Ever heard that the white stuff we eat is not so healthy? I've heard it, time and time again. I was reminded of this fact while at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona this past April. My Ranch nutritionist confirmed it. And the foods I ate while at this health and healing institute derived from the whole wheat, whole grain, whole goodness family. There wasn't a slice of white bread in sight. No white pasta either. Or white rice. I did have a white baked potato one night for dinner -- but it was the smallest white baked potato I'd ever seen.

It's not so hard to transition from white to non-white. Just search your grocery store aisles for the healthier alternatives -- and buy them. Or make your own varieties of nutritious stuff. Like whole-wheat pizza crust. Remember when I wrote about eating pizza once a week? Instead of ordering it, why not make your own? Here's how you might start:

Whole-Wheat Pizza Crust
Makes six pizza crusts, each containing 175 calories, 36 gm. carbohydrate, 1 gm. fat, 0 mg. cholesterol, 6 gm. protein, 150 mg. sodium, and 4 gm. fiber

Even though there has been much hype in recent years about the connection between dietary fiber intake to decrease the risk of colorectal cancer, results of a large study does not support such a link.

The findings were reported in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The conclusion came after analyzing more that 291,000 men and 197,000 women ages 50 to 71 years. "Our study did not show any association between how much dietary fiber you eat and your risk of colorectal cancer" said the lead author of the study.

However, the lead author did say that he found consumption of whole grain foods may lower the risk of developing the disease.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder? Or: Out of sight, out of mind? I think I like this one best, at least when it comes to snack time for my kids.

Our house was once stocked with sugary treats. It wasn't odd for us to have a bowl of M&Ms in our cupboard, Oreo cookies and fruit chews in the pantry, and a whole host of other not-so-healthy go-to items. Now we have none of it. And while my little boys occasionally search for their old demons, they mostly have adjusted well. They don't crave sweet things any more now that they're gone; they actually rarely mention them. Now I admit they do stake out houses that allow for sweet things when they get the chance but at home, they are content with an apple, a bowl of strawberries, homemade popcorn with just one tiny drop of oil and no butter.

I'm eager to introduce my boys to new healthy snacks so our routine doesn't grow stale. Here are seven ideas I like. You might like them too.

I'm no cook. And I'll never claim a recipe is my own. Anyone who likes my taco salad should thank my friend Kim and her mom Kathy. My turkey meatballs: all credit goes to my brother-in-law's mom. The brownies I once whipped up and now have given up: kudos to Betty Crocker. And this recipe I'm about to share comes straight from the pages of the May 2007 issue of Family Circle magazine. It's such a simple recipe -- takes five minutes tops. I probably could have invented it on my own. But I didn't.

Go With The Grain

Top 1 cup whole-grain cereal with:

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1/2 cup each strawberries and raspberries
1 cup 1% milk

Getting enough grains in your diet is very essential in the prevention of colon cancer. Switching from a white bread to a multi grain bread is an easy step. Adding ground up flax seed to the daily diet is another. And to me Risotto is to rice what wheat is to pasta. It is comfort food, satisfying, and can be fixed a hundred ways with or without meat, by adding various vegetables or just mixed with cheese, but the creamy texture is like no other. Here is one of my favorite personal risotto recipes that adds an unlikely candidate in the food world to the famous Italian food. Nappa cabbage, a cruciferous vegetable that aids in reducing carcinogens in the body and gives you lots of vitamins and nutrients. This is my Italian meets Asian recipe that makes this comfort food especially healthy in the fight against cancer.

Chef Vicki's Creamy Nappa Risotto

1/2 white onion chopped (medium onion in size)
1 celery stalk finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons butter (you can substitute olive oil)
5 nappa cabbage leaves chopped.
5 cups vegetable broth
1 cup arborio rice

Note: If you don't buy boxed or canned vegetable broth you can use 5 vegetable bouillon cubes with 5 cups of water to make the broth.

Remember this is a slow cooking recipe that requires a lot of stirring and love watching over the pot. It takes approximately 30 minutes to cook this dish but it is well worth the wait.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat and add onions, celery, and garlic. Saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add arborio rice and stir until it is all coated and the starch from the rice starts to release. Slowly start adding your vegetable broth one cup at a time and wait for it to be absorbed before adding the next. Continue stirring until you add the last cup of broth. Add the Nappa cabbage with the last cup of broth and continue stirring until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy.

