Foods to Help Prevent Cancer Caused by Estrogens

If you are taking estrogen, then you are increasing your risk of cancer. Doctors prescribe estrogen for women entering menopause to help cut down on hot flashes. While this medication is effective in eliminating hot flashes, it can also increase your chances of breast cancer. By eating certain foods, you can decrease your cancer risk, while keeping your body healthy.

Foods to Avoid

• At least thirty to forty percent of cancers are linked to the food we eat. Most of us use quick and easy foods that we simply heat and eat. Convenience foods are nice, but they come packed with ingredients that can cause cancer. They have artificial flavors, and colors. They add preservatives for a long shelf life, MSG, and more salt than necessary. Almost all the processed foods contain sugar in some form such as dextrose, sucrose, and corn syrup.

Fish

• Adding fish to your weekly menu will improve your health. All fish have oil called Omega-3 that can help prevent cancer. If you have breast cancer, the Omega-3 in fish oil can keep it from spreading. When you eat fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines, and herring, be sure to include the skin and fat. The fat from fish is an EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) fat, and it has the ability to raise HDL levels that helps fight off developing cancer cells.

Flax Seed

• Manufactures add lignans to flax seed that you buy in a store. Lignans replicate the way estrogen acts in the body. Adding flax seed to your diet provides an effective barrier against breast cancer. It also stops cancer tumors in the lungs, skin, breast, and colon from forming. It has a high level of Omega-3, which is an essential fatty acid that the body needs to be healthy. Only two teaspoons of flax seeds per day are all you need to help fight cancer.

Various Drinks

• Drinking three to five cups of green tea is another way to boost the antioxidants in your diet. Green tea contains phytochemicals, which may help prevent normal cells from becoming abnormal and cancerous. Some other healthy drinks to include are one cup of grape juice per day, or two cups of calcium fortified orange juice. There are also fortified drinks like Ensure and Boost that provide many healthy vitamins and nutrients. Drink whole milk from grass-fed cows, because it has conjugated linoleum acid that fights breast cancer. Conjugated linoleum acid is a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid and it helps strengthen the immune system. It also has vitamin D, which is important to keep cancer away.

Fruits and Vegetables

• Include more fruits and vegetables in your diet. Leafy greens are the best in fighting cancer. Vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, sautéed in a little olive oil are a natural way to prevent cancer. Broccoli sprouts, mustard greens, and cooked tomatoes will help reduce your risk of cancer. The best fruit to include are blueberries and red cherries. Blueberries have 40 percent more antioxidants than strawberries. Red and black grapes are healthy, but Concord grapes are the best. Concord grapes are rich in flavonoids and rank the highest in antioxidant activity. You can also eat dried, unsweetened fruit like dates, prunes, and apricots.

Other Miscellaneous Foods

• Chickpeas, kidney beans, onions, garlic, and lentils will help stimulate enzymes to prevent cancer and tumor growths. It can also help lower harmful estrogen levels. Other foods to include are brown and wild rice, oatmeal and shredded wheat. Reduce your intake of high fat meats and cut down on eating so much red meat. Choose chicken or turkey instead of beef for some meals. Use butter instead of margarine. Butter has CLA, conjugated linoleum acid, that fights breast cell cancers.

  By cutting out or down your consumption of processed foods, lunch meats, hot dogs, soft drinks, sugary cereals and sweets, you will be improving your chances of remaining cancer free.