The Prostate Health Program

What foods should you eat if you want to keep your prostate healthy? How does sexual activity affect the health of your prostate? What are ways you can prevent prostate cancer? What should African-American men know about prostate cancer? What are the best alternatives to radiation and surgery in treating prostate cancer? What are the symptoms of an unhealthy prostate? These are some of the many important questions that are answered by Dr. Daniel W. Nixon, one of America's premier cancer research institute leaders, and Dr. Max Gomez, the charismatic health commentator whose reports are aired on NBC television stations nationwide. The authors not only provide indispensable guidance in cancer prevention but also offer a dynamic, new noninvasive treatment of prostate cancer. Packed with information, The Prostate Health Program explains in clear, simple language the link between obesity and prostate cancer, the difference between an enlarged prostate and a diseased one, the causes of frequent urination and pain, and the specific prostate problems pertaining to gay men. Drs. Nixon and Gomez offer a user-friendly plan of diet, exercise, and behavioral change that men can easily incorporate into their lives. The authors explain why aggressive treatment, such as radiation and surgery, is often unnecessary, less effective, and more dangerous -- often leaving men incontinent and impotent -- than other treatments. The cornerstones of this unique program are the Prostate Health Pyramid and the Transition Diet, both of which were created specifically for this book and are the ultimate tools in prostate cancer prevention, control, and treatment. First, the foods that protect the health of the prostate are identified; then, food changes are introduced slowly for more effective and long-lasting reform of eating habits. Best of all, quick and easy recipes created by chefs at the Culinary Institute of America provide a menu that is healthy and delicious. With its combination of cutting-edge research and highly respected, world-renowned authors, The Prostate Health Program is the definitive defense against a deadly disease.

Dan Nixon, M.D. and Max Gomez

Acknowledgments Introduction by Max Gomez, Ph.D. I. Preventing Prostate Problems and Diseases 1. An Overview • Liberating Yourself • The Nutrition Connection • The Exercise/Fitness/Lifestyle Connection • The Importance of Regular Checkups • Prostate Myths and Reality 2. The Healthy Prostate • Prostate Power • The Male Urogenital System • Do I Have a Problem? • Risk Factors of Prostate Cancer 3. The Prostate Checkup • Warning Signs • Basic Diagnostic Tests • When Should You See a Urologist? II. The Prostate Health Pyramid and the Cancer Prevention Diet 4. The Prostate Health Pyramid and the Nutrition Connection • The Prostate Health Pyramid and the Basic Food Groups • Nutritional Elements of the Prostate Health Pyramid 5. Negative Nutrition • The Fats and Calcium Controversies • The Worst Foods for Your Prostate • The Irritants • Additives • Supplements: Good and Bad 6. The Transition Diet • A Gradual Approach • A Better Way • Getting Ready -- Suiting Up • The Six Food Settings • The Five Passageways • A Parting Word 7. Menus and Recipes: Prostate Health, the Delicious Way! • Choosing the Right Meals III. Prostate Health and Fertility 8. The Healthy Prostate Fitness Regimen • The Link Between Exercise and Prostate Health • Can Exercise Prevent Prostate Cancer? • The Healthy Prostate Fitness Regimen • Aerobics: A Key to Prostate Health • Kegel Exercises (Pelvic Floor Exercises) for Men • Exercise After Prostate Surgery 9. Sex and the Prostate • The Prostate and Sexual Function • Impotence (Erectile Dysfunction) • Incontinence • Infertility 10. Prostatitis: A Little Tenderness Goes a Long Way • An Insufficiently Understood Disease • The Three Faces of Prostatitis • Which Kind Do I Have? • Treatment Strategies for Bacterial Prostatitis • Treatment Options for Chronic Nonbacterial Prostatitis (CNP) • Diet and Lifestyle Changes • Gay Men and Prostatitis • Living with Prostatitis 11. When Size Matters: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) • What is BPH? • Who Gets BPH? • Symptoms of BPH • When to See a Doctor • Treatment Options • Putting It All Together 12. Prostatodynia (Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome) • Symptoms of Prostatodynia • Diagnosis of Prostatodynia • What Causes Prostatodynia? • Drawing a New Diagnostic Map of Prostatitis-Type Disorders • Treatment Options for Prostatodynia • Solving the Enigma of Prostatodynia IV. Prostate Cancer 13. Guarding Against Prostate Cancer • The Institute for Cancer Prevention on Prostate Cancer • The Institute for Cancer Prevention's Prostate Cancer Prevention Program • The PSA Test: Cutting Through the Controversy • Grading Prostate Cancer • Prostate Cancer Q&A: Things You Need to Know • In the Wake of Prostate Cancer: Coping and Getting On with Your Life 14. Treating Prostate Cancer • A Treatment Dilemma • Determining the Right Treatment for Each Patient • Expectant Therapy • Radiation Therapy • Hormone Therapy • Chemotherapy • On the Horizon: The Prostate Cancer Vaccine • Biological Therapy • Gene Therapy: The Future of Prostate Cancer Treatment? • Surgery • Cryotherapy • Treating the Complications of Prostate Cancer • Relieving and Treating Pain • The Institute for Cancer Prevention's Prostate Cancer Symptoms and Treatment Charts 15. African Americans and Prostate Cancer • Stopping the Crisis • Race and Age • A More Aggressive Incidence of the Disease • How Much Does Race Have to Do with It? • Possible Causatives and Risk Factors Other than Race • The Institute for Cancer Prevention's Ten-Step Plan to Prevent and Combat Prostate Cancer in African Americans • Hispanic Men and Prostate Cancer: No Easy Answers V. Alternatives 16. Alternative Treatments • Outside the Realm • What Is Conventional (Allopathic) Medicine? • What Is Alternative Medicine? • Types of Alternative Therapies • The Placebo Effect • Homeopathy: Something for Nothing? • Traditional Chinese Medicine • Chiropractic Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine • Ayurveda: The Oldest Medicine? • Back to Mother Nature: Herbs and the Prostate • An Alternative Diet Therapy for the Prostate • Physical Therapy (Bodywork) • A Final Word on Alternative Therapies About the Institute for Cancer Prevention Index About the Authors