Testicular Cancer Diet

A healthy diet is one of the most effective ways to prevent testicular cancer and many other types of cancer. Exercise moves your body and your bowels, meaning wastes and other toxic substances spend less time in your body. Obesity is also a leading cause of cancer, and a healthy diet and regular exercise will help eliminate excess body fat and help achieve and maintain a lean body.

Past studies and research reveal that high-fat diets account for approximately 60 percent of all colorectal cancers in men and approximately 40 percent of all colorectal cancers in women.

Diet's Effects on Cancer and the Body

Exercise can reduce cancer risk in many ways. Some positive effects that diet can have on the body include:

• increase in the circulation of immune substances in the body and, therefore, a boost of the immune system
• increase in the effectiveness of the body's insulin supply
• more fat burned and a leaner body overall
• reduction in carcinogen exposure in the body by moving waste products through the body more quickly
• reduction in the amount of cholesterol on artery walls.

Testicular Cancer Diet

A number of dietary changes can help prevent testicular cancer and other cancers. Making a few changes at a time and gradually modifying your diet to a healthier way of living is the easiest way to maintain the changes. Trying to change your entire way of living all at once may be frustrating and overwhelming, and may cause you to give up and return to unhealthy living.

Gradual change will work the best in the long term, so try making one change a week until all unhealthy habits are eliminated.

To follow a healthy, anti-testicular-cancer diet, try the following:

• Add soy products to your diet.
• Cook with oils like olive oil that are not saturated or hydrogenated.
• Decrease intake of total fat and severely decrease intake of saturated fat.
• Eat more foods that contain calcium.
• Eliminate or decrease alcohol intake, especially beer.
• Increase antioxidant and flax intake.
• Increase fiber, fruit and vegetable intake.
• Make the switch from red meat to seafood.
• Make the switch to a plant-based diet.

Along with changes in eating habits, a healthy cancer-fighting diet includes exercise, lowering overall stress, avoiding smoking and second-hand smoke when possible and taking daily vitamin supplements, such as:

• acidophilus powder
• calcium
• ground flaxseed
• selenium
• vitamin C
• vitamin E.

All of these play a role in fighting testicular cancer and other cancers and increasing overall health.

The best testicular-cancer-fighting fruits and vegetables include:

• apricots
• blueberries
• broccoli
• cabbage
• carrots
• eggplant
• grapes
• onions and peppers
• oranges and tangerines
• peaches
• strawberries
• tomatoes
• yams.

Fruits and vegetables are the easiest additions to make to a diet. They make great snacks and are filling, which means cravings for unhealthy snacks will decrease with the increase of fruit and vegetable consumption.

Those who have risk factors for testicular cancer, such as family history, and those who simply want to begin a healthy cancer-fighting diet should talk to a medical professional for tips and advice.

Resources

AskDrSears.com (2006). The Anti-Cancer Diet. Retrieved June 22, 2007, from the AskDrSears.com Web site: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T040300.asp.