Preventing and reducing the negative effects of cancer is a good way to stay healthy and can be accomplished by being intentional about what you eat, where you spend your time, and what you do. Eating foods that prevent cancer, living in a toxin free home, and engaging in physically stimulating exercises like yoga may bring you one step closer to a healthy, cancer-free life.
What you eat?
If you’re aiming to prevent cancer, foods high in nutrients and antioxidants are the key. Kiwi is a potent anti-cancer fruit. It’s a great source of vitamin C and dietary fiber. Eating kiwis also provides you with potassium, vitamin E, and phytochemicals. In fact, most berries, vegetables, and even dark chocolate are rich in anti-cancer compounds called antioxidants. Antioxidants work by neutralizing free radicals that are produced by the body’s cells. These free radicals are responsible for heart disease, aging, cancer, and many other chronic illnesses. Eating fruits like kiwi, berries, and even eating dark chocolate and drinking green tea, supplies your body with antioxidants.
Where you live?
Older homes, especially those constructed before 1975, were often built using a mineral called asbestos in dry wall, tile adhesive, and insulation. Asbestos is harmless if undisturbed, but once damaged, its particles are released into the air. Inhaling or ingesting these particles over a prolonged period of time may result in a lung and stomach cancer called mesothelioma. Mesothelioma symptoms include shortness of breath and chest heaviness. Because of a 20-50 year latency period, mesothelioma life expectancy rates are extremely low. Too avoid mesothelioma, take charge of where you live. Make sure that your home does not contain carcinogens like asbestos.
What you do?
Studies show that yoga and breathing exercises reduce cancer side effects and improve quality of sleep. Yoga has also been proven to reduce sleep medication dosage and fatigue. Though some forms of yoga, such as astanga, vinyasa, and bikram yoga may be too rigorous fro some cancer patients, other, more relaxing forms of restorative yoga fosters healing and calm. When relaxed, the immune system is allowed to function at a higher capacity. Relaxation also releases endorphins, natural hormones that block pain.
So, practicing yoga and other restorative exercise techniques, as well as eating the right foods and living in a carcinogen-free home are the first steps to preventing cancer and other chronic illness and living a long, healthy life.
Posted by Sudeep
