About one of every three Americans will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime. In addition, World Cancer Research Fund International analysis shows that about a third of the most common cancers are preventable through a nutritious diet, maintaining a healthy weight, and doing regular physical activities.
The followings are 17 strategies you can try which is thought to help reduce your risk of cancer.
Avoid Smoking
Cigarette smoke contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), similar compounds found in coal tar, which is carcinogenic. Avoid exposure to secondhand smoke as well it has been found to be more harmful than the actual smoke.
Eat Properly
Reduce your consumption of unsaturated fat and processed meat, the former oxidized easily and the latter appears to increase the risk of colon and prostate cancers.
Limit your intake of charbroiled foods especially meat (grilling said to be better) and avoid deep-fried foods. The former contain high PAHs and heterocyclic amines (HCAs). Avoid added sugar as much as possible as it feeds cancer cells.
Increase your consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains as they are loaded with many antioxidant phytonutrients. Add more cruciferous vegetables such as purple/red cabbage and cauliflower to your diet.
Substitute your refined grains with whole grains as fiber diets are thought to reduce the risk of colon cancer.
Don’t forget to eat fish frequently as it will provide you protection from heart disease as well as reducing your risk of prostate cancer.
Eat Clean Foods
Buying meat free of antibiotics and added hormones, which are suspected of causing endocrine problems, including cancer, is a wise thing to do.
If you buy produce grown with pesticides (sold in groceries throughout the country) and conventionally grown food, wash them thoroughly to remove residues.
At least 40 known carcinogens are found in pesticides and you should try to reduce exposure. It may be best if you soak them in water with a little apple cider vinegar added to it.
Exercise Regularly
Physical activity has been associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer, and it may even help prevent prostate cancer.
Exercise also may help reduce a woman’s risk of breast and possibly reproductive cancers. In addition, exercise is thought to help protect you even if you don’t lose weight.
Stay Lean
Obesity has been associated to increase the risk of many forms of cancer. Calories count; if you need to slim down, take in fewer calories and burn more with exercise.
If you feel hungry in between meals drink a glass of mineral water instead of snacking on something sweet. This may help you reduce calory intakes.
If you Choose to Drink, Limit Yourself to One to Two Drinks a Day
When you drink alcohol, ethanol in is converted to ethanal (an aldehyde) which is very toxic to your cells leading to cell damage and mutation.
Excess alcohol was found to increases the risk of cancers of the mouth, larynx, esophagus, liver, and colon.
It also increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer. Smoking further increases the risk of many alcohol-induced malignancies.
Avoid Unnecessary Exposure to Radiation
Get medical imaging studies ONLY when you need them. CT scan emits a very powerful X-Ray with radiate gamma ray so much higher compared to chest X-Ray machine.
Check your home for residential radon, which increases the risk of lung cancer.
Protect yourself from ultraviolet radiation in sunlight, which increases the risk of melanomas and other skin cancers, not by applying toxic sunscreen to your skin but by taking lots of veggies and fruits.
Some scientists say not to worry about electromagnetic radiation from high-voltage power lines or radiofrequency radiation from microwaves and cell phones as they do not cause cancer. Don’t buy that as their electromagnetic waves may one day showed to be very harmful to your cells and cause mutation.
Avoid Exposure to Industrial and Environmental Toxins
A long-term exposure to asbestos fibers (contain aluminum), benzene, aromatic amines, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are all associated to increase the risks of several types of cancers.
Avoid Infections that Contribute to Cancer
Hepatitis viruses, HIV, and the human papillomavirus are transmitted sexually or through contaminated needles. Taking preventive measures, being cautious and hygienic are the keys.
Avoid Taking Aspirin
Men who take aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) appear to have a lower risk of colon cancer and possibly prostate cancer. However, you may experience stomach bleeding and ulcer, it not treated may cause cancer.
Get Enough Vitamin D
Many experts and doctors now recommend 800 to 1,000 IU of vitamin D a day, a goal they say to be nearly impossible to attain without taking a supplement.
