Anti-cancer Diet

Anti-cancer Diet and Hundreds of thousands of diets.

Anti-cancer Diet

Not all health problems are avoidable, but you have more control over your health than you may think. Research shows that a large percentage of cancer-related deaths—maybe even the majority—are directly linked to lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking, a lack of exercise, and an unhealthy diet. Avoiding cigarettes, limiting alcohol, and getting regular exercise are a great start to an anti-cancer lifestyle. But to best support your health, you also need to look at your eating habits.

The best diet for preventing or fighting cancer is a predominantly plant-based diet eating mostly foods that come from plants: vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, and beans.

In laboratory studies, many individual minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals demonstrate anti-cancer effects. Yet evidence suggests it is the synergy of compounds working together in the overall diet that offers the strongest cancer protection.

MORE LEAN - LESS CANCER

Too much body fat is one of the leading risk factors for cancer, especially colorectal cancer. Obesity is also a risk factor for breast cancer ; increased fat tissue raises circulating estrogen levels, which increase the risk of breast cancer. Vegetarian women who typically consume a low-fat, high-fiber diet tend to have lower blood levels of estrogen, excrete more estrogen in their stools, and therefore are less prone to breast cancer. Obese men have a higher rate of prostate cancer . The two ways to stay lean are to exercise and to maintain healthy eating habits

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high fiber diet and lower chances of colorectal cancer is the most conclusive. It follows common sense as well. Fiber moves potential carcinogens through the intestines faster, decreasing the contact time between carcinogens and the intestinal wall. The less exposure to carcinogens, the less chance of colon cancer. Besides pushing them through faster, fiber binds carcinogens, keeping them away from the intestinal wall. Fiber also absorbs bile acids, keeping them from acting on bacteria to produce fecapentanes ,the cancerous substances that are formed by decaying foods within the colon. There are about twenty of these compounds that can mutate colon cells into cancerous cells

Substances that may help your body fight cancer. The five major classes of compounds that occur in fruits and vegetables as natural blocking agents against carcinogens are: phenols, indols, flavones, cumines, and isothiocyanates. These neutralizing agents prevent carcinogens from reaching critical target sites within the cell. The vegetables most important to reducing the risk of cancer are the cruciferous vegetables : broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, mustard greens, kale, and cauliflower. These vegetables contain three cancer-protective biochemicals: sulforaphane, which not only boosts immunity but blocks enzymes that draw carcinogens into healthy cells; compounds that prevent the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines in the intestines; and indoles, which lessen the risk of breast cancer.

Researchers estimate that eating lots of cruciferous vegetables could lower your risk of breast and colon cancer by 40 percent. Making your main meal, such as lunch, a huge salad (with no more than a tablespoon of vegetable oil as a dressing) would be one of the healthiest habits you could get into. Best salad sources of anti-cancer nutrients are: dark green leafy spinach (instead of iceberg lettuce, which is nutritionally useless), broccoli, tomatoes, red peppers, kidney beans, and garbanzo beans. As an added benefit sprinkle your salad with a bit of garlic , which has also been shown to have health-promoting and possibly anti-cancer properties. In addition, phytoestrogens from plant foods, especially cruciferous vegetables, can lower the risk of estrogen-dependent cancers, such as breast cancer. The phytoestrogens fill estrogen receptor sites on cells, keeping the cancer-causing estrogen from promoting the growth of malignant cells.