5 Recommendations for Cancer Prevention 1-Maintaining a healthy weight
The principle of weight management is “be as lean as possible without becoming underweight.” Keeping weight in a healthy range is one of the most important things you can do to reduce your risk of cancer. Aim to be at the lower end of the healthy BMI range.
Obesity, being overweighted is a risk factor for kidney cancer, click to see all risks for kidney cancer.
Maintaining a healthy weight brings lots of health benefits, not only making us look better, feel better, it also means that we are less likely to develop not only cancer, but also other chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
Research shows that carrying excess fat around our waists can be particularly harmful – it acts like a ‘hormone pump’ releasing estrogen into the bloodstream as well as raising levels of other hormones in the body. This is strongly linked to colon cancer and probably to cancers of the pancreas, kidney and endometrium (lining of the uterus), as well as breast cancer (in postmenopausal women).
There are two important factors in weight controlling. First one is be physically active for at lease 30 minutes every day.（For maximum health benefits, scientists recommend that we aim for 60 minutes or more of moderate activity every day, or 30 minutes or more of vigorous activity.） Study shows that activity itself can help to prevent cancer, as well as helping us avoid being overweight. Regular activity can help to keep our hormone levels healthy, also strengthen our immune system, help keep our digestive system healthy and allow us to consume more food – and more cancer-protective nutrients – without gaining weight.
If you’re not used to doing much activity, start by working toward 30 minutes of mild activity each day, such as brisk walking – remember that anything is better than nothing. You can build up slowly until you reach your target.
QiGong is a system of deep breathing exercises, it’s also a moderate activity, many kinds of Qigong can help us reduce cancer risk, such as Guolin Qigong.
Avoid Sugary Drinks. Limit Consumption of Energy-Dense Foods① (particularly processed foods high in added sugar, or low in fiber, or high in fat) is another important factor in our weight management. Choosing healthy foods and drinks instead of those that are high in refined carbohydrates and often in added sugar and fat (energy-dense foods) can help us avoid overweight and thereby reduce our cancer risk.
Most vegetables, fruits and beans fall into the low energy-dense category, like the apple, are high in fiber and water. It is yet another reason to base your diet on plant-based foods.
The Expert Report found that regularly consuming sugary drinks contributes to weight gain. Such as colas and juice flavored drinks. We should try to avoid these drinks.Natural fruit or vegetable juice counts as one of our recommended, but most of fruit juice does contain a lot of sugar. It’s best not to drink more than one glass a day.
Water is the best alternative. Unsweetened tea and coffee are also healthy options, especially green tea may helps prevent cancer.
Click to see Healthy Diet in a new window.
① What are energy-dense foods?
Most foods provide us with energy (calories), but some foods contain more energy ounce-for-ounce than others. Energy-dense foods tend to be processed foods with sugar and fat added to improve the taste. The result is more calories per ounce.
For example, 3.5 oz. chocolate contains 10 times more calories than the same amount of apple:
3.5 oz. of milk chocolate = 520 calories
3.5 oz. of apple = 52 calories
It is hard to control how much energy you are consuming if you eat lots of energy-dense foods because you only need to eat a small amount to take in a lot of calories. It’s okay to eat energy-dense foods occasionally, or in small quantities, but try not to make them the basis of your diet.
These five recommendations for cancer prevention are drawn from the WCRF/AICR Second Expert Report.
