What Is the Best Food for Cancer Prevention?

Poor nutrition offers a favorable environment for cancer to grow and develop. Consume whole foods – fruits, vegetables, soy, beans, etc. Ensure organic produce to avoid the intake of pesticides and dangerous food additives. Cut back on refined and processed foods. Hydrate adequately and indulge in regular physical activity.

Nutrition plays a very important role not only in the prevention of cancer but also in its treatment. Scientific evidence shows that nutrition and physical activity are the two most important aspects that can be modified to alter the course of cancer, prevent its occurrence, and stop its progression.

Remember, you are what you eat. Poor nutrition provides a favorable environment for cancer to grow and develop. By changing the environment—changing the diet-cancer can and will weaken and shrivel. Proper nutrition supports the immune system, starves cancer cells, and provides micro- and macronutrients.

What Is the Best Food for Cancer Prevention?

Cancer And Nutrition

Cancer needs nourishment to grow and it uses the food that a person eats. As a result, many cancer patients suffer from malnutrition. In fact, many die not from cancer directly, but from malnutrition. For this reason, it is generally recommended that the diet consists of 25–30 percent protein, 40–50 percent carbohydrate, and 20 percent fat.

A guideline for appropriate caloric intake is 16–18 calories per pound of body weight (e.g., a 150 lb person would eat 2400–2700 calories daily). Eat small, frequent meals and chew food thoroughly.

Eat Fresh, Whole Foods

Consume unrefined, unprocessed, and hormone-free foods. Include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, soy, beans (legumes), cold-water fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, halibut, and mackerel), olive oil, green tea, garlic, onions, yams, tomatoes, shitake mushrooms, almonds, ginger, curry, nonfat yogurt, seaweed, and fiber. Eating organic food helps reduce exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and hormones, which may increase cancer risk.

Avoid Sugar

Cut back on sugar, dairy products, refined foods, fried foods, junk foods, caffeine, alcohol, nitrates, and food coloring. Limit high-fat (e.g., saturated and trans fats) foods, particularly meat, which has been implicated in the colon, rectal, prostate, and endometrial cancers.

Eat Plently of Fiber

Whole grains, beans, peas, lentils, fruits, and vegetables provide fiber, which helps move food quickly through the digestive tract and helps eliminate carcinogens and estrogens, high levels of which are associated with increased breast cancer risk.

Eliminate Food Sensitivities

Use an elimination and challenge diet to determine food sensitivities.

Hydrate Often

Drink 50% of body weight in ounces of water daily (e.g., a 150 lb person would drink 75 oz of water). Drink spring or distilled water; avoid chlorine and fluoride.