Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Five Nutrition Tips from NWH

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Five Nutrition Tips from NWH: We picked this up from a recent Northern Westchester Hospital newsletter – Five Nutrition Tips to Reduce you risk of breast cancer from our good friend and What To Do contributor, Amy Rosenfeld. Amy is a Registered Dietician at Northern Westchester Hospital’s Center for Healthy Living at Chappaqua Crossing.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we want to share some resources about proper nutrition. While no single food can completely protect you against cancer, studies show that diets rich in a variety of healthy foods can lower your risk of cancer developing.

Here are five things you can do reduce your risk of breast cancer:

1. Eat the rainbow. A complete diet includes foods of many naturally occurring colors. This is because natural foods get their color from specific vitamins and antioxidants. You should eat at least two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables every day. Aim to make ½ your plate full of fruits and vegetables at every meal and snack.
2. Up your omega 3s. Omega-3 fatty acids, found in seafood (like wild salmon, Atlantic mackerel, sardines, black cod, anchovies, oysters, tuna, and rainbow trout), can help reduce your risk of breast cancer by activating specific genes that block the pathways responsible for tumor growth. Aim to eat two portions weekly and swap out meat for fish!
3. Fiber, fiber, fiber. You should eat 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day. Foods that contain fiber can help you maintain a healthy weight and lower your risk of breast cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Try adding the following to your grocery list: 100% whole grains (such as whole wheat bread, barley, brown rice) nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, and other legumes.
4. Spice it up! Research has shown that spices such as allspice, basil, caraway, turmeric, cinnamon, clove, and garlic (among others), may lower cancer risk and affect tumor behavior. Adding these colorful and fragrant herbs and spices to our meals is a great way to get vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. It makes food taste better, too!
5. Limit added sugar to 24g a day. While it is not necessary to cut all sugar from your diet, it is best to consume simple sugars (candy, baked goods and fruit juice) in moderation and choose naturally sweet foods (like fruits) more often. Look out for hidden sources of sugar on food labels as well such as high fructose corn syrup.

We hope these tips are helpful! For more information and health tips from experts, please visit our website here .

See More from Northern Westchester Hospital on What To Do here.