PREVENTION: Are you doing everything you can to prevent cancer?
By Dorothy Shaver, RD, LD/N, Kroger

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Let's celebrate by making sure we are doing everything we can to prevent it. As we all know, there are many factors we can't control. Genetics can work against us at times, but research shows that we can still help prevent it. Some diseases are uncontrollable and inevitable, but our lifestyle choices may help delay or prevent cancer. Here are five tips to help you perfect prevention.

» Balance intake with physical activity. It's better to be a little overweight and maintain than to go up and down, as this is bad for your body. Research supports that losing weight (if overweight) decreases your risk of certain types of cancer. A healthy weight isn't just the weight on a chart or the weight of a model; it is a weight at which you and your health care providers feel comfortable.

» Adopt a physically active lifestyle. Engage in at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. Children and adolescents should have at least 60 minutes per day at least five days a week. Exercise doesn't include regular daily activities such as stairs, walking from parking lot to store, etc. There are many benefits of being physically active including less risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and osteoporosis. Make moving fun - walk or bike to your destination, exercise at lunch, take a break and stretch or walk, move while watching television and dance whenever you get the chance.

» Emphasize plant foods. Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day, choose whole grains instead of processed grains, and decrease intake of processed foods and meats. Research shows that eating lots of fruits and vegetables can decrease your risk of many diseases.

» Limit consumption of alcohol to no more than two drinks for men and one drink for women per day. Alcohol can increase the risk of mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus, liver and breast cancer. Smoking in combination with alcohol consumption increases the risk of cancer more than just one or the other.

» Don't Smoke. Smoking is a cause of many types of cancer. It depletes you of many vitamins and minerals.

Make these five tips a part of your lifestyle to decrease your risk of certain types of cancer.

References: American Cancer Society Web site: www.cancer.org accessed May 10, 2007., American Dietetic Association: Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. Published 2002 by Joe Wiley and Sons.