Nobody ever wishes to be in a position where they have to fight cancer. It is a dreaded disease with a high possibility of death as the ultimate end, and this is a thought that millions around the world abhor. However, it is a reality of life, and we just have to accept it as it is. In most cases, lifestyle changes following a cancer diagnosis. Getting your diet right is often the first step, and there are very good reasons why this is encouraged.
Healthy eating may not necessarily be the magic pill diet for cancer patients, but it can help to prolong the life of the patients and help them cope better with the treatments. If you are a cancer patient, or you are at high risk of cancer, consider the following types of foods listed below to help you cope or lower your chances of getting cancer-:
Alkaline Diets
Cancer cells thrive well in an alkaline environment, and this means that if the body environment is too acidic, then the conditions will be very right for cancer cells to survive. It is therefore recommended that you reduce your intake of acidic foods, and instead increase your intake of alkaline foods. According to the proponents of this diet, western foods contain too much animal fat and carbohydrates with foods such as pork, white floor, and red meat having lots of acids.
If such foods are substituted by more vegetables and fruits, more alkaline ions will be available after digestion, thus neutralizing the acidic environment needed by the cancer cells to thrive. According to this diet, it is recommended that one should take 80% of alkaline food such as fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains. Besides, other than reducing the acid load of the body, there are other great benefits that such a diet will have on the immunity, and this is also good for enhancing life and longevity during the fight against cancer.
Vegan Diets
The basis of vegan diets is the absence of animal products such as eggs, fish, meat, and honey. It mainly focuses on the foods known as cancer-fighting foods which feature greens, berries, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Though adhering to vegan diets will ensure that you get enough food to sustain your body’s immune system, being a vegan or becoming a vegetarian will mean that you will have a very poor eating habit which in most cases, will see you become deficient of calcium and Vitamin B12. But you will be pleased to know that going vegan is associated with a 15% reduction in the total number of cancer cases.
Paleolithic Diet
Paleolithic diet, also known as the caveman’s diet is also another set of foods worth considering as diet for cancer patients. This diet attempts to copy the kind of diet that was eaten during the Stone Age, which gave the early humans the kind of health they used to enjoy. They could live long and were never affected by the many diseases that bother mankind at present. Since they were hunters and gatherers, their diets may be comprised of vegetables, nuts, fruits, eggs, and meat. Dairy products, grains, legumes, and processed foods are all exempted from this diet.
Many experts agree that cancer became a problem after the consumption of foods following the Agricultural Revolution. It is believed that our ancestors had superior diets and that is why they could live long without getting worried about the diseases that worry mankind at the present times. With the Agricultural Revolution, food processing began, yet the human body may still not be ready to accept such foods, hence, the high rates of cancer incidents.
Strict adherence to Paleo diets, however, will mean that foods such as beans, and whole grains will have to be avoided completely, yet these have been proven to be effective in preventing cancer, reducing the cancer mortality rates, and improving the general life. However, observing this diet will surely come with lots of benefits, given that the bulk of it comprises of whole foods, vegetables and grains whose health benefits and effectiveness in fighting cancer are not in any doubt.
Macrobiotic Diets
Illnesses such as cancer can be caused by imbalances in the body, and this is what macrobiotic diets attempts to correct. The diet is mainly advocated for by Eastern Philosophy and it includes eating, exercising, and meditation as a means of creating balance and homeostasis. The diet is mainly vegan, with a major emphasis on unprocessed, organic whole foods. With this diet, cereals such as rice and millet make up to 60% of the diet, while legumes and vegetables make up the remaining part. This diet for cancer patient does not feature any form of red meat.
Ketogenic Diet
In a ketogenic diet, meals with high fat and low carbs are encouraged, where at least 65% of the calories are obtained from fat. With this diet plan, the energy source for cancer cells will now shift from glucose to ketones. Though research in this field has led to mixed results, some of the studies show that cancer cells are less like to metabolize ketones compared to healthy cells, though other studies tend to suggest that tumors can still use ketones to get their energy. This is the primary reasons why keto diets are recommended as ideal diets for cancer patients.
However, the only challenge for this diet in the case of cancer patients is that it is not easy to follow for the long term and as such, most cancer patients who attempt to follow it usually fail to reach the proper levels of ketones. The diet is also known to promote nutrient deficiency in the body because the bulk of the meals suggested contain high amounts of saturated fats and are very low in fiber.
Besides, most of the meal plans with this diet comprises of processed foods and these are usually not recommended as a means of managing or avoiding cancer. Sadly, again, this dies does not feature many fruits and vegetable, or beans and whole grains. Though the diet may work, more people are still skeptic and there still needs a lot of research to help support its effectiveness as far as managing or preventing cancer is concerned.