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Cancer Prevention

Reduce Inflammation      

 I recently read a book titled Anti-Cancer: A New way of Life written by Dr. David Servan-Shreiber. He covers the major themes of cancer prevention which include the anti-cancer diet, emotional balance, exercise, and the elimination of inflammatory toxins from the environment.

 As a busy medical student, I found that these helpful tips in cancer prevention can be utilized by even the busiest of individuals.  One of my favorite suggestions is the elimination of emotional stress. Emotional stress includes anger, grief, depression, anxiety and guilt. Psychological stress provokes chronic secretion of noradrenaline, the “fight or flight” hormone as well as cortisol. These hormones are described by Dr. Servan-Shreiber as “fertilizer for cancerous tumors”.

 Some of the best ways to combat stress are exercise, yoga and stretching which hinder the release of these inflammatory hormones and replaces them with the release of endorphins which produce feelings of pleasure and euphoria also. responsible for the “runners high”.

Now you know about the link between stress, inflammation, and cancer. Next, let’s take a look at the recommended foods which may help to reduce inflammation and prevent cancer.

Food For Thought

This is my favorite part because I love to eat. Foods with anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant benefits are the way to go when trying to prevent diseases including cancer. Let’s begin with foods to avoid.

The Western diet that most Americans follow is probably the worst in the world. This includes fast food, fried food, and Tran’s fatty food. Americans thrive on burgers, fries, milkshakes, and fried chicken. Snacking

almost always consists of sugar or white flour in some form. This is nothing new, but what about the foods that are not considered by most to be bad. This includes sun, corn, soybean and safflower oils as well as non-organic meat eggs and dairy.

The best diets are known to be Asian Indian, and Mediterranean. The Indian diet uses a lot of Turmeric which is the most powerful anti-inflammatory food in the world. Mixed with olive oil and black pepper, turmeric can be added to vegetables, soups, and salads. Ginger is the second most powerful. The Asian diet consists of a lot of ginger and curry and the Mediterranean diet includes a daily glass of red wine. There are many books that discuss these diets in more detail.

Organic meat, eggs and dairy are fine but should be considered as side dishes with vegetables and fruits being the main course. The best ant-cancer vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, yams, sweet potatoes and pumpkin. The best fruits include all berries, tomatoes, apricots, pomegranate juice and citrus.

Multivitamins are always a good choice to include in your daily diet to ensure proper nutrition. The best anti- cancer vitamins include lute in, lycopene, selenium, vitamin D and fish oil. Don’t forget to add green tea, probiotc yogurt, garlic and onions to your diet.

Good luck on your journey to a more healthful and disease free lifestyle. Those that may be suffering from a disease will also benefit from these tips but they are not a replacement for medications prescribed by your doctor.

Jennie Tevlin