Cancer Nutrition and Recipes For Dummies by Christina T. Loguidice

Author:Christina T. Loguidice
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-06-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Cancer-Fighting Foods, Spices, and Herbs

In This Chapter

Finding out about superfoods and what makes them special

Identifying the best cancer-fighting superfoods

Understanding the best spices for fighting cancer and its side effects

Superfoods are foods that should be in everyone’s diet to reduce the risk of cancer. They should also be eaten during and after cancer treatment to provide your body with the nutrients it needs to stay strong, fight the cancer, and help to prevent a recurrence or a secondary cancer. But notice that we said “superfoods,” rather than “superfood.” Although it may be tempting to eat a large volume of one particular food when you read about its beneficial results in a promising cancer-related study, no single food can protect you from cancer or support you during cancer treatment. In fact, most studies support a concept known as synergy, which means that combinations of foods and nutrients work together to provide protection against disease.

In this chapter, we cover our top ten recommended superfoods. Not surprisingly, many of them are vegetables and fruits, because they’re loaded with vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. These foods have been the focus of many studies to see if the phytochemicals in them help protect against cancer. Consider including these foods in your diet on a regular basis, if not a daily basis.

After reviewing superfoods, we talk a little bit about herbs and spices. In addition to adding quite a bit of flavor to your foods and minimizing the need for adding salt, they may have other beneficial effects. We look at some of these benefits for eight herbs and spices, including how they may be used to alleviate symptoms from cancer and its treatments.

Finally, because many foods have the potential to interact with medications, we talk about how to protect yourself from drug–food and drug–herb ­interactions.

Meeting the Superfoods: How and Why They Differ from the Pack

In this section, we introduce you to our top ten superfood picks. These foods have been studied the most for their potential to protect against and fight cancer, and they’ve shown good results. This isn’t surprising given that these foods score high in nutrient density (see Chapter 4), and they’re particularly high in antioxidants and phytochemicals, both of which keep your cells healthy and trigger the bad ones to die off (a process your oncologist may refer to as apoptosis).

Tomatoes

Technically speaking, tomatoes are fruits because they have seeds, but we use them as vegetables because of their savory flavor. No matter what you consider them, tomatoes are nutritional powerhouses.

Have you ever wondered why tomatoes are red? The phytochemical lycopene is what gives them their distinctive color. Lycopene is a carotenoid, a pigment responsible for the yellow to red color of many foods. Carotenoids are powerful antioxidants, and tomatoes are loaded with antioxidants.

Green tea

Green tea comes from Camellia sinensis, the same species of plant that black tea comes from. Both green and black tea contain the powerful antioxidants polyphenols and flavonoids, but unlike black tea, green tea is not fermented.

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