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What Causes Cancer?
The Impact of Risk Factors
Your Lifestyle

Certain lifestyle choices are known to increase your risk of cancer. You can break these habits to lower your risk of cancer — though some habits are easier to break than others.

Diet

The food we eat is one of the most significant influences in the promotion and maintenance of health. Much of the American diet is unhealthy with too much fat, meat, grease, sugar, dairy and white bread.

Studies show that many foods contain protective agents and other substances that help guard against cancer. Most research indicates the following cancer diet guidelines for those wanting to prevent or help treat the disease.

What to increase in your diet:

  • Vegetables, especially leafy greens (cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc.) and other colorful veggie treats, and lots of salads, too
  • Fruits, although some experts recommend against fruits for cancer patients due to natural sugar content and sugar’s impact on disease co-factors (talk to your doctor about this)
  • Fiber, including whole grains, beans, and nuts
  • Fish without high levels of heavy metals such as mercury
  • Healthy oils (such as olive oil)
  • Garlic, onions, herbs, and spices such as turmeric
 
What to decrease in your diet:
  • Animal meat, especially meat that is charbroiled

  • Dairy products (except skim or 1% milk)

  • Unrefined grains made with white flour (cookies, cakes, breads)

  • Unhealthy fats ( saturated )

  • Sugar, candy, soda


 
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Studies recommend avoiding frying, barbequing, and microwaving due to increased cancer risk from those types of food preparation.

Always thoroughly wash your food to remove any surface pesticides and/or contaminants.

Try to eat as many organic foods as possible!

 
CISN Tip:
  • Keep a journal and write down how you feel after each meal. Over a short period of time, this practice will reveal trends about what boosts versus sinks your vitality.
  • Go to the National Foundation for Cancer Research ( www.NFCR.org ) to learn more about food ingredients that help fight cancer.
  • Go to the Center for Science in the Public Interest ( www.cspinet.org ) for information on food safety and nutrition.
 

Exercise

Exercising the body offers many health benefits against cancer. Exercise also reduces and controls obesity which is linked with a number of cancers.

Is there evidence that exercise reduces cancer?
Some research studies indicate that exercise reduces cancer risk and offers health benefits against the disease in those who already have it. Some studies are inconclusive or show no benefit. All studies show that exercise improves your overall health.

What are the current physical activity recommendations?
“Adults should engage in moderate-intensity physical activities such as brisk walking for at least 30 minutes on 5 or more days of the week.” - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/American College of Sports Medicine.

OR

“Adults should engage in vigorous-intensity physical activities such as jogging 3 or more days of the week for 20 or more minutes per occasion.” - Health People 2010
 
Losing weight and exercising can help reduce your risk.
 

Exercise at least 30 minutes a day, most days of the week.

Exercise alone can decrease the risk of colon cancer and breast cancer.

The goal should be for adults age 20 or older to keep their Body Mass Index (BMI) below 25.

Your BMI is ratio of height to weight that enables you to determine if you are the correct weight for your height.

< See chart.

 
Alcohol Consumption
 

Having more than two drinks each day for many years may increase the chance of developing cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, larynx, liver, and breast.

The risk increases with the amount of alcohol a person drinks.
 

For most of these cancers, the risk is higher for a drinker who uses tobacco.

Doctors also advise people who drink to do so in moderation.

That means:

  • One drink per day for women
  • No more than two drinks per day for men.
 
 
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