How Nutrition Can Prevent Stomach Cancer
Cutting Out Bad Habits
Nutrition is all about getting the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidents that you need to stay healthy. There are certain bad habits that actually prevent these vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from doing their jobs. To prevent stomach cancer, you need to quit smoking and drinking alcohol and drugs must also be avoided. Not only do these bad habits stop your body from processing nutrients, but they can actually cause cancer themselves.
Cut Out Fatty Foods
Keep an eye on the saturated and trans fats that you are putting in to your body. Make sure that these fats make up less than 30 percent of your calories for the day, if not less. Fat cells can cause stomach cancer because they break apart easier than other cells. DNA can become damaged. This can cause cancer cells to form and also help cancer cells grow. If you cut out bad fats, you can help keep the cancer from developing. If you already have stomach cancer, you can cut out bad fats to keep the cancer from growing.
Eat Meat Sparingly
If you are a vegetarian, you are on the right track. Vegetarians get cancer half as often as meat eaters. The best way to prevent stomach cancer is to only eat 4 ounces of meat per day. You would be wiser to choose white meats that are less fatty than red meats.
Cut Back on Sodium
Salt is thought to contribute to cancer of the stomach. Sodium exists in the form of table salt and in many canned foods as a preservative. Make sure you check the nutrition label on the back of the can to find out how much sodium is inside. Choose the cans with the lowest amount of sodium. If at all possible, use fresh foods to avoid adding extra salt to your diet.
Eat Vegetables
Dark green vegetables are associated with prevention of stomach cancer. That is because the antioxidents found in them kill the free radicals that cause cancer. The best dark green veggies are romaine lettuces (not the iceburg lettuces), spinach, collard greens and kale. It is recommended that you eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables combined daily to effectively prevent stomach cancer.
Eat Fruit
There are certain fruits that work the same way dark green vegetables do. Certain fruits contain antioxidents that attack free radicals, such as strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. Another recommended fruit is grapes. Grapes keep cancer cells in the stomach from growing. Eating a variety of fruits will help aid the therapies prescribed by your doctor to kill the cancer cells completely.
