There are many benefits to following a healthy and balanced diet, and yes one of them is helping to reduce the risk of cancer. Part of the protective effects is from the diet itself, but another part is that a balanced and healthy diet helps to keep you at 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 when it comes to diet and cancer, but the facts remain that eating a healthy and balanced diet can help you to reduce the risk of cancer.
Most people carry on about their day eating and drinking as much as they like of whatever they like, whenever they like, with no regard to what they are putting into their bodies.
However, what we do or do not put into our bodies can greatly affect our health in a variety of ways. For instance, too much sugary food/drink, or high-calorie choices such as fast food can make it easier to gain weight.
Overweight and obesity
This extra weight can lead to obesity which is the cause of 13 different types of cancer, including meningioma, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, and gallbladder cancer. Being overweight or having obesity is the second biggest 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 all cancer deaths within America.
Being overweight or having obesity increases the risk of developing cancer, and the risk increases with the amount of excess weight and the length of time a person is overweight.
Following a balanced, healthy diet can help you to maintain a healthy weight or lose weight, which can help you to reduce the risk of cancer.
Poor diet
A poor diet can increase your risk of cancer, especially in the digestive tract. Cancers associated with diet are most commonly found in the digestive tract, including the bowel, esophagus, and stomach.
Eating a healthy balanced diet which includes fruits, vegetables, and whole grains means that you are consuming fiber. This will help your digestion and help you to poop more often, which reduces cell damage in the bowel. Additionally, eating a varied diet with less processed meats also helps to reduce cell damage in the bowel.
Drinking too much alcohol can also been seen as part of a poor diet. Cutting down on alcohol intake reduces cell damage in the entire body. Alcohol can cause 7 different types of cancer, including breast, colon, lung, kidney, and liver cancers.
What is a healthy diet?
While there is no magic diet that can guarantee that you won’t get cancer, healthy eating habits can help reduce the likelihood that you will.
In general terms, a healthy balanced diet means eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthier sources of protein like fish, chicken, lean unprocessed cuts of meat, and pulses which include beans and lentils.
A healthy diet means that you need to cut down on or eliminate 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.
Top Tips
Making healthy changes is not always easy, and the World of convenience around us can make it even harder. But eating healthy, tasty food doesn’t have to cost a lot or take too much time.
Eat the rainbow, this means eating a different color of fruit or vegetable every day to consume a range of phytochemicals each contains.
Double your servings of vegetables, and try eating fruit instead of sweets. Don’t eat too much fat and try to lower your salt intake.
There are plenty of food options at the grocery store as well as herbs and spices to delight your taste buds which can help you to reduce your risk of cancer.
As with anything you read on the internet, this article should not be construed as medical advice; please talk to your doctor or primary care provider before changing your wellness routine. WHN does not agree or disagree with any of the materials posted. This article is not intended to provide a medical diagnosis, recommendation, treatment, or endorsement. Additionally, it is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
Content may be edited for style and length.
References/Sources/Materials provided by:
T.W 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/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
