How Can Your Diet Help Prevent Breast Cancer?
Breast Cancer affects people all over the world, irrespective of gender. Though breast cancer is more dominant in women than in men, individuals can help themselves avoid breast cancer by maintaining a good diet and sticking to it.
The quote “Health is Wealth” is not a cliché. The best way to have good health is to eat right.
Take a step today and begin your health journey; make a schedule if you have to, meet with a nutritionist if you need extra support, and get the best out of food rather than food taking the best out of you.
Here is some food for thought on how you can eat better to live longer and try to avoid breast cancer:
Properly Cooked Foods: This may vary, but be careful not to overcook or undercook your food, especially when it comes to meat.
Vegetables and Fruits: It is proven that vegetables and fruits have antioxidants, which your body needs to protect itself from oxidative stress and DNA damage.
Water: Water is good for the body because it helps you stay hydrated. Virtually everything in the body works with fluid, so being sure to drink enough water helps you stay healthy.
Fish: Fish offers great omega-3 fatty acids which “inhibit an enzyme called cyclooxygenase (COX), which produces the prostaglandin hormones that spark inflammation,” says UC San Diego Health.
Beans: Beans are rich in fiber and “fiber helps regulate the body's use of sugars, helping to keep hunger and blood sugar in check,” reports Harvard’s School of Public Health. Fiber does the majority of its work in the colon, which helps reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.
Foods that Kill Breast Cancer Cells
Apples: This fruit contains polyphenols that have anti-cancer properties. Polyphenols are plant-based compounds that prevent inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, and other infections.
Berries: Berries are rich in antioxidants. For example, anthocyanin, a compound of the blackberry, lowers biomarkers for colon cancer.
Legumes: Legumes are high in fiber which helps in reducing the risk of developing cancer, specifically colorectal cancer, amongst others.
Walnuts: Though all nuts have the potential of preventing cancer, walnuts have some very special characteristics. They contain a chemical called pedunculagin which the body metabolizes into urolithins. Urolithins are compounds that bind to estrogen receptors in the body and play a role in preventing breast cancer.
Garlic and Onions: These two contain the benefits of reducing the risk of breast, stomach, and esophageal cancer because they have anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory benefits. Onions, regardless of these benefits, provide quercetin and sulfur-containing molecules that block some carcinogens and induce apoptosis – a process that kills abnormal cells in the body.
Other Breast Cancer Prevention Tips
There are other things you can do to help prevent breast cancer:
* Avoid Smoking: Smoking makes you vulnerable to breast cancer because of the toxins in cigarette smoke.
* Keep Yourself Physically Active: Try a moderate exercise program of at least 30 minutes a day. This could reduce your risk by 10%.
* Breastfeed for as Long as Necessary: It is advised to breastfeed for at least a year to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
* Avoid Hormone Replacement Therapy: Menopausal hormone therapy increases the risk of breast cancer. If you must do so, try to avoid treatment that contains progesterone.
* Stay Happy: Stress can affect the body negatively and reduce its natural ability to ward off disease. Use meditation and breathing exercises to keep stress at bay, and intentionally engage in activities that bring you joy.
We hope this helps you on your health journey. For more resources and information on breast cancer and maintaining good health, click here.