So far, this booklet has dealt with the eating problems of people with cancer who have lost weight or have poor appetites. However, there are many people with cancer who never lose weight or have any difficulties with eating. For others, eating problems are only a temporary effect of their treatment and most of the time they can eat well.
This Healthy Eating section is sound nutritional advice for people with cancer, but with no weight loss or eating problems, or for anyone without eating problems who wants to follow a healthy diet, live a fuller life and feel better. In the long term, this diet may reduce the chances of getting heart disease and diabetes as well as certain types of cancer.
Some of the advice given in this section may seem contradict that given in the Building-up Diet in Part One. The advice there is for specific groups of people with cancer who are eating very little or are losing weight and is not recommended for people who can eat normally.
Recently, there have been several reports concerned with improving the diet of people of Britain. The following section is a summary of that advice.
Watch your weight
Try to maintain your weight within the normal range for your height (your family doctor can advise you on your normal weight). If you are overweight, reduce your energy intake by eating less fat and sugary foods. This allows your body to use up its surplus energy, which is stored as fat.
Eat less fat
Many experts agree that we eat too much fatty food. Instead of getting our energy from starchy foods like bread and potato, we rely too much on animal fats such as red meat, eggs, butter and cheese.
What you can do to eat less fat
Avoid Soda bicarbonate (baking soda)
Sodium bicarbonate is very harmful for you. It activates regeneration of cancer cells. It is better to avoid those foods which contain baking soda, like bakery products or fruit-salt (Eno). Do not use baking soda in your cooking.
Eat more vegetables, fruit and cereals
Vegetables, fruit and cereals are all rich in fibre and vitamins. Fibre is sometimes called roughage. It is the part of the food, which passes through the body without being completely absorbed, and keeps the gut healthy.
Some experts say we should be eating much more fibre than we eat now.
Some research has shown that people who eat plenty of fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of developing cancer, so it may be helpful to try to eat fresh fruit and vegetables each day, particularly dark green, dark yellow or orange vegetables like spinach, broccoli, parsnips, swede and carrots. These contain substances called antioxidants which can play a part in preventing cancer from developing. Tea and green tea also contain antioxidants.
High-fibre foods
Cut down on Sugar
Sugar contains no useful nutrients apart from energy, and we can get all the energy we need
from healthier sources. We eat a lot of sugar per person per year! Most of this is unnecessary and is partly responsible for tooth decay and obesity.
Cut down on Salt
Most people eat much more salt than they need. Most foods are salted during cooked and manufactured foods contain a lot of added salt. Some experts say we should all aim to cut down our overall salt intake by about a quarter.
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