After skin cancer, breast cancer affects more people in the United States than any other cancer. While the risk of breast cancer goes up with age, your diet plays a big role as well. Learning about foods to avoid and eat with breast cancer can help you make certain changes in your diet that will make it easier to fight the disease.
Foods to Eat
Whether you are fighting with breast cancer or you simply want to lower your risk of it, there is a complete list of foods to avoid and eat with breast cancer. Nutrition plays an important role when you are fighting a disease as serious as cancer. Here are a few foods you should include in your diet.
1. Eat Fruits and Veggies
You should always have lots of fruits and vegetables in your diet to stay healthy. Many studies have found that eating a diet comprising mainly plants can lower your cancer risk by 15%. Ideally, you should consume 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. You should consider increasing your intake of tomatoes, peppers, citrus fruit, dark leafy greens, onions, broccoli, carrot, pears, apples, peaches, and other fruits because they provide you with flavonoids and carotenoids that reduce inflammation and lower your risk of cancer.
2. Increase Your Intake of Fiber
While more research is needed to conclude anything, preliminary research confirms that increasing your intake of dietary fiber can help eliminate toxins from your body and lower your risk of chronic diseases. You can opt for legumes and whole grains to get more fiber. Interestingly, you will also get antioxidants from these fiber-rich foods that help eliminate free radicals from your body. Be sure to eat at least 30-45g of fiber a day to get a good result.
3. Include Olive Oil in Your Diet
You should include extra virgin olive oil in your diet because it provides you with antioxidants that prevent oxidative damage to cells in your body. It also provides you with phytonutrients that help inhibit tumor growth. Extra virgin olive oil is also rich in monounsaturated fats that are actually good for your health and reduce the risk of breast cancer. Simply include a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in your daily routine to reap its benefits. Be sure to use in moderation because extra virgin olive oil is quite high in calories.
4. Opt for Fatty Fish
When making a list of foods to avoid and eat with breast cancer, fatty fish will always be on your "foods to eat" list. Studies show that including fish oil and fatty fish in your diet lowers your cancer risk by 32%. It provides you with a good dose of omega-3 fatty acids that lower inflammation in the body and help prevent chronic diseases. You can also take omega-3 supplements, but it is better to get it directly from fish. Be sure to eat a couple of 3.5-ounce servings of tuna, salmon, mackerel or other fatty fish each week to get good results.
5. Eat Tomatoes
There are so many reasons to include tomatoes in your diet and one good reason is that it is rich in antioxidants, which will help eliminate free radicals from your body. You can include it in your diet when you have already been diagnosed with breast cancer because they provide you with a powerful antioxidant called lycopene that stops cancer cell growth. In order to reap maximum benefits of tomatoes, be sure to eat when they are concentrated, cooked, or processed. You can always opt for tomato sauces, canned tomatoes, and tomato paste.
6. Go for Lean Protein
Including lean protein in your diet is another way to deal with breast cancer more effectively. You can get your dose of lean protein from fish, poultry, and legumes, such as lentils and beans. You should stay away from pickled, cured, and smoked foods. You can include soy in your diet but be sure to eat in moderation. You will do just fine with a couple of servings of foods like edamame, tofu, and soymilk.
Foods to Avoid
Along with eating certain foods, you should also know about foods to avoid with breast cancer. Certain foods increase cancer risk, while others may promote tumor growth in some cases. Therefore, you should know about foods to avoid and eat with breast cancer to get better results. Here are some foods you should avoid:
1. Say No to Alcohol
Regular consumption of alcohol can increase your risk for breast cancer and aggravate it as well. Some studies have found that excessive drinking can lead to an increase in estrogen levels that can cause cellular damage. Some studies have found that drinking three alcoholic beverages a week will increase your cancer risk by 15%. Therefore, it is best to stay away from it as much as possible.
2. Limit Your Intake of Sugar
When you have been diagnosed with cancer or you are simply trying to lower your risk, be sure to go light on sugar. Some rodent studies have found that increased intake of sugar may be associated with the development of mammary gland tumors in mice, which is quite the same as breast cancer in women. Eating sugar when you have breast cancer can cause those tumors to spread or metastasize.
3. Eliminate Trans Fats from Your Diet
It is true that not all fats are bad, but you should ensure that you do not consume trans fats when you have breast cancer. These fats also increase your risk of developing breast cancer. Therefore, you should be extremely careful when eating foods like donuts, crackers, pastries and packaged cookies because they are high in trans fats.
4. Stay Away from Grapefruit
You should avoid or at least limit your intake of grapefruit because it raises your estrogen levels and increases your risk of breast cancer. Studies show that you increase your cancer risk by 30% by eating a quarter grapefruit a day.
5. Stay Away from Vegetables Oils
While raw veggies are good for your overall health, you should avoid vegetable oils as much as possible. This is especially true for vegetable oils like safflower, soybean, corn, and sunflower. They contain polyunsaturated fats that oxidize in your body and increase your risk for cancer.
6. Limit Your Intake of Red Meat
It is important to limit your intake of red meat to lower your risk of breast cancer. Grilling red meat has serious side effects because it produces compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCA) that promotes tumor growth. Moreover, eating red meat can trigger the release of insulin that increases oxidation in your body. Increased oxidation is also going to increase cancer risk.