Prostate Cancer Diets are a growing necessity with the growing number of men who are afflicted by this type of cancer. According to research a diet change and regular exercise can help to slow the growth of prostate cancer. A proper diet will be our focus for today.
So the question is basically, what can you eat? What can't you eat? We will cover foods and vitamins to take and avoid. We will discuss what not to eat and what you can eat to make a change in the cancer or to hold it steady. We will also discuss two diets that are very popular to control prostate cancer. There is so much information on the Internet today about different diets that can help with cancer patients diagnosis. Prostate cancer is one of the few that you can control in the early stages with a prostate cancer diet until you can get proper treatment.
Don't Feed Your Cancer, Starve It! (Certain Things)
Before we do that, I would like to cover some of the basic rules of thumb. First, you should keep your meals at about 500 calories or less. Run away from any fats or alcohol if you can. Do not consume more than 22 grams of fat per day. Cancer likes calories and both of these provide that to it. Stay away from meat in general. If you are going to eat meat, don't eat red meat at all. Limit your meat intake to a couple of days a week. Studies done by the Adventist Health group states that people who eat meat as a major part of their food intake are twice as likely to get colon cancer and the National Cancer Institute says that men who eat red meat 5 times a week are five times as likely to get prostate cancer. Drink about 2 quarts of water a day. If you want to drink something other than water, stick with green, red and white teas, not black teas. Get your fiber.
It is recommended that you get at least 30 grams of fiber a day when you have cancer. If you can't get it through foods, take a supplement. They have all kinds on the market that actually do taste pretty good now. Avoid oils that are high in Omega 6 fatty acids, such as corn, safflower, cottonseed and soybean oils. Why? Because they are associated with an increase in the number of tumors found in the body, according to Simpoulos, a doctor who specializes in cancers. You should limit your intake of calcium. This means that you should also limit your milk intake to 2 glasses a day. Men who consume more than 2000 mg of calcium a day, approximately 8 glasses of milk, have a higher chance of getting prostate cancer than those who drink less then 1/4 that amount. Other dairy products such as cheese, ice cream and yogurt should be taken in at a minimum, also. Dairy products have been proven to show a 50% increase in risk of getting prostate cancer. These are just some of the points we need to look at when considering what not to do.
What to Feed Yourself Instead of Your Cancer!
You are on your way to a better life already. Now lets discuss what you can eat to create a better, healthier diet and a show stopper for the cancer cells. Fruits and vegetables are your friends. I know you used to sneak them under the table to the family dog. (Some of you still do... :-) But instead of giving Fido all his daily vitamins, you should probably consume them for yourself. I will list specifics later in this section. Soy products are better for you than their dairy counterparts.
You should also consider, if you are going to eat a "meat", that you should eat fish. You see, by dietary standards, fish is not considered a meat. The reason fish is so good for you is because it has Omega 3 fatty acids, which are actually good for you. You can find them in Ocean fish and walnuts in its healthiest form. You should eat plenty of peas, beans and grains. Also, remember to take your Vitamins C, D and E, Selenium and Zinc, which are all very beneficial to you during cancer treatments. Always try to get your Daily Value from somewhere other than supplements. Supplements usually have a higher than needed amount in the bottle and your body doesn't always metabolize the full amount in the pills that are provided. Some of the fruits that are especially good for you include red grapes, strawberries, dried fruits, skins of citrus fruits and blueberries. Blueberries have also be found to reverse the aging process in a study that was done. This could be an added bonus. Fructose has been found to protect against prostate cancer in cancer research studies. They say that you should eat 5 servings of fruit a day. Further study showed that this may actually decrease your chances of having cancer by 37%.
Some others to consider include Shiitake Mushrooms, Legumes, broccoli sprouts, tomatoes, grains and fibers. High Fiber diets that include soy protein, which have isoflavins, are actually very good for you. Isoflavins apparently help with slowing the cancer down. For anyone wondering what fiber does to help with your cancer diagnosis, please read the following information. According to the National Academy of Sciences, "in addition to regularity, it reduces circulating androgen levels and thereby slows prostate cancer growth." You should consume around 25 mg a day of fiber. Grains have the best of everything in your prostate cancer diet. They will provide you with a low fat product that is rich in protein to help you replace the meat you are not eating and fiber to boot. You can find grains in many forms, including breakfast cereals and breads. Shiitake mushrooms are good for you because they have a compound that is used for many cancer patients in Japan. Lycopene, found in Tomatoes, is a powerful antioxidant.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition said that in 72 studies that almost half of them showed lowered cancer risk when an increase in eating tomatoes was present. This was particularly true for prostate patients, where the risk was lowered by about 40%, says the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The broccoli that your mother always tried to feed you and you told her you hated, well, it turns out that she really did know what was good for you. The only thing she didn't know what that 3 day old broccoli sprouts are even better for you than regularly matured broccoli. It contains 20 to 50 times more chemoprotective compounds according to the National Academy of Sciences.
Two Diets you can use right now to lower your risk of cancer include the Japanese diets and Southern Mediterranean diets. The Japanese diets are shown to reduce the risk of cancer. They include Green Tea, soy, vegetables and fish, also they are low in fat and calorie intake. The Mediterranean Diet is basically a fresh fruit and vegetable diet. It includes garlic, tomatoes, red wine and olive oil, and fish in the diet also. Neither of these diets include a lot of red meat.
There are many resources online to get your cancer diet headed in the right direction. Just look over the information and see what fits you, or what you can live with depending on how vital you find food to be in your life. You should be able to find plenty of foods to help with creating a variety of meals. The information above is limited, you can find much, much more information through doing more research. Never stop your search for great health.