Today is the last day of October, and the last day of breast cancer awareness month. I want to focus on not only awareness of cancer, but prevention of cancer. You may have heard that prevention is the best cure. The diet for cancer prevention is pretty much the same as the diet to promote health and prevent any chronic disease. Although we do not know all the causes of cancer, one way to protect against it is to make good diet choices:

5 fruit and vegetables a day, or even more, making ½ of what you eat fruit and vegetables
There is uncertainty about what additives in foods cause cancer, and so it is important to eat “as close to nature as possible”; Try to eat foods that look like the way they were in their natural state.

Avoid processed meats and other products that contain nitrites; bacon, lunch meat, ham, etc. Some companies are starting to replace the nitrites with celery powder, which has naturally occurring nitrites. I am not sure if this alternative is any better, so best advice is to limit these foods.

Shop the “perimeter” of the store; this is where all the fresh fruits and vegetables and perishable foods are. If you find you are shopping the aisles more, this might be a time to reevaluate your diet. One discrepancy is frozen fruits and vegetables. Sometimes they are cheaper than fresh, yet still contain all the vitamins as fresh.

Avoid drinking more than 1-2 drinks daily of alcohol, as even this much alcohol has been shown to slightly increase the risk of some cancers.

Eat sufficient fiber; found in whole fruits, vegetables and whole grains


And lastly...

Get plenty of activity! At least 30 minutes daily of exercise


Please share any changes you will make to your diet knowing what you know about cancer prevention.

Best of luck to you as you promote your cancer-preventative diet!

Elizabeth