February is National Cancer Prevention Month, giving us an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of promoting healthy behaviors and early screening to reduce the risk of cancer and cancer reoccurrence. It’s important to note that although someone can follow the healthiest habits and lifestyle, cancer is never truly “preventable.”
As breast cancer survivor and our colleague Suzanne Garner says, “The distinction between ‘risk reduction’ and ‘prevention’ is crucial. Adopting a healthier lifestyle can indeed lower the risk of developing cancer, but it doesn’t offer a foolproof shield against the disease. Cancer is indiscriminate, affecting individuals regardless of their lifestyle choices.”
We want to offer you some exercise and nutrition tips from our previous webinars with top experts to support you at every stage whether you’ve just been diagnosed with cancer, are going through active treatment, or navigating survivorship. We’ve transcribed some of the key takeaways from our discussions with Rachel Beller, MS, RD and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Dr. Jennifer Ligibel.
The following questions and responses have been lightly edited for grammatical purposes.
Nutrition tips
Q: How can someone get started on a healthier diet?
Beller: Managing your health takes time. To give you an analogy when you think about your diet, I want you to think about building a house. The key concepts like fiber, premium fats and proteins, and managing your gut health, are major structural components of a house. These things take time and it’s the simple things that matter. It should take you at least 3 months to build a good solid house before you bring in the designer, the decorator, to talk about colors, chandeliers, accessories, and all this other stuff.
Q: What’s the importance of fiber?
Beller: There’s been a lot of research about the role of fiber when it comes to cancer risk reduction. It is a very powerful yet very simple tool in helping fight cancer. Generally speaking, the American Institute for Cancer Research recommends about 30g to 35g a day to help you with risk reduction.
When you think about fiber, think of a cleaning crew entering your body to help scrub your insides clean and remove excess hormones and potential carcinogens from your body. We tend to get wrapped up in supplements, but food can do such an incredible job of cleaning our insides.
Q: What are your recommendations for people trying to incorporate more fiber into their diet?
Beller: Another way to up your fiber game plan and help optimize cancer risk reduction is with plant-based proteins. Plant-based proteins are premium when it comes to reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, you name it.
I’m not telling you to be vegan. Plant-based proteins are an easy way to hit your fiber goal. Another transaction, plus all the perks that I’m mentioning. They’re premium cancer-fighting phytochemicals, that protect us on the cellular level.
They contain fiber, boost our gut health, help us with our weight management, balance out hormones, and contain anti-inflammatory properties. Garbanzo beans, green lentils, shelled edamame are all great options and are budget-friendly.
Q: Is it safe to eat soy?
Beller: There’s a lot of research and studies on soy. Yes, it’s beneficial to our health.There are so many different foods that are rich in plant estrogens and phytoestrogens. They come from foods like soy, flax, sesame, lentils, and apples.
The reason it’s protective is because our cells have receptors. So say for breast tissue, there’s an alpha receptor and a beta receptor. What happens to these phytoestrogens is that they have an affinity to a beta receptor. The beta receptor tells the cell “Something’s going on. Don’t multiply, don’t divide.” That’s a good thing.
The stronger estrogen has an affinity to the alpha receptor which tells the cell to multiply and divide and that’s something we don’t want. That’s why people are concerned about soy, but it’s doing the opposite.
The plant-based estrogen is 1,600 times more likely to go to the beta receptor because that’s where it loves to go. It sends a signal to the alpha receptor to go away so it’s a decoy that’s protecting you. We want to have more of these phytoestrogens from wholesome foods and soy can help reduce the risk of breast cancer by blocking the more powerful effects of the estrogen, the real strong estrogen that comes from a variety of different places.
So as mentioned it’s 1,600 times more likely to go to this beta receptor. That’s a lot. If by some weird chance it somehow makes it over to this alpha receptor, the good news is that it is so much weaker than this guy. It’s barely going to have an impact.
Soy and edamame are rich in antioxidant properties. They have minerals, fiber, good stuff all around, and good for heart health and so much more.
Exercise tips
Q: What’s the best way to get started on exercise?
Ligibel: Set manageable goals. We think a lot about these sort of SMART goals, things that are small, measurable, attainable. You want to set yourself up for success. If you’re not somebody who’s been active regularly, either ever or recently, start with something manageable a few days a week for 10-15 minutes and build up from there.
Do things that make you happy. I mean, patients often ask me “What’s the best kind of exercise?” My answer usually is the kind that you’re going to do and enjoy and stick with because some of this is all about persistence and sustainability. It’s not about running a marathon.
I think the great thing about exercise is that it’s something almost everybody can do. You do it with a friend or a partner and there are a lot of ways to incorporate it into your life and have it be something that’s positive.
Q: Are there exercises that are most beneficial for cancer risk reduction?
Ligibel: Most guidelines recommend a combination of aerobic and strength training, with aerobic being to the level of moderate intensity.
The general guideline is 150 minutes of exercise a week, but the American College of Sports Medicine shows benefits to even just 90 minutes a week, so three 30-minute bursts of aerobic activity. However, strength training is critical for maintaining muscle mass, especially for women so make sure you’re doing some strength training and moving major muscle groups against resistance.
Training doesn’t mean using big machines or even using hand weights. It’s also things like squats, lunges, and movements that really engage your muscles. The general guidance is two 15-30 minute sessions per week, but you can verify with a sports medicine physician. Both strength training and aerobic exercise are important.
Q: Is it possible to overdo exercise?
Ligibel: It is possible to overdo anything. What often happens is that people start out too fast and burn out. They may be able to stick to an hour of exercise every day for some time, but then feel like they can’t maintain that level and give up altogether. That doesn’t provide the same benefit as starting slowly at a lower level of activity and gradually building it over time.
It’s important to set small, manageable goals. If you’re not an active person, maybe start with 10-15 minutes a few days a week and build up from there.
Patients often ask me what kind of exercise is best and my answer is to do things that make you happy; the kind that you’re going to enjoy and stick with. It’s all about persistence and sustainability.
The great thing about exercise is it’s something that almost everybody can do. Staking out that time as your time, whether you do it with someone else as part of a social event, or something that you just do for yourself can be really powerful.
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