Food and Its Impact on Cancer

By Guest blogger: Leroy Templeton.

Changing diets is usually what someone does when they want to lose weight or fit into that old dress or maybe even something as noble lowering chances of heart disease. While none of those are necessarily bad motives, they do tend to neglect some of the bigger more pressing reasons to eat right. As scientist and researchers are discovering more and more information on dieting and food intake, we are beginning to learn one very important truth: what you eat plays a huge role in whether or not you will get cancer.

Among the leading causes of death in the country (alongside heart disease, another issue caused by diet), cancer likelihood can be either reduced or increased depending on one’s diet. Studies show that the best foods for limiting cancer and cancer development are those foods which are most natural. Organic foods and foods that do not have unnatural additives are best. This is because the chemicals used to treat food often have carcinogens which can get in the body and disrupt the cell division process. When this happens it leaves the body open to a number of different cancers including gastric cancer and pleural mesothelioma.  Limiting red meat is also essential because red meat carries with it a high percentage of animal fat. This animal fat has been shown to promote colon cancer. If you can, try replacing red meats with lean white meats, fish and poultry.

          As for the foods that will help fight cancer, you can never go wrong with a diet rich in natural fruits and vegetables. These foods regulate the body so that toxins spend less time in the body and contain a high amount of vitamins that can strengthen the immune system. Antioxidants and flavonoids, found in many bitter foods such as coffee and dark chocolate, also help fight cancer through detoxification.

          Improving diet is one of the more important things you do. Not only will it improve your life’s quality, but you will also increase its length. Diet can either help you by reducing your chance for cancer, or hurt you by increasing it. I hope you make the choice to have it help you.

Leroy Templeton is a recent college graduate from the Universsity of Central Florida. He majored in english and has been involved with several health and fitness clubs including the sports medicine team.

FRANK ADVICE FROM THE NUTRITIONIST:- PREVENTION IS KEY.

One of the most glaring errors in healthcare in my country and perhaps the world is the lack of attention to the concept of prevention.” Prevention is better than cure” has become more like a kindergarten rhyme than a way of life. Humans have nourished their part that denies the possibility of illness until it occurs. Once it occurs we are given to do whatever that is possible to regain what we lost. If we can focus on prevention in our homes, schools, media and at all places, we would be able to reduce pain and suffering and reduce the huge amount of money spent on health care.

Health is not genetic as people think; it is usually your attitude towards your health that determines how healthy you will live. The fact that your grandparents and great grand parents lived above 90 is not a surety that you will live up to 90 due to a possible gene that enables longevity. How long you live is your responsibility, it starts by making the right choices, the right choices in your diet. Chinese medicine teaches that our blood begins at the end of our fork: we are what we eat.

Change the quality of what you eat to a low fat diet. Fat has been severely accused of being responsible for the wave of different cancers ravaging our societies. This can be further proven in cultures where a low fat and a high fiber diet are consumed with decreased incidence of many cancers. Go for the leanest meat cuts you can get, and make fish, turkey and chicken your source of non vegetable protein.

Avoid simple sugars and eat complex carbohydrates, while you increase the fiber in your diet as much as possible. Your mother was not wrong when she insisted that you should eat your vegetables, increase your intake of vegetables and fruits and enjoy their disease prevention abilities. Minimize salt in your diet and stick to healthy food preparation methods.

Finally, just as Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D, wrote, “eat at least one meal a day for your immune system”.

This frank advice from the Nutritionist is based on medical reports and on the Nutritionist’s personal observations.

Image: http://www.familyhealthguide.co.uk/diet-and-lifestyle-tips-to-help-prevent-cancer.html