Weight management, physical activity, and proper amounts of healthy food should all be part of a cancer patient’s ideal lifestyle to improve survival odds and avoid cancer recurrence.
Have you been told that you or a loved one has cancer? So, preparing for significant lifestyle changes, mainly eating well and healthily, is essential.
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine is thy food,” declared Hippocrates, the father of medicine. Even though it was written thousands of years ago, this quotation underlines the importance of foods packed with necessary nutrients that heal and nourish the body to restore good health and prevent disease.
Dr. Sandeep Nayak, India’s leading surgical oncologist, emphasizes the importance of diet in achieving comprehensive health and wellness.
Furthermore, cancer patients and survivors must have their cardiovascular health checked because they are more likely to die from cardiovascular issues.
You get flawless after years of practice. Dr. Sandeep Nayak, meanwhile, has extensive experience in surgical oncology, including both traditional open cancer surgery and minimally invasive laparoscopic and robotic surgery. Only a few onco-surgeons are as skilled in this field, and he is widely regarded as the best Indian surgical oncologist. There are over 200 different varieties of cancer, such as breast cancer, colon cancer, and pancreatic cancer, and each requires a different treatment plan based on the patient’s condition and health.
According to Dr. Nayak, a cancer patient’s ideal lifestyle should involve weight management, physical activity, and enough amounts of healthy food to improve survival odds and prevent cancer recurrence.
So, according to Dr. Sandeep Nayak, India’s most excellent oncologist, a nutritious diet helps prevent cancer and help cancer survivors live longer and healthier lives. Similarly, celebrity diets, fad diets, and diets frequently promoted in the media, he claims, appear promising but are not necessarily correct.
So, before we start following any of these diets religiously, let’s have a look at a few of them. The following are the five diets:
1. The Alkaline Diet.
Some people believe that too much acid in the body promotes cancer, which explains why they prefer alkaline foods. As a result, roughly 80% of an optimum alkaline diet consists of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains. Furthermore, this diet forbids the eating of meat, particularly red meat, as well as white-based items like sugar, rice, refined flour, and bakery products, to name a few. As a result, the body’s acid content is lowered, remaining fitter.
As a result, an alkaline diet is optimal, as eating fresh, natural foods reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and increase cancer patients’ survival rate.
2. The Paleolithic Diet.
The Paleolithic diet consists of nuts, meat, eggs, vegetables, and fruits, as the name implies. Processed foods, dairy products, and legumes are not included. As a result, their food list is comparable to Stone Age people’s.
According to followers of this diet, cancer and other life-threatening disorders result from the agricultural revolution. The human body cannot digest such food.
Furthermore, decreasing the consumption of whole grains and legumes improves cancer patient survival rates and overall health. However, according to Dr. Nayak, the best surgical oncologist in India, the inclusion of red meat is a cause for concern, particularly for cancer patients.
3. The Ketogenic Diet.
The ketogenic diet consists mainly of high-fat, low-carbohydrate meals, accounting for almost 60% of total calories. Processed foods are allowed on a ketogenic diet. If a ketogenic diet is followed, the cancer cells will acquire their energy from ketones rather than glucose.
The results of research on patients who follow a ketogenic diet are mixed. Some research demonstrates that cancer cells cannot metabolize ketones as desired, while others show that tumor cells can acquire energy from ketones.
The ketogenic diet is challenging to stick to for long periods in the real world. It also causes nutritional deficiencies because the meals are poor in fiber and high in fat. Furthermore, a ketogenic diet excludes fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and beans, which are undesirable for cancer patients and survivors.
4. The Vegan Diet
Meat, eggs, fish, honey, and dairy products are often avoided in a vegan diet, emphasizing whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, and berries.
The availability of sugar-based and processed vegan foods is another downside of a vegan diet. In addition, vegans have lower calcium and vitamin B12 levels than non-vegans.
To some extent, vegan diets might be perfect for cancer patients and survivors, as studies have demonstrated a decrease in cancer incidence. Nonetheless, we must consider linked elements such as exercise, meditation, and a support system, among others, that contribute to the same.
It is best to follow a vegan diet under the supervision of a doctor to ensure that essential nutrients are absorbed in the proper amounts for overall health.
5. Macrobiotic diet
A macrobiotic diet consists primarily of unprocessed whole foods such grains, millet, legumes, and vegetables and fruits. Whole foods like grains and millets account for up to 60% of the meal, with vegetables, fruits, and legumes accounting for the remaining 40%. A macrobiotic diet is also high in fiber and avoids processed meat.
A macrobiotic diet is high in dietary fiber and micronutrients yet low in energy. We must also consider low levels of vitamin B12 and vitamin D, and calcium. A macrobiotic diet adherent believes that an imbalance in the body promotes cancer. They also believe in a holistic approach to living, including moderate exercise and meditation for a better lifestyle.
Dr. Nayak, the India-based surgical oncologist, believes that people must eat a variety of foods. And much of it is influenced by the patient’s culture, religion, and beliefs, as well as their desire to live a meaningful life. We can confidently conclude that there is no one-size-fits-all diet for cancer patients; nevertheless, if followed in moderation and under the guidance of a nutritionist, the results will be better.
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