There is a wealth of information on the link between diet and cancer; indeed, on this site we have published detailed articles about the role that protein, carbohydrates (sugars) and fats may play in the development and prevention of cancer.
However, if you only have time to read one article about dietary cancer prevention, this should be the one! Below we provide a brief overview of the seven nutritional factors we consider to be the most important in helping to prevent and overcome cancer.
Point #1: Increase the amount of cancer-fighting phytonutrients in your diet
Phytonutrients are naturally occurring compounds that are found mainly in plant foods such as vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, herbs, spices, mushrooms, etc.
Many of these compounds have similar cancer-fighting effects as the drugs used by oncologists to treat cancer, and act on various stages of cancer’s development. These food compounds are thought to halt the development and spread of cancer cells, notably by promoting cancer cells to self-destruct (apoptosis) or by blocking the growth of new blood vessels to feed growing tumors (angiogenesis).
Eating a wide variety of foods containing these compounds is likely to be more protective than eating a lot of just one type. For instance, although broccoli contains several compounds thought to have anti-cancer actions, eating it every day of the year isn’t likely to offer as much protection as, say, eating broccoli one day, peppers the next, tomatoes and onions the day after that, etc.
Different plant foods also reinforce each other’s effects; for instance, the antioxidant lycopene in tomato skins is absorbed better when the tomatoes have been cooked with olive oil and garlic than when eaten on their own. This is called “nutrient synergy” and is an important concept to remember when preparing meals. (Conner Middelmann-Whitney’s cancer-prevention cookbook, Zest for Life, The Mediterranean Anti-Cancer Diet, explains this in more detail.)
Juicing as a supplement to eating whole fruits and vegetables:
It may be difficult to consume large quantities of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet. One way to help increase the amount of these important nutrients is by using a juicer. This will enable you to ‘eat’ many more fruits and vegetables than you could if you ate them in their whole form.
We still recommend eating fruits and vegetables mainly in their whole form, whenever possible, but to consider using a juicer to get even higher amounts of their anti-cancer phytonutrients in your diet.
We recommend juicing machines that “masticate” or crush rather than grind and expel the juice. Masticating juicers extract significantly more of the anti-cancer nutrients than the other types of juicers (i.e. centrifugal and pulp ejection juicers) which simply shred and expel many of the important parts of the fruits and vegetables into a waste container.

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