In this
day and age everyone knows someone affected by cancer. With our
modern diets full of foods high in unhealthy fats, refined simple
sugars, high levels of sodium and toxic additives resulting in higher
then normal levels of body fat we put ourselves at greater risk for
developing life threatening but preventable diseases including
cancer.
During
the month of November hundreds of thousands Mo bro’s (and Mo
sista’s) grow mustaches to raise awareness for prostate cancer and
men’s health. Movember has become a movement raising over 125
million dollars towards various prostate cancer charities and men’s
health initiatives.
Prostate
cancer is the most common type of cancer among Canadian men. One in 7
men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime and one in
28 will die of it.
Research has proven that nutrition choices and exercise can reduce
the development of inflammation, one of the most known causes of
prostate cancer. Reducing your levels of inflammation will greatly
decrease your risk of developing prostate cancer and other serious
diseases. Inflammatory cells have been found in virtually all
prostate cancer tissue that has been removed surgically.
Let’s
try to understand the harmful effects of inflammation a bit better.
Your body is like an army ready to wage war on anything that invades
the system, specifically inflammation. Think of your immune system as
the soldiers of the army, ready to fight on a moments notice. When
there is an incoming threat from an enemy like bacteria or higher
then normal levels of hormones, the soldiers mobilize and attack the
harmful invader. The soldiers are actually your white blood cells and
instead of bullets they release oxygen and nitrogen radicals to help
kill the invaders.
The war
zone occurs when you have a constant threat, excess body fat, poor
nutrition choices, chronically high levels of stress, poor sleep and
are taking in an overload of toxins from your environment. In order
to protect the system, soldiers are left behind, and remain unchecked
while the same beneficial oxygen radicals that are designed to kill
the invaders can break down normal tissue and promote cancer cell
growth.
Another
war gone terribly wrong.
There
is no ONE right way to reduce inflammation and oxidation in the body
to bring down inflammation levels. Follow the do and don’t
suggestions below to improve your nutrition choices and add in daily
exercise so you can avoid your body having to wage an unnecessary
war.
THE
DO’S
Do
have 5 - 8 Servings Per Day of Antioxidant Rich Foods
Antioxidants
are mostly found in colourful fruits and vegetables. You get the best
bang for your buck when you eat them raw (except tomato products). A
standard serving size is about 1 cup raw or ½ cup cooked. Think of
the size of a softball or your hand closed into a fist.
Organizing antioxidants by colour group is the easiest
way to make sure you eat a variety of them.
Colour
|
Examples
|
Antioxidants
|
Tips
|
Red
|
Tomatoes, pink grapefruit, watermelon
|
Lycopene
|
Cooked tomatoes have more concentrated levels of
lycopepne
|
Red/Purple
|
Pomegranates, grapes, cranberries, plums, berries
|
Anthocyanins
|
Inhibit inflammation and reduce bacteria in the
urinary tract
|
Orange
|
Carrots, mangoes, apricots, cantaloupes, pumpkin,
sweet potato
|
Alpha and beta carotines
|
Beneficial for eye sight
|
Orange/Yellow
|
Oranges, peaches, papaya, nectarines
|
Beta-cryptoxanthin
|
Avoid the juice, eat the fruit
|
Yellow/Green
|
Spinach, collard, yellow corn, green peas, avocado,
honeydew melon
|
Lutein and zeaxanthin
|
Lowers risk of cataracts and macular degeneration
|
Green
|
Broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, bok choy, kale
|
Sulphoraphane, isothiocyanates, indoles
|
Produces enzyme in liver that breaks down
carcinogens
|
White/Green
|
Garlic, onion, asparagus, shallots, leek, chive
|
Allyl sulfides
|
Bacteria killing on a cellular level
|
There are a number of fruits and vegetables that don’t
quite fit into the colour scheme that are health promoting and should
still be eaten on a regular basis.
Celery: Contains salicylic acid, which is the active
ingredient in aspirin and has been used for centuries to reduce
headaches.
Mushrooms: A group of plant foods with beneficial
effects on the immune system at the level of the intestines.
Do Buy Your Fruits and Vegetables From The Local Farm
The soil that the fruits and vegetables grow in matters.
If the soil is sick, the vegetables and fruits will not provide you
with the nutrients you need. You can tell if the produce had to take
a trip to get to your supermarket by the colour of the fruit or
vegetable. Out of season fruits and vegetables that are shipped into
grocery stores have higher levels of pesticides and undergo a
ripening process that changes the natural chemical structure of the
fruit or vegetable.
Tomatoes for example, need to be firm to be shipped by
truck. They are picked before they are ripe and undergo a ripening
process where the helpless tomato is blasted with ethylene gas, a
substance normally produced by the tomato as a signal to ripen. While
artificially ripening, the lycopene compounds accumulate. When the
artificial ripening process stops the formation of lycopene stops.
The colour of store bought tomatoes is usually washed out compared to
that of the farm tomato because of the shortened ripening process.
Do Build Strong Muscles
Resistance training for 30 - 60 minutes on most days of
the week is the best way to reduce your levels of body fat, bring
down inflammation and improve your body composition and metabolism.
Lean muscle mass naturally decreases with age, BUT by
choosing a combination of cardiovascular and resistance training
exercises you can ensure that your body stays strong and healthy.
Pick activities you like to do and schedule them into your daily
routine.
Part of building strong muscles is ensuring you get
enough quality protein in your diet. It’s best to choose lean
sources like white meat chicken or turkey, ocean caught
fish, beans/lentils and NON-GMO fermented soy. Whole eggs might not be a lean source of protein, but is still a great choice.
THE DON’TS
Don’t overcook or charbroil your meat on high heat
A
carcinogen is a chemical that directly or indirectly causes or leads
to a more aggressive form of cancer. Cooking any meat on a
high heat produces a set of carcinogens called heterocyclic
amines. Also, charbroiling any type of meat with the skin in tact
produces a different set of carcinogens.
It
is very difficult to avoid the literally thousands of toxic chemicals
and carcinogens in our society, but when you know better you do
better!
Better
Cooking Methods:
Marinate
meat and cook on medium heat turning frequently to avoid overcooking
Baking,
steaming or stir frying
Don’t
Consume Excess Sugar
I’m
sure this isn’t news and if it is; what rock are you living under?
Consuming excess simple, processed sugars isn’t just detrimental to
your weight. Aside from Type II Diabetes, heart disease, lowered
immune function and poor body composition sugar is a prime energy
source for all cancers including prostate cancer.
The
Prostate Cancer reports that most normal cells can adapt to an
environment low in sugar and use other energy sources – a process
developed through evolution when people would go through periods of
starvation. However, cancer, which grows faster then normal cells,
does not have the same ability to adapt to low sugar environments.
What
does this mean? The more excess sugar is consumed, the more the tumor
is stimulated and the faster is grows.
Cut
the excess sugar intake. It doesn’t provide you with nutrition and
it detracts from your health. If you are looking for a sweet fix have
a piece of fruit instead.
Key
Points to Remember
Oxidation
and Inflammation play key roles in the development of prostate
cancer
Have
5 – 8 servings of colourful and antioxidant rich fruits and
vegetables daily
Buy
most of your produce from your local farmer
Bake,
steam or stir fry lean protein choices
Avoid
eating excess sugar