Although not yet proven, they say evidence suggests that vitamin D may help reduce the risk of prostate cancer, colon cancer, and other cancers. During spring, summer and fall, expose yourself to the sunshine when you have the time.
At the same time, they say don’t rely on other supplements as studies show that selenium, vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, folic acid, and multivitamins are not protective and that some may do more harm than good.
Best things you can do to get optimal levels of these nutrients are from proper diets.
Drink Clean Water
Filtered tap water and spring water are good sources of clean water. The types and levels of contaminants removed much depend on the types of the filter system you use.
Filtering your tap water using reverse osmosis filter will yield 100% water free of many types of contaminants, including heavy metals, herbicides, antibiotics and all sorts of organic wastes dumped into the sewages ever day. However, you need to well-balanced nutritious diets that contain ample minerals as reverse osmosis water are minerals free.
To avoid chemical contaminants such as BPA that can leach from plastic bottles, store your water in stainless steel or glass jars.
Drink Potent Antioxidant Teas
Antioxidants are vital for human existence and life as they help neutralize free radicals either produced naturally by the body or taken in your diet.
Coffee, green coffee, and tea (especially green and white tea) are loaded with many antioxidant phytonutrients. A combo herbal tea prepared by combining ginger, cinnamon, clove, bay leave, and turmeric offers different types of phytonutrients thought to provide synergistic antioxidant effects.
Hot chocolate made by stirring cocoa powder and coconut milk (contain antioxidant polyphenols) in hot water also a good combination that not only imparting a unique taste but also providing antioxidants punch.
Drink Sufficient Amount of Water
Water is a vital component of your body that presents in every cell. Besides acting as electrolytes needed for millions of biochemical reactions it also helps carry nutrients throughout your body, and dilute and carry toxins out of your cells. In the form of urine, it helps flush toxins, therefore. Sufficient amount of daily water intake is crucial in reducing your risk of cancer.
Don’t Take Constipation Lightly
Regular bowel movement at least once a day, not only help you to maintain good health but it also helps remove toxins out of your body. Constipation, especially chronic constipation can cause you trouble as compacted feces containing all kinds of toxins are absorbed back into your bloodstream.
This, in turn, will burden your liver and eventually impair detoxification leading to built-up toxins everywhere throughout your body. Over time, this may impair many physiological functions, including causing detrimental effects to cell membranes, DNA, enzymes and most probably hormones as well.
Avoiding foods causing constipation and changing your diet to high fiber contents (vegetables and fruits), and taking olive oil and purgative (bitter) herbs might help.
Eat More Greens
Greens not only loaded with fiber, carotenoids, bioflavonoids, polyphenols, vitamin C plus some B vitamins and minerals but also provide magnesium, the main chlorophyll components. The greener the greens, the higher the magnesium contents they possess. Besides acting as an important mineral in energy production, it also plays vital roles in regulating blood pressure and autonomic nervous system (it is parasympathomimetic, meaning it helps you to feel relax and dilate your blood vessels), and an important component of detox enzymes in your liver, the cytochrome P450 family.
Better functional cytochrome P450 family results in better detoxification of many kinds of toxins including the ones that are carcinogenic
Pay Attention to Pain
You may always think pain and diarrhea you have been experiencing over the years as irritable bowel syndrome typical symptoms and you can’t be bothered to get a proper diagnosis. From time to time, I am sure you hear there are people especially elderly end up hospitalized or bed-ridden after being diagnosed for having intestinal/bowel cancer.
So, never take chronic (long-term) pain, bloating, diarrhea, headache or lump lightly as they can be either typical illnesses that can heal or some forms of cancers that are hard for you to accept they happen to you.
Take Home Message
They may be other strategies that you might think of, It’s you who decide and take care of your own health.
Prevention is Always The Best Medicine
Further Readings:
- Longer Telomeres May Help Deter Diseases And Increase Life Expectancy
- Healthy Living – Definition and How to Go About It
17 Cancer Prevention Strategies
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder