Colon cancer is the #2 killer of men in terms of cancer-related death after lung cancer. It is also prevalent among women, but a great deal of evidence suggests that a healthy diet can do much to prevent colon cancer.

It is also a highly treatable cancer if caught in its early stages, and people can prevent recurrence if they focus on eating the right foods to maintain their colon health.

The following recommendations are a summary of the major research that has been carried out on what you can do to prevent colon cancer through focusing on healthy nutrition.

Keep your weight at a reasonable level.

• Limit your intake of red meat. Choose lean cuts and eat small portions (about 3 oz.).

• Eat several servings of whole grains and at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Include plenty of spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges, berries, and carrots in your diet.
Fiber supplements can also be helpful, and also help you to feel full so you won’t over eat and gain weight. The only trouble is, they can be expensive, especially the chewable kind.

If you don’t mind the taste of psyllium seed (like Metamucil), you can buy a large tub of it in Vitamin shoppe for about $4.59 and mix it with fruit juice. Costco has its own brand of fibre supplements. The caplets are less than $7 for 250 tablets, about a 3 month supply.

• Get 1,200 mg of calcium per day by eating calcium-rich foods, such as two to three servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy products. Don’t bother to overpay for your supplements. Look at the dosage. They may be high potency vitamins, but your body can only absorb about 1500 mg per day anyway.

Emphasis getting your calcium from food, and you will also avoid overeating. Spinach salad with lowfat cheese, with a milk based smoothie, and yogurt for dessert, is a filling lunch packed with calcium. Or try sardines instead on the salad, also a great source of calcium.

Continued in Diet and Disease Prevention Part 17

Breast cancer is the #8 killer of women of all deaths.

There is a growing body of research which supports the link between breast health and a good nutritionally balanced diet.

The following recommendations are a summary of the major research that has been carried out on what you can do to prevent breast cancer through focusing on healthy nutrition.

• Maintain a desirable weight for your height, build, and age.

• Limit fat intake, especially saturated fats and trans fatty acids.

• Include at least 25 g of fiber per day in your diet. Be sure to include several servings of whole grains such as wholemeal bread, brown rice, and pasta.

• Eat at least five servings per day of a variety of fruits and vegetables. At least one vegetable should be dark green, and at least one fruit or vegetable should be orange or red.

• Limit alcohol consumption to fewer than seven drinks per week. If you don’t drink at all, don’t start. Some believe that red wine has heart health benefits, but alcohol is just adding calories with little nutritional value per calorie as compared with other things you could be doing with 150 calories—like a baked potato with lowfat cheese or just about 2 light yogurts.

It is believed calcium found in lowfat dairy can also benefit breast health, as well as bone health. Take in conjunction with Vitamin D, c, and magnesium for maximum absorption.

Continues in
Diet and Disease Prevention Part 16

Since you are what you eat, as the common phrase goes, it should be no surprise that what you eat can keep you healthy, and even fight against serious health issues.

Simple changes to your diet can help prevent heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. If you have any of these conditions, good sound nutrition can help you.

Even better news is that it’s never too late to start eating right and improving your health.

Many people believe that dietary changes made later in life are of little benefit. This is NOT true!

In fact, changing your diet even at mid-life or even later CAN still be a powerful weapon against several leading chronic diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain forms of cancer.

The amount and types of food you eat may determine whether and when you develop a disease that reduces your quality of life (such as osteoporosis) or a life-threatening disorder (such as cancer or coronary heart disease).

In several surveys of nutrition habits, people cite many obstacles to good nutrition: time constraints, the easy availability of packaged and processed foods, the perception that they will have to give up their favorite foods, and confusion over conflicting information on nutrition.

That is not surprising—every day we’re bombarded with information on what we should or shouldn’t eat, and much of the information can be puzzling, inaccurate, or even contradictory.

In this series of articles, we will try to keep the nutrition advice as clear and simple as possible so you can take action NOW to prevent disease.

Continued in Diet and Disease Prevention Part 2

—

About the Author:

This series on diet and disease prevention is authored by Joan Mullally, head of online development for Johns Hopkins Consumer Health Publications.  She is a frequent contributor to several popular health sites and blogs, including Nutrition Goddess, Weight Loss Goddess, and Healthful Goddess.

This article deals with men’s health, but it has implications for us all. Obviously, you want your loved one to be healthy.  Imagine discovering that your test results were inaccurate, and that you might have even missed cancer because you were overweight?

Being obese tends to water down some test results, or skew the results. Read all about it here:

Being Overweight Could Render Your PSA Prostate Cancer Test Less Effective: New Findings in The Johns Hopkins Prostate Bulletin

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/02/prweb705153.htm