain types of tumors, and it's reasonably easy to make Paleo ketogenic.  Paul Jaminet at Perfect Health Diet has written some good articles about how to make diets ketogenic: I recommend looking through these articles if you're interested.  Note that "organic chicken and vegetables" is definitely a low-carb diet, and probably ketogenic unless "vegetables" includes starchy tubers like potatoes.

I'm glad to hear that your mother has done well!

JS

Vegan:

I'm glad you enjoy the take-home, even if we disagree on diet.

However, meat doesn't cause cancer.  In fact, vegetarians have more bowel cancer than meat-eaters!  

Am J Clin Nutr May 2009 vol. 89 no. 5 1620S-1626S
Cancer incidence in vegetarians: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Oxford)
Timothy J Key, Paul N Appleby, Elizabeth A Spencer, Ruth C Travis, Andrew W Roddam, and Naomi E Allen

"The incidence rate ratio for colorectal cancer in vegetarians compared with meat eaters was 1.39 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.91)."

And contrary to your "facts" (which probably came from "Forks over Knives"), the death rate in Norway dropped well before animal products were rationed.

"During the first year [starting in spring of 1940] the rationing included all imported foods, bread, fats, sugar, coffee, cocoa, syrup, and coffee substitute. In the second year [starting in late 1941] all kinds of meat and pork, eggs, milk and dairy products were rationed…"

See the problem?

Animal foods didn’t really dwindle from Norwegian kitchens until the end of 1941. Even if we ignore the fact that changes in mortality would naturally lag behind changes in diet, it’s hard to blame the 1941 drop in cardiovascular disease on something that mostly happened in 1942!  

(Full reference and critique here.)

For those interested in the actual evolutionary background and diet of our ancestors, this ongoing series lays out the established evidence.  

JS

TGIYP:

I'm glad you find this article inspiring...and you're always welcome to link to me!

In my opinion, model-thin only looks good in pictures...in person it's a bit creepy.

JS

jan:

Is cottage cheese OK to eat?  The most important question is "Do you feel any better if you eliminate cheese and other dairy products?"  If not, then carry on.  If so, make your own judgment.  Dairy is a gray area…for me, butter and cream are fine, but if I drink a lot of milk or eat a lot of cheese, I get a little bit of acne.

And that's why I place "Experiment with eliminating dairy" as one of the final steps: tolerances to it seem to differ dramatically from person to person.

JS