Calorie for calorie, leafy green vegetables like spinach with its delicate texture and jade green color provide more nutrients and vitamins than any other food. Spinach carotenoid combats cancer. Here is a healthy spinach salad good enough for any lunch main course.

Vicki's Spinach Salad with Fruit.
Fresh baby spinach leaves
1 carrot thinly sliced
1 celery stalk thinly sliced
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
1 cup grape tomatoes
1/2 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1/2 cup chopped fresh apple
1/2 cup chopped fresh pear
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 hard boiled eggs sliced
6 strips crispy cooked bacon crumbled

Vicki's Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon freshly chopped chives

Toss all of the salad ingredients except the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the ingredients for the salad dressing and drizzle over the salad and lightly toss again. Top with the sliced hard boiled eggs.

The International Journal of Cancer reports that women who ate four to six bananas per week reduced their risk of kidney cancer by about one-half. The reason is that bananas contain high levels of phenolic compounds, which may have protective factors. Here is a healthy alternative to an American classic dessert served in most ice cream parlors.

Vicki's Banana Split with a twist
1 Banana, split lengthwise
1/2 cup vanilla low fat yogurt
1 large handful granola or favorite breakfast cereal
4 strawberries sliced
2 tablespoons of blueberries
1 tablespoon sliced almonds

Peel and split banana lengthwise down the center. Spoon half of the yogurt on top of the banana. Add granola or other cereal and other fruit and then spoon the remaining yogurt on top. Sprinkle with almonds. Have fun and let your inner child out while you enjoy this dessert.

Chunks of pineapple or slices of peaches are also great added to this recipe. You can add a chocolate taste to the mix by sprinkling with carob chips. Adding 1 tablespoon of carob powder to the yogurt and stirring it up will give you the chocolate taste you desire.

It's summer time, it's hot, and most back yard cookouts have an ice cream maker churning away making that creamy frozen dessert that everyone loves.  Why not put a healthier more nutritional dessert on the table that even children will love? A diet high in fruits is likely to be linked to a decrease in the risk of cancer of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, lung, colon, rectum and possibly other cancers. Eating large amounts of fruits has been clearly linked to a decrease in the risk of cardiovascular disease. Eating fruits may also help improve bone health, diabetes control, and the maintenance of a healthy body weight. The consumption of fruits may strengthen the immune system, which is the body's defense against various diseases including cancer.

Three weeks ago one of my dalmatians developed a lot of bacteria in her stomach and my veterinarian reminded me of the healing powers of the cultures in yogurt.  She loves a couple of spoon fulls in her dry food. Tonight while I was on a fruit binge in the grocery store to fulfill my dedication of going back to my alkaline based diet, I remembered this salad recipe mixing the best of both worlds. I wasn't even tempted to pause at the frozen foods section to gaze longingly at my favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream.  By the way all of these ingredients are on the alkaline side of the food spectrum except for yogurt.  But your best diets contain 70 percent alkaline and 30 percent acid. So this salad is perfect.

Vicki's Mixed Fruit and Vanilla Yogurt Salad (with a minty twist)
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1 cup diced strawberries
1 cup green grapes (slice them in half)
1 peach diced
1 pear diced
1 Granny Smith apple diced
1/3 cup sliced raw almonds
3 or 4 fresh mint leaves finely chopped.
1 6 ounce container vanilla yogurt

Mix everything but the mint in a large mixing bowl stirring gently so not to crush the raspberries and strawberries.  Sprinkle a pinch of the freshly chopped mint on the top of the individual servings.  It looks fancy and gives the dessert a little extra zing. This recipe serves 6 to 8 people. But remember if you have left overs to store them in an air tight container and then use them in the morning on your cereal or granola or for an added dessert treat at lunch.

Dr. Heidi Lucas, of the Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, recently interviewed on nutrition and cancer treatment, gives these tips on cancer-fighting foods and diet strategies for maintaining health while going through cancer treatment and for cancer prevention.

• Edamame is a great whole food protein. She does not recommend cancer patients with estrogen-positive cancer consume soy powder and soy supplements.
• Green tea is recommended for cancer recovery and cancer prevention. She recommends drinking loose leaf green tea and green tea in supplements to all cancer patients.
• Protein smoothie is recommended as a daily drink. Using whey protein powder, add ice cubes, milk -- soymilk or juice, tablespoon of ground flaxseeds and a handful of frozen or fresh berries. Additional sources of protein include lentils, beans and nuts -- or chicken and fish. Nuts to include in the daily diet are Brazil nuts, almonds and walnuts.
• Choose whole organic fresh food whenever possible.
  

During the interview, Dr. Lucas explained the importance of modifying blood sugar and getting refined carbohydrates out of the diet. "Cancer cells have high metabolic rates and thrive on glucose. Glucose is the favorite food of cancer cells. When someone gets a PET scan, the technicians put a radioactive tracer on glucose cells to see where they go. Where the glucose goes, that's where the cancer is found."

Sound advice. The Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center is the only cancer center in the Northwest where medical oncologists and natural medicine practitioners work as a team. Bob Condor, who conducted the interview, is the editor of Seattle Conscious Choice, which covers health, environment, food, social good, spirituality and personal growth.