by Eating a healthy and balanced diet has many benefits, one of which is helping to reduce the risk of cancer. Some of the protective effects come from the diet itself, but another is that a balanced and healthy diet helps you maintain a healthy weight or lose weight. When it comes to cancer, your overall diet is more important than individual foods.
How can a healthy diet help reduce the risk of cancer?
There are many questions and myths about diet and cancer, but the facts remain that eating a healthy and balanced diet can help you reduce your risk of cancer.
Most people go about their day eating and drinking as much as they like of whatever they like, whenever they like, without any regard for what is being put into their bodies.
However, what we do or don’t put into our bodies can greatly affect our health in a number of ways. For example, too much sugary food/drink, or high-calorie options like fast food, can make it easier to gain weight.
Overweight and obese
This extra weight can lead to obesity, which causes 13 different types of cancer, including meningioma, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, and gallbladder cancer. Being overweight or obese is the second leading cause of cancer.
The American Cancer Society states that excess body weight is responsible for 11% of cancers in women, 5% in men, and 5% of cancer deaths within America.
Being overweight or obese increases the risk of developing cancer, and the risk increases with weight gain and the length of time a person is overweight.
Following a balanced, healthy diet can help you maintain a healthy weight or lose weight, which can help reduce your risk of cancer.
Bad diet
A poor diet can increase your risk of cancer, especially in the digestive tract. Diet-related cancers are often found in the digestive tract, including the bowel, esophagus and stomach.
If you eat a balanced, healthy diet that includes fruit, vegetables and whole grains, you are eating fiber. This will help your digestion and help you poop more often, which reduces cell damage in the bowel. In addition, eating a varied diet with less processed meat helps reduce cell damage in the gut.
Drinking too much alcohol can also be part of a poor diet. Reducing alcohol intake reduces cell damage throughout the body. Alcohol can cause 7 different types of cancer, including breast, colon, lung, kidney and liver cancer.
What is a healthy diet?
Although there is no magic diet that can guarantee you won’t get cancer, healthy eating habits can help reduce your likelihood of getting it.
In general, a balanced healthy diet means eating plenty of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and healthier sources of protein such as fish, chicken, unprocessed cuts of meat and pulses including beans and lentils.
A healthy diet means cutting down or eliminating processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and sausages, high-calorie foods like fast food and takeout, sugary drinks like energy drinks and soda, and alcohol.
Best Tips
Making healthy changes isn’t always easy, and the World of convenience around us can make it even harder. But eating delicious and healthy food doesn’t have to be expensive.
Eat the rainbow, this means eating a different color of fruit or vegetable every day to consume a range of phytochemicals.
Double your vegetables, and try to eat fruit instead of sweets. Do not eat too much fat and try to reduce your salt intake.
The grocery store has many food options as well as herbs and spices to delight your taste buds that can help reduce your cancer risk.
As with anything you read on the internet, this article should not be construed as medical advice; talk to your doctor or primary care provider before changing your fitness routine. WHN does not agree or disagree with any of the materials posted. This article is not intended to provide medical diagnosis, recommendation, treatment or endorsement. Furthermore, it is not intended to denigrate any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
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References/Sources/Materials provided by:
TW at WHN
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet
https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/risk-factors/obesity.
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/diet-physical-activity/body-weight-and-cancer-risk
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-and-cancer/does-having-a-healthy-diet-reduce-my-risk-of-cancer#keyrefsdiet0
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/obesity-weight-and-cancer
https://cancer.org.au/cancer-information/causes-and-prevention/diet-and-exercise/food-and-nutrition
https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/cancer/docs/obesity_related_cancer_2006-2020.pdf
A Taste of the Healthy Rainbow – WorldHealth.net
Spice Up Your Life – WorldHealth.net
