Keep cancer at bay!

Hope, faith, positive attitude and good nutrition is the way to prevent, retard and reverse cancer. I have been studying for many years how food choices can help cancer prevention. If by chance any of my clients have been diagnosed with cancer, I explain to them how their food choices can retard cancer and make their quality of life better.

Over the years of working with cancer patients, I realised all bodies have cancer cells. Carcinogens come from chemicals, pollution, stress and other external factors and are also a byproduct of breathing due to free radical formation thus increasing the chances of cancer. Now we can’t stop breathing right? But we can definitely counteract the damage done by free radicals by improving our immunity with the aid of essential nutrients. A nutrient malnourished body generates cancer cells and if they multiply, cancer will begin.

Luckily Mother Nature produces natural compounds that act as shields to defend against these free radicals called “antioxidants”– All you have to do is eat from the plant kingdom. The various colours present naturally in them contain antioxidants. On consuming them they enter your bloodstream and protect your cells from free radical damage. So, let’s focus on antioxidants and how they can help you.

One of the easiest antioxidants that are found in our day to day food is Vitamin C. I make it a point to include natural sources of Vitamin C in my clients and my food daily as it helps fight free radical damage especially in the interior of the cells that are mostly water-based. This vitamin also helps in the production of proteins like collagen which if not correctly digested in the body it can lead to malnutrition and ultimately cancer.

The anti-inflammatory properties of Vitamin C prevent cells from progressing into damaged cancerous cells strengthening your capillaries, cell walls and healing damaged cells, which could in the future become cancerous. For the production of haemoglobin in the body Vitamin C is essential and a good haemoglobin count is essential for preventing cancer and for the treatment of cancer.

Let us look at the best foods for Vitamin C. Of course, we all know citrus foods contain Vitamin C, so we need to consume them daily. The easiest way is to add lemon to your foods daily. I squeeze lemon juice on my fruits and make fruit chaats, make salad dressings with herbs and lemon juice to top on salads, my soups always have an add-on of lemon juice and so do my vegetables.

I make it a point to add it on my leafy greens in my daals or squeeze it on my pulses. Vitamin C not only works as an antioxidant but helps absorb iron from the food thus increasing the haemoglobin count, which as I have mentioned earlier needs to be high in cancer prevention and survival.

Aamla, the Indian gooseberry is a very good source of Vitamin C. I often recommend a vegetable juice in which one can toss in aamla, spinach, fresh turmeric root, beetroot and carrot. All these contain different antioxidants that aid against cancer.

Guava contains five more vitamins than lemons, so when they are in a season let is try and consume them. I love eating them with salt and red chilli as an evening snack. Vegetables like cabbage, peppers, French beans, cluster beans, cauliflower, brinjal drumsticks and its leaves, radish leaves, spinach, and sweet potato contain Vitamin C. This versatile and health-enhancing nutrient is a must feature in your diet to help you fight cancer.