Celebrities have a way of motivating the public to take action. They help dictate fashion trends and set standards for mostly unattainable body shapes and sizes. They add hype to political views and philosophies and make influential statements about all sorts of issues. Like breast cancer. With its backing from celebrities like Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow and Kylie Minogue -- all breast cancer survivors who are speaking out and raising awareness -- breast cancer has burst onto the media scene and is receiving powerful, positive attention. Kylie Minogue's public diagnosis spurred so many women into getting their breasts checked that the Medical Journal of Australia reports a 40 percent increase in bookings for mammograms. But sometimes, celebrity diagnoses don't elicit a response at all.

Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last month -- yet the announcement barely registered on the public's radar. Perhaps he does not command the same kind of reaction as pop singers do. Or perhaps it's the type of cancer that keeps his public battle on the sidelines.

The breasts are a visible icon of femininity -- out in the forefront for all to see. And so the issue of breast cancer is in the forefront. The pancreas, on the other hand, are hidden behind the stomach and are out of sight -- and out of mind. When Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004, he didn't even know where to find his pancreas. And so this organ does not attract much fanfare -- and therefore does not attract the funding and research that breast cancer does. Which is sad because this cancer is not just hidden inside the body. It's also a hidden killer. It can't be felt like breasts can be felt. And there is no easy way to detect it, like with mammogram and other imaging techniques. Often a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer -- the fourth leading cause of cancer death in Western societies -- comes with a death sentence. And more and more, breast cancer diagnoses come with promising expectations of survival.

We may not know as much as about pancreatic cancer as we do breast cancer. But there are some behaviors that may contribute to this deadly disease. So in the spirit of prevention, consider this:

• If nobody smoked, 25 percent of pancreatic cancer cases wouldn't happen.
• Alcohol consumption can increase the risk by 15 times.
• Some studies link high meat consumption and low vegetable consumption to incidences of pancreatic cancer.
• Folate, the B vitamin in green leafy vegetables, oranges, legumes, and whole grains seem to reduce the risk. But folate supplements don't seem to have the same healthy effect.

Suzanne Pleshette's agent reported on Friday that the actress is currently undergoing treatment for lung cancer. The cancer was discovered during a routine X-ray and was no bigger than a grain of sand. Pleshette apparently feels very lucky and is in great spirits as she receives outpatient chemotherapy at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center -- where the cancer was diagnosed.

Nutrition expert, Professor David Jacobs, from the School of Public Health at the  University of Minnesota, will present information at the Dietitians Association of Australia National Conference that indicate women who eat ten servings of whole grain foods per week live longer with less disease. Whole grain foods -- wheat, rice, corn, barley, oats, and rye -- contain the entire seed grain, including the bran and germ. Refinement of the grain strips the nutritious outer layer of the grain.

According to Jacobs, whole grains contain antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fiber that move carcinogens through the intestines faster, lowering cancer and heart disease rates and keeping blood sugar and insulin levels steady. Numerous studies have found that whole grain foods lower the risk of various cancers.

If you are interested in nutrition, the Dietitians Association of Australia website features comprehensive information on nutrition, including healthy recipes.

Purdue University engineers are creating a wireless device the size of a grain of rice that will then be implanted in tumors for the delivery and tracking of cancer-fighting radiation. The dime-sized prototype, as shown in the photo, has been successfully tested and the researchers believe the smaller rice-sized version will be completed this year. The device will be activated with electrical coils placed next to the body.

According to Purdue engineer Babak Ziaie, "Currently, there is no way of knowing the exact dose of radiation received by a tumor. Because most organs shift inside the body depending on whether a patient is sitting or lying down, for example, the tumor also shifts. This technology will allow doctors to pinpoint the exact position of the tumor to more effectively administer radiation treatments."

"This will be a radiation dosimeter plus a tracking device in the same capsule." Very cool. Perhaps one day they can stop the dynamite-fishing approach of current cancer treatment where healthy cells and tissue are destroyed in an attempt to destroy cancer cells and tumors. Then it will be welcome to the 21st century of medicine.

Photo credit: David Umberger. Purdue News Service. Babak Ziaie shows the prototype wireless device he has developed with doctoral student Chulwoo Son at the university's Birck Nanotechnology Center